Pope Leo XIV told Catholic bishops in Spain on Monday that the church must listen to abuse victims and compensate them.
The meeting with Catholic bishops is the latest stop on the pope’s week-long tour of Spain. This is his first visit to an EU member state outside Italy.
Leo on abuse: Spain’s Catholic Church must commit to prevention and ‘culture of care’
A report released by Spain’s human rights ombudsman in 2023 found that Spanish priests had sexually abused 200,000 children. CEE apologized for the misconduct but the report cited conflicting figures.
“Faced with this crisis, the Church community is called to respond with a more determined commitment to listening, truth, justice, reparation and a culture of prevention and care,” Leo said in an address to the Spanish Episcopal Conference (CEE).
“Every wounded person deserves to be honestly heard, welcomed, protected and able to find real paths to healing,” Leo said.
The Spanish government and the Catholic Church signed an agreement earlier this year to provide compensation to victims of sexual abuse in church-run institutions.
Leo meets 6 sexual abuse victims of the Catholic Church
The Pope also met with six survivors who experienced sexual abuse by the Church.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Pope listened to the survivors with “affection and attention.”
Some organizations representing survivors held a demo outside the Vatican’s embassy in Madrid and said they were not informed about the meeting.
Juan Cuatrecas, spokesman for the Robbed Childhood organization, said, “Our Congregation is pleased that a group of victims of the reparations plan can be heard by the Pope, but they do not represent all victims, and deep down they are being used by the Church, by the Bishops’ Conference, to clean up the image of a Spanish Church that has never been able to live with its victims.”
The sexual abuse scandal comes at a time when fewer Spaniards are identifying as Catholic. In the 1970s, 90% of Spaniards identified as Catholic, while in 2025 only 55% had this as their religious affiliation.
Leo becomes the first Pope to address the Spanish Parliament
Leo also addressed the Spanish Parliament on Monday where he spoke on topics such as migrants, international law, rearmament and artificial intelligence.
The historic address, at which lawmakers stood and applauded for seven minutes, was the first speech given by a Catholic Church leader to the Spanish parliament.
Leo said, “The moral greatness of a nation is manifested, first of all, in its ability to accompany, protect, and love those lives that are most fragile.”
Leo said the “tragic drama of migration” is an issue that “challenges the conscience of nations.” He urged “safe and legal pathways” to immigration, as well as “real opportunities for integration.”
Frustration over the issue of migration has led to an increase in voting for far-right parties in European countries such as Germany, France and Britain.
Meanwhile, Spain, led by leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, has taken a more compassionate stance and backed an amnesty plan for undocumented migrants.
Pope talks Iran-Israel war, rearmament, militarized AI
The Pope also called for “diplomatic courage” to resolve the US–Israel war with Iran and stressed “the obligation of states to resolve their disputes through peaceful means proposed by international law.”
The US–Israeli war with Iran began on February 28. Iran and Israel have launched attacks on each other in the past day, in a clash that has reignited tensions between Israel and the Lebanese Iran-backed paramilitary organization Hezbollah.
In his parliamentary address, Leo highlighted the dangers of global rearmament due to uncertainty and conflict, with many European countries such as Germany and others increasing defense spending in light of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Leo said, “It is therefore a cause for concern that, in various parts of the world – and also in Europe – rearmament is once again being presented as an almost inevitable response to the fragility of the international situation.”
The pontiff warned about the risks of militarized AI and urged “rigorous moral vigilance” regarding its wartime use.
AI companies like Palantir and Hellsing provide software that allows armies to make sophisticated targeting decisions on the battlefield.
International Committee for the Red Cross Warns about limitations when it comes to AI And it can put civilians in danger during war. The Brookings Institution in Washington, DC Has said that uncontrolled AI could lead to nuclear war.
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Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez