Chicago-born Robert Prevost became the 267th person to become Pope. He is the first Augustinian pope and the second Roman Pontiff — after Pope Francis — from the Americas.
He will be known as Pope Leo XIV.
Weeks into his reign, Pope Leo is facing accusations by a defrocked priest accused of s**ual abuse of children.
The former priest, James M. Ray, claimed that it was Pope Leo himself — who at that time served as the head of the Midwest province of the Catholic Church’s Augustinian order — signed an order that let him live at a Hyde Park monastery by a Catholic primary school. Ray added that Prevost was well aware of the claims made against him about abusing at least 13 children, the Mirror reported.
“He’s the one who gave me permission to stay there,” Ray revealed.
Despite the allegations, Ray moved less than a block from St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School. The school was not informed of his presence near their facility. What’s more, there was also a daycare center just across the alley.
When they let Ray settle next to the school, archdiocesan officials wrongly stated there were “no schools in the immediate area.”
While a 2020 memo states that Prevost was informed of Ray’s history of abuse, he still approved his stay.
However, a lawyer for the Augustinians claimed that Prevost was only “accepting a guest” and wasn’t responsible of daily oversight of Ray. According to the lawyer, it was a responsibility of the now-deceased Rev. James Thompson.
After spending two years at the monastery, Ray was removed and in 2012 he was defrocked by the Catholic Church. Despite the accusations against him, he was never convicted and is not on any government s*x offender registry.
“I felt abandoned by the church, but never felt abandoned by God,” Ray said. “My faith is still strong. I live out my life each day the best I can. When this comes up, there’s a pain in my chest.”
In the face of the Church’s global abuse crisis, Pope Leo asks for transparency and healing.
“Silence is not the solution. We must be transparent and honest. We must accompany and assist the victims, because otherwise their wounds will never heal,” Prevost told Vatican News in 2023.
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