CHICAGO (IL)
ABC7 Chicago [Chicago, IL]
May 20, 2025
By Michelle Gallardo
‘To our knowledge, Pope Leo XIV has acted in accordance with Church policies in every abuse case’: Chicago Archdiocese
In the wake of the elevation of Pope Leo XIV, advocates for people abused by Catholic priests spoke out Tuesday.
They are claiming the pope didn’t take enough action on cases that were previously under his purview.
The advocates said they filed a complaint against then-Cardinal Robert Prevost just six weeks before he was elected pope.
None of the accusations made Tuesday directly implicate Pope Leo XIV in any abuse.
Rather, they are allegations that, throughout his decades-long career, he didn’t take enough action on cases that were under his purview.
Victims advocates said they were so worried that they filed a complaint against then-Cardinal Prevost with the Vatican back in March.
While Catholics around the U.S. continue to celebrate the election of Pope Leo XIV, members of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, are once again speaking out, accusing the Chicago-born pope of mishandling cases of sexual abuse going back decades.
“It doesn’t seem that Prevost prioritized protecting children at all,” SNAP spokesperson James Egan said.
In a wide-ranging press conference Tuesday, members of SNAP covered various cases of sexual abuse allegedly committed by clergy who at one point would have been supervised by Prevost: as head of the Augustinian Order in Chicago, as Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru or more recently as prefect of the Dicastery of Bishops in Rome, where they say as many as 78 cases worldwide need addressing.
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In each one, the now pope is accused of not doing enough to bring the priests to justice.
“For the new pope to have any credibility with survivors, there needs to be an apology. And there needs to be an opening up of documents and all of the evidence,” said Sarah Pearson, with SNAP.
SNAP brought up the 2022 cases of three now-adult women in Peru, who say they were abused as minors by two priests assigned to the Diocese of Chiclayo. And while the abuse itself took place long before Prevost served as bishop there, he’s accused of failing to initiate an investigation. That failure led to SNAP filing a complaint with the Vatican on March 25.
“Prevost, after he gets this report, he tells the victims, ‘I believe you,’ and then he does nothing that he’s supposed to do under Peruvian policy that he himself set up,” SNAP Co-Founder Peter Isley said.
The Diocese of Chiclayo disputes that, stating that the accused was removed from ministry, the victims were offered assistance and the allegations were reported to authorities.
Pope Leo has given several public statements about the Catholic sexual abuse scandal in the past, encouraging victims to report abuse and speaking out against secrecy.
He has not addressed these accusations directly, but in a statement Tuesday the Archdiocese of Chicago said in part, “to our knowledge, Pope Leo XIV has acted in accordance with Church policies in every abuse case within his scope of leadership at the time and has consistently expressed his compassion for survivors of this crime and sin.”
Members of SNAP said Tuesday’s press conference is not just about lobbing accusations, but about calling on the new pope to do better and do what his predecessors have not: sign a zero tolerance law that would punish those who cover up sexual abuse by priests.