Pope meets with clergy abuse survivors in Argentina

The private meetings in Buenos Aires on Monday were the first of several talks the pope is planning to hold with abuse survivors during his 12-day tour of Latin America, according to the Vatican. “The Pope spoke individually with each of them, listened to their words and to the painful stories of their experiences, as well as to their proposals for strengthening paths towards healing within the Church,” the Vatican said in a statement.

The closed-door meetings followed a historic open-air mass that drew an estimated 2.5 million people to Avenida del Libertador, a major boulevard in the capital, at the Monumento de los Espanoles. It was the country’s first papal liturgy in nearly 40 years.

Leo, the first pope born in the United States, has consistently met with survivors during foreign visits as part of a wider outreach aiming to repair global relations and restore the Catholic Church’s credibility. Lawsuits, widespread sexual abuse and cover-ups have sullied its reputation over the last three decades.