Pope Leo XIV made plenty of enemies helping dismantle a powerful Catholic movement whose leaders physically, sexually, spiritually and psychologically abused members. As Leo's past record of handling clergy sexual abuse cases comes under scrutiny, his biggest defenders are the victims of the group, known as the Sodalitium Christiane Vitae.
These survivors say that starting in 2018, when the pope was a bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost met with them. He took their claims seriously when few others did, got the Vatican involved and worked concretely to provide financial reparations for the harm they had endured. They credit him with helping arrange the key 2022 meeting with Pope Francis that triggered a Vatican investigation into the group that resulted in its suppression earlier this year.
