Sexual abuse victims in Spain protest not being invited to meet Pope Leo

The Vatican has said only that there will be a meeting during the pope's visit to Spain, adding that it would not give further information until after the meeting out of "respect for the victims".

But Spanish media said it would take place on Monday afternoon at the Vatican embassy in the Spanish capital, formally known as the apostolic nunciature.

“Not being invited is a blow," Juan Cuatrecasas, spokesman for the association Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood), told AFP on Sunday.

"I think we deserve a leading role. We have for many years been one of the associations leading the way" in denouncing child abuse, he said.

Miguel Hurtado, a victim, said on Radio4 that the meeting was "strictly controlled by the Catholic hierarchy so that it doesn’t look bad and does not affect the figure of the pope and the message they want to convey".

Hurtado has said he was abused by a priest at the age of 16 in the Abbey of Montserrat in Barcelona.

The pope is scheduled to visit the abbey later in his visit and Hurtado said he would face protests there.

Cuatrecasas said the meeting with the pope would be attended by victims assisted by the Repara project of the archdiocese of Madrid, which in his view means that “the reality the Pope will see is a completely skewed reality".

On the flight that brought him to Madrid on Saturday, Leo XIV said that abuse was "still an open wound" for the Church.

After welcoming him to Madrid, King Felipe VI hailed Leo's "clarity and firmness" on the issue, adding that this was "essential in the process of healing and reparation for the damage inflicted".

Spain's national ombudsman said in a report published in 2023 that since 1940 more than 200,000 minors may have suffered assaults by Catholic clergy.

Spain’s left-wing government and the Church signed an agreement in March to compensate victims of sexual crimes, after years of reluctance and opacity on the part of the Church hierarchy.