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France 24
09-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
New Pope Leo XIV has mixed record on abuse: campaigners
Two victims' rights groups, SNAP and Bishop Accountability, issued statements following his election as the first pope from the United States on Thursday, questioning the 69-year-old's commitment to lifting the lid on the scourge. As head of the Augustinian order worldwide and then as bishop of the Peruvian diocese of Chiclayo between 2015 and 2023, "he released no names of abusers", Bishop Accountability's Anne Barrett Doyle alleged. The same was true of his two years as head of the powerful Dicastery for Bishops, a key Vatican department that advised Pope Francis on the appointment of bishops, she said. "Prevost oversaw cases filed... against bishops accused of sexual abuse and of cover-up. He maintained the secrecy of that process, releasing no names and no data," Barrett Doyle added. "Under his watch, no complicit bishop was stripped of his title." "Most disturbing is an allegation from victims in his former diocese in Peru that he never opened a canonical case into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two priests," she added. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), for its part, said that when Leo was bishop of Chiclayo, three victims reported their accusations to the diocese but nothing happened. The trio went to the civil authorities in 2022. "Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass," the group said. As provincial head of the Augustinians in the Chicago area, SNAP added, the future pope also allowed a priest accused of abusing minors to live in an Augustinian friary near a school in the city in 2000. 'Opened the way' Yet Bishop Accountability also highlighted positive reports of Leo's role in exposing the scandal of abuse and corruption against Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), an ultra-conservative lay congregation in Peru dissolved by Francis this year. Survivor Pedro Salinas -- a journalist who wrote an expose against the group -- last month included Prevost among five bishops who played an "extremely important role... on behalf of the victims". That case "gives us reasons to hope", Barrett Doyle said, adding: "We pray we see more of this decisive action by Prevost when he is pope." On Thursday, the head of the Peruvian Bishop's Conference, Carlos Garcia Camader, also defended the new pope's record. As bishop, he "opened the way here in Peru to listen to the victims, to organise the truth commission" in the SCV scandal. First accusations of abuse emerged in the early 2000s, but the case exploded in 2015 with a book citing victims that detailed "physical, psychological, and sexual abuse" carried out by the movement's leaders and founder, according to the Vatican's official news outlet. After a seven-year investigation, Pope Francis dissolved the group just weeks before he died, after expelling 10 members. About 36 people, including 19 minors were abused, according to Vatican News. In January, Prevost joined Francis in a meeting with Jose Enrique Escardo, one of the first victims to denounce the religious movement's abuses. "We reject the cover-up and secrecy, that does a lot of harm, because we have to help people who have suffered because of wrongdoing," Prevost told Peruvian daily La Republica in an interview in June 2019.
Boston Globe
08-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Will Pope Leo end the clergy sexual abuse crisis?
In other words, as bad as things may be in the United States, they are worse elsewhere in the world. Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up For example, the US Catholic Church has a zero-tolerance policy, requiring the permanent removal of priests proven guilty of child sex abuse. Meanwhile, 'universal Catholic Church law still lets bishops reinstate proven and admitted child molesters to parish posts and other ministries,' she noted. In addition, four-fifths of the 178 US bishops publish the names of credibly accused clergy. 'None provide sufficient detail, and all are incomplete — and yet we've seen nothing close to this level of disclosure by bishops anywhere else in the world,' she wrote. How much the experiences of the US Catholic Church will influence the new pope in dealing with clergy sexual abuse is, of course, unknown. Advertisement Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost — now Pope Leo — was never a bishop of a US diocese, Barrett Doyle noted, so while he would know about the policies of 'zero tolerance' and public disclosure, he was not subject to them. On a positive note, however, one victim of an abusive Catholic cult in Peru said he was responsive and helped get the cult dissolved. 'It was a stunning and extremely rare outcome,' Barrett Doyle said. Not long after white smoke emerged from the Sistine Chapel chimney on Thursday, signaling that a pope had been chosen, SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests — According to SNAP, as provincial of the Augustinians in Chicago, he allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians' St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, 'despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school.' When he was bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, three alleged victims reported to civil authorities that there was no movement on their canonical cases, and these alleged victims have since claimed that he failed to open an investigation and sent inadequate information to Rome. Because of that, SNAP filed a complaint against him on March 25, 2025. Advertisement SNAP is now calling for decisive action from the new pope in his first 100 days, including a universal zero-tolerance law and a Global Survivors Council with the authority to oversee and enforce compliance. As SNAP put it to the new pope: 'You can end the abuse crisis — the only question is, will you?' For survivors, their advocates, and everyone who wants the church to finally do the right thing — faint hope is better than no hope. Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
eNCA
28-04-2025
- Politics
- eNCA
Abuse scandal in focus in search for new pope
For decades, the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests was covered up by the Church. But cardinals on Monday listed it as a key challenge for the next pope. In a meeting to prepare for the election of a successor to Pope Francis, in a conclave starting May 7, cardinals outlined "evangelisation, the relationship with other faiths (and) the issue of abuse" as the Church's most pressing challenges. It was a statement welcomed by Anne Barrett Doyle, a long-time campaigner who co-founded which collates information on abuse. "The Church worldwide, through its parishes, schools, hospitals and orphanages, cares for tens of millions of children," she told AFP. "The next pope's most sacred obligation must be to protect them from abuse. Their safety is at stake, as is the moral authority of the church." Francis, who died on April 21, did more than any other pontiff to tackle the scourge of abuse, which appeared to overwhelm his predecessor, German Benedict XVI. But critics say the Argentine's actions during 12 years as pope fell well short of the "zero-tolerance" he promised. "What we need from the next pope is meaningful action, not more rhetoric," said Barrett Doyle. "We need him to enact a universal church law permanently removing all proven child molesters from public ministry. "We need him to release the names of the thousands of priests found guilty to date under church law." - 'Our shame' - When Francis took over in March 2013, the Church was struggling to respond to an avalanche of revelations, and many Catholics were horrified. A turning point came in 2018, during a trip to Chile. Francis, the Church's first Latin American pope, initially strongly defended a local bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest. But he went on to admit to making "grave mistakes" in the case -- a first for a pope -- and later forced the resignations of all Chile's bishops. Within months, he showed he would take action, by defrocking US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick died earlier this month in the United States, aged 94. In 2019, Francis moved to make lasting changes in how the Church dealt with abuse, which he called "our shame". The apostolic letter "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" made it mandatory to report sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, and any cover-up, and set out a procedure on how to deal with cases. In a major shift, the pope also lifted the so-called "pontifical secret" surrounding accusations, trials and decisions relating to such abuse. - 'Half-measure' - But clergy are still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remains sacrosanct. Vos Estis Lux Mundi "didn't require external oversight," noted Barrett Doyle. "It didn't require transparency to the public, disclosure to the public, and it didn't involve even reporting to law enforcement. "It was, in a way, a continuation of what we have always had." In a February 2025 stock-take, the SNAP victims' association said that in reality the Vatican continued to withhold documents on abuse cases, and also condemned the mandatory reporting as a "half-measure". Both of them are now turning their attention to the next pope. Barrett Doyle has travelled to Rome to press her case. And SNAP has set up a dedicated website, to examine individual cardinals' records on dealing with abuse. "The last three popes have all covered up clergy sex abuse. We cannot afford a fourth," it said. By Alice Ritchie
France 24
28-04-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Abuse scandal in focus in search for new pope
In a meeting to prepare for the election of a successor to Pope Francis, in a conclave starting May 7, cardinals outlined "evangelisation, the relationship with other faiths (and) the issue of abuse" as the Church's most pressing challenges. It was a statement welcomed by Anne Barrett Doyle, a long-time campaigner who co-founded which collates information on abuse. "The Church worldwide, through its parishes, schools, hospitals and orphanages, cares for tens of millions of children," she told AFP. "The next pope's most sacred obligation must be to protect them from abuse. Their safety is at stake, as is the moral authority of the church." Francis, who died on April 21, did more than any other pontiff to tackle the scourge of abuse, which appeared to overwhelm his predecessor, German Benedict XVI. But critics say the Argentine's actions during 12 years as pope fell well short of the "zero-tolerance" he promised. "What we need from the next pope is meaningful action, not more rhetoric," said Barrett Doyle. "We need him to enact a universal church law permanently removing all proven child molesters from public ministry. "We need him to release the names of the thousands of priests found guilty to date under church law." 'Our shame' When Francis took over in March 2013, the Church was struggling to respond to an avalanche of revelations, and many Catholics were horrified. A turning point came in 2018, during a trip to Chile. Francis, the Church's first Latin American pope, initially strongly defended a local bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest. But he went on to admit to making "grave mistakes" in the case -- a first for a pope -- and later forced the resignations of all Chile's bishops. Within months, he showed he would take action, by defrocking US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick died earlier this month in the United States, aged 94. In 2019, Francis moved to make lasting changes in how the Church dealt with abuse, which he called "our shame". The apostolic letter "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" made it mandatory to report sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, and any cover-up, and set out a procedure on how to deal with cases. In a major shift, the pope also lifted the so-called "pontifical secret" surrounding accusations, trials and decisions relating to such abuse. 'Half-measure' But clergy are still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remains sacrosanct. Vos Estis Lux Mundi "didn't require external oversight," noted Barrett Doyle. "It didn't require transparency to the public, disclosure to the public, and it didn't involve even reporting to law enforcement. "It was, in a way, a continuation of what we have always had." In a February 2025 stock-take, the SNAP victims' association said that in reality the Vatican continued to withhold documents on abuse cases, and also condemned the mandatory reporting as a "half-measure". Both of them are now turning their attention to the next pope. Barrett Doyle has travelled to Rome to press her case.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abuse scandal in focus in search for new pope
For decades, the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests was covered up by the Church. But cardinals on Monday listed it as a key challenge for the next pope. In a meeting to prepare for the election of a successor to Pope Francis, in a conclave starting May 7, cardinals outlined "evangelisation, the relationship with other faiths (and) the issue of abuse" as the Church's most pressing challenges. It was a statement welcomed by Anne Barrett Doyle, a long-time campaigner who co-founded which collates information on abuse. "The Church worldwide, through its parishes, schools, hospitals and orphanages, cares for tens of millions of children," she told AFP. "The next pope's most sacred obligation must be to protect them from abuse. Their safety is at stake, as is the moral authority of the church." Francis, who died on April 21, did more than any other pontiff to tackle the scourge of abuse, which appeared to overwhelm his predecessor, German Benedict XVI. But critics say the Argentine's actions during 12 years as pope fell well short of the "zero-tolerance" he promised. "What we need from the next pope is meaningful action, not more rhetoric," said Barrett Doyle. "We need him to enact a universal church law permanently removing all proven child molesters from public ministry. "We need him to release the names of the thousands of priests found guilty to date under church law." - 'Our shame' - When Francis took over in March 2013, the Church was struggling to respond to an avalanche of revelations, and many Catholics were horrified. A turning point came in 2018, during a trip to Chile. Francis, the Church's first Latin American pope, initially strongly defended a local bishop against allegations he covered up the crimes of an elderly priest. But he went on to admit to making "grave mistakes" in the case -- a first for a pope -- and later forced the resignations of all Chile's bishops. Within months, he showed he would take action, by defrocking US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after he was found guilty by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. McCarrick died earlier this month in the United States, aged 94. In 2019, Francis moved to make lasting changes in how the Church dealt with abuse, which he called "our shame". The apostolic letter "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" made it mandatory to report sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable people, and any cover-up, and set out a procedure on how to deal with cases. In a major shift, the pope also lifted the so-called "pontifical secret" surrounding accusations, trials and decisions relating to such abuse. - 'Half-measure' - But clergy are still not obliged to report abuse to civil authorities under Church codes, and anything said in the confessional box remains sacrosanct. Vos Estis Lux Mundi "didn't require external oversight," noted Barrett Doyle. "It didn't require transparency to the public, disclosure to the public, and it didn't involve even reporting to law enforcement. "It was, in a way, a continuation of what we have always had." In a February 2025 stock-take, the SNAP victims' association said that in reality the Vatican continued to withhold documents on abuse cases, and also condemned the mandatory reporting as a "half-measure". Both of them are now turning their attention to the next pope. Barrett Doyle has travelled to Rome to press her case. And SNAP has set up a dedicated website, to examine individual cardinals' records on dealing with abuse. "The last three popes have all covered up clergy sex abuse. We cannot afford a fourth," it said. ar/ide/phz
