Pope Leo XIV will meet with survivors of abuse committed by clergy and other members of the Church during his 12-day papal trip to Latin America next month. Source: Vatican News.
Pope Leo will visit three countries – Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru – during the November 6–17 trip.
“During the days of the Holy Father’s upcoming Apostolic Journey to Latin America, some meetings are planned with people who are victims of abuse by members of the clergy and the Church,” read The Holy See Press Office statement on Tuesday.
“These meetings respond to the Pope’s desire to express his closeness to those who have suffered and continue to suffer because of this violence, to build with them paths to healing accessible to anyone who needs them, and to ensure that the Church is a safe and spiritually healthy place that lives and communicates the Gospel.”
Pope Leo met with groups of survivors during his recent Apostolic Journeys to Spain and France, when he held similar encounters in Madrid on June 8 and in Lourdes on September 27.
Both meetings were held behind closed doors and were marked by dialogue and listening to the painful testimonies of men and women who had suffered abuse – something Pope Leo XIV has described on other occasions as a “scourge,” a “scandal,” and a “real wound.”
Afterwards, responding to journalists during the return flight from France to Rome, he added: “Sexual abuse is first and foremost a human problem. When it happens within the Church, it actually has another whole dimension added to it, because people’s lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed.”
“The Church, I think, is an important part of helping them to find healing,” the Pope added.
Papal meetings with abuse survivors have been a regular feature of various papal trips, from Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States in 2008 and subsequent visits to the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany, to Pope Francis’s visits to Chile, Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium.
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Pope Leo XIV to meet abuse survivors in Latin America (By Salvatore Cernuzio, Vatican News)
