Pope Leo XIV told Catholic Church leaders he expects more from them when it comes to dealing with accusations of abuse within the body. While speaking to about 400 bishops and cardinals from 38 countries Wednesday, June 25, he offered guidance on dealing with abuse scandals.
The gathering at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican was part of the special Holy Year celebrations for clergy.
What did Pope Leo say about abuse?
Leo issued a clear mandate when it comes to sex abuse within the church, saying leaders “must be firm and decisive in dealing with situations that can cause scandal and with every case of abuse, especially involving minors, and fully respect the legislation currently in force.”
It was the second time in a matter of days the pope commented on sex abuse scandals within the church.
During the week of June 16, he told a Peruvian journalist there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse – including sexual and spiritual abuses, as well as abuses of authority and power. He also called for “transparent processes” to create a culture of prevention within the church.
Why did Pope Leo address sex abuse?
The Catholic Church has become mired in child sex abuse scandals, with allegations in many cases that go back decades.
According to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA) published in October 2022, which looked at only cases in England and Wales, “between 1970 and 2015, the Roman Catholic Church received more than 900 complaints involving over 3,000 instances of child sexual abuse against more than 900 individuals connected to the Church, including priests, monks and volunteers.”
The report said during that time period, there were 177 prosecutions resulting in 133 convictions, while civil claims against dioceses and religious institutes resulted in millions of dollars being paid in compensation.
And while that report only looked at cases documented through 2015, it said since 2016, there have been more than 100 allegations reported every year. And again, that was just documented cases. The IICSA says “the true scale of sexual abuse of children is likely to have been much higher.”
According to the research database EBSCO, the Catholic Church has faced “extensive” sex abuse scandals in the United States.
“Initial media coverage began in the 1980s, but the issue gained significant attention after the Boston Globe published a damning exposé in 2002, highlighting widespread abuse and inadequate responses from church officials,” EBSCO reports.
Investigations revealed thousands of priests had been accused, but that the church showed patterns of transferring offending priests rather than taking disciplinary action, leading to public outrage and scrutiny of the church’s handling of these cases.
In 2014, Pope Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, created the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in an effort to address the scandal.
A lasting impact
While Pope Francis created the commission in 2014, it wasn’t until January 2019 that he directly acknowledged how much damage the scandal has caused the church in a letter to U.S. bishops.
A June 2019 report by the Pew Research Center gave insight into how the decades-long scandal had damaged the Catholic Church’s standing in the United States.
Pew found an overwhelming majority of Catholics (95%) were at least somewhat aware of the scandals. And at that time, 80% said they believed the issues continued to persist in the church.
According to that survey, about 25% of Catholics stopped going to church as much because of the scandals and cut back their charitable contributions.
Calls for Pope Leo to do more
Awake, a U.S. group whose mission is “to awaken our community to the full reality of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, work for transformation, and foster healing for all who have been wounded,” is now calling on Pope Leo to end the church’s “silence” on abuse.
This week, Awake’s Executive Director Sara Larson is set to deliver copies of 37 letters written by church sex abuse survivors to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors this week, with a request that they be passed along to Pope Leo.
Awake says the letters were inspired by a 2023 interview the pope gave when he was an archbishop regarding abuse in the church. In that interview, he told Vatican News: “Silence is not an answer. Silence is not the solution. We must be transparent and honest. We must accompany and assist the victims, because otherwise their wounds will never heal.”
