As many celebrate Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost‘s historic selection as pope, the world’s largest organization for clergy sexual abuse victims is worried about the pontiff’s past handling of sexual abuse cases and called on him to take a tougher stance on the issue that has long plagued the Roman Catholic Church.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), a network that says it represents more than 25,000 victims and supporters worldwide, released a statement on the day of Pope Leo XIV’s selection expressing “grave concern” and urging him to “enact a truly universal zero tolerance law for sexual abuse and cover-up.”
The Chicago-born pontiff was chosen to lead the Vatican on May 8, just one day after the conclave to pick a successor to the late Pope Francis began. Prevost, 69, was born and raised in Chicago but went on to spend most of his career in Peru, first as a missionary and then as a bishop. He is a dual U.S.-Peruvian citizen.
Prevost’s ascension resurfaced concerns about his record on clergy sexual abuse during his tenure in Chicago and in Peru, including that he failed to do enough to address victims’ allegations.
The Vatican has denied Prevost engaged in any wrongdoing, and the former cardinal has drawn plaudits in other cases for helping address abuse threats. He has also advocated for more transparency on the topic from the church.
In an interview with the Peruvian newspaper La Republica, he denounced clergy sexual abuse and urged victims to come forward. In Peru, he helped dissolve an ultra-conservative Catholic movement Sodality of Christian Life after investigations uncovered years of sexual abuses, corruption and mismanagement, according to the Vatican News.
Still, survivors are worried he will not take a tough enough stance to eradicate abuse within the church.
Cases in Chicago, Peru spur questions of accountability and transparency
While Prevost led the Augustinians in Chicago in 2000, a priest whose former ministry years earlier had been restricted over allegations of child abuse, moved into an Augustinian monastery near a Catholic elementary school. Church officials at the time failed to notify the school and, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, church records even claimed there was no school nearby.
In 2006, the Illinois attorney general added the priest, James Ray, to its public list of “abusive clerics and religious brothers,” claiming there were 13 reported survivors between 1974 and 1991. The Vatican has denied that Prevost permitted Ray to live at the monastery.
Prevost also faces allegations of inaction in connection with his time in northwestern Peru. While he served as a bishop in Chiclayo in 2022, three woman came forward with allegations that they were sexually abused by two priests beginning in 2007 when they were minors.
The victims said in a public statement that Prevost failed to thoroughly look into the allegations. They said, “no investigation was carried out, nor were the precautionary measures for the protection of the faithful, boys and girls … the case was filed and archived,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.
Two months before Prevost was elected pope, SNAP filed a complaint against him with the Vatican, claiming he failed to open an investigation and “sent inadequate information to Rome.”
Civil authorities in Peru closed the case after the statute of limitations had passed. The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which investigates cases of clergy sexual abuse, closed the case in 2023.
In a public letter, the Diocese of Chiclayo said accusations that the former cardinal “remained silent in face of the complaints … is not true.” The Vatican has also denied any wrongdoing by Prevost.
Prevost helped bring down abusive Catholic group in South America
Pedro Salinas, a Peruvian journalist who wrote a bombshell expose on the Sodalitium of Christian Life in 2015, said Prevost played “an extremely important role” in the Catholic movement’s dissolution.
Leaders of the ultra-conservative group founded in Peru had faced widespread allegations of corruption as well as physical, psychological and sexual violence, including against minors.
In January, Prevost and Pope Francis, who had long paid close attention to the case, met with Jose Enrique Escardo, one of the group’s victims who spoke out against the movement and its abuses. Pope Francis dissolved the movement weeks before he died, according to the Vatican News.
“It was a stunning and extremely rare outcome,” said Bishop Accountability, a victims advocacy group in a statement after Prevost was elected pope. “Yet punishing abusers isn’t heroic — it’s moral and decent. We pray we see more of this decisive action by Prevost when he is pope.”
Speaking to the media on May 8, Bishop Carlos García Camader, the head of Peru’s bishops’ conference, praised Prevost’s work with abuse survivors, saying he “opened the way here in Peru to listen to the victims, to organize the truth commission” against the Sodalitium of Christian Life.
In public statements, Prevost has stated firmly that he stands against sex abuse in the church. In the 2019 interview with La Republica, he encouraged victims of abuse to come forward and said he supported more transparency from the church.
“We reject the cover-up and secrecy, that does a lot of damage, because we have to help the people who have suffered from the bad act,” he said, later adding, “On behalf of the Church, we want to tell people that if there was any offence, if they suffered or are victims of the bad actions of a priest to come and denounce it, to act for the good of the Church, of the person and the community.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pope Leo XIV faces scrutiny over record on clergy sexual abuse
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