The Roman Catholic church must “not tolerate any form of abuse”, sexual or otherwise, Pope Leo XIV has said in his first public remarks about the worldwide clerical molestation scandal that has long roiled the church.

In a statement read on Friday at the performance of a play which dramatizes the work of a journalist who endured harassment while investigating abuse scandals within a powerful Catholic group, Leo maintained that it was necessary to inculcate “throughout the church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse: abuse of power or authority, of conscience or spirituality, of sexual abuse”.

Leo’s statement also exalted the importance of a free, independent press, saying: “Wherever a journalist is silenced, the democratic soul of a nation is weakened.

“Defending free and ethical journalism is not only an act of justice, but a duty for all who aspire to a strong and participatory democracy.”

The comments from the pontiff cut a stark contrast with some other bishops, including from Leo’s native US, who have criticized news media reporting on the church clergy molestation and cover-up scandal that has victimized countless children across the world.

They also come after clergy-molestation survivors’ groups expressed concern over Leo’s 8 May election to succeed the late Pope Francis as the leader of the globe’s nearly 1.5 billion Catholics.

Those concerns stemmed in part from when Robert Prevost – Leo’s birth name – was leading the midwestern US chapter of the Augustinian religious order. In that 2000, that chapter stationed an Augustinian priest named James Ray in a friary that was adjacent to an elementary school, nine years after the clergyman had been prohibited from working around children because of accusations that he had molested minors.

Then, after he became the bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, beginning in 2015, three women told Prevost directly that they had allegedly been abused as minors by two local priests – but the accusers said they had no evidence any meaningful investigation into their claims ensued.

The Vatican has said that Prevost was not the official who authorized Ray’s living arrangements at the friary in Chicago, Leo’s home town. With respect to the case in Chicalayo, church officials have said Leo handled the case within canonical norms but that the Vatican agency which investigates clerical sexual abuse cases found insufficient evidence to substantiate the accusers’ allegations.

Leo himself had not discussed Catholic clergy molestation cases until Friday’s performance of Proyecto Ugaz in Lima, Peru. The stage production pays tribute to journalist Paola Ugaz, who spent years investigating abuse scandals involving the influential Catholic organization colloquially known as the Sodalitium and was met with litigation as well as death threats.

Francis took the extraordinary step of dissolving the Sodalitium in January, about three months before his death. According to the Associated Press, survivors of abuse by the Sodalitium credit Leo with arranging a key meeting with his predecessor that triggered a Vatican investigation leading to the organization’s dissolution.

As Leo’s statement put it, Ugaz and her colleagues carried out their work with “courage, patience and commitment to the truth”.

“Your fight for justice is also the church’s fight,” Leo’s statement added. “A faith that does not touch the wounds of the human body and soul has not yet understood the gospel.”

The pope’s statement said it was urgent for the church to renew its “commitment to protect minors and vulnerable adults”. The statement also called on journalists to “not be afraid”.

“Through your work, you can be builders of peace, unity and social dialogue,” Leo’s missive said. “Be sowers of light in the shadows.”

Pope Leo XIV has said there should be no tolerance in the Catholic Church for any type of abuse – sexual, spiritual or abuse of authority — and called for “transparent processes” to create a culture of prevention across the church.

Leo made his first public comments about the clergy sex abuse scandal in a written message to a Peruvian journalist who documented a particularly egregious case of abuse and financial corruption in a Peruvian-based Catholic movement, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.

The message was read out loud on Friday night in Lima during a performance of a play based on the Sodalitium scandal and the work of the journalist, Paola Ugaz.

“It is urgent to root in the whole church a culture of prevention that does not tolerate any form of abuse – neither of power or authority, nor abuse of conscience, spiritual or sexual abuse,” Leo said in the message. “This culture will only be authentic if it is born of active vigilance, of transparent processes and sincere listening to those who have been hurt. For this, we need journalists.”

Leo is well aware of the Sodalitium scandal, since he spent two decades as a missionary priest and bishop in Peru, where the group was founded in 1971. The then-Bishop Robert Prevost was responsible for listening to the Sodalitium’s victims as the Peruvian bishops’ point-person for abuse victims and helped some reach financial settlements with the organization.

After Pope Francis brought him to the Vatican in 2023, Prevost helped dismantle the group entirely by overseeing the resignation of a powerful Sodalitium bishop. The Sodalitium was officially suppressed earlier this year, right before Francis died.

Now as pope, Leo has to oversee the dismantling of the Soldalitium and its sizeable assets. The Vatican envoy on the ground handling the job, Monsignor Jordi Bertomeu, read out Leo’s message on Friday night, appearing alongside Ugaz on stage.

In the message, Leo also praised journalists for their courage in holding the powerful to account, demanded public authorities protect them and said a free press is an “common good that cannot be renounced.”

Ugaz and a Sodalitium victim, Pedro Salinas, have faced years of criminal and civil litigation from Sodalitium and its supporters for their investigative reporting into the group’s twisted practices and financial misconduct, and they have praised Leo for his handling of the case.

The abuse scandal is one of the thorniest dossiers facing Leo, especially given demands from survivors that he go even farther than Francis in applying a zero-tolerance for abuse across the church, including for abusers whose victims were adults.

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