Pope Leo has been accused of failing to correctly examine allegations of child sexual abuse against priests in his church buildings in Chicago and Peru.
The Survivors Community of these Abused by Monks (SNAP) say they’ve made the Vatican properly conscious of the then-Cardinal Robert Prevost’s reported inaction on the allegations, submitting an official grievance with Vatican officers in opposition to the brand new Pope in March. They are saying they haven’t had a response.
The allegations give attention to Leo not opening a proper church investigation into claimed sexual abuse carried out by two clergymen within the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which the pontiff led from 2014 to 2023, in addition to permitting a priest accused of sexually abusing minors in Chicago to reside close to a college.
The Unbiased has approached the Vatican for remark.
Within the first occasion, three Peruvian ladies who alleged abuse in opposition to a neighborhood Father courting again to 2007, in addition to in opposition to one other priest, claimed that, below Leo’s watch in 2022, the Diocese downplayed particulars and documentation of their story after they despatched it to the Vatican.
Additionally they alleged, in downplaying the claims, that the Diocese deliberately prevented the church from taking motion in opposition to the accused clergymen.
“The allegations … are significantly important, since Prevost’s present put up as head of the Dicastery for Bishops oversees complaints and investigations of episcopal negligence in abuse instances around the globe,” the Pillar, a Catholic information outlet investigating the church, reported in a September 2024 article.
The outlet claims that Leo met with the accusers in April 2022 and inspired them to take their case to the civil authorities whereas the church investigated.
The church’s investigation was reportedly “shelved for lack of proof and since the statute of limitations had expired”.
The Vatican has reportedly denied any wrongdoing on this case.
The second declare issues allegations that Leo did not notify St Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, an elementary college in Chicago, that an Augustine priest accused of abusing minors had moved to a friary half a block away.
That priest remained close to the varsity for 2 years. He was relocated solely after the US Convention of Catholic Bishops handed a regulation to maintain clergymen suspected of abuse distant from kids.
Within the letter despatched by SNAP to the Vatican in March, the group requested that Vatican officers “conduct a radical investigation” into Leo’s involvement within the two situations.
They’ve since referred to as for the brand new pontiff to take “decisive motion” inside his first 100 days in opposition to sexual abuse inside the church, together with passing a zero-tolerance regulation and establishing a reparations fund supported by church belongings.
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