John Yep, head of Catholics for Catholics said in an interview with Piers Morgan that the new Pontiff has a solid track record of responding appropriately to abuse cases.
May 13, 2025
By Catholics for Catholics
Despite some reports in media outlets who allege that Pope Leo XIV has a suspect history when it comes to handling sexual abuse cases, a deep, hard look at his track record indicates the contrary, said John Yep, head of Catholics for Catholics.
In a long interview with journalist Piers Morgan that included a panel of commentators, Yep defended Pope Leo’s record when it came to handling abuse cases. He said that in the face of some media stories he could not find evidence after reading 300 pages of documents that the current Pontiff had any wrongdoing during his time as a prelate.
“I can conclude from my research that he did what he was supposed to do. The issue in Chicago, it was a lower superior that stupidly allowed a priest to live near a children’s school, that’s horrible. He was barely tangentially related to that. He didn’t really have a say in that,” Yep said.
“Secondly, the girls who were abused by Father Gonzalez in Peru, he did what he was supposed to. They brought the revelations to him in April 2022, he said OK, let’s take this seriously. He did a report, sent it to Rome, Rome came back and said, ‘you know what, we don’t really find an issue in this matter.’ OK. Great. Done. At least he gets a pretty good scorecard there. That’s a good thing. We need that in the church,” Yep said.
Pope Leo’s record of dealing with sex abuses is in stark contrast with his predecessor, Pope Francis, Yep said to Morgan.
“Francis talked a big game, but in the end, he failed to protect some of our most gullible children with promoting Father Rupnik; Theodore McCarrick basically got a hand slap when he was still on church salary till the day he died,” Yep said.
At issue, according to news sources like CNN, is that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint to Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, against Cardinal Robert Prevost, who last week became Pope Leo XIV. The group alleges that Prevost mishandled two incidents, one in Chicago in 2000 and the other in Peru, in 2022, which involved priests who were accused of sexual abuse.
The group alleged Prevost “harmed the vulnerable and caused scandal” by mishandling two situations – in Chicago in 2000, and in Peru in 2022 – involving priests accused of sexual abuse.
Still, according to CNN, Rodolfo Soriano Nuñez, a sociologist in Mexico City, he said that despite Prevost’s failings, if there are any, he was one of the few bishops in Peru who seriously tried to handle the abuse by priests by setting up a commission to see to the cases.
“I think Prevost was the best bishop in Peru when dealing with abuse cases in his diocese. And there were plenty of cases,” said Soriano-Nuñez. “He dealt with the issue as far as he was able to deal with it.”
Prevost’s actions were unlike some of his counterparts elsewhere in Peru and the rest of Latin America, Nuñez said. He added that Prevost was not “going after the victims, or gaslighting the victims or playing the fool.”
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