Pope Leo XIV Meets Abuse Survivors in Peru and Calls for Amends
Pope Leo XIV met six abuse survivors in Lima and told Peru's bishops the Church must answer clergy abuse with truth, justice, and making amends.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Pope Leo XIV met with six survivors of abuse by members of the clergy and ecclesiastical institutions in Peru on Thursday, Vatican News reported, citing a statement from the Holy See Press Office. The meeting took place at the Apostolic Nunciature in Lima, beginning just after 4:30 p.m. local time on Nov. 12, and lasted just over an hour.
After a brief greeting in the nunciature's chapel, the pope met with each of the six survivors individually, listening to their stories of suffering and pain, the Vatican statement said. He also reflected with them "on how to foster a change in mindset through listening to victims, seeking the truth, supporting healing processes, and committing to the creation of safe environments." The statement noted that "some of them had previously belonged to groups linked to the Sodalitium of Christian Life."
At the end of the meeting, Pope Leo "thanked them for their valuable testimony, expressing his closeness to them and to all those victims of abuse whom he had been unable to meet" Vatican News reported. He then imparted his blessing before taking his leave.
Earlier on his first full day in the country, the pope addressed Peru's bishops at the chapel of the Archbishop's Palace in Lima and spoke directly about abuse in the Church, Vatican News reported. After pointing to Sts. Martin de Porres and Juan Macías, who through their humility teach us to recognize Christ in the least among us, he condemned "a reality that has caused immense suffering, namely the abuses perpetrated by members of the clergy or within the context of the Church." He said, "We must respond as Jesus would, with truth, with justice, with forgiveness, with making amends, and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention and protection for the weakest in light of such crimes."
OSV News also reported the Thursday meeting and the pope's remarks to the bishops. It quoted him telling the bishops, "In this regard, allow me to mention a reality that has caused us so much pain: the abuses perpetrated by members of the clergy or within the context of the Church" OSV News also noted that the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae was a lay movement suppressed by Pope Francis in 2025. In a 2025 interview with OSV News, Peruvian journalist Paola Ugaz, who with survivor and fellow journalist Pedro Salinas documented alleged abuse in the movement, said that as bishop of Chiclayo, the future pope "had supported us quietly — not in front of the cameras — since 2018. He never did it for recognition. He just helped. He was always there." Ugaz also told OSV News that "Justice came thanks to the Church, not the courts."
The Holy See Press Office did not identify the six people who met with the pope, and it did not announce a change in Church law. The public remarks to the bishops, and the private meeting that followed, are the Vatican's official account of Thursday's events in Lima. The meeting came a day after the pope arrived in Peru and told authorities he was also returning to his homeland, which Dock Line reported: Pope Leo XIV Tells Peru He Is Returning to His Homeland.
Opinion:
Abuse by clergy is a crime and a sin. A meeting with six survivors is not a substitute for truth, and it is not the end of the work. Listening matters. Justice and making amends matter more than a photograph of a listening session.
The pope was right to tell the bishops to answer as Jesus would, with truth and with justice, and to protect the weak. Forgiveness does not cancel the duty to investigate, to remove the guilty, and to repair what can be repaired. No person should be judged by rank, and no office in the Church should be a shield for predators.
Catholics should take the words seriously and then watch what follows. A change in mindset, if it is real, will show up in cases handled honestly, in victims who are not silenced, and in bishops who would rather lose face than lose the little ones. Anything less is talk.
