Pope Leo XIV met six survivors of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in Lima on Thursday, the Vatican said, and discussed how the Church can better listen to victims as he weighs changes to the way abuse cases are handled.

The meeting, which lasted more than an hour, was the second such encounter of the pope's 12-day tour of South America. He had met five survivors in Buenos Aires on Monday, and the Vatican said some of those he met in Peru were former members of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, the Peru-based Catholic community that his predecessor dissolved in 2025.

An hour-long meeting in Lima

Leo, the first Peruvian citizen to lead the Catholic Church, is on an emotional return visit to the country where he served as a missionary for about 20 years and as bishop of the northern city of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. He remains in Peru until 16 November, the final leg of a three-country tour that has also taken in Uruguay and Argentina and drawn record crowds.

According to the Vatican, the pope discussed with the survivors how the Church can better listen to victims of abuse. The meeting was private, and the Vatican, which does not normally discuss how such meetings are arranged, gave no further details about who attended or what was agreed.

Survivors' groups have been pressing the pope for accountability throughout the trip. The group Ending Clergy Abuse criticised the Buenos Aires meeting for not including more survivors, including at least 20 people abused in Argentina at an institute for deaf children in a notorious case.

A personal history with the Sodalitium case

The Peru meeting carried particular weight because of Leo's own history with the Sodalitium. As Bishop Robert Prevost, he was the Peruvian bishops' point-person for welcoming victims, and survivors credit him with pushing for the Vatican to act against the movement, which was founded in Peru and later faced grave allegations of abuse and financial misconduct. Pope Francis dissolved the Sodalitium in 2025.

The scale of the problem in Peru is documented by the online database BishopAccountability, which has identified 77 priests, brothers, seminarians and lay consecrated people in Peru who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.

A message to Peru's bishops

Earlier on Thursday, Leo told Peru's Catholic bishops to accompany their people as they face poverty and injustice, and to respond to victims of clerical sexual abuse "with truth, justice, forgiveness, making amends, and an ever more resolute commitment to fostering a culture of prevention".

He also addressed an estimated 40,000 people gathered in Lima's main square, calling on Peru to support the traditional family, respect cultural diversity and defend the rights of women, in fidelity to the social doctrine of the Church. The theme of the event was the challenges and hopes of the Peruvian people.

A protest by a victims' group had also been planned for later on Thursday, underlining the pressure on the pope to turn words about listening into concrete reform.

A homecoming like no other

Leo arrived in Lima on Wednesday to a welcome of extraordinary scale. Citing local authorities, the Vatican estimated that some three million people had lined his motorcade route to greet "Padre Robert" on his return home.

He has met survivors on several of his foreign trips, part of an effort to repair the Church's standing after abuse scandals. Whether the Lima meeting leads to the changes in procedure that survivors are demanding remains to be seen, but the fact that the pope chose to hold it on his first full day in the country, in the place where his own ministry took shape, sent a clear signal about its importance to him.

Source: Reuters | Associated Press: Pope tells Peru's bishops to respond to abuse victims with truth, justice