The new pope has been accused of mishandling allegations of child sexual abuse in his churches in the United States and Peru.
Robert Prevost, 69, who will be known as Leo XIV, is said to have failed to properly investigate multiple allegations made against priests.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called on the Vatican in March to “conduct a thorough investigation” into His Holiness’ handling of the claims.
While leading the Augustinian Province of Chicago in the 2000s, Leo XIV reportedly allowed Father James Ray to reside at St John Stone Friary in the city.
But Father Ray was suspended from public ministry at the time following accusations of sexually abusing minors.
Leo XIV also failed to inform St Thomas the Apostle elementary school of Father Ray’s residency at the nearby monastery, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
Father Ray’s name was later added to a list of “abusive clerics and religious brothers” by the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, which claimed he had at least 13 alleged victims in the state between 1974 and 1991.
He was relocated only after the US Conference of Catholic Bishops passed a law to keep clerics suspected of abuse far away from children.
Father Ray was removed from public ministry in 2002 and resigned in 2009. In 2012, Ray was laicized — stripped of his clerical status.
The pontiff is also accused of covering up for clergymen who had abused children during his tenure as Cardinal of Chiclayo in Peru.
Three Peruvian women submitted complaints about two priests to the Diocese of Chiclayo three years ago, but told the National Catholic Reporter that no formal inquiry was launched.
We have to help those who have suffered
Pillar, a Catholic news agency, reported that Leo met with the accusers in 2022 and encouraged them to take their case to the civil authorities while the Holy See investigated.
However, the church's investigation was reportedly “shelved for lack of evidence and because the statute of limitations had expired”.
SNAP have since called for the new pontiff to take "decisive action" within his first 100 days against sexual abuse within the church, including establishing a reparations fund.
In a 2019 interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Leo XIV urged victims to come forward and said the Vatican needed to be more transparent.
He said: “We reject the cover-up and secrecy, that does a lot of damage, because we have to help the people who have suffered from the bad act.”
