Spain, Pope Leo met six abuse victims in the Church
Sexual abuse within the Church was a theme during Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to Spain.
El Pais revisited allegations of abuse in the country. According to 71% of those surveyed, the ecclesiastical hierarchy continues to cover up cases of pedophilia, and 43.1% of respondents believe the Church protected aggressors rather than victims.
The Spanish newspaper has been investigating abuse within the Church for eight years. Among the published data are 1,622 cases of sexual abuse within the Church that emerged through judicial proceedings, investigations, and canonical sentences. Additionally, 94 high-ranking Spanish officials are accused or suspected of having covered up pedophilia allegations, protected abusive priests, or silenced victims.
«The Pope ignores pedophilia during his visit to Montserrat, one of the epicenters of the scandal in Catalonia,» titled the Spanish newspaper, adding in the subtitle that «Pope Leo XIV avoided mentioning abuses in the region with the highest number of cases in Spain, approximately 500 victims.» Furthermore, on June 7, the Pope attended a meeting of the Augustinian Order alongside a friar accused of covering up an abuse allegation.
Prevost then met six individuals who had been abused by members of the clergy. «One of the most painful encounters is with those who have been hurt precisely by those who should have cared for them,» said the Pope. «Faced with this plague, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation, and an ever more decisive commitment to prevention and a culture of care,» said Prevost, adding, «Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection, and real paths to healing.»
These are declarations of intent to which Pope Leo is accustomed but which have not been matched by practice. Nine of the main Spanish associations of abuse victims, who protested their exclusion, did not fail to point this out. Their criticisms also focused on certain aspects of the recent agreement between the Spanish Episcopal Conference and the State to protect victims, particularly the lack of approval for the imprescriptibility of pedophilic offenses, also urged by the UN, and the absence of a legal obligation to respect the reparation system agreed upon by the Spanish government, the Episcopal Conference, and the Ombudsman, which came into effect this year. «In my case, the abbey declared itself morally insubordinate, refusing to apply the reparation system and instead of being sanctioned, it receives a reward: the Pope’s visit on Wednesday,» said Miguel Hurtado, founder of the movement ‘Reparacion Integral Ya’ and a victim of abuses by the late monk Andreu Soler at the Montserrat abbey, sarcastically told Ansa.
We are not “dirt” to be washed away, nor “fragile people”: Petition from former Focolare members to the Vatican
Oref, an organization of former members of the Focolare Movement, has launched a petition to support a formal complaint addressed to the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.
At the heart of the petition is the episode of the podcast “La Chiesa e i miei perché” (The Church and my reasons), curated by Father Fabio Ciardi, titled: “Abuses. How to wash away the dirt?” dated May 27.
«We have received testimonies of deep suffering and distress from several survivors of spiritual, psychological, and conscience abuses. Many people perceived this phrasing as an offense to their dignity and incompatible with the particular sensitivity that the issue of abuse requires,» emphasize the petition's promoters. «We believe that when addressing such delicate issues, the language used is of decisive importance. Expressions like ‘wash away the dirt’ are inappropriate metaphors because they apply linguistic categories to the issue of abuse that, in the sensitivity of many survivors, can evoke impurity, shame, or some form of moral contamination of the victim, while abuses concern people who have suffered wrongdoing and deserve to be recognized and heard without ambiguity. This expression confirms a tendency already observed in other contexts: attention is focused on the difficulties or sufferings that a given situation produces within the Movement, rather than on the experience of the people directly involved.»
Open Letter from Antonio Messina to the President of the Republic
On June 2, Bishop Rosario Gisana of Piazza Armerina was present at the celebrations for the Republic Day in Enna. This occasion prompted Antonio Messina, an archaeologist who reported Don Giuseppe Rugolo for abuses suffered as a minor, to write an open letter to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.
Rugolo, a priest in the diocese of Piazza Armerina, has been definitively sentenced to three years in prison, and Bishop Gisana is currently on trial for false testimony in the Rugolo case, along with the diocese's vicar, Don Vincenzo Murgano.
«This circumstance deeply unsettled me,» wrote Messina, who asked Mattarella for «an intervention aimed at sensitizing local institutions, and specifically the Prefecture of Enna, to respect the feelings of crime victims.»
Abuse in the Franciscan seminary, the Ecclesiastical Tribunal: «Grave responsibilities of the Church»
The motivations from the Sardinian Interdiocesan Ecclesiastical Tribunal regarding abuses in the Franciscan seminary of Oristano between 1987 and 1990, perpetrated by Don Valerio Manca against Don Paolo Contini, have been filed.
Manca was reduced to the lay state for his responsibilities. «Guilty absence of supervision by those who had the duty to protect the flock, preferring the decorum of the habit to the salvation of souls,» reads the sentencing motivation.
Final Conviction for Former Religion Teacher
The Supreme Court of Cassation rejected the defense’s appeal, and the 12-year sentence for Alessandro Frateschi, former religion professor at the “Ettore Majorana” scientific high school in Latina and a former deacon, has become final.
«From the analysis of the digital documentation found on the seized computer devices of the defendant, not only the existence of abundant material of a clear pedopornographic nature, consisting of video and image files, both real and virtual, all depicting male individuals, but also the existence of a conversation via messenger with a person reporting abuses suffered from the age of seven to ten by their grandfather, as well as pornographic material,» reads the appeal judgment of November 26, 2025.
The Jesuits Continue to Withhold the Full Report on Sauro De Luca’s Abuses
As reported in our previous press review, the decision by MEG, the Youth Eucharistic Movement, not to publish the final report by Grazia Villani, chosen to coordinate the “path of truth” regarding Father Sauro De Luca’s abuses, has caused controversy.
A response from MEG has been published on the Jesuits’ website, justifying the choice not to make the report public in order to protect the victims’ privacy and «reduce the risk of further painful exposure and re-victimization» of the individuals involved. «As already indicated in previous communications, the ‘Final Report based on the Path of Truth’ has nevertheless reported all the facts contained in the ‘Final Report’», the note further reads.
MEG states it is in an advanced stage of discernment on how to proceed with the analysis of the collected material in light of new testimonies that have emerged. The Jesuits also state they have prepared «personalized accompaniment and financial reparation measures.»
Words marked by uncertainty, contradictions, and vagueness that have not satisfied the victims and former MEG members, who continue to demand justice and transparency. We will return to this matter with a dedicated investigation into the Report and the De Luca case, to reveal what this ambiguous management of truth by the Jesuits—particularly the Italian Province—reveals, already strained by the Rupnik case.
