On the afternoon of his third day in Spain, June 8, Pope Leo XIV met with six victims of clerical sexual abuse at the Vatican embassy in Madrid, the Vatican said in a statement.
“During the conversation, which lasted nearly an hour, each person present shared their own painful personal experiences and offered the pope suggestions on how to make the Church’s response to such tragic cases more effective,” the statement said.
It said Pope Leo “listened with affection and attention, assured them of his closeness—and that of the entire Church community—and pledged his commitment to ensuring that the suggestions received serve as a foundation for further efforts, so that the Church may truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place where wounds find comfort and healing.”
It was a small but important gesture in this land where, according to the country’s ombudsman, there have been an estimated 200,000 cases of abuse by Catholic clergy since 1940.
The national ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, presented a 777-page report to the Spanish parliament on Oct. 27, 2023, in which he reported that, based on a survey of 8,000 adults, it was calculated that as many as 400,000 may have suffered abuse by clergy and lay people in religious settings when they were children.
In recent days, several victims’ associations have protested, saying they felt excluded from the limited meeting that took place this afternoon at the nunciature.
Earlier in the day, the pope spoke briefly about the subject of abuse—though he did not use that word—in his talk to more than 100 Spanish bishops at the headquarters of the episcopal conference after his historic visit to the Palacio del Congresso.
“As you can see, our journey is made up of encounters, and we will also meet people who are going through dark times and who call on us to be their Good Samaritans,” he told them.
“One of the most painful encounters is with those who have been wounded precisely by those who were supposed to care for them, including members of the clergy,” he said.
Pope Leo told the bishops, many of whom have been heavily criticized over the years for covering up abuse or not responding to victims: “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. Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing.”
On the flight from Rome on Saturday, a Spanish journalist from El País gave the pope a book on a historic case of abuse in Bolivia and raised the question of the abuse in Spain. Pope Leo admitted that it is an “open wound.” Aware of the fact that several victims’ groups had hoped to be received by him, Leo remarked that “it is impossible to receive everyone.”
King Felipe VI also mentioned the issue of abuse in his welcome address to the pope at the royal castle on Monday.
As a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost had experience dealing with cases of abuse, including at the level of the bishops’ conference. He is a good listener but also a man of action. He has insisted several times that bishops must listen and respond to every case of abuse.
In his talk to the bishops today, the pope also reaffirmed the synodal path set in motion by Pope Francis and encouraged them to “prudently combine freedom and courage, so that we may leave behind structures that do not help us, do not respond to our needs, or even lead us away from our goal, while having the strength to treasure what facilitates it.”
He also alluded to the internal division within the Spanish episcopate, telling them, “Your mission calls you to safeguard unity, foster dialogue, heal divisions and accompany the journey of the people entrusted to your care.” He said: “Communion lived in this way also brings about missionary vitality. A Church that is interiorly at peace can speak more freely to brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations and other religions, to those who do not believe, to civil authorities, and to all people of good will who work for the common good.”
After his meeting with the survivors of abuse, Leo went to pray at the cathedral church of Our Lady of Almudena and from there, drove through the center of Madrid, past tens of thousands of cheering people, to his final meeting of the day—with the diocesan community at the iconic Bernabéu Stadium. There, always with a smile on his face and enjoying the people’s response, he drove around the stadium to chants of “Olé, Olé, Olé, León, León.”
They treated him to a musical performance that he clearly relished, and he listened to several testimonies. In his talk, the pope remarked that the joy of the nearly 70,000 people present “will be contagious if, from being a fleeting emotion, it becomes a stable way of being, a deep feeling that renews individuals, groups and the diocesan community.”
Noting the great enthusiasm in the stadium, and having experienced the same along the streets of the city these past three days, a truly happy Leo, speaking off the cuff, told the crowd, “Today the church of Madrid has scored ‘un golazzo’ [a great goal] that is forever.” This provoked thunderous applause from the faithful of this very much alive church. His comment summed up these days in Madrid; tomorrow morning, he travels to Barcelona.
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