Pope Leo XIV emphasized the need to listen to victims of clerical sexual abuse during a meeting with cardinals from around the world this week, according to comments released by the Vatican on Saturday.
Speaking at the conclusion of a two-day, closed-door consistory, the US-born pope described the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by priests as a continuing “wound” in the Catholic Church.
“Listening is profoundly important,” he said, according to a Vatican transcript, adding, “We cannot close our eyes, nor our hearts.”
Although abuse was not formally on the consistory agenda—his first since becoming pope in May following the death of Pope Francis—Leo raised the issue in his closing remarks. He described it as “a problem that still today is truly a wound in the life of the Church in many places.”
The pope noted that victims’ pain is often worsened when they are ignored. “Many times the scandal in the Church is because the door has been closed and the victims have not been welcomed,” he said. He recounted a recent case in which a victim told him the most painful aspect of her ordeal was that “no bishop wanted to listen to her.”
Some 170 cardinals attended the consistory on Wednesday and Thursday, where discussions focused on the future direction of the Church. Pope Leo invited the cardinals to reconvene at the end of June, signaling that the gathering will become an annual event.
