Pope Leo XIV Meets Six Abuse Victims in Lima, Calls for Truth, Justice and Reparation

Victims Meet in Lima

Pope Leo XIV spoke for more than an hour on Thursday in Lima with six victims of “abuse” committed within the Church in Peru, after arriving on Wednesday for the final stage of an intense twelve-day tour of South America. The Vatican said Leo XIV “spoke personally with each of them, listening to their accounts of suffering and their pain,” and it described the meeting as taking place at the apostolic nunciature. Devotees gathered outside the apostolic nunciature demanded the pope’s appearance on the balcony while the meeting was underway inside.

Where the meeting happened3 of 6 outlets reported it · not in El Mundo and 2 more▾

In a speech earlier in the day to bishops, Leo XIV called for addressing “the abuses perpetrated by members of the clergy or within the ecclesial context” through truth, justice, forgiveness, and reparation, and he urged strengthening prevention. The Holy See said some of the people met were linked to the Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana, which Pope Francis dissolved in 2025 after acknowledging sexual abuse committed by members of its leadership on 19 minors and 10 adults from 1975 to 2002.

Link to Sodalicio3 of 5 outlets reported it · not in El Mundo and 1 more▾

Reporting for this sectionLe Tempstv5monde

Listening Mechanism and Support

The Vatican set up in May 2026 in Lima a “listening device” intended to collect the testimonies of the Sodalicio victims and determine compensations, financed by the assets seized from the organization. Renzo Orbegozo, 50, told AFP that “we remain very confident that a favorable outcome will be found,” while he stressed that the victims “need psychological and medical support, and social reintegration.” The Vatican also described Leo XIV’s approach during the Thursday meeting as reflecting with victims on ways to foster a change in mentality through listening, seeking the truth, pursuing healing, and committing to creating safe environments.

Carlos García, president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, asserted that when Robert Prevost was bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023, Prevost helped pave the way for listening to victims. The pope’s Thursday remarks also included a denunciation of a “machismo mentality” and violence against women, with Leo XIV saying, “It is sad to see the persistence of a machismo mentality manifested by the absence of the father in family life, abuse and violence against women,” before thousands of people.

Reporting for this sectionLe Tempstv5monde

Peru’s Wider Social Stakes

Pope Leo XIV linked his call for reparation and prevention in the Church to broader concerns about violence against women, saying “It pains us to see that violence against women (...) remains a reality that wounds humanity as a whole.”

The Catholic Standard reported that Leo XIV urged, “let us value women! Let us protect and respect girls!” during a speech outside Lima’s Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, to applause from those gathered.

Catholic Standard also said the pope described families as “wounded and divided due to economic problems or emigration,” and it quoted him saying, “God loves all families, especially those going through crises.”

RFI said Leo XIV called on Thursday for “reparation” in the face of the “abuses” committed within the Church during a speech to bishops, and it quoted him urging responses “through truth, justice, forgiveness, reparation.”

CNN reported that Pope Leo XIV arrived in Callao city near Lima on Wednesday and that the Vatican said an estimated 3 million people turned out, the largest crowd of his papacy so far.

Reporting for this sectionCatholic StandardRFI