French victims ask Pope Leo to take action on spiritual abuse

“The denunciation of spiritual abuse still tends to be relegated to the background, behind that of sexual abuse.”

A group of more than 200 victims of spiritual abuse and their relatives is asking Pope Leo XIV to take concrete steps to prevent and respond to instances of spiritual abuse within the Church.

In a Sept. 7 letter, published in La Croix, the group asked the pope to clearly define spiritual abuse in canon law, establish independent bodies to receive reports…