To prevent abuse, pope says church must be vigilant, transparent and listen

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "It is urgent that there take root throughout the church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse: of power or authority, of conscience or spiritual or sexual," Pope Leo XIV wrote to a Peruvian journalist.

"This culture will only be authentic if it is born of active vigilance, of transparent processes and sincere listening to those who have been wounded," the pope wrote to Paola Ugaz, who has been sued and repeatedly taken to court for her attempts to expose the various forms of abuse that took place within the Peru-based lay movement, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

Pope Francis suppressed the movement at the end of January.

A Vatican official read Pope Leo's message to Ugaz June 20 at a performance in Lima, Peru, of Proyecto Ugaz, a theatrical performance honoring the journalist for her reporting. The pope's letter was not published on the Vatican website but was covered by Vatican News and released by Ugaz herself.

Pope Leo wrote that the play "gives voice and face to a pain silenced for too long."

"This play is not only theater: it is memory, denunciation and, above all, an act of justice," the pope wrote.

The production helps "the victims of the defunct spiritual family of Sodalitium and the journalists who have accompanied them -- with courage, patience and fidelity to the truth -- illuminate the wounded but hopeful face of the church," Pope Leo wrote.

"Your struggle for justice is also the struggle of the church," he said. "For as I wrote years ago, 'a faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul is a faith that has not yet known the Gospel."

Many of those wounds, he said, were inflicted by members of the church on "so many children, young people and adults who were betrayed where they sought comfort; and also on those who risked their freedom and their name so that the truth would not be buried."

Pope Leo thanked Ugaz and others "who have persevered in this cause, even when they were ignored, discredited or even persecuted judicially."

"Prevention and care are not a pastoral strategy," the pope insisted. "They are the heart of the Gospel."

Pope Leo said he prayed the play would be "an act of remembrance, but also a prophetic sign. May it awaken hearts, stir consciences and help us to build a church where no one else must suffer in silence, and where the truth is not seen as a threat, but as a path to liberation."