Pope Scheduled to Meet with Abuse Victims During Visit to Spain
The private meeting follows a new reparations program and mounting pressure from victims seeking truth, justice and compensation, officials said.
- Pope Leo XIV arrived in Spain on Saturday for an apostolic journey, with Holy See Press Office spokesperson Matteo Bruni confirming the pontiff will hold a private meeting with victims of clergy sexual abuse.
- Earlier this year, the Spanish Church and government launched a reparations program, paying $2.3 million to victims as the nation of 50 million people continues a long-delayed reckoning with historical sexual abuse.
- So far, 420 people have applied for the newly established reparations system, which follows an ombudsman report that examined 487 known cases and estimated hundreds of thousands of possible victims over decades.
- Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis previously held similar private dialogues during visits to the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Chile, Ireland, Portugal, and Belgium.
- Josetxo Vera, the conference's communications director, described the engagement as "opening a new door for the process that the church has already been developing," following a protocol agreed upon in March.
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On the way to Spain, Pope Leo XIV affirmed that sexual abuse related to the Catholic Church was "an ever-open wound." During this visit, the Supreme Pontiff must meet victims of sexual assault. The King of Spain praised the Pope's "clarity" and "closure" on this subject. - The question of sexual abuse in the Church remains "an ever-open wound", Pope Leo XIV (International) acknowledges.
During his stay, the pope must meet with victims of sexual assault, while the government and the Church signed an agreement in March to compensate victims of sexual offences.
Pope Leo to meet Catholic abuse survivors on Spain trip, Vatican says
British journalist Gareth Gore claims that he asked for a meeting of the Pontiff with those affected by Opus Dei, but he has been told that an appointment with another group of survivors is already closed.
The Pope wanted to clear doubts before arriving in Spain and confirmed that he will meet with victims of abuse in our country, although he has not given details about when the meeting will be. This is the fourth time he meets with victims of abuse, but perhaps the most important so far because of its structured and previously announced character. "I can confirm that, during the days of his next apostolic journey, the Holy Father will meet with s…
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