The accusations of abuse cover-up against Pope Leo XIV: A campaign that was also spread inside the Vatican

The accusations of abuse cover-up against Pope Leo XIV: A campaign that was also spread inside the Vatican

The election of Pope Leo XIV on May 8 brought with it renewed accusations against him of having covered up past cases of sexual abuse. These accusations were not new, having circulated for the past year and a half. Vatican sources told this newspaper that they were unfounded, and that actions taken by then-cardinal Robert Prevost were appropriate. They connected the allegations to an ultra-right media campaign. A month after Prevost became the 267th pontiff of the Catholic Church, EL PAÍS has run an analysis that has come to the conclusion that there is no proof that he ever covered up accusations. To the contrary, during the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae scandal in Peru, he was one of the few bishops who took the side of victims. He also supported the journalists Pedro Salinas and Paola Ugaz, who first denounced the religious society in 2015, and who later became targets of an intense campaign involving the media and legal system. Sodalitium was a powerful ultra-conservative organization founded in Peru in 1971 that had sect-like characteristics inspired by the fascist Falange Española political organization. It has been the subject of dozens of abuse and pederasty cases. After years of controversy, the organization wound up being dissolved by Pope Francis in January of this year.

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