BUENOS AIRES — Pope Leo XIV’s planned visit to Argentina next month is drawing fresh attention to allegations of sexual abuse and other crimes involving Catholic clergy and lay members, with survivors demanding stronger action from the Vatican, the Associated Press reported.
Victims have voiced frustration over the Vatican’s silence on church proceedings involving priests already convicted in criminal courts, and are demanding they be defrocked. Some survivors hope to meet the pope; others, including members of a survivors’ network, oppose the visit, saying the church has failed to deliver on promises of “zero tolerance.”
The pope is scheduled to visit Córdoba province, where priest Alejandro Nicola faces allegations of sexually abusing children at a Catholic school’s kindergarten, mostly in 2025. More than a dozen families have filed complaints; prosecutors are investigating and the local church has opened a preliminary inquiry. Córdoba Archbishop Ángel Rossi has invoked the priest’s presumption of innocence.
Separately, 43 women who say they were subjected to human trafficking and forced labor at Opus Dei centers in Argentina between the 1970s and 2015 hope to meet the pope in Buenos Aires. Opus Dei authorities in Argentina have categorically denied the allegations.
“We were just little girls when we entered. They will never give us back the dignity they stole from us,” complainant Andrea Martínez, 52, told the AP.
Sources: AP, The Hindu / AP
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