Pope Leo XIV met today in Buenos Aires with five victims of sexual violence committed by church members on the second day of his visit to Argentina, the Vatican said.
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09/11/2026
by
Lusa
O Pope Leo XIV met today in Buenos Aires with five victims of sexual violence committed by church members, on the second day of his visit to Argentina, the Vatican said.
“The Pope spoke individually with each one of them, hearing their stories, the painful experiences they endured and their suggestions to strengthen the healing paths within the Church,” the Vatican said in a statement.
The interview with the victims, whose identities were not disclosed, lasted more than an hour, according to the Vatican.
The pontiff showed them, “and through them to other victims that it was not possible to find, their closeness and their willingness to strengthen the paths of protection, kindness, welcome and accompaniment in the Church.”
On Tuesday, Leo XIV will travel to the province of Córdoba, where Father Alejandro Nicola is the subject of complaints of sexual violence in kindergarten of a Catholic school in 2025. The judiciary is investigating and the local church has opened a preliminary investigation.
Also in Argentina, in September, a nun was sentenced to 20 years in prison for connection with a long case of sexual assault and rape of deaf and mute children at an internal Catholic college in Mendoza, which shocked the country a decade ago.
A first trial in 2019 led to the conviction of two priests, a gardener at the institute and a former acolyte to prison sentences. The facts referred to sexual assault and rape of children between the ages of 4 and 17 between 2005 and 2016.