A leader of a group of priest abuse survivors that tried to derail Robert Prevost’s chances of becoming pope has ‘an ironic sense of happiness’ that the Catholic Church ignored its warnings.

Prevost’s selection as Leo XIV, the 267th pope, will shine far more light on hidden sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, hopes Eduardo Lopez de Casas.

‘For them to chose a cardinal who has hidden sexual abuse and is American only means that this person will be scrutinized from left to right,’ Lopez de Casas, a victim of clergy abuse and national vice president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) told DailyMail.com.

‘That’s helpful for victims everywhere because we have this pope who will be under the public eye in terms of things he was involved with in the past.’

The cardinals who supported the new pope in this week’s secret conclave disregarded the American cardinal’s record of looking past sexual abuse allegations in and around Chicago and, more recently, in Peru.

‘You can’t cover up sexual abuse and be a good priest,’ Lopez de Casas said. 

‘Staying silent is a sin. It’s not what God wants us to do. Jesus wants us to stop these things, not make a heathy garden for sexual abuse to grow.’ 

SNAP and other groups had made the 135 eligible cardinals who selected him well aware of Prevost’s inaction on the allegations.

Read More