POPE Leo XIV on Monday denounced the “scourge” of sexual violence by Catholic clergy and called for a “culture of care” in the Church ahead of an expected private meeting with victims in Spain.
“Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care,” the pope told a gathering of Spanish bishops.
“Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing,” he said.
Spanish media said the pope would speak later on Monday with victims at the Vatican embassy in Madrid, formally known as the apostolic nunciature.
Ahead of the meeting, representatives of some victim groups complained that they were being excluded.
“We are disappointed that the pope, instead of listening to a sufficiently large and solid representation of victims, prefers to leave us out,” Juan Cuatrecasas, spokesman for the association Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood), told AFP. “We are going to keep pushing until the end, insisting that the Pope has to see us, has to hear us, we have a voice,” he said, speaking outside the nunciature. — AFP
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