Pope Leo XIV met six victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Lima on Thursday, November 12, in his second meeting with survivors during a 12-day trip to South America, and discussed how the Church can better listen to abuse victims, the Vatican said. Leo, the first Peruvian citizen to lead the Catholic Church, is on an emotional return visit to Peru through November 16, on the last leg of a three-country tour that has broken crowd records.

Source: Reuters

"The pope met with each person individually, listening to their stories of suffering and pain," the Vatican statement said. "Together, they reflected on how to foster a change in mindset through listening to victims, seeking the truth, paths toward healing, and a commitment to creating safe environments." The Vatican said some of the survivors Leo met in Peru were former members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

Source: Reuters

"A reality that has caused us so much pain"

Earlier on Thursday, addressing Peru's bishops, Leo described clergy sexual abuse as "a reality that has caused us so much pain" and said the Church must respond as Jesus would. "We must respond as Jesus would, with truth, justice, forgiveness, making amends and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention and protection for the weakest in light of such crimes," he said, according to the Associated Press. The abuse scandal has not exploded publicly in Peru as it has in other Latin American countries, AP noted, but Leo identified it directly as one of the challenges facing the Peruvian church.

Source: Associated Press

Camila Bustamante, one survivor who took part in the Lima meeting, told Reuters it was "an important milestone" and that Leo appeared "very committed" to helping victims. But she cautioned that survivors rarely achieve closure in their cases. "Victims are accustomed to persevering, even when things become difficult," said Bustamante, who is also a journalist. "I believe the message must be that we should not give up and that we must continue working for a world without abuse." Renzo Orbegozo, a 50-year-old victim, told AFP that survivors were seeking "comprehensive reparation".

Source: Reuters / AFP

The Sodalitium shadow over the homecoming

The Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV), a lay Catholic society founded in the 1970s and widespread in Latin America, was dissolved in 2025 by Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, after years of allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse, as well as corruption, inside the group. Before he was elected pope, Robert Francis Prevost — now Leo XIV — was the Peruvian bishops' point person designated to hear from SCV victims, and survivors credit him with taking their claims seriously and with pushing for the Vatican investigation that led to the dissolution. In April 2026, the Vatican announced plans to set up a "listening channel" in Lima for victims and to use assets seized from the lay movement to compensate them.

Source: AFP via UM Legacy Press / Reuters

Not everyone was satisfied with the trip's survivor meetings. The international group Ending Clergy Abuse criticised the earlier Buenos Aires meeting for not including more survivors, including at least 20 people abused in Argentina at an institute for deaf children in a notorious case, Reuters reported. The Vatican, which normally does not discuss how the pope's meetings with victims are arranged, citing victims' privacy, gave no further information about how the Buenos Aires meeting was arranged. A victims' group protest was also planned in Lima later on Thursday, AP reported.

Source: Reuters / Associated Press

The meeting came on Leo's first full day in Peru, after record crowds greeted the first Peruvian pope on his arrival in Lima on Wednesday. Read: Pope Leo arrives in Peru for emotional homecoming

What happens next: Leo remains in Peru until November 16, with a visit to Chiclayo — the diocese he led for eight years — at the heart of the homecoming. Survivors' groups say the test of Thursday's meeting will be concrete steps: whether the promised Lima listening channel opens, whether compensation from seized Sodalitium assets reaches victims, and whether accused clergy named by campaigners face investigation.