Pope Leo XIV grants interview to journalists on flight from Metz to Rome

Pope Leo XIV spoke with journalists during a flight from Metz to Rome on September 28, 2026. Six journalists asked the pope about topics including sexual abuse in the Church, artificial intelligence, war, the housing crisis, the separation of Church and State, and the rise of extremist political parties.

Addressing whether sexual abuse is a systemic problem, the pope told Cyriac Zeller of I-Media that he prefers to describe it differently than the term systemic. While the pope noted that certain organizations within the Church have acted abusively as a system, he stated that sexual abuse is primarily a human problem. This response followed a meeting with seven victims, some of whom had described the abuse as systemic. The pope said he asked those victims to help him express the willingness of both himself and the Church to listen to and walk with others seeking healing.