A number of associations representing victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have complained about not being invited to a gathering with Pope Leo XIV reportedly on account of happen in Madrid on Monday.
The Vatican has mentioned solely that there can be a gathering in the course of the pope’s go to to Spain, including that it will not give additional info till after the assembly out of “respect for the victims”.
However Spanish media mentioned it will happen on Monday afternoon on the Vatican embassy within the Spanish capital, formally referred to as the apostolic nunciature.
“Not being invited is a blow,” Juan Cuatrecasas, spokesman for the affiliation Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood), informed AFP on Sunday.
“I feel we deserve a number one position. We have now for a few years been one of many associations main the best way” in denouncing little one abuse, he mentioned.
Miguel Hurtado, a sufferer, mentioned on Radio4 that the assembly was “strictly managed by the Catholic hierarchy in order that it doesn’t look dangerous and doesn’t have an effect on the determine of the pope and the message they need to convey”.
Hurtado has mentioned he was abused by a priest on the age of 16 within the Abbey of Montserrat in Barcelona.
The pope is scheduled to go to the abbey later in his go to and Hurtado mentioned he would face protests there.
Cuatrecasas mentioned the assembly with the pope can be attended by victims assisted by the Repara challenge of the archdiocese of Madrid, which in his view signifies that “the fact the Pope will see is a totally skewed actuality”.
On the flight that introduced him to Madrid on Saturday, Leo XIV mentioned that abuse was “nonetheless an open wound” for the Church.
After welcoming him to Madrid, King Felipe VI hailed Leo’s “readability and firmness” on the problem, including that this was “important within the strategy of therapeutic and reparation for the harm inflicted”.
Spain’s nationwide ombudsman mentioned in a report revealed in 2023 that since 1940 greater than 200,000 minors could have suffered assaults by Catholic clergy.
Spain’s left-wing authorities and the Church signed an settlement in March to compensate victims of sexual crimes, after years of reluctance and opacity on the a part of the Church hierarchy.
