Breaking Pope Leo XIV ‘looked the other way’ when confronted with child sex abuse allegations against priest in his Chicago church EnglishHeadline

The newly-elected Pope Leo XIV confronted accusations of ‘wanting the opposite method’ when confronted with little one intercourse abuse allegations towards a priest in his Chicago church, it has emerged.

Robert Prevost, who grew to become the primary North American pontiff on Thursday, was accused by a survivors group of overlooking allegations within the U.S. and in Peru.

‘You may’t cowl up sexual abuse and be a very good priest,’ Lopez de Casas, a sufferer of clergy abuse and nationwide vp of the Survivors Community of these Abused by Clergymen (SNAP) advised DailyMail.com.

‘Staying silent is a sin. It is not what God needs us to do. Jesus needs us to cease these items, not make a heathy backyard for sexual abuse to develop.’

Prevost was mentioned to have seemed previous allegations in Chicago, the place he grew up, after Augustinian priest Father James Ray was allowed to reside on the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park regardless of having been faraway from ministering to the general public years prior over accusations of abusing minors.

The brand new pope apparently did not notify the heads of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic faculty, an elementary faculty half a block from the friary as a result of, the church mentioned on the time, Ray was purported to be intently monitored within the friary.

Prevost additionally confronted criticism for not having opened a proper church investigation into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two monks within the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which he led from 2014 to 2023. 

SNAP and different teams had made the 135 eligible cardinals who chosen him properly conscious of Prevost’s inaction on the allegations.

‘For them to selected a cardinal who has hidden sexual abuse and is American solely implies that this particular person shall be scrutinized from left to proper,’ mentioned Lopez de Casas, who hopes Prevost’s election will shine a brighter mild on abuse throughout the Church.

‘That is useful for victims in all places as a result of we’ve got this pope who shall be below the general public eye when it comes to issues he was concerned with prior to now,’ he mentioned.

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected pope on Thursday, taking the title Leo XIV

Crowds thronged in St. Peter’s Sq. to listen to Pope Leo’s first phrases as pontiff

Lopez de Casas, 65, added: ‘He was excessive on our watchlist at SNAP to verify he was not chosen for pope. However now, right here we’re.’

Lopez de Casas grew up in Galveston, Texas, and says he was abused by academics within the public faculty system there. 

Eduardo Lopez de Casas hopes that Pope Leo’s election will shine a brighter mild on sexual abuse throughout the Roman Catholic Church

His mom, suspecting one thing had occurred to him however unable to pinpoint it, despatched him to a parish priest in Galveston, who made him display to him what the academics had performed to him. 

‘I used to be then abused by the priest,’ he advised DailyMail.com.

Though he was vocal about it as a child, he mentioned his mother and father weren’t native English audio system and had been by no means suggested to report it to authorities.

Amongst different criticisms, Prevost has been criticised for not having opened a proper church investigation into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two monks within the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which he led from 2014 to 2023.

The Pillar, a Catholic information outlet that investigates the church, has reported on accusations that the diocese mishandled allegations by Ana Maria Quispe and her two youthful sisters, Juana Mercedes and Aura Teresa, that Father Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles relationship again to 2007. 

Allegations had been additionally made towards one other priest, The Pillar reported.

As Cardinal Prevost, Pope Leo visited Windfall Catholic Excessive Faculty on the outskirts of Chicago

Newly elected American Pope Leo XIV got here from humble beginnings in southern Chicago suburbs the place, as newly ordained Rev. Robert Prevost he met Pope John Paul II in 1982

The alleged victims mentioned in an announcement that, below Prevost’s watch, in 2022 the Diocese downplayed particulars and documentation of their allegations that it despatched to the Vatican, deliberately stopping the church from taking motion towards the monks accused. They allege the church blew off their stories.

‘The allegations that Prevost engaged in overlaying up abuse stories are significantly important, since Prevost’s present put up as head of the Dicastery for Bishops oversees complaints and investigations of episcopal negligence in abuse circumstances all over the world,’ the Pillar wrote in a September 2024 article.

The outlet reported that Prevost had met with the accusers in April 2022, and inspired them to take their case to the civil authorities whereas the church investigated. 

That probe reportedly ‘was shelved for lack of proof and since the statute of limitations had expired’.

Different criticisms that Prevost neglected sexual abuse stem from Chicago, the place he grew up.

As reported by the Will County Gazette, which covers suburbs southwest of the town, Prevost allowed an Augustinian priest, Father James Ray, to reside on the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park regardless of Ray having been yanked from ministering to the general public 9 years earlier due to accusations of sexually abusing minors. 

Prevost apparently did not notify the heads of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic faculty, an elementary faculty half a block from the friary as a result of, the church mentioned on the time, Ray was purported to be intently monitored within the friary.

As reported by the Will County Gazette, which covers suburbs southwest of the town, Prevost allowed an Augustinian priest, Father James Ray, to reside on the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park regardless of Ray having been yanked from ministering to the general public 9 years earlier due to accusations of sexually abusing minors. 

Ray remained in shut proximity to the college for 2 years till relocated below new guidelines handed by the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops to maintain monks accused of preying on minors bodily far-off from youngsters.

Cardinal Prevost arrived on the closing congregation assembly earlier than the conclave on Might 3, not understanding he would quickly be the brand new pope

Cardinal Prevost led a service in St. Peter’s Sq. in March to hope for Pope Francis whose well being was failing

One in all his closing public acts earlier than being elected Pope was to attend the Palm Sunday Mass within the Vatican on April 13

Pope Leo XIV had a spiritual upbringing in a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick residence in Dolton, Illinois 

One other disgraced priest additionally lived on the friary throughout his watch.

Father Richard McGrath, who was ousted because the longtime principal and president of Windfall Catholic Excessive Faculty within the Chicago suburb of New Lenox after a scholar reported seeing nude pictures of boys on his telephone. 

Former Windfall scholar Robert Krankvich accused McGrath of forcing him to carry out varied intercourse acts whereas he was a baby. Krankvich went on to wrestle with dependancy for a lot of his grownup life.

After reaching a $2 million settlement with the Catholic church, Krankvich died in April of addiction-related well being points.

‘Cash does not carry happiness . . . it gave him no closure,’ his father, additionally named Robert Krankvich, advised the Chicago Solar-Instances.

As a part of its work highlighting candidates for the papacy, whom it says have lined up sexual abuse, SNAP wrote a letter to the Vatican slamming what it referred to as Prevost’s inaction in Peru and Chicago.

Prevost’s management position within the Midwest Augustinians from 1998 to 2014 included overseeing the highschool. As Lopez de Casas – who labored for the Galveston, Texas diocese for 18 years – tells it, Prevost allowed McGrath to prey on college students there a number of years earlier than he was ousted in 2017.

In the meantime, Windfall Catholic Excessive Faculty maintains shut ties with the brand new pope. Its present president, Father John Merkelis, went to seminary with Prevost in Holland, Michigan, within the early 70s, and Prevost has given mass on the faculty. He describes him as ‘very clever, delicate, pastoral and at all times among the finest in his class.’

‘It’s simply good news,’ he advised DailyMail.com shortly after information of Prevost’s choice on Thursday. ‘We’re all simply beaming right here.’

‘It is so cool to see the children so excited,’ added Theresa Thormeyer, the executive assistant within the faculty’s dean’s workplace.

Charles Collins, managing editor of Crux, a Catholic publication, advised Sky Information that he hoped ‘an American is likely to be in a greater place’ to assist tackle the continuing abuse scandal.

‘Frankly, america authorities and the state governments have been making actually sturdy actions towards priestly paedophilia, and he will be very aware of that,’ he mentioned, including: ‘He is able to get forward of it in quite a lot of international locations which have not handled it but.’