Pope Leo XIV holds a general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on November 5, 2025. Remo Casilli/Reuters

Pope Leo XIV spent almost three hours on Saturday with 15 victims of clerical sexual abuse from Belgium.

The Holy See Press Office described the pope’s meeting with the survivors, each of whom was abused by a member of the clergy as a minor, as “profound and painful.” The office said the meeting took place “in a spirit of closeness, listening & dialogue.”

The Belgian Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of devastating clerical abuse scandals in recent years, which Pope Francis confronted directly during a visit to Belgium last year, spending more than two hours with survivors .

During that visit, then Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo urged Francis in u

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