Vatican says local church chose the five participants
Pope Leo XIV met the five participants individually and then as a group at the Catholic University of Argentina on Monday during his visit to Argentina. The Vatican described them as victims of abuse by clergy and “church institutions,” said the local church chose them, and said Leo spent about an hour with them.
The Associated Press reported that Argentina has been confronting the Catholic Church’s legacy of sex abuse and cover-up, including cases in which Pope Francis intervened. The meeting came as survivor groups continued to press the Vatican for greater transparency and stronger action in abuse cases.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Leo listened to the survivors’ “painful stories and proposals to consolidate paths of healing in the church.” In the statement, the Vatican said Leo expressed closeness to other groups of survivors and a desire to reinforce “paths of protection, of welcome and accompaniment in the church.” The Vatican acknowledged that other groups wanted to meet him.
In general, the American pope Leo XIV has followed the footsteps of Francis and, to a lesser extent, Pope Benedict XVI by meeting abuse survivors on foreign trips. Another meeting was expected when Leo arrives in Peru later that week.
Survivor meeting request denied as criminal inquiry continues
Survivor groups said they wanted to meet Leo but were denied. One group comprised 43 women who allege they were subjected to human trafficking and forced labor at centers belonging to Opus Dei in Argentina. Their allegations implicate senior members of Opus Dei.
Some of those members have been formally accused in a criminal investigation into the women’s claims. Prosecutors have requested that they be summoned for questioning, but the judge has not ordered it. Opus Dei has denied wrongdoing.
The Associated Press assessed that, given the ongoing criminal investigation, it was perhaps unlikely Leo would have intervened by meeting the 43-woman group in this case.
Grassi and Zanchetta accountability record
Ahead of the Argentina visit, survivor groups demanded stronger Vatican action against people accused or convicted in criminal courts whose fates within the church’s internal legal processes had not been made public. The groups cited high-profile priests convicted of serious crimes, including Julio Grassi and former bishop Gustavo Zanchetta. Francis intervened in both cases in favor of the priests, who were subsequently convicted by criminal courts.
Grassi, once a prominent figure who ran homes for orphaned children, is serving a 15-year sentence for sexually abusing a minor. In 2010, Francis — then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio and archbishop of Buenos Aires — commissioned a four-volume, 2,000-plus-page forensic study of the case. The study concluded that Grassi was innocent, that his victims were lying and that the case should never have gone to trial.
Zanchetta, a former bishop close to Francis, was sentenced in 2022 to 4 1/2 years in prison for sexually abusing two seminarians. He was granted parole in 2025, prompting renewed demands that he be defrocked. Francis initially rejected the accusations and created a job for Zanchetta at the Vatican that got him out of Argentina. The late pope eventually authorized a canonical criminal proceeding against Zanchetta in 2019, but the Vatican has not publicly announced a ruling.
The Vatican tends not to initiate canonical trials until all criminal appeals are exhausted, a practice intended to avoid prejudging outcomes. It also recommends that bishops take precautionary measures during investigations, including removing priests from active ministry.
Leo’s meeting with the five locally selected survivors came as other groups continued to press for transparency and action. His meeting statement emphasized healing, protection, welcome and accompaniment. The criminal investigation into the 43 women’s allegations continued, and the Vatican had not publicly announced a ruling in the canonical proceeding against Zanchetta.