VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Amid the joyous reception for Robert Prevost, who stunned the world when the U.S. and Peruvian bishop emerged from the loggia of St. Peter’s as Pope Leo XIV, the only cloud on his reputation came from groups alleging that he had mishandled sexual abuse cases.
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and Bishop Accountability, abuse watchdog groups based in the United States, have blasted Leo, elevating allegations in some survivor communities, the most serious of which concern three women in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, who claim that the then-bishop failed to properly open and conduct an investigation into their allegations that two priests sexually abused them as children.
Last fall, the three women signed a letter stating publicly that they had told Prevost about the abuse in 2022 and had never received any offer of psychological, spiritual or legal support. They argued that while he was leading the Chiclayo Diocese, there was no evidence that he had opened a preliminary investigation or that he had removed their alleged abusers from ministry.
Reporting from the Catholic news site Crux calls into question the narrative that the new pope was negligent in handling abusers, and Leo has been lauded by other survivors for his handling of cases of abuse.
The new pope has received particular praise for his record in dealing with Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, a lay group suppressed by the Vatican earlier this year for sexual …