Activists call on Pope to expel abusers ahead of Latin America tour

Activists gathered in Lima Thursday to call on Pope Leo XIV to expel sexual abusers from the Catholic church, demanding justice in a long-running scandal, ahead of his Latin America tour this week.

US-based nonprofit Bishop Accountability held a press conference Thursday to present a list of 77 clergy "who have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors" in Peru.

On Friday, the 71-year-old pontiff kicks off a tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, his adopted homeland where he lived for nearly two decades working as a missionary, parish priest and a bishop.  

The Vatican has announced that Leo will meet with abuse victims during the trip, without offering specifics of the plans.

"What the pope can do at this moment to put an end to – or at least greatly improve – this lamentable situation is to implement a decree...of zero tolerance for those found guilty of sexual abuse," Anne Barrett Doyle, the nonprofit's co-director, told reporters.

The Church should permanently remove not only those who were guilty of the abuse, but those who covered it up as well, Doyle added.

The call was echoed by José Escardo, president of the Survivors' Network of Abuse in Peru, who stressed such a policy "is something that is needed."

"These people must be placed in the hands of the civil justice system and must not only face the judgment of the Church," Escardo added.

The 56-year-old is one of the victims of a conservative group that Pope Francis ordered the dissolution of in 2025, after the Vatican carried out a seven-year investigation.

Multiple high-ranked Church officials were listed among the alleged abusers on Bishop Accountability's list, including conservative cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani. 

– TIMES/AFP