Pope Leo XIV has met privately with five people abused by clergy or Church institutions in Argentina, listening individually to their experiences during an encounter that lasted more than an hour, the Holy See Press Office said. Source: OSV News.
The meeting took place on Monday before the Pope travelled to the Catholic University of Argentina for an encounter with representatives of the world of work. Earlier in the day, he celebrated Mass at Buenos Aires’ Monumento de los Españoles before approximately 2.5 million people, according to local authorities.
The five survivors were presented by the local Church, the Vatican statement said.
“The Pope spoke with each of them individually, listening to their accounts, the painful experiences they had endured, and their suggestions for strengthening paths toward healing within the Church,” the statement said.
At the conclusion, Pope Leo greeted the survivors all together, blessed them and thanked them for the meeting and their “testimony of faith”.
“To them – and through them, to the other victims whom it was not possible to meet – the Pope conveyed his closeness and his commitment to strengthening measures for protection, wellbeing, welcome, and accompaniment within the Church,” the statement said.
The encounter came during Pope Leo’s second day in Argentina, a country where the dimensions of the abuse crisis remain unknown. Argentina has not conducted the kind of nationwide investigation or accounting undertaken in other countries including the United States, Australia, France and Germany.
BishopAccountability.org, a US-based watchdog organisation, lists nearly 100 priests, religious brothers and women religious publicly accused of abusing minors or vulnerable adults in Argentina. Other allegations remain under criminal or canonical investigation.
The Argentine bishops have established a national safeguarding council and issued guidelines for handling allegations. Survivors and advocates, however, continue to criticise the absence of a comprehensive national accounting and the limited information released about canonical proceedings.
Argentina’s crisis is part of a broader reckoning across Latin America. The Pope is expected to encounter that reality again in Peru, where he previously served as bishop of Chiclayo and helped survivors of the now-suppressed Sodalitium Christianae Vitae obtain a Vatican investigation and reparations.
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Pope Leo meets privately with five Argentine abuse survivors (By Inés San Martín, OSV News)
