ROME (RNS) — An advocacy group of survivors of clerical abuse is elevating issues about a number of cardinals who’re buzzed about as papabili, or potential popes.
Survivors Community of these Abused by Monks held a press convention Wednesday (April 30) in a lodge subsequent to Pope Francis’ resting place on the Basilica of St. Mary Main to announce new details about outstanding cardinals the group accuses of protecting up or mishandling sexual abuse circumstances. Along with compiling accusations and knowledge for the general public, SNAP has filed complaints with the Vatican underneath Pope Francis’ Vos Estis Lux Mundi (“You’re the mild of the world”) legal guidelines, meant to confront abuse.
Amongst these named within the group’s complaints are Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle, Péter Erdő, Robert Prevost and Joseph Tobin. SNAP claimed there’s proof of their ignoring or protecting up stories of abuse and seeks full investigations.
“ We’re not saying that these people are responsible,” Peter Isely, a founding member of SNAP and a clerical abuse survivor, stated of SNAP’s listing. “We’re saying there’s proof, compelling proof, that there ought to be a full investigation launched concerning the conduct of this explicit cardinal.”
On its web site, SNAP additionally accuses Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, one other potential papabile who additionally has the position of saying the following pope, of collaborating within the cover-up of abuse by each notorious ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and one other prelate Mamberti supervised, though the group has not but filed a Vos Estis report. Mamberti is considered one of six cardinals added to the SNAP listing within the final two weeks.
“ When the white smoke comes out of the Sistine Chapel, we don’t need one other survivor or member of the family or whistleblower to listen to the identify of the following pope and suppose, ‘That’s any individual who’s triggered deep hurt in my life. That’s any individual who’s been a supply of terror and a supply of ache,’” stated Sarah Pearson, a survivor who leads SNAP’s media and communications.
Pearson referenced the story of an Argentine mom who allegedly went to then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s workplaces to discuss the abuse of her son by a priest and was refused a gathering with the cardinal and brought away by safety. Along with discussing Pope Francis, SNAP survivors on the assembly additionally introduced up allegations that Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II lined up abuse.
The advocacy effort, titled Conclave Watch, additionally famous cover-up accusations in opposition to a number of males in key management roles through the papal transition, together with Cardinal Kevin Farrell, the camerlengo, and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who’s helping Farrell.
Survivors “meet a rare wall of resistance and obfuscation and deceit and aggression around the globe by bishops and church officers,” Isely stated.
“Many survivors have handled what occurred to them, that come to phrases with the offender,” Isely stated. “What they haven’t been in a position to come to phrases with and heal is how their bishop or their cardinal” maintained or lined up little one abuse.
Psychoneurologist Denise Buchanan, from left, psychotherapist Peter Isely, Kazlaw Damage & Trauma Legal professionals’ help staff specialist Leona Huggins, and President of Ending Clergy Abuse Timothy Regulation, holding a picket cross, arrive on the Vatican, Sept. 27, 2023. The group ended a zero-tolerance 75-mile pilgrimage initiative, alongside the Through Francigena, forward of the synod of bishops beginning on Oct. 4, 2023, on the Vatican, to protest clergy abuse. (AP Picture/Riccardo De Luca)
Along with sharing details about cardinals who had been allegedly negligent about abuse claims, SNAP is urgent all cardinals to again its proposed zero-tolerance regulation requiring the Catholic Church to completely take away all abusers from ministry. The proposed church regulation would additionally kind an unbiased compliance company to research these in positions of authority who hid abuse, then require publishing investigations and penalties for church officers discovered responsible of concealing abuse.
Isely additionally expressed outrage that whereas ladies and married males are barred from being monks, “you is usually a little one molester and a priest — that you are able to do underneath church guidelines.”
The group additionally introduced up the case of 81-year-old Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, who has participated in pre-conclave conferences though he’s ineligible to vote due to his age. However Cipriani was restricted by the Vatican due to accusations that he had sexually abused minors, but he seems to be flouting these restrictions in his participation.
“This man has no place there, no place there,” stated Pearson. “It’s wildly inappropriate, and that is an instance of what occurs when an individual doesn’t lose their rank and title, from what they’ve carried out.”
SNAP leaders stated they consider they’re being heard, nonetheless, as a result of Cardinal Mario Grech rebutted the group’s accusations about him in response to a Instances of Malta inquiry. SNAP stated Grech’s claims are “provably false,” however his response demonstrates the group’s attain.
The survivors have additionally approached a number of cardinals in particular person, main Cardinal Peter Turkson to ask the group to attend a presentation on synthetic intelligence and little one security.
The 20 cardinal profiles that SNAP, which is U.S.-based, has on its web site closely function U.S. cardinals, naming all 10 U.S. cardinal electors.
From left, Survivors Community of these Abused by Monks activists Sarah Pearson, Peter Isely and President Shaun Dougherty discuss to reporters throughout a press convention, in Rome, March 25, 2025. (AP Picture/Andrew Medichini)
SNAP leaders stated abuse survivors are simply starting the method of coming ahead in different components of the world.
“ Elements of Africa are by far essentially the most harmful for kids within the Catholic Church, and the survivors who come ahead there face monumental shunning, face monumental threats,” together with to their lives, Isely stated.
Pearson instructed RNS that legal guidelines within the U.S. have allowed for extra transparency and a stronger paper path, resulting in the group’s means to report “horrifying” allegations. She stated she was notably troubled to examine retired Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory being held in contempt of courtroom, when as Belleville, Illinois, bishop in 2004, he refused to launch the psychological well being data of a retired priest accused of abuse.
In the meantime, John Carr, a survivor of clerical abuse who led a significant division on the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops for over twenty years, spoke extremely of a number of U.S. cardinals on SNAP’s listing in an April 30 interview with RNS.
He notably counseled Gregory for his work in main the convention as president in 2002 to institute the Constitution for the Safety of Youngsters and Younger Individuals, calling him “a profile in braveness in standing up for survivors and victims and insisting on the zero-tolerance program in opposition to monumental resistance.”
“No person did sufficient, however some individuals, together with Cardinal Gregory, did greater than most and confirmed braveness in standing with survivors and households,” Carr stated. Nonetheless, he stated, clergy abuse “nonetheless haunts us and there’s extra work to be carried out.”
