Pope Leo accused of failing to properly investigate allegations of child sexual abuse in his church

[IwantToRetire]

Pope Leo has been accused of failing to properly investigate allegations of child sexual abuse against priests in his churches in Chicago and Peru.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) says it made the Vatican aware of Robert Prevost’s reported inaction on the allegations when he was a cardinal, filing an official complaint with Vatican officials against him in March. The group says it has not had a response.

More at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-leo-catholic-vatican-sexual-abuse-b2747885.html

I'll nearly didn't post this because it is almost as this is the norm, not just in the Catholic Church, but others as well.

But then I thought that is so disrespectful to the women failed by yet another male institution.

And there was quite a moving interview on the BBC World Service.

So just because it is at it were "the norm" shouldn't be reason to stay silent.

If you made a list of all the leaders of all the major religions in the world, closed your eyes and stuck a pin in it, you'd probably pick a leader who had not dealt properly with sexual abuse in their religion. If at all.

Some have been more open about the existence of the problem in their church, some very belatedly so, and some are just keeping their heads down hoping the investigative journalists don't come sniffing around their religion..

I see the right in the US are condemning the new pope as a Woke Marxist..

Ithink it’s just so disappointingly prevalent. It’d be almost impossible to find someone who has dealt with all allegations suitably. I suspect if they had they wouldn’t of made it to cardinal.

The Catholic Church is a rich and powerful
organisation that has more than a billion members. It does a lot of good. For a long time it was accepted internally that the most important thing was to protect the church and its reputation and by extension it’s paedophiles.

As the abuses went on for so long and in large numbers it touched everyone at the top, I believe it’ll be decades before people are coming through who haven’t tacitly tolerated abuse of children.

Searching for the thread where THE WHOLE of Islam (not just the priests!) is allowed to rape nine year old girls (as long as they ‘marry’ them first… )
Two tier religion now?

Thousands of lives ruined, women and men.

Didn’t see that thread but it is known that clerics are using short term pleasure marriages as a front for child sex abuse in Iraq.

I’m not a religious person but it does seem to me that many (mainly men) use religious authority to give themselves a veneer of respectability. It’s not rooted out and other powerful people are participating or permissive. I believe often the victims are othered.

Im sure thst religions also do a lot of good but I don’t think these are scales that should be balanced. All children should be protected, all of those who abuse power religious or otherwise should be booted out.

No priest anywhere would disclose what is told to them in confession. It’s fundamental to the ritual.

Which is a disgrace.

Who TF keeps quiet about child abuse because of ritual? Monsters, that’s who.

What's new? In my view the catholic church is an organisation that systematically attracts predatory men and then covers up their crimes.

A lot of lip service, but nothing changes. Neither in the reaction of parents by the way - as long as it doesn't involve their child.

Lawyers?? Psychiatrists?

Absolutely correct. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I agree that celibacy + being in a position of responsibility and trust + being in close proximity to children + working in an organisation where women are few and far between and are not in positions of power = a lot of potential and actual harm.

I imagine that any catholic Priests who have spoken out about the abuse of children have very little chance of ever becoming Pope.

To be fair, Pope Francis went off script on a visit to France or Belgium before he died, to emphasise that child abuse must not be dealt with internally and the police must be informed.

This is far too little, far too late, obviously. But this is the official line now, whether it is followed or not is a different matter.

The allegations refer to two separate cases. The first one was in Chicago when Prevost was regional superior of the Augustinians. The archdiocese of Chicago had to find a place for a priest who had abused several children so they sent him to the Augustinian cloister. The survivors of abuse have rightly complained that Prevost did not inform a local Catholic primary school that an abuser was living round the corner. The priest was there for 2 years before being dismissed from the priesthood and laicized.

The second case is more complicated. There is a detailed explanation in this German article https://www.katholisch.de/artikel/61530-vorwurf-der-missbrauchsvertuschung-gegen-papst-offenbar-unhaltbar, admittedly the source "katholisch.de" will be biased.

They say that in response to abuse allegations by 3 women:
The Peruvian diocese responded to public accusations in a television report in September 2024 with a detailed statement in rejecting all accusations. Prevost had initiated a preliminary investigation, suspended the priest from ministry and forwarded the results of the investigation to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. The women were offered psychological support and advised to file a civil lawsuit.The state investigation was closed due to a lack of evidence.The outcome of the new investigation in the Vatican is still
open.

The German article goes on to say that the allegations against Pope Leo could be an act of revenge by the Peruvian group "Sodalitium Christianae Vitae" which was disbanded by Pope Francis in January for sexual and spiritual abuse and financial mismanagement. See this article by the Guardian
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/20/pope-dissolves-sodalitium-of-christian-life-peru-catholic-movement-vatican-investigation

I think he should make a statement on this as soon as possible and address straightaway up front the sexual abuse and historical abuse cases and what the Church has done wrong in the past when dealing with these cases and what will happen in the future.

I think anyone accused of this should be suspended immediately and dismissed as soon as they are found guilty and all cases reported to the police.
Any group/society of apostolic life within the Church which covers up or impedes Vatican and/or criminal investigations should be disbanded as Pope Francis did with Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

It's an absolute disgrace.

Very informative, thanks for posting this butteredhorseradish.

I totally agree with you about what Pope Leo should do and how perpetrators should be handled.

I think everybody in the Catholic church, from the Pope down to the local curate, speaks out about the abuse of children. It has never not been considered evil, and sinful.
It has been not properly dealt with and was covered up by the Catholic church - as well as by any other organisations - to avoid 'scandal' and protect individuals, but it has never been approved of.

As has been pointed out, it's unlikely that anybody currently of 'Papabile' age has an unblemished record, but I can see a future Pope who has come up through the ranks more recently, and who has not only spoken out about the abuse of children - which they all do - but has also always acted correctly in dealing with it when it occurs.

On the role of celibacy in the sexual abuse scandals - celibate women don't sexually abuse children - emotional and physical abuse, it's true, but not sexual abuse.
So it's not celibacy itself, it's celibate men.
Most sexual abusers of children are not celibate - in fact some them are not only fathers, they are the fathers or grandfathers of the children they abuse.

[I'm using 'celibacy' in the everyday use of the word, not the more precise meaning which is 'the state of being unmarried' - 'chastity' is the word relating to sexual abstinence]

From The Times today
“Paola Ugaz, an investigative journalist who has been battling corrupt priests for years, had nothing but praise for him.
"I would say he's empathetic, helpful and does the right thing, and I'm not even Catholic:
Ugaz, as she recounted how Prevost backed her investigation into the religious order Sodalitium Christiana Vitae (SCV).
After Ugaz helped lift the lid on alleged cult-like sexual abuse at the order, Leo, a cardinal at the time, ousted a bishop with ties
to the order and the Vatican shut it down. The incident resurfaced this week amid claims that when Prevost was a bishop in Chiclayo in 2022, he covered up for two priests accused of molesting women by sabotaging an investigation. Ugaz said this was untrue and a smear campaign.
*When Provost went after SCV, a revenge campaign against him started. The truth is that when Prevost heard the allegations by the women, he urged them to go to the police and referred the case to Rome.
Maybe he didn't do enough, but there was never any cover-up, she said.

I'd prefer to listen to survivors that a journalist.

Survivors respond to Pope Leo XIV’s election with grave concern about his record managing abuse cases
https://www.snapnetwork.org/survivors_respond_to_pope_leo_xiv_s_election_with_grave_concern_about_his_record_managing_abuse_cases

I hope the truth comes out .

Paola Ugaz is highly respected as an investigative journalist and has shown great courage in her reporting on child sex abuse so I think her views are worth listening to.
https://cfj.org/stories/preliminary-report-released-on-the-trial-of-peruvian-journalist-paola-ugaz/

Well, if it’s found out that an abuser confessed and the priest didn’t report it, he will be subject to the laws of the citizens of the state of Washington, not some magical higher power.

Well yes, presumably, but it won’t make any difference to what the priest can and would say.

Neither mutually exclusive.

Anyway, this is about, supposedly, inherently “good” people. If you can’t expect that from the head of a church as a bare minimum. wth can you expect?

I’d expect him to follow his religion at the bare minimum. Why would you expect anything else? The bottom line is it is known that priests cannot divulge what is said in confession (reconciliation) it is known that they believe all sin can be forgiven if the perpetrators are sorry, so what logical person would accept their testimony or expect them to denounce someone they have forgiven? As I said up thread, it’s a matter for the POLICE not the clergy.