In dealing with the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV wants to protect not only those affected but also the rights of those priests who have been wrongly accused.
"The victims must be treated with great respect", said the Pope in an interview with the US portal "Crux" published on Thursday. "We must realise that those who have been seriously injured by abuse sometimes carry these wounds for a lifetime."
At the same time, Leo emphatically opposed false accusations of abuse.
Even if in 90 per cent of cases the accusations are justified, there are proven cases of false accusations.
"There are priests whose lives have been destroyed as a result," said the Pope.
Leo XIV warned the Church not to allow itself to be "completely taken over" by the abuse scandal.
It had a mission to proclaim the message of Jesus and the vast majority of clergy had never sexually abused anyone.
Therefore, the church cannot focus exclusively on this topic, as this would not be in line with its mission and what the world expects from the church.
The topic is one of the many challenges he has to face, said the Pope, who has been in office for four months.