SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests) and Bishop Accountability published after choosing 69-year-old Cardinal Robert Prevost as a new pope Messages in which Leon XIV accused the lack of actions on sexual abuse in the Church.
According to Anne Barrett Doyle from Bishop Accountability, Prevost, as the supervisor of the Augustinian Order and the bishop of Chiclayo, “He did not publish any names of” clergy committing sexual violence.
“Disturbing allegations” towards Pope Leon XIV
– The most disturbing are the allegations of victims from his former diocese in Peru, which claim that He never initiated canonical proceedings In the case of alleged sexual assault committed by two priests, ”D doyle emphasized.
In turn, Snap told reports that at a time when Prevost was the bishop of Chiclayo, Three victims of sexual violence turned to the diocese, but without results.
“The victims say that Bishop Prevost did not initiate investigations, sent incomplete information to Rome, and the diocese allowed (accused) a priest to continue to celebrate mass” – wrote the organization, cited by AFP.
Criticism at Leon XIV also refers to the fact that as a provincial of Augustians in Chicago In 2000, he allowed the priest accused of harassment of minors to live in the monastery of St. John Stone in this American city.
Bishop Edinson Farfan, successor to Prevosta in the diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, however, believes that The later Pope “warned the procedures”. “He was the most sensitive member of the Peruvian church,” assured the priest, quoted by AFP, referring to allegations of covering up sexual abuse.
Various opinions on the activities of the current pope
Also chairman of the Peru Episcopal Conference, Bishop Carlos Garcia Camader, defended the new pope – Especially in the context of the matter of the organization of the Sodalia of Christian life (SCV), i.e. founded in 1971 in the Peru of the Catholic Association of Apostolic Life, which included, among others for sexual abuse.
The condemnation of SCV by Prevosta was also positively assessed by the Bishop Accountability organization. One of the victims of SCV, cited by AFP, said that Leon XIV was one of five bishops who played “an extremely important role (…) on behalf of the victims.”
A few weeks before his death, Pope Francis dissolved SCV after a few years of investigation. According to Vatican News, About 36 people experienced violence, including 19 minors.
