On June 22, Pope Leo XIV received members of the Lejeune Foundation in an audience marking the centenary of the birth of Jérôme Lejeune, the physician who discovered the cause of Down syndrome. He maintained a close relationship with St. John Paul II, who appointed him the first president of the Pontifical Academy for Life in 1994.
Karin Lejeune, his daughter, told ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, that her father’s friendship with the Polish pontiff was key to maintaining hope during the most difficult moments of his life.
“It’s important to know that my father went through a real Calvary after the [French] abortion law was passed. He was ostracized by society and, I dare say, by the Church in France; the scientific community, and the entire French ‘political correctness’ establishment,” she said.
“They even withdrew research funding for his laboratory. So, it was a truly difficult time. And thanks to that friendship, I believe he held on, that he always kept hope alive,” she added.
“These two men shared a common desire to serve the poorest, those whom my father called the most disadvantaged in terms of intellect, namely, children with intellectual disabilities,” Karin noted.
The friendship was marked by the assassination attempt on the Holy Father in St. Peterʼs Square on May 13, 1981, just hours after the two men had lunched together at the Vatican.
“They spent two hours talking about respect for life, about support precisely for those poor, the disadvantaged. And at the end of those two hours, the pope said: ‘Now I have to go down to St. Peterʼs Square.’ So my parents took a taxi to go to the airport and, when they got off the plane, the taxi driver who was taking them to our house on Galande Street told them: ‘They have murdered the pope, he has died,’” Karin recounted.
At home, everyone wept as they waited anxiously, Jérôme Lejeune among them.
“We were all crying. My father was pale. We kept watching television for a while, clinging to the faint hope that he would undergo surgery. And at that moment, my father said, ‘I wish it were me,’” Karin recalled of the tragic moment.
That same afternoon, her father fell ill after giving a lecture. “We used to tell Dad: ‘That’s actually what empathy is — suffering with … In fact, love and friendship are just that: suffering alongside the person who is suffering.’”
‘What I remember most is his gaze’
Jérôme Lejeune, a father of five, passed away from cancer in April 1994 at the age of 67. His cause for canonization was opened in 2007, with the diocesan phase concluding in 2012. In January 2024, Pope Francis approved the decree recognizing his heroic virtues and declared him venerable.
Karin described her father beyond his persona as a scientist and one of the pioneers of modern genetics, internationally recognized with numerous honorary doctorates: “He was a very tender, very understanding father, and above all, he always looked at us with an extraordinary gaze. And when I picture him today, what I remember most is his look. It was always a kind gaze.”
When he was interrupted, she recalled, “he was always available. I never heard him say, ‘Wait, Karin, Iʼm writing a letter.’ No, he would drop everything, push it all aside instantly, whatever he was doing, to be at our disposal.”
Together with his Danish-born wife, Birthe, they created a home characterized by its welcoming atmosphere: “At home, the door was always open; you could arrive with 10 friends or come back, I donʼt know, from a lecture or a pilgrimage. We would go home to get something to drink. In fact, we didnʼt go to a bar. The ‘bar’ for all our friends was at 31 Rue Galande in the French capitalʼs Fifth Arrondissement.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
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