Wednesday, May 21, 2025 - A defrocked priest from the suburbs says the future Pope Leo XIV signed off on his move in 2000 to a Hyde Park monastery near a Catholic school after the priest had been accused of molesting children.
Robert Prevost, recently named head of the Vatican and now
known as Pope Leo XIV, is being accused of turning a blind eye to Chicago’s
clergy abuse crisis during his tenure as head of the Midwest Province of the
Augustinian order.
Former priest James M. Ray claims Prevost signed off on his
move to a Hyde Park monastery—located less than a block from St. Thomas the
Apostle Elementary School—even though Ray had already been accused of child
molestation.
“He’s the
one who gave me permission to stay there,” Ray told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Ray, pictured below, is listed among the Archdiocese’s
accused sexual offenders and was placed on “limited ministry with restrictions”
starting in 1990. Despite this, he continued working in three parishes until
2000, when the Archdiocese helped him find new housing that was supposedly safe
for the public.
That housing ended up being St. John Stone Friary—just steps
away from a Catholic school and across an alley from a child care centre.
Neither the school nor the day care centre were reportedly notified.
The move was allegedly approved by Prevost, who served as
the local head of the Augustinian order at the time. “That’s what the paperwork
said,” Ray noted, adding that Rev. James Thompson—now deceased—also confirmed
the arrangement. Thompson served as Ray’s on-site monitor.
Church officials at the time claimed Ray’s monitoring justified the lack of notification to school authorities. However, the Sun-Times reports the Archdiocese incorrectly stated in official documents that “there was no school in the immediate area.”
Michael Airdo, an attorney for the Augustinians in Chicago,
disputed Ray’s version of events, saying the final decision rested with
Thompson and former Cardinal Francis George. “The role of then-Provincial
Prevost was to accept a guest of the house,” Airdo said, suggesting Thompson
had “exclusive control” over new residents.
Ray remained at the friary for two years until the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops implemented new guidelines to ensure priests
accused of abuse were kept far from children. He was removed from ministry that
same year and was defrocked by the Catholic Church in 2012.
“I felt
abandoned by the Church, but never by God,” Ray said. “My faith is still
strong. I live out my life the best I can.”
In 2014, Cardinal George released internal church documents
showing Ray’s victims were between the ages of 10 and 18. The records detail
inappropriate physical contact, including back rubs that turned sexual, mutual
masturbation, and a separate 1993 incident where Ray admitted to masturbating a
paraplegic man in Medjugorje
According to a 2023 Illinois Attorney General report, Ray
molested at least 13 children. Speaking to the Sun-Times, he initially
downplayed the accusations, but later admitted: “I can’t change the past… On a
scale of 1 to 10, I was wrong, but it was a 1—or maybe a half even.”
This is not the first time Pope Leo XIV has faced criticism
for inaction on abuse claims. As bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, between 2014 and
2023, he was accused of failing to investigate two priests despite receiving
victim testimonies and documentation.
Though Prevost eventually met with accusers and advised them
to report to civil authorities, the Church’s internal probe was later dropped
due to a lack of evidence and expired legal deadlines
In a 2023 interview, Prevost emphasised the need for
transparency: “Silence is not the solution… There is a great responsibility in
this, for all of us.”
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