Jesuit expert praises Pope Leo XIV’s authentic approach to abuse crisis, balancing victim compassion with due process in Crux interview.
Newsroom (29/09/2025, Gaudium Press ) One of the Catholic Church’s foremost authorities on combating sexual abuse has hailed Pope Leo XIV’s recent comments on the crisis as a reflection of his genuine commitment to addressing the issue, praising the pontiff for balancing compassion for victims with due process for the accused.
Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a key figure in the Vatican’s safeguarding efforts, described Leo as “a very authentic person who is not only aware of the full extent of the abuse crisis, but also does everything in his power to ensure that abuse in its many forms is investigated, dealt with, and effectively prevented in an appropriate, professional, differentiated, and diligent manner.”
Zollner’s remarks came in response to a two-part interview Leo gave to Crux senior correspondent Elise Ann Allen, published as part of her upcoming biography, León XIV: Ciudadano del Mundo, Misionero del Siglo XXI (Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the XXI Century). The book, released in Spanish by Penguin Peru, is slated for translation into other languages soon.
In the interview, Leo emphasized the need for “authentic and deep sensitivity and compassion” toward abuse victims, acknowledging that church leaders may require professional assistance to better support them. He also cautioned against false allegations, stressing the importance of protecting the rights of the accused, while warning that the church must not let the scandals overshadow its broader mission.
Zollner, who heads the Institute of Anthropology – Interdisciplinary Studies on Human Dignity and Care at Rome’s Pontifical Gregorian University, told Crux that Leo’s words have “positively validated” the work of safeguarding professionals. He highlighted the pope’s call for handling perpetrators in line with Christian teachings, without pitting punishment against forgiveness.
A founding member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors from 2014 to 2023, Zollner has been a vocal advocate for reform. Despite his institutional ties, he has not shied away from criticism; his 2023 resignation from the commission cited concerns over responsibility, compliance, accountability, and transparency.
On the sensitive topic of false allegations, Zollner acknowledged victims’ potential pain when hearing such discussions, drawing from historical imbalances where victims’ rights were often sidelined. “Victims learned the hard way that far too often their rights counted for nothing, but those of the accused counted for everything,” he said.
However, he argued that the church’s evolving measures demonstrate a genuine shift toward justice for victims, making it “possible and necessary” to now balance rights on both sides.
Zollner also endorsed Leo’s view that the church cannot become singularly fixated on abuse at the expense of its evangelizing role. “There is always the danger of too much and too little,” he said, advocating for integrating safeguarding into the church’s overall mission of promoting human dignity.
Below is the full text of Crux’s email interview with Father Zollner, conducted on Sept. 28.
Crux: Overall, what was your reaction to the comments made by Pope Leo on the sexual abuse crisis in his interview with Elise?
Zollner: Honestly? My team at the IADC of the Gregorian University and I feel positively validated in our work. In his recent statements, Pope Leo addresses issues that we have been working on for some time and that are either not discussed at all or only very rudimentarily in the broader public and in professional circles, or that require further differentiation.
These include, for example, the question of a positive justification for safeguarding that goes beyond the motive of “merely” fighting against abuse, its causes, etc.; and a positive, motivating foundation for safeguarding as a means of promoting the integral development of the human person without avoidable threats to safety and unnecessary burdens, in accordance with the Gospel and with Catholic social teaching.
This also includes the question of how to deal with perpetrators in a manner consistent with Christian moral teaching, without playing punishment, atonement, penance, and forgiveness off against each other.
Crux: Specifically, Leo said that “first and foremost” the Church needs to demonstrate “an authentic and deep sensitivity and compassion to the pain, the suffering that people have endured.” Do you believe that is actually what most victims today experience from church personnel?
Zollner: Looking at the universal Church as a whole, it is difficult to answer this question clearly and once and for all. This is not only because of differences between the various local churches on different continents, but also because of differences within the individual local churches themselves.
The differences relate both to the degree of sensitivity and compassion shown to victims and to the quality of that sensitivity and compassion. This “quality” is not just a matter of a more or less pronounced awareness and a corresponding willingness to show sympathy and compassion.
Beyond that, we are faced with the practical and scientific challenge of learning to better understand and classify the culturally influenced forms of expression and realization of sensitivity and compassion, as well as to relate them in synergy. It is precisely on this point that the papal call to address the issue of sensitivity and compassion is a very strong point.
Crux: The pope said, “I think that many of us are perhaps still novices learning about what is the best way to accompany these people in their pain. I think there is one of the areas where we continue to need the help of professionals to assist us with that and to accompany the victims.” Since you are one of those professionals, were you encouraged to hear him say this?
Zollner: This statement is very encouraging and positive for all of us: for those who are professionally and primarily involved in safeguarding, as well as for those who volunteer or who want to give their full-time work as clergy, consecrated persons or lay employees in the Church’s field of responsibility a new direction based on the idea of safeguarding.
By pointing out the need to learn and thus to develop further, the pope takes a lot of pressure off. Such pressure often consists in thinking that one has to be perfect. This pressure is counterproductive and inhibiting, especially when it comes to the issue of abuse. Just dealing with it seems burdensome in view of the suffering of those affected and the long failure of the Church.
No one wants to make a mistake; everyone wants to do their best and show full, genuine commitment, only to find that failure is part of everyday life. Given our human limitations, failure is almost inevitable. The point is to learn from mistakes and failures, including in safeguarding, to start afresh and to remain committed to move step by step toward the good. All of this is in the interest of what victims of sexual violence need, in the interest of their rights and their place at the heart of the community of believers.
Crux: The pope warned about the possibility of false allegations and said the due process rights of the accused must be protected, while adding that “even saying that at times is cause of greater pain for the victims.” In your experience, is that actually the case? Is it painful for victims to talk about protecting the rights of the accused?
Zollner: First of all, victims have every right in the world to think only of themselves, their interests, their rights, and their claims. They do not have to worry about the rights of the accused or whether these rights are being upheld. That is the responsibility of others, such as ecclesiastical tribunals.
However, victims of sexual violence must be able to rely on those who are responsible for protecting the rights of the accused not to do so at the expense of the victims. This was precisely one of the biggest problems in the past. Victims learned the hard way that far too often their rights counted for nothing, but those of the accused counted for everything. This experience and these lessons learned are often a cause of pain for victims when the rights of the accused are discussed.
There is an understandable concern that the old harmful patterns will sooner or later take hold again. In this context, the statement by Pope Leo XIV is of particular significance. Although he speaks of the rights of the accused, he does so without neglecting the victims, addressing their emotional state and their legitimate needs and requirements by putting their pain into words.
Crux: Do you agree there hasn’t been enough attention to the rights of the accused?
Zollner: Before answering this question, we must once again clearly remind ourselves of one thing. For a very long time, and for far too long and far too often, those with roles of responsibility in the church were only concerned with the perpetrators and the protection of the good name of the church as such. The victims of sexual violence were virtually ignored: their suffering was marginalized, their rights trivialized, their voices silenced.
When the church became aware of this failure, it was inevitable that the victims of sexual violence would become the focus of attention. Anything else would have been difficult to communicate and would have been interpreted as what had been practiced for so long: an attempt by the Church to use other means to ultimately take the side of the perpetrators again, without protecting the rights of the victims.
Despite some setbacks, the many measures taken by the Church to investigate and deal with cases of sexual abuse have repeatedly shown that the Church is serious about changing its previous behavior, recognizing the victims, and obtaining justice for them. In this sense, the discussion has continued, so that now it is possible and necessary to give greater consideration to how the rights of victims and of accused persons relate to each other and how they can be balanced.
This also applies to cases in which defendants become convicted offenders as a result of due process, since their guilt has been established. The question of how to deal with offenders after a conviction and the serving of the sentence imposed, and which standardized procedures are appropriate in this context, remains largely unresolved – as it is in most civil societies in this world.
Crux: The pope also said, “We can’t make the whole church focus exclusively on this issue, because that would not be an authentic response to what the world is looking for in terms of the need for the mission of the church.” Do you believe there’s a danger of an excessive focus on the sex abuse issue, at the expense of other priorities in terms of the church’s mission?
Zollner: There is always the danger of too much and too little. Of course, the Church is much more than just a space for dealing with abuse, and dealing with abuse is much more than just a marginal issue for the Church. This is one of the essential focal points of the Gospel message: it is the serious matter of the concern for the injured, the weak, the vulnerable, the abused, and the marginalized, as conveyed and lived out by Jesus Christ.
But how can we avoid the one-sidedness that the pope alludes to? Ultimately, it is a matter of appropriately integrating the issue of abuse into the overall life of the Church, its lines of reflection and action. This is precisely what we have been working on for some time in our scientific and educational work at the IADC.
Our core thesis is that safeguarding, as concern for the safety of persons in situations of vulnerability, all those who have experienced abuse or are at risk of experiencing abuse, is a contribution to the integral development of the human person. As such, it is part of the mission of the Church, and something to which victims of sexual violence are entitled. Safeguarding with regard to victims of sexual abuse thus has two interpretative premises:
First, educating, addressing, and preventing abuse requires, as far as possible and despite all the individual differences among those affected by abuse, the further development of the potential given to every human being as a child of God, of future prospects and approaches to personal growth and agency in shaping one’s own life.
Second, safeguarding with and for people affected by sexual violence is a paradigm for the fundamental actions and service of the Church to people in general. Every human being is vulnerable in their basic disposition and must learn to deal with this, even if they have been fortunate enough that this vulnerability has not been exploited by anyone.
From these two interpretative premises, we draw the following conclusions:
First, an isolated focus on the issue of sexual abuse not only leads to an imbalance in the expressions of church life, but also to a loss of synergies that are rooted in safeguarding and in the discussion of sexual abuse have reached their starting point, but not yet their end point.
Secondly, the synergistic potential that can be developed from a content perspective through safeguarding requires a structural equivalent. Specifically, personnel positions, structures such as committees, working groups, commissions, etc., that deal with safeguarding exclusively in relation to cases of sexual violence lead to isolated results. They always appear as a “special case” alongside the “real” actions of the Church and its missions.
If one wants to have networked, integrated results of safeguarding and thus see the concern with the phenomenon of abuse as an important part of the Church’s mission, then the personnel and structures just mentioned must be incorporated in a larger, integrating institutional framework. This sets the hermeneutic tone, so to speak, and provides the institutional opportunity for networking and connection. In the case of safeguarding, this means that the institutional framework into which safeguarding is integrated is characterized by the positive theme of integral human development, according to Christian anthropology.
Crux: In general, what do you make of Pope Leo’s approach to the abuse crisis so far?
Zollner: In the area of safeguarding, one criterion is of central importance: authenticity. Or, in other words, the unity of words and deeds, which is the basis of credibility and commitment, without which any effort to create safe spaces, structures, and relationships as the core of safeguarding will come to nothing.
I myself had the opportunity to get to know Pope Leo XIV when he was still Prior General of the Augustinians and later when he was a bishop in Peru as a very authentic person who is not only aware of the full extent of the abuse crisis, but also does everything in his power to ensure that abuse in its many forms is investigated, dealt with, and effectively prevented in an appropriate, professional, differentiated, and diligent manner.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Crux Now
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