Pope Leo XIV delivers a speech during a joint session of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Spain on June 8, 2026. Ciro de Luca/Pool via REUTERS Ciro de Luca / Pool via REUTERS

Pope Leo XIV on Monday denounced the "scourge" of sexual violence by Catholic clergy and called for a "culture of care" in the Church ahead of an expected private meeting with victims in Spain.

"One of the most painful encounters is with those who have been wounded precisely by those who were supposed to care for them, including members of the clergy," the first U.S.-born pope said, according to the Reuters news service.

"Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation and an ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care," the pontiff told a gathering of Spanish bishops.

"Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing," he said.

Spanish media said the pope would speak later on Monday with victims at the Vatican embassy in Madrid, formally known as the apostolic nunciature.

Ahead of the meeting, representatives of some victim groups complained that they were being excluded.

"We are disappointed that the pope, instead of listening to a sufficiently large and solid representation of victims, prefers to leave us out," Juan Cuatrecasas, spokesman for the association Infancia Robada (Stolen Childhood), told AFP.

"We are going to keep pushing until the end, insisting that the Pope has to see us, has to hear us, we have a voice," he said, speaking outside the nunciature.

The Vatican has said that a meeting will take place during the visit but that it would not give further information until after it has taken place out of "respect for the victims."

Speaking to reporters on the flight to Madrid on Saturday, Leo, 70, said the scandal of sexual violence was "still an open wound" for the Church.

Around 200,000 minors are estimated to have suffered sexual violence by clergy in Spain since 1940, according to a 2023 report from Spain's national ombudsman.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government and the Catholic Church in Spain signed an agreement in March to compensate victims, after years of reticence from the Church hierarchy.

Unprecedented speech
The US-born pope earlier on Monday gave an unprecedented speech to the Spanish parliament, which was welcomed with a lengthy standing ovation from lawmakers.

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics called for a global response to the "tragic drama" of migration and said world peace was a "true global imperative."

The pope also urged lawmakers to defend life "from conception to its natural end", in a country whose left-wing government has legalized euthanasia under strict conditions and wants to include abortion rights in its constitution.

He called for "safe and legal pathways" for immigration and for migrants to be given "a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration".

In contrast with many of his European allies, Sanchez has a relatively liberal immigration policy.

But the government is under pressure on the issue from the main conservative Popular Party and from far-right party Vox, now the nation's third-largest political force.

The pope's seven-day visit to Spain will include a trip to the Canary Islands, where he will pay tribute to the migrants who have lost their lives at sea on perilous journeys from Africa.

The Spanish archipelago has become one of the main entry points for migrants who enter Europe without permission.

The pope, who like Sanchez has been harshly criticized by President Trump for his anti-war views, also called for "patient dialogue" instead of conflict and rearmament in Europe and beyond.

"Weapons may impose a temporary silence but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace," he said.

The speech came a day after the pope celebrated an open-air mass in central Madrid that was attended by more than 1.5 million people.

On Wednesday, the pope will bless the new tower of the Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona -- a still-unfinished masterpiece by revered architect Antoni Gaudi that recently became the world's tallest church.

The visit will conclude on Thursday and Friday in the Canary Islands, where the pope will be joined by Sanchez.

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