Accusation of abuse cover-up against Pope apparently untenable

When Leo XIV steps onto the balcony of St Peter's Basilica on Thursday evening, not everyone cheers. Initiatives by those affected by abuse in the Catholic Church accused the new Pope of past misconduct in his dealings with perpetrators and victims. The accusations are not new and have already been rejected.

Global child protection expert Hans Zollner suspects that the community at work behind the accusations is the same one that Robert Prevost resolutely fought against during his time in Peru. The Vatican dissolved this very Sodalitium Christianae Vitae community in mid-April due to cases of sexual violence, abuse of power and cover-ups, among other things.

Two cases

Specifically, the current allegations relate to two cases. The first took place in Chicago in 2000. At the time, Prevost was the regional head of his order, the Augustinians. The Archdiocese of Chicago had to accommodate a priest who was accused of child abuse in several cases. At the time, the accused had not been allowed to exercise his ministry for around ten years, worked in the administration of the diocese and was under surveillance. Because the archdiocese sold the priest's previous place of residence, new accommodation was sought and found in a monastery of the Augustinian Order - in compliance with the disciplinary measures.

As provincial, Prevost had to authorise the supervised offender's move to the monastery. He is now accused of not recognising the local proximity of the house to a Catholic primary school as a risk when accommodating a suspected sex offender. It was not until two years later that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops published the Dallas Charter with stricter guidelines on child protection and the handling of abuse cases. At this point, in 2002, the diocese dismissed the priest completely from active ministry and he left the religious house. The man, against whom further allegations of abuse were later made, has since been laicised.

The second case has already been closed under church and civil law, but has been partially reopened after receiving a lot of attention in some media. Three women are accusing the diocese of Chiclayo in Peru and its former bishop and current pope of alleged misconduct and even cover-ups in dealing with the allegations they reported against two priests. The alleged sexual assaults by the priests took place before Prevost's appointment as Bishop of Chiclayo in 2014 and were not reported until 2022.

The Peruvian diocese responded to public accusations in a television report in September 2024 with a detailed statement in which it rejected all allegations. Prevost had initiated a preliminary investigation, suspended the priest from his duties and forwarded the results of the investigation to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. The women were offered psychological support and advised to file a civil lawsuit. The state investigation was closed due to a lack of evidence. The outcome of the new investigation in the Vatican is still pending.

An act of revenge by a disbanded community?

While some victims' associations are now accusing Prevost of allegedly mishandling these cases, prominent victims of abuse are defending the new pope. In a statement, journalist Pedro Salinas, co-founder of a victims' initiative, praised Prevost's "decisive role in dealing with the Sodalicio case - one of the worst abuse scandals in Latin America". Like Zollner, he suspects a campaign by former members of the dissolved community "Sodalitium Christianae Vitae", or Sodalicio for short.

Zollner, who heads the Safeguarding Institute of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, explained that he had so far experienced Prevost as someone who was committed to combating abuse - "without saying that everything was perfect". The Jesuit priest attests that Leo XIV was very sensitive to the issue.