Pope Leo XIV arrived in Lourdes from Paris on Saturday evening, beginning his first visit to a destination renowned for reported miracle cures. His weekend schedule combined public worship, meetings with sick people and support workers, and encounters centered on healing, repentance and accountability.

The story of Lourdes dates to 1858, when Bernadette Soubirous, a peasant girl who was 14, reported experiencing 18 visions of the Virgin Mary at the Lourdes Massabielle Grotto. She was ultimately named a saint.

After arriving, the pope prayed at the Grotto on Saturday night. He was then set to lead an open air Mass on the Prairie on Sunday, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to attend.

Pope Leo also planned meetings with bishops, sick people and members of the support staff. His visit placed both physical and spiritual healing at the center of the weekend.

Dr. Alessandro de Franciscis recently retired as president of the Lourdes Office of Medical Observation after 17 years spent reviewing treatments and possible miracle cures. He discussed the papal visit with Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel.

According to de Franciscis, the pope was visiting Lourdes in the name of purification and healing, including healing connected to the Church’s recent sexual abuse scandals. He expressed warm admiration for Pope Leo and his approach to major challenges.

“I think I love him,” de Franciscis told Siegel. “I think he's doing very well (as pope). He's talking of the challenges that we have. You must have heard about his first encyclical letter on artificial intelligence ... all the good that this technology can bring to today's world. He's a guy from Chicago. I love him. We all love him!”

De Franciscis said Pope Leo would meet people whose reported miracle healings underwent investigation and were later recognized by the Church. The group included people associated with several striking recoveries from serious medical conditions.

Among them was Sister Bernadette Moriau, who was cured of a spinal condition and regained the ability to walk. The pope also planned to meet Antonietta Raco, who was cured of the severe neurodegenerative disease primary lateral sclerosis in 2009.

Another expected participant was Delizia Cirolli, who experienced healing as a child. “He's also going to meet with a young woman (Delizia Cirolli) who was cured when she was only 7 years old of a Ewing's Sarcoma, a right knee cancer , back in the late '70s.”

For de Franciscis, the meaning of Lourdes extends beyond the physical recoveries formally examined and recognized by the Church. He said spiritual and physical healing can produce miracles both minor and major for those who travel there.

He also emphasized the work of the hospitaliers, whom he described as the “angels of Lourdes.” These support workers care for sick people at the site and appear in Siegel’s forthcoming book, “The Angels Among Us.”

Much of the healing associated with Lourdes and the Grotto is spiritual, de Franciscis said, and often remains unrecognized. “I think that statistically, these so-called spiritual cures are so, so much more numerous than the physical ones that we know,” he told Siegel.

He said the people who arrive intending to care for others can themselves leave deeply changed. “People come here to serve, they think they come here to help others — and instead they come out of this experience being so much better,” de Franciscis said.

“And they go back to their work and their lives and their families, and they're so relieved, I would say, they've really changed. So I think this aspect is very, very interesting.”

The pope’s Lourdes schedule also confronted grave harm within the Church. In the name of repentance and accountability, he planned to sit down with seven victims of sexual assault committed by members of the clergy.

Siegel is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Medical Center, as well as Fox News Channel’s senior medical analyst. His forthcoming book, “The Angels Among Us,” examines how God’s messengers play a role in healing and is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2026.