Pope Leo XIV sent a solemn message today to the workshop organized by the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, titled “Building communities that safeguard dignity”. In it, he insisted on the need to protect minors and the most vulnerable, prevent all forms of abuse, and be accountable with truth and humility.
However, just four days earlier, on November 13, the victims of the case of the abusive priest from Chiclayo were informed that their aggressor, Lute, responsible for abuses when they were even 9 years old and who they reported to Robert Prevost himself, had been dispensed from the clerical state. This decision causes any open investigation against him to lapse, effectively blocking the search for investigation and justice that the victims demanded.
The contradiction between the Pope’s message and the facts cannot be overlooked. Speaking of dignity, protection, and accountability while blocking the investigation into serious sexual abuses through «dispensations» that contravene the true spirit of the same is painful and inevitably perceived as institutional hypocrisy. The victims and society observe how discourses on justice and care clash with decisions that perpetuate distrust and a sense of impunity.
The risk to the Church is evident: as long as words are more carefully crafted than actions, its moral credibility will erode. Promises of protection and accompaniment only gain real value when applied without exceptions, without privileges, and with full transparency. Otherwise, the most beautiful discourses are reduced to mere statements, incapable of transforming the reality of those who most need to be defended.
True moral authority is not built solely with solemn messages or international workshops. It is built with decisions that demonstrate coherence between what is preached and what is practiced, especially when justice and the lives of the most vulnerable are at stake. Only in this way can the Church approach what the Pope himself defines: communities where the dignity of each person, even in their fragility, is truly protected and promoted.
El Papa reclama prevención, transparencia y acompañamiento para menores desde la vida consagrada