POPE Leo XIV has been accused of “looking the other way” over sexual abuse claims against several Catholic priests he worked with.
The first American to be named Pope, officially known as Robert Prevost, is already under intense examination from survivor groups regarding his past handling of three specific allegations.
Prevost, 69, has served the Catholic Church for decades with his work taking him across the world from his native Chicago to a seminary in Peru.
While serving in his role as a priest, he has been accused of turning a blind eye to reports of abuse that came to light both in the United States and South America.
According to the survivors’ group, Prevost supposedly overlooked disturbing accusations that Father James Ray, an Augustinian priest, had been involved in the sexual abuse of minors prior to their collaboration in Chicago.
Ray was allowed to live at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park despite him being removed from ministering to the public nine years earlier.
The friary sat just half a block away from an elementary school at the time.
The latest on Pope Leo XIV…
It is alleged that Prevost refused to notify heads at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic school of Ray’s past, reports Will County Gazette.
The priest was later relocated away from the school under new rules which aimed to keep those accused of abuse as far away from children as they could.
Two further priests in Peru also faced accusations of sexual abuse under Prevost’s watch, it is claimed.
Prevost was hit with criticism over how he dealt with the allegations as he was the head of the Diocese of Chiclayo where the men worked between 2014 to 2023.
Catholic news outlet The Pillar investigated the claims in 2022 and say they believe the church should have handled allegations by three sisters against a father at Diocese of Chiclayo better.
Allegations were later made against a separate priest at the same South American church, The Pillar reported.
The alleged victims claimed in a statement the Diocese downplayed details and documentation around their allegations.
They claim they were told that the probe “was shelved for lack of evidence and because the statute of limitations had expired”, according to The Pillar.
In 2024, a statement from the church said Prevost did raise the complaints to the relevant Vatican authorities.
But the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), laid blame on Prevost for not having opened a formal church investigation into the claims himself.
Lopez de Casas, a child victim of abuse by a Texas priest and national vice president of SNAP, has now blasted the newly-elected Pope after his election.
He told MailOnline: “You can’t cover up sexual abuse and be a good priest.
“Staying silent is a sin. It’s not what God wants us to do.
“Jesus wants us to stop these things, not make a heathy garden for sexual abuse to grow.”
SNAP and other survivors’ groups said they laid out all of the information they had found on Prevost to the cardinals taking part in the Conclave.
They also wrote a letter to the Vatican slamming what it described as Prevost’s inaction in Peru and Chicago.
De Casas added: “He was high on our watchlist at SNAP to make sure he was not selected for pope.”
But on Thursday evening, Prevost became Pope Leo XIV after less than 25 hours of voting in the Sistine Chapel.
The dark horse beat odds of 66/1 to become God’s messenger on Earth before being unveiled to crowds of the faithful in Rome.
Despite being disappointed in the result, de Casas says he hopes it will only help to further highlight sexual abuse scandals which have rocked the Catholic Church for decades.
Who is new American Pope Robert Prevost?
PREVOST was born in Chicago in 1955 to immigrant parents of French, Italian and Spanish descent.
After graduating from Villanova University in Pennsylvania with a degree in maths, the future pontiff joined the Order of St Augustine, taking his vows in 1978.
Ordained as a priest in 1982, he joined a mission in Peru where he spent many years heading up a seminary.
Returning to the US in 1999, he then met controversy when he allowed alleged child abuser Father James Ray to reside at a friary in Chicago.
He was made archbishop in 2023 and within a few months he was promoted to the cardinal by late Pope Francis.
Overall, the new pope is considered a centrist, however, on many social issues he has been hailed as progressive.
He has been seen to advocated for marginalized groups as the Francis did.
But Pope Leo XIV has opposed ordaining women as deacons, which has made him seen as conservative on church doctrine.
The multi-talented Catholic Church head can also speak English, Spanish, Italian, French and Portuguese – and can even read Latin and German.
The SNAP vice president said: “For them to chose a cardinal who has hidden sexual abuse and is American only means that this person will be scrutinised from left to right.
“That’s helpful for victims everywhere because we have this pope who will be under the public eye in terms of things he was involved with in the past.”
It comes just weeks after a top lawyer for Catholic Church sex abuse survivors told The Sun he has no hope of finding justice in whoever is nominated to lead the Vatican following the death of Pope Francis.
Francis took steps to place a spotlight on clergy child sex abuse cases that have been a stain on the Catholic Church for decades.
But following his tragic passing, their are now fears that the systemic issues may be played off.
Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian told The U.S. Sun: “The Catholic Church has not changed its ways in preventing child abuse or helping survivors trying to heal.
“Survivors do not have much faith in the Catholic Church all of a sudden changing.
He added: “I think many survivors feel as though the church never cared about survivors and never will.”
