Question from Cyriac Zeller, I-Media:
Good evening, Your Holiness. Yesterday, during a press conference, the victims you met told us that you had acknowledged to them the systemic nature of sexual abuse in the church. Is that indeed the case? Could you explain your position on this? Do you consider sexual abuse in the Church to be systemic?
Answer from Pope Leo XIV:
I would say, without wanting to contradict anyone, as I think it is very important, I would first of all like to say that in meeting with those seven victims, I had asked them to also help me to express to other victims the willingness—myself and of the Church—to listen and to walk with them as they look for healing, recognizing the pain that has been caused in their lives because of situations of abuse.
Several of them spoke about systemic abuse. Personally, I prefer to express it in a different way, although I did speak about some organizations within the Church who have, at times, if you will, as a system, been abusive.
But I think it's important to make the distinction. Sexual abuse is first and foremost a human problem. When it happens within the Church, it actually has another whole dimension added to it, because people's lives of faith are deeply wounded and sometimes even destroyed.
There's a particular responsibility of the Church to walk with them and to help them seek healing. In those terms I spoke with them about how the Church, in certain ways, has been seen as being responsible, but in the same way that the Church, I think, is an important part of helping them to find healing.
