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Pope Leo XIV said that there should not be tolerance in the Catholic Church For any type of abuse – sexual, spiritual or abuse of authority – and called for “transparent processes” to create a culture of prevention through the Church.
Leo made his first public comments on the sexual abuse scandal of the clergy in a message written to a Peruvian journalist who documented a Case of blatant mistreatment And financial corruption in a Peruvian Catholic movement, a member of Christian life.
The message was read aloud Friday evening in Lima during a performance of a play based on the sodalitium scandal and the work of the journalist, Paola Ugaz.
“It is urgent to establish a culture of prevention throughout the Church which does not tolerate any form of abuse – neither the power nor the authority, nor the abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuses,” said Leo in the message. “This culture will only be authentic if it was born from active vigilance, transparent processes and sincere listening to those who were injured. For this, we need journalists. ”
Leo is well aware of Sodalitium scandalSince he had spent two decades as a missionary and bishop priest in Peru, where the group was founded in 1971. Bishop Robert Prevost was responsible for listening to the victims of sodalitium as a person of punctual Peruvian bishops for victims of abuse and helped some to achieve financial establishments with the organization.
After Pope Francis brought it to the Vatican in 2023, Prevost helped dismantle the group entirely by supervising the resignation of a powerful bishop of Sodalitium. The sodalitium was officially deleted earlier this year, just before Francis’ death.
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Now, as a pope, Leo must supervise the dismantling of the Soldalitium and its important assets. The Vatican’s envoy on the field taking care of work, Mgr Jordi Bertomeu, read Leo’s message on Friday evening, appearing alongside Ugaz on stage.
In the message, Leo also praised journalists for their courage to take the powerful to account, asked the public authorities to protect them and declared that a free press is a “common good that cannot be renounced”.
Ugaz and a victim of sodalitium, Pedro Salinas, faced years of criminal and civil disputes of Sodalitium and his supporters for their investigation report on the twisted practices of the group and the financial bad behavior, and they praised Leo for his management of the case.
The abuse scandal is one of the most thorny files that Leo is confronted with Leo, in particular given the requirements of the survivors that he goes even further than Francis in the application of zero tolerance for abuse through the church, including for the aggressors whose victims were adults.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
