An Open Letter to Pope Leo XIV on the occasion of His Meeting with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors
Your Holiness Pope Leo XIV,
Today, as you meet with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, I write to you not only as a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, but as one voice among thousands who have endured profound suffering and who are working tirelessly to ensure no child ever endures what we did.
I am a Jamaican woman of Nigerian ancestry, and the founder of Faith Has Feet, a global faith-based organization devoted to safeguarding children and empowering survivors. Over the past eight years, many of us have helped build a global network of survivors and advocates across the world—people who are united by pain, resilience, and an unshakable determination to ensure justice and prevention.
But this work cannot advance without your leadership. And leadership, in this moment, demands listening.
The time has come for the Church to make a decisive shift: survivors must no longer be excluded from the rooms where decisions about safeguarding are made. Although there may be a few survivors on the Pontifical Commission, the question must be asked—how can the Commission be effective in preventing clergy abuse without listening directly to those who are still muted and in pain working for years seeing no pathway for justice?
Survivors in regions such as Africa and across the Diaspora have been especially marginalized. Our experiences, our perspectives, and our wisdom are too often silenced. Yet it is in these very places that clergy abuse has gone unacknowledged, hidden beneath layers of secrecy and shame.
Your Holiness, if you are serious about protecting minors and restoring the moral credibility of the Church, you must:
- Meet with Survivors Directly – not only from the Global North, but from across the Global South and the Diaspora. Our perspectives are indispensable.
- Update Canon Law to Include a Universal Zero-Tolerance Law – recognizing sexual abuse as a grave crime against life, dignity, and freedom. Enforcement must be consistent and transparent.
- Establish an Independent Global Survivor Council
– with the authority to investigate, document, and publicly identify those within the Church who, through negligence or intentional acts, concealed abuse or enabled abusers.
- Ensure Compliance Through Oversight – granting the Survivor Council true enforcement power to monitor how zero-tolerance is applied in every diocese.
This is a pivotal moment. You have the opportunity to lead the Church into an era of bold transparency, meaningful accountability, and survivor-centered justice. Will you rise to that calling? Will you direct the Pontifical Commission to open the door to this level of engagement and inclusion?
The world is watching. Survivors everywhere are waiting—not simply to be acknowledged, but to be included as partners in building a Church where the safety and dignity of children come before all else.
With hope, urgency, and in solidarity,
Denise Buchanan, PhD, Survivor of Clergy Sexual Abuse, Founder, Faith Has Feet, Jamaican-Nigerian Advocate for Global Survivor Justice, Member of the IADC Pontifical Gregorian University IADC Advisory Committee and Member of the Brave Movement
