Tomás Ó Flatharta

A Cardinal born in the USA city of Chicago 69 years ago – Robert Prevost – will in future be called Pope Leo XIV.

No surprise – child abuse allegations lurk – let’s see

The child abuse connection with Pope Leo XIV is probably the same as all top leaders of the Catholic Church. He wasn’t interested when the news started to break, he moved the rapists to a new parish or new job, while remaining indifferent to the victims.

Pope Francis’ small reforms like allowing communion to LGBT or divorced and remarried people seem likely to be accepted as a modernisation.

Let’s wait and see.

Here is an extract from an Irish Times report “The cardinal, who is a member of the Order of St Augustine, resembles Francis in his commitment to the poor and migrants. Often described as reserved and discreet, Prevost will depart stylistically from Francis. His supporters say he will most likely continue the consultative process started by Francis to invite laypeople to meet with bishops.

It is unclear whether he will be as open to LGBTQ+ Catholics as Francis was. Although he has not said much recently, in a 2012 address to bishops, he lamented that Western news media and popular culture fostered “sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel”. He cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children.”

Rev Michele Falcone (46), a priest in the Order of St. Augustine previously led by Prevost, described his mentor and friend as the “dignified middle of the road” to the New York Times earlier this week.

“He does not have excesses,” Fr Falcone said of Prevost. “Blessing babies, yes. Taking them in his arms, no.”

“I know that Bob believes that everybody has a right and a duty to express themselves in the church,” said Rev Mark R Francis, a former classmate of Prevost who runs the American arm of the Clerics of St Viator, a religious order.

While praised in Peru for supporting Venezuelan immigrants and visiting far-flung communities, the cardinal has drawn criticism over his dealings with priests accused of sexual abuse.

One woman in Chiclayo, who said she and two other women were sexually abused by two priests as girls long before Prevost was bishop, accused him of mishandling an investigation and of not stopping one of the priests from celebrating Mass.