The sanctity of life has been a strong theme of Pope Leo during his four-day to France and during a visit to the pilgrimage town of Lourdes the pontiff condemned every form of active euthanasia.

During a visit to Lourdes, at a mass attended by 150,000, the Pope in his homily appealed to the medical community and other healthcare professionals when he said their calling is "to care for a suffering person, not to eliminate them."

Some sectors of society support some forms of euthanasia as relieving terminally ill people of their suffering, but the Catholic Church condemns that approach vigorously.

Lourdes is world famous because it is one of the most important Catholic pilgrimage sites, that draws millions of visitors each year who seek physical and spiritual healing.

"It is impossible to regard the act of bringing about death as normal," said Leo Leo in his homily on the third days of his visit to France according to Bluewin News, a Swiss outlet.

"What is legal is not necessarily morally permissible. The temptation to end a life under the pretext of false compassion must be resolutely resisted, precisely in the name of this inalienable human dignity," said the Pope.

He explained that no human being has the right to decide on life "based on laboratory algorithms."

          - MEETING CLERICAL ABUSE VICTIMS

During his visit to Lourdes, Pope Leo met with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse, and expresses his closeness to those who suffer the "wound of abuse," Vatican News reported.

Pope Leo met with sick and frail pilgrims and pilgrims with disabilities at the Accueil Notre-Dame center at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes after his Sunday Mass, according to Vatican News.

The Accueil Notre-Dame hosts pilgrims and groups from around the world in a healthcare facility operated as "a kind of a 'big family home'" by about 50 employees, as well as consecrated men and women and hundreds of volunteers.

In his address at the facility, the Pope said that at Lourdes, the "fragility is not hidden, but instead becomes the place of a sacred encounter."

Where society sometimes "looks aside or closes its eyes to the dignity of human life," Pope Leo insisted that we must foster, "in ourselves and in others, a contemplative outlook."

He said that allows us to "see life in its deeper meaning," to accept it as a gift, and thus be able to perceive "in the face of every person a call to encounter, dialogue, and solidarity."

The leader of the Catholic Church appealed "to the entire healthcare community to remember the profound meaning of your vocation, which is to care for a suffering person, not eliminate that person."

"Be passionate defenders of life," he enjoined them, adding that no one has the right to "to decide the life of a given embryo or elderly person."

Leo encouraged health care workers to promote authentic palliative care and research, and urged them "to accompany the sick with the tenderness we see at Lourdes."

Turning to the sick, Pope Leo told them, "You are not a burden. You are the beating heart of our humanity and a precious treasure for the Church."

          -- APPEARANCE OF MARY IN LOURDES

Christians believe Mary, the mother of Jesus, appeared in Lourdes several times in the mid-19th century to a 14-year-old girl.

The pilgrimage site of Lourdes dedicated to Mary was the penultimate stop on the papal s visit to France.

Euthanasia is permitted in several European countries

Pope Leo was aiming his words at legal provisions regarding euthanasia in various European countries, such as the Netherlands and Belgium.

The French National Assembly, too, passed a law on active euthanasia earlier this year by a large majority following lengthy debates and in Britain there have been attempts to legislate for the practise.

During his visit to Lourdes, Pope Leo met with seven victims of clerical sexual abuse, and expresses his closeness to those who suffer the "wound of abuse," Vatican News reported.

On Sunday evening, the Pope met in Lourdes with four men and three women who suffered abuse by members of the clergy.

The seven victims endured abuse in parishes, boarding schools, congregations, or ecclesial movements, according to Vatican News.

As the highlight of his visit to France, Pope Leo celebrated a large Mass in the heart of Paris attended by 800,000 people, Keystone/SDA reported.

In a Popemobile ride down the grand avenue of the Champs-Élysées, the head of the Catholic Church was cheered by a huge crowd. In his sermon at the Place de la Concorde, where he urged people not to lose themselves in consumerism.

On Sept. 28 Leo was to travel on to Metz, close to the German-French border where he was expected deliver a speech about Europe.