Argentina: Pope met with victims of sexual violence by members of the clergy

Pope Leo “The Pope spoke with each of them individually, listening to their stories, the painful experiences they had endured and their suggestions for strengthening paths of healing within the Church,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The interview with the victims, whose identities were not communicated, lasted more than an hour, according to the Vatican. The sovereign pontiff demonstrated to them, and “through them to the other victims who it was not possible to meet, his closeness and his desire to strengthen the ways of protection, goodness, welcome and support in the Church”.

A trip to the province of Cordoba

On Tuesday, Leo Also in Argentina, in September, a defrocked nun was sentenced to 20 years in prison as part of a long case of sexual assault and rape on deaf and mute children at a Catholic boarding school in Mendoza, which moved the country around ten years ago.

A first trial, in 2019, saw the sentencing of two priests, a gardener at the institute and a former altar boy to prison sentences. The facts related to rape and sexual assault of children aged 4 to 17 between 2005 and 2016.