Pope Leo - Some Advice.

Abuse victims want next pope to get serious on 'zero tolerance'.

"We believe it should be the central issue in the conclave," Peter Isely, one of the founders of the abuse survivors' group SNAP.

By REUTERSAPRIL 30, 2025 22:34Peter Isely, survivor of sexual abuse, and founder of ECA (Ending Clergy Abuse) Tim Law attend a march with survivors of clergy sexual abuse and activists near the Vatican, in Rome, Italy, September 27, 2023.(photo credit: REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo)

The new leader of the global Catholic Church needs to put the issue of clerical sex abuse at the heart of their papacy, victims' advocates said on Wednesday, criticizing the legacies of the last three popes.

The Church has been shaken for at least three decades by scandals around the world involving pedophile priests and the cover-up of their crimes, damaging its credibility and costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements.

"We believe it should be the central issue in the conclave," Peter Isely, one of the founders of the abuse survivors' group SNAP, said in Rome, presenting a website that tracks allegations of cover-up by senior church officials.

Jerusalem Post.