The participants in the meeting were not disclosed to respect their privacy, nor the location of the meeting, but among the people the North American pontiff could hear would be those who attend the Repara association, a project of the Archdiocese of Madrid to assist victims and prevent sexual, spiritual and conscience abuses in its ecclesial environment.
Pope Leo XIV will meet with victims of sexual abuse by members of the Church during his trip to Spain, without specifying the date, according to the Vatican press office this Friday.
The same office explained that the meeting was organized by the Spanish Church, without giving further details, and added that more information will be made available “after the meeting of the North American pontiff with the victims and respecting their wishes and privacy”.
Some associations of victims of abuse by the clergy said in the last few hours that the pope was about to arrive in the country, to visit Madrid, Barcelona, Gran Canaria and Tenerife, but they continued to receive no response to their requests from the leader of the Catholic church.
The participants in the meeting were not disclosed to respect their privacy, nor the location of the meeting, but among the people that the North American pontiff could hear would be those who attend the Repara association, a project of the archdiocese of Madrid to assist victims and prevent sexual, spiritual and conscience abuses in its ecclesiastical environment.
At a meeting of the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE) it was considered that “it would be good” to maintain this meeting, as its general secretary and spokesman, César García Magán, said in April, who insisted that the agenda for the trip “is made by the pope”.
Pope Leo
It has been four years since the victims met with the then president of the Spanish bishops, Cardinal Juan José Omella.
Since then, there have been no more meetings with the ecclesiastical leadership, in addition to the fact that Luis Argüello greeted a group of victims gathered at the door of the CEE when he was elected president, in March 2024.
Leo XIV has reiterated on several occasions the need for a “zero tolerance” policy towards any form of abuse in the Church and argued that listening to the experiences of victims and survivors are “essential” for prevention.
The pope held several meetings with victims. On October 20, 2025, he received members of the Global Council of Abuse Victims (ECA), who described the meeting as “a historic and hopeful step” and, on November 8, 2025, he met for almost three hours with fifteen Belgian victims in a dialogue described as “deep and painful”.
However, cases such as that of the Bishop of Cádiz, Rafael Zornoza, accused of sexual abuse of a minor when he was a priest, and whose investigation was stopped at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith due to a legal technicality (the age of the minor) demonstrate that it is necessary to review the entire judicial system for this type of case, which Leo XIV has not yet done.
