Pope Leo XIV’s battle with Trump amid backlash from clergy

“He rejected the need for major reforms, rejected the introduction of a universal zero-tolerance law, emphasized the rights of accused priests to the safety of children, and appointed a known enemy of transparency to succeed him in one of the Vatican’s most powerful offices overseeing bishops worldwide.”

In 2022, Ana Maria Quispe accused Diaz of telling Pope Leo, then the Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, about the abuse she and her sisters allegedly suffered as children at the hands of multiple priests long ago.

Yet one of the accused clergy, who allegedly confessed to church officials, was given an honorable discharge.

In another shock, a Facebook post from 2023 shows Leo standing next to the Rev. Ricardo Yesquen Paiva, one of the priests who had accused Quispe of abuse.

Church leaders have said no case has been opened against Yesquen, who was unable to defend himself due to a “degenerative psychiatric illness.”