Pope Leo XIV ignored child abuse claims against priest in Chicago church

The newly-elected Pope Leo XIV is facing accusations of ‘looking the other way’ when confronted with child sex abuse allegations against priests in his Chicago and South American churches, it has emerged.

Robert Prevost, who became the first North American pontiff on Thursday, was accused by a survivors’ group of ignoring strong allegations of abuse in the U.S. and in Peru – concerns they relayed to the cardinals who selected him.

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

‘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.’

Prevost was said to have looked past allegations in Chicago, where he grew up, after Augustinian priest Father James Ray was allowed to live at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park despite having been removed from ministering to the public years prior over accusations of abusing minors.

The new pope apparently didn’t notify the heads of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic school, an elementary school half a block from the friary because, the church said at the time, Ray was supposed to be closely monitored in the friary.

Prevost also faced criticism for not having opened a formal church investigation into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two priests in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which he led from 2014 to 2023. 

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

‘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,’ said Lopez de Casas, who hopes Prevost’s election will shine a brighter light on abuse within the Church.

‘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,’ he said.

Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected pope on Thursday, taking the name Leo XIV

Crowds thronged in St. Peter’s Square to hear Pope Leo’s first words as pontiff

Lopez de Casas, 65, added: ‘He was high on our watchlist at SNAP to make sure he was not selected for pope. But now, here we are.’

Lopez de Casas grew up in Galveston, Texas, and says he was abused by teachers in the public school system there. 

Eduardo Lopez de Casas hopes that Pope Leo’s election will shine a brighter light on sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church

His mother, suspecting something had happened to him but unable to pinpoint it, sent him to a parish priest in Galveston, who made him demonstrate to him what the teachers had done to him. 

‘I was then abused by the priest,’ he told DailyMail.com.

Although he was vocal about it as a kid, he said his parents weren’t native English speakers and were never advised to report it to authorities.

Among other criticisms, Prevost has been criticised for not having opened a formal church investigation into alleged sexual abuse carried out by two priests in the Diocese of Chiclayo, Peru, which he led from 2014 to 2023.

The Pillar, a Catholic news outlet that investigates the church, has reported on accusations that the diocese mishandled allegations by Ana Maria Quispe and her two younger sisters, Juana Mercedes and Aura Teresa, that Father Eleuterio Vásquez Gonzáles dating back to 2007. 

Allegations were also made against another priest, The Pillar reported.

As Cardinal Prevost, Pope Leo visited Providence Catholic High School on the outskirts of Chicago

Newly elected American Pope Leo XIV came from humble beginnings in southern Chicago suburbs where, as newly ordained Rev. Robert Prevost he met Pope John Paul II in 1982

The alleged victims said in a statement that, under Prevost’s watch, in 2022 the Diocese downplayed details and documentation of their allegations that it sent to the Vatican, intentionally preventing the church from taking action against the priests accused. They allege the church blew off their reports.

‘The allegations that Prevost engaged in covering up abuse reports are particularly significant, since Prevost’s current post as head of the Dicastery for Bishops oversees complaints and investigations of episcopal negligence in abuse cases around the world,’ the Pillar wrote in a September 2024 article.

The outlet reported that Prevost had met with the accusers in April 2022, and encouraged them to take their case to the civil authorities while the church investigated. 

That probe reportedly ‘was shelved for lack of evidence and because the statute of limitations had expired’.

Other criticisms that Prevost overlooked sexual abuse stem from Chicago, where he grew up.

As reported by the Will County Gazette, which covers suburbs southwest of the city, Prevost allowed an Augustinian priest, Father James Ray, to live at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park despite Ray having been yanked from ministering to the public nine years earlier because of accusations of sexually abusing minors. 

Prevost apparently didn’t notify the heads of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic school, an elementary school half a block from the friary because, the church said at the time, Ray was supposed to be closely monitored in the friary.

As reported by the Will County Gazette, which covers suburbs southwest of the city, Prevost allowed an Augustinian priest, Father James Ray, to live at the St. John Stone Friary in Hyde Park despite Ray having been yanked from ministering to the public nine years earlier because of accusations of sexually abusing minors. 

Ray remained in close proximity to the school for two years until relocated under new rules passed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to keep priests accused of preying on minors physically far away from children.

Cardinal Prevost arrived at the final congregation meeting before the conclave on May 3, not knowing he would soon be the new pope

Cardinal Prevost led a service in St. Peter’s Square in March to pray for Pope Francis whose health was failing

One of his final public acts before being elected Pope was to attend the Palm Sunday Mass in the Vatican on April 13

Pope Leo XIV had a religious upbringing in a quaint 1,200-square-foot brick home in Dolton, Illinois 

Another disgraced priest also lived at the friary during his watch.

Father Richard McGrath, who was ousted as the longtime principal and president of Providence Catholic High School in the Chicago suburb of New Lenox after a student reported seeing nude images of boys on his phone. 

Former Providence student Robert Krankvich accused McGrath of forcing him to perform various sex acts while he was a child. Krankvich went on to struggle with addiction for much of his adult life.

After reaching a $2 million settlement with the Catholic church, Krankvich died in April of addiction-related health issues.

‘Money doesn’t bring happiness . . . it gave him no closure,’ his father, also named Robert Krankvich, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

As part of its work highlighting candidates for the papacy, whom it says have covered up sexual abuse, SNAP wrote a letter to the Vatican slamming what it called Prevost’s inaction in Peru and Chicago.

Prevost’s leadership role in the Midwest Augustinians from 1998 to 2014 included overseeing the high school. As Lopez de Casas – who worked for the Galveston, Texas diocese for 18 years – tells it, Prevost allowed McGrath to prey on students there several years before he was ousted in 2017.

Meanwhile, Providence Catholic High School maintains close ties with the new pope. Its current president, Father John Merkelis, went to seminary with Prevost in Holland, Michigan, in the early 70s, and Prevost has given mass at the school. He describes him as ‘very intelligent, sensitive, pastoral and always one of the best in his class.’

‘It is just excellent news,’ he told DailyMail.com shortly after news of Prevost’s selection on Thursday. ‘We’re all just beaming here.’

‘It’s so cool to see the kids so excited,’ added Theresa Thormeyer, the administrative assistant in the school’s dean’s office.

Charles Collins, managing editor of Crux, a Catholic publication, told Sky News that he hoped ‘an American might be in a better position’ to help address the ongoing abuse scandal.

‘Frankly, the United States government and the state governments have been making really strong actions against priestly paedophilia, and he’s going to be very familiar with that,’ he said, adding: ‘He’s in a position to get ahead of it in a lot of countries which haven’t dealt with it yet.’