The US Catholic outlet the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) has strongly defended Pope Leo XIV against charges by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) – that he mishandled allegations of clerical sexual abuse in Chicago (USA) and later in Peru when he served as a bishop there.
NCR quotes child protection expert Hans Zollner SJ as praising Robert Prevost for the support of that cause – both in Rome as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and earlier in Peru as a missionary bishop. Zollner argues that the new pope’s broad experience both as a pastor and an administrator – on top of his training as a canonist – “are vital for what we need now in terms of church leadership, when it comes to passing on the faith in a challenging environment.”
Pope Leo XIV greets Peruvian journalist Paola Ugaz in the Vatican, soon after his election.
NCR also reports that the new pope has also been affirmed by a Peruvian journalist – Paola Ugaz – who covered the topic of church abuse and assisted the downfall of an abusive right-wing Peruvian sodality – the so-called ‘Sodalitium Christianae Vitae‘. Bishop Prevost had, she said, “supported us quietly — not in front of the cameras — since 2018… He never did it for recognition. He just helped. He was always there… Justice came thanks to the church, not the courts.”
NCR also examines and counters the SNAP charges against Prevost – of mismanagement of particular cases of clerical abuse in Chicago and Peru.
It argues that the Peruvian charges – related to the period when Prevost was bishop of Chiclayo (2015-23) – were false and orchestrated by members of the same suppressed Catholic sodality. In the case of an abusive priest allowed to live near a school in Chicago in the 1990s (when Prevost was serving as Augustinian provincial), this had been cleared with the school in question while the decison preceded church rules that banned this practice.
Hans Zollner SJ is expecting the pope to act soon in the case of Fr Marco Rupnik, a once-celebrated artist accused of abuse by multiple Slovenian women. Expelled by the Jesuit order in 2023 Rupnik received indecisive treatment from Pope Francis – who had received conflicting advice on the case.
Zollner hopes that Pope Leo “promotes awareness about the necessity to engage and continue engaging in safeguarding measures,” especially the three pillars of tackling abuse: compliance, transparency and accountability.
Survivors of clerical abuse may also be wondering if Pope Leo will see a need for historical transparency – e.g. on the origins of the practice of secrecy in the past – to re-establish the trust in the church that survivor-support organisations like SNAP clearly do not yet have.
To read the full NCR report, click here.
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