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Associated Press
20-05-2025
- Associated Press
Survivors of clergy sexual abuse turn up calls for reforms from new pope's American hometown
CHICAGO (AP) — Survivors of clergy sexual abuse amplified calls Tuesday for a global zero-tolerance policy from the new pope's American hometown and raised questions about Leo XIV's history of dealing with accused priests from Chicago to Australia. The cases span Robert Prevost's previous posts. They include leading a Catholic religious order , bishop and as head of the Vatican's office for bishops , where he was made cardinal. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, called out alleged abuse by Chicago priests and other clergy in Peru , Colombia , Canada and Australia where it contended the new pope should have done more. Along with a worldwide zero-tolerance law for accused priests, SNAP has called for a global truth commission, survivor reparations and church transparency measures . 'It is our hope that Pope Leo does the right thing,' Shaun Dougherty, SNAP president, told reporters in Chicago. 'It is our gut, in our experience, that says that he will need the pressure.' Associated Press requests for comment to the Vatican media office Tuesday and its diplomatic representative to the United States didn't receive immediate replies. No one has accused the new pope of any act of abuse himself or knowingly keeping confirmed abusers in public ministry, which has been the biggest scandal plaguing the Catholic Church recently. Instead, victims' advocates said he should have involved authorities earlier, been vocal about accused priests and worked to strip them of their titles. SNAP has been gathering evidence of how the church has covered for abusers and provided internal communications referencing cases, including in Chicago. 'This is the underground story of Prevost, this is the side of him and his management and decisions that we're finally able to bring to light,' said Peter Isely with SNAP. Some cases span the time when Prevost was based in Chicago as the Midwest regional leader of the Order of St. Augustine , a job he took in 1999. Three years later, he became worldwide leader of the Augustinians. One priest who faced dozens of abuse allegations left the church in 1993 before landing a job as a Shedd Aquarium tour guide on a recommendation from a top Augustinian official. The priest worked at the popular tourist and school field trip destination in Chicago for nearly a decade before Shedd officials learned about the abuse claims. 'Had Shedd Aquarium received any information regarding the kind of allegations that have been brought to our attention, we would not have hired this individual,' a 2003 letter from the aquarium said. Advocates said Prevost inherited the case when he became Augustinian provincial leader and should have stepped in earlier, considering the priest's new job working directly with children. Survivors have demanded the church adopt a global policy that a priest be permanently removed from ministry for a single act of sexual abuse that is either admitted to or established according to church law. That has been the policy in the U.S. church since the height of the U.S. scandal in 2002, but the Vatican hasn't imposed it worldwide. SNAP also cited a case in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which then-Bishop Prevost led from 2014 to 2023. Three women came forward in 2022 to accuse two priests of sexual abuse. The diocese forwarded information about the case to a Vatican office, which closed the case without a finding. However, the diocese later reopened the investigation after Prevost left for a Vatican post. Critics said Prevost failed to investigate sufficiently. The Vatican and Prevost's successor determined Prevost acted correctly as far as church law is concerned. The Vatican noted he imposed preliminary restrictions on the accused priest pending investigation by Peruvian authorities, who concluded that the statute of limitations had expired. As a bishop in Peru and then prefect at the Vatican, Prevost was intimately involved in an investigation into an influential Catholic movement in Peru, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which was suppressed earlier this year by Pope Francis because of alleged abuses. As a result, Prevost made plenty of enemies in the movement who have shared the allegations against him on social media in what some in the Vatican say was a campaign to try to discredit him. SNAP also cited Prevost's role from 2023 to 2025 leading the Dicastery for Bishops. It cited cases of accused bishops from Canada, Colombia and Australia who resigned amid abuse allegations but were allowed to retain their status as bishops. While Prevost's office would have handled investigations of accused bishops, the final decisions would have been those of Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, because the pontiff has ultimate authority over bishops. __ Associated Press writers Peter Smith in Pittsburgh and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.
CBS News
20-05-2025
- CBS News
SNAP to present documents accusing Pope Leo XIV of mishandling of abuse in Peru
A group known for protecting those sexually abused by Catholic priests is unveiling new whistleblower documents on Tuesday, accusing Pope Leo XIV of mishandling of abuse allegations during his time as bishop in Peru. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, said there's mounting evidence supporting these claims against Pope Leo, including his alleged patterns of failing to properly investigate abuse claims, particularly with the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru. SNAP claims the pope also misrepresented abusers' actions to the public during his time in Peru. The group said it's bringing forth that new evidence during a press conference in downtown Chicago on Tuesday.
National Post
11-05-2025
- National Post
Advocates hold onto hope as Pope Leo faces claims he mishandled alleged clergy abuse
An advocate for victims of clergy abuse said Saturday they are holding on to cautious hope about Pope Leo XIV, but keeping a close eye on recently surfaced allegations that he previously sheltered those accused of abuse. Article content Article content Newfoundlander Gemma Hickey, the board president of Ending Clergy Abuse, was in Rome this week to push for the church to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for clergy abuse. They said Saturday that survivors have mixed reviews about Leo, which is the name taken by Cardinal Robert Prevost upon his election Thursday. Article content 'It's only been two days now to his papacy,' Hickey said in an interview. 'I am being cautiously optimistic based on what I have heard.' Article content Article content The bottom line, however, is that the church must change, they added. Article content 'You can't be married and be a priest,' Hickey said. 'But you can be a child rapist and be a priest. There's something wrong with that picture.' Article content Just weeks before Prevost became the first American to be elected Pope, a Chicago-based group filed complaints about him with Vatican officials, claiming he fell short in his responses to allegations of abuse in Chicago and Peru. Article content In a March 25 letter to the Vatican secretary of state, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests allege Prevost failed to investigate after three women came forward in 2022 to say they were abused by two priests in Peru when they were minors. The letter says Prevost, then the Bishop of Chiclayo, a coastal city in northern Peru, did not ask the women for testimony, nor did he notify authorities or remove the priests. Article content Article content The letter also claims Prevost didn't alert authorities at a Chicago elementary school when a priest forbidden to be alone with minors because he was accused of sexual abuse was residing at a nearby Augustinian friary in the early 2000s. Article content Article content The letter said Prevost, who was a regional leader of the Order of St. Augustine at the time, gave the approval for James Ray, then a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago, to live at the friary 'half a city block away from the school,' despite knowing Ray was not allowed to be around children. Article content 'In our opinion, this conduct of Cardinal Prevost stands as an abuse of ecclesiastical power, office, or function that has harmed the vulnerable and caused scandal,' the letter reads. Article content But some advocates, including Pedro Salinas, a founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse, credit Prevost with supporting survivors of an abusive, Peru-based Catholic movement that was eventually dissolved by the late Pope Francis. Article content 'As Bishop of Chiclayo, Robert Prevost played a decisive role in confronting the Sodalicio case — one of the most egregious abuse scandals in Latin America,' Salinas, a journalist, said in a press release Friday. 'He stood with us when others didn't. That's why his election matters.'
CBS News
09-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
Priest sex abuse survivors hopeful Pope Leo XIV brings change to Catholic Church
As the world celebrates a new pope, the largest group for survivors of clerical abuse in the U.S. – SNAP – is calling for a zero tolerance policy, but there's more to the story in the Chicago area. The longtime leader of SNAP's Chicago office knows Pope Leo XIV's family. So, while he echoes the group's call for change with this new pope, his main message is one of hope. SNAP stands for Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. Larry Antonsen does more than lead the group in Chicago, he's a survivor himself, and has been involved in the organization for more than 20 years. "He seems like a pretty normal guy, from what I've heard and seen," he said of Pope Leo XIV, whose Chicago connection goes back a long way. "His mom and dad were at our wedding, so we go back kind of a long way." Pope Leo XIV's parents, Louis and Mildred Prevost, were at Antonsen's wedding more than 50 years ago. Louis Prevost, a school superintendent, also hired Antonsen's wife for her first teaching job. Fifty-four years later, Larry Antonsen is hopeful for what the new pope will do when it comes to addressing sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. "He's got a long way to go, but that's ok. I'm really, I'm hopeful with this new pope. I really am hopeful," he said. The national organization – 25,000 members strong – didn't mince words in a letter sent to Leo XIV. "With the title comes a grave reckoning," they wrote, calling for a zero-tolerance policy – removing a priest from a church after a single act of sexual abuse that is admitted to or established. "They have to start, because this has been going on and there are so many people that have been hurt," Antonsen said. Antonsen also hopes he can strengthen his Chicago connection with the new pope if and when he comes back for a visit. "He's got a lot of things on his plate, but he's gotta start somewhere, and if he would just keep an open mind and open ears to us," he said. Antonsen said close friends of his reached out to the pope when they were visiting Rome recently to see if he'd say hello. Still Cardinal Robert Prevost at the time, he ended up driving to meet and spent the day with them off a Chicago connection. Antonsen hopes that spirit means he will make time for him, too.
The Independent
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
New Jersey Catholic bishop says diocese will no longer oppose investigation into abuse allegations
The Catholic bishop of a New Jersey diocese said he would no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of clergy sexual abuse that the church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years. Camden Bishop Joseph Williams, who took over the diocese in March, told the Philadelphia Inquirer on Monday the diocese no longer wants to prevent the attorney general's office from seating a grand jury to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by priests and other religious officials. Williams told the newspaper it was important to help those harmed by the church and that he doesn't want to stop their voices from being heard. 'Our people need to hear this, the clergy needs to hear this, so that it never happens again, first of all,' Williams said. A message seeking comment Tuesday was left with the diocese. The change comes a week after attorneys for the diocese argued before the state Supreme Court that prosecutors did not have the authority under court rules to use a grand jury to investigate private church officials. Instead, the lawyers argued, the rule requires grand jury presentments to tackle public officials and government. The high court has not yet issued an opinion on the arguments. It's not immediately clear how the bishop's new position would affect their ruling. The state attorney general's office said in an emailed statement Tuesday that it welcomes the 'introspection that produced this shift in the Diocese of Camden's position.' The statement pointed out that prosecutors are still subject to lower court orders that blocked the investigation. Mark Crawford, state director of Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, said in a text message Tuesday that the change was 'long overdue.' 'We are cautiously optimistic as this is certainly the right thing to do and for the right reasons,' he said. 'This should have happened long ago and seeing Bishop Williams take a different approach is encouraging.' The issue dates to a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 that found more than 1,000 children had been abused in that state since the 1940s, prompting the New Jersey attorney general to announce a similar investigation. But the results of New Jersey's inquiry never became public partly because a legal battle led by the Diocese of Camden was unfolding behind closed doors amid sealed proceedings. Then, this year the Bergen Record obtained records disclosing a trial court's judgment in favor of the diocese and revealing the diocese's objection to the grand jury. And in March, the Supreme Court ordered more documents in the case unsealed. The core disagreement is over whether a court rule permits grand juries in New Jersey to issue findings in cases involving private individuals. Trial and appellate courts found for the diocese. In oral arguments, Supreme Court justices at times sounded skeptical of the diocese's then-position that the grand jury investigation would amount to a condemnation of the church and its officials. 'We don't know what a grand jury would say, am I right?' Justice Anne Patterson asked at the time.
