Pope Leo urges Spanish bishops to provide reparations to abuse survivors

By — Suman Naishadham, Associated Press Suman Naishadham, Associated Press By — Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Nicole Winfield, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/pope-leo-urges-spanish-bishops-to-provide-reparations-to-abuse-survivors Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pope Leo urges Spanish bishops to provide reparations to abuse survivors World Jun 8, 2026 10:21 AM EDT MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV told Spain's Catholic hierarchy on Monday to provide reparations to survivors of clergy sexual abuse and deal with the crisis transparently, ahead of an expected meeting with survivors during his weeklong visit to the country. Leo told Spanish bishops the entire church community should have an "ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care." The Spanish hierarchy had largely dismissed the scale of abuse in their church for decades until a newspaper began documenting a legacy of abuse and cover-up. "Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice reparation," Leo said. "Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing." Spain launched a reparations system this year Amid public outrage over the abuse crisis, Spain launched a reparations system earlier this year for clerical abuse cases too old to be prosecuted that requires the participation of the Catholic Church and the Spanish government. Other countries and churches have set up reparations mechanisms to compensate survivors and provide therapy, but the Spanish one is unusual in that it gives the government a strong role in the process and the final say in payouts. The system, which is not legally binding, has drawn praise and some skepticism from advocacy groups and survivors. It gives people a year to apply. Ahead of the expected meeting with Leo, several groups representing survivors said they were left in the dark about the encounter, and held a small protest outside the Vatican's embassy in Madrid. "Our associations are pleased that a group of victims from the reparation plan can be heard by the pope, but they do not represent all the victims, and deep down they are being used by the church, by the bishops conference, to clean up the image of a Spanish church that has never been able to live up to its victims," said Juan Cuatrecasas, a spokesperson for the Robbed Childhood association. Across the world, clergy sexual abuse and cover-up scandals have rocked Catholic dioceses, damaging the church's reputation more than three decades after the crisis first erupted publicly in the West. Leo reaffirms church's right to confessional secrecy Pope Leo XIV is applauded at the end of his speech Monday during his visit at the Spanish Parliament, next to Francina Armengol, President of the Congress of Deputies of Spain and Pedro Rollan, President of the Senate, during his apo