Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A.

Photo: Alamy

Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Order of St.Augustine (Augustinians), Diocese of Chiclayo

As provincial of the Augustinians, Prevost allowed Father James Ray, a priest then accused of abusing minors whose ministry had been restricted since 1991, to reside at the Augustinians' St. John Stone Friary in Chicago in 2000, despite its proximity to a Catholic elementary school. When Prevost was Bishop of Chiclayo, three victims reported to civil authorities in 2022 after there was no movement on their canonical case filed through the diocese. Victims have since claimed Prevost failed to open an investigation, sent inadequate information to Rome, and that the diocese allowed the priest to continue saying mass.

SNAP filed a complaint against Prevost under the pope’s 2023 decree Vos estis lux mundi on March 25, 2025

Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2023 decree, allows any bishop, cardinal, or religious superior to be reported and investigated for abuse or cover-up. These complaints, submitted to the Vatican, are not verdicts of guilt. They are evidence-based calls for investigation—each meeting the church’s own standard of “serious indications” that a violation occurred. In civil terms, this is equivalent to probable cause or reasonable grounds to investigate.

Every filing draws from a solid foundation of survivor and eyewitness testimony, public records and church statements, independent investigations by media and legal experts, official church documents and canonical proceedings, testimony, depositions, and court-ordered documents from criminal and civil cases.