By Marco Aquino
LIMA, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A US-based clergy abuse watchdog on Thursday called for the creation of a truth commission in Peru to investigate sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, on the eve of a visit by Pope Leo to South America where the Vatican says he will meet abuse survivors.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks Catholic clergy abuse allegations worldwide, accused Peru's Church hierarchy of secrecy and of failing to adequately confront allegations of abuse.
"The stubborn secrecy of Peruvian Church leaders puts children at risk, deprives victims of validation, and prevents civil authorities from identifying and prosecuting the complicit," Barrett Doyle said at a press conference in Lima.
Representatives of the Archdiocese of Lima and the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, which represents the country's Catholic bishops, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Peru's Church has faced a series of abuse scandals in recent years, most prominently involving Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, an ultraconservative Peru-founded Catholic group that expanded internationally. Pope Francis ordered the organization dissolved in 2025 after a Vatican investigation into allegations including sexual and psychological abuse.
Leo, the first US-born pope, will spend the final leg of his November 6-17 South American tour in Peru, the country where he arrived as a missionary in the 1980s, later became a citizen and served as bishop of Chiclayo. The Vatican has said he will meet with survivors of physical and sexual abuse during his visit to the region.
"Pope Leo has spoken compassionately about the need to accompany victims and to listen to them, but he has said almost nothing about holding bishops in his Church accountable. We hope we hear that message from him during this visit," Barrett Doyle said.
BishopAccountability.org on Thursday published a database identifying dozens of Peruvian clergy and religious figures it says have been accused of sexually abusing children or vulnerable people.
The group also called on Leo to condemn what it described as judicial persecution of journalists who have investigated abuse cases.
(Report by Marco Aquino; writing by Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)