LITTLE CHRISTMAS JOY FOR ABUSE VICTIMS

Pope Leo inspires no hope for justice

The election of Pope Leo XIV has proven to be “business as usual” when it comes to the Pope protecting predator clergy and bishops who engage in abuse, underreport or cover up abuse, and even reprise against good priests and seminarians who report clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct in their seminaries and dioceses. While Prefect for the Dicastery for Bishops and as the Pope, Leo’s appointments of prelates like Robert McElroy, Ronald Hicks, Edward Weisenburger, James Checchio, and others who have documented records of mishandling sexual abuse within their dioceses have proven to be a great disappointment to abuse victims and groups like the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

Following the announced appointment of Hicks to New York, SNAP issued a statement saying, “Bishop Hicks is unfit to oversee the settlement of abuse claims in New York….Survivors do not trust him, and for good reason. His record of stonewalling, secrecy, and betrayal is the kind of behavior that has kept the Catholic abuse crisis going for decades.” Why should anyone be surprised that Leo would appoint Hicks to New York when he himself was credibly accused of covering up abuse in the diocese of Chiclayo?

Sex abuse victims’ advocates know that abuse victims are often harmed more by the cover-up of their abuse than the actual abuse itself. While​ Joshua Metcalf was discerning a vocation to the priesthood, he reported being sexually harassed by Ukrainian Catholic Father Mykhaylo Dosyak. When Metcalf perceived that Ukrainian Bishop Paul Chomnycky was covering up the predatory behavior of Dosyak, he became suicidal to the point where he planned to take his own life on November 2, 2021, by hanging. A visit from his sister, however, moved Metcalf to decide to fight for his rights and expose the abuse and the cover-up rather than choose suicide.​ Metcalf has retained legal counsel and has brought suit against Dosyak, Chomnycky, and the Eparchy of Stamford.

Why is it that Catholics, including Catholic organizations like the Knights of Columbus, Catholics for Catholics, and the Catholic media like Catholic News Agency (CNA), are generally silent when it comes to confronting Church leaders who cover up abuse? How can Catholics in New York speak highly of Cardinal Timothy Dolan when he has protected predator priests in every diocese and assignment in which he has served, as documented in “Are Catholic Prelates in Danger?”

If you were a Knight of Columbus and had a straight son studying for the priesthood, how would you feel if your organization were backing homosexual seminary leaders who dismissed your son for reporting sexual predation and homosexual misconduct as documented in the superb Spotlight production by Christine Niles entitled, Clerical Orgies: The Rome Connection? Both the Supreme Knight, Patrick E. Kelly, and the Supreme Chaplain, Archbishop William Lori, demonstrated far more support for accused homosexual seminary officials like former North American College (NAC) rector, Father Peter Harman, than they did for former straight NAC seminarian, and Knight of Columbus, Anthony Gorgia, whose unjust treatment is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York.

NAC rector Father Peter Harman, Supreme Knight Patrick E. Kelly, and Supreme Chaplain Archbishop William Lori at the Pontifical North American College in Rome

After years of investigating clerical sexual abuse, I question how any moral human being can look up to church leaders like Pope Leo, Cardinal Dolan, Cardinal Robert McElroy, and other complicit clergy who are documented to have covered up abuse, or reprised against good priests like Father Michael Briese and former seminarians like Anthony Gorgia for reporting clerical abuse and sexual misconduct.

Despite the fact that I reported in numerous articles how Pope Leo has yet to laicize or excommunicate over 160 bishops credibly accused of abusing minors or vulnerable adults, why do Catholics continue to write questioning my veracity? Unfortunately, most Catholic media sources like CNA and publications like CRUX, NCR, and others will not address the ongoing sexual abuse problem or refer them to BishopAccountability.org, which can validate everything I report.

How would you feel if Pope Leo and the Archbishop of Omaha covered up multiple reports that your parish priest inserted consecrated hosts into your vagina and the vagina of another little girl when you were both around 10-11 years old? Can you understand how angry I am, as an abuse advocate, in learning that such a victim, after writing to Pope Francis and Pope Leo, has yet to receive a response to her impassioned letter of 11 November 2025? When I see how the abuse of such victims is covered up while their predators continue to wear their Roman collars and live comfortable, opulent lives, you may understand why I get so upset when I read an article or watch a news report paying homage to Pope Leo or other complicit prelates. From my perspective, anyone who engages in or covers up the sex abuse of minors or vulnerable adults, like seminarians and nuns, should be imprisoned. Period.

The 2025 novel, Prohibition and the Priest, by David Tracy, features Father Walter A. Grace of Denver, who deals with predatory priests and complicit bishops in a way many readers might like to see happen in real life today. Clerical predators like Father Marko Rupnik, accused of raping over 20 nuns, whom neither Pope Francis nor Pope Leo has excommunicated or laicized, would not fare very well in a Tracy novel. How Catholics can look up to Pope Leo, knowing what he has failed to do in egregious cases involving raped nuns and abused little girls, is beyond my human comprehension. In light of this gross negligence and injustice, is it not understandable that Catholic victims of clerical sexual abuse may not have experienced peace and hope this Christmas under the pontificate of Pope Leo XIV?

During this Christmas season, we are asked to be generous in sharing our blessings with others. If you truly appreciate my research and writings, please contribute to the “Save Our Seminarians” Fund that will help safeguard young men from becoming victims of homosexual predation in U.S. Catholic seminaries.

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, author, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan Respect Life Director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Email him at msgr.investigations@gmail.com.