MILWAUKEE (WI)
WTMJ-TV [Milwaukee WI]
September 3, 2025
Sara Larson is the Founder and Executive Director of Awake, a Milwaukee-based organization representing survivors of clergy abuse throughout the United States. Today on WTMJ Conversations, she sits down with WTMJ’s Libby Collins to discuss why she founded the organization, the mission of Awake, infiltrating the Vatican to get her message to Pope Leo, and much more. It’s all ahead on this edition of WTMJ Conversations!
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: So, here you are in Rome with your 37 letters. How did you get those into the Vatican?
SARA LARSON: Well, I’m very fortunate that I’ve built some relationships with people at the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is the body of people that advises the pope on matters related to abuse. I had someone that I had met with several times from the Pontifical Commission who was also going to be at the conference I was speaking at. And I asked her, if I get these to you, is there any way you can get them to the pope, and she said she would try.
So, I met up with her, I went to a meeting at the Pontifical Commission, I delivered these books of letters, we had bound them all together and written a cover letter from us. And I handed them off to her and really just said a little prayer that maybe they would make their way to the pope.
SARA LARSON: Just yesterday, we received a letter in our Awake mailbox from the Apostolic Nunciature. I said, what is this from.
LIBBY COLLINS: And for people who don’t understand —
SARA LARSON: I just knew because of that seal that something had come from the Vatican to the United States, and it was coming to me. We opened it, and it was a letter from Pope Leo XIV to our community.
LIBBY COLLINS: A personal letter from Pope Leo.
SARA LARSON: Yes, it was a real surprise. I had hoped that we could get the letters to him, and I hoped that maybe he would respond, but that seemed like a long shot. I know the pope probably gets thousands of letters every day. It was really beautiful.
LIBBY COLLINS: So, what was his response?
SARA LARSON: Well, I can read it to you.
[Hear the full audio of the this interview by clicking here.]