An odour of conclave secrecy hung in the air on 25 March 2025 when the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) wrote to Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State, and Cardinal Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF), to denounce the alleged failings of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, accused of covering up two paedophile priests. When informed of the matter, Bergoglio immediately summoned Prevost—but not, as might have been expected, to rebuke him; instead, events demonstrate he encouraged him to proceed, assuring him of his full protection. In an article of 6 May, reflecting on the imminent conclave, Riccardo Cascioli, editor of La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, observed: «It becomes of paramount importance that the cardinals avoid electing anyone implicated in recent years in episodes of corruption or sexual abuse… It is disquieting to see, among the rising names of papabili, that of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost.» Few at the time could have imagined that «Pope Francis» had already chosen and recommended as his successor the man he had appointed bishop in 2014, entrusted in 2023 with heading the Dicastery that appoints bishops, and created cardinal on 30 September of the same year. In the meanwhile, Bergoglio saw to the appointment of the Augustinian Edinson Edgardo Farfán Córdova as new bishop of Chiclayo—another protector of abusive priests and a personal friend of Prevost, charged with silencing accusations against the abusers he safeguarded.

In an interview with León XIV published in Elise Anne Allen’s book León XIV, Citizen of the World, Missionary of the Twenty-First Century, it is claimed that Bishop Prevost suspended the priestly ministry of Eleuterio Vásquez González (known as Father Lute)—a claim that is false, as he had merely removed him from his parish. Among the many inaccuracies in Allen’s book, Prevost expends considerable effort attempting to persuade readers of his unwavering certainty, insisting that an American could never have become Pope; continuing his deceit, he asserts that on 5 April 2022 he welcomed Lute’s victims with every consideration and assured them of his concern and support. While intended to exonerate Prevost, the book inadvertently reveals a crucial detail: on 23 April—just two days after Bergoglio’s death and, coincidentally, in anticipation of Prevost’s election—Bishop Farfán Córdova of Chiclayo met with the abused sisters to impose a «final» resolution to their case.

Seeking to discredit the work of canon lawyer and exorcist Fr. Ricardo Coronado—appointed to defend Lute’s minor victims—the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, on 24 August 2024 and without authority to do so, notified him (citing can. 1483 of the Code of Canon Law) that his licence to practise ecclesiastical law had been revoked, on grounds of consensual relations with an adult. Under what amounted to a diktat, four months later Coronado received notice of his dismissal from the clerical state by papal decree; however, the document bore no autograph signature of Francis. In light of these events, on 27 October 2025 InfoVaticana observed: «Today, there is already clear evidence—rigorously documented and denounced by InfoVaticana—of a carefully orchestrated communications campaign to whitewash the reputations of all those involved in the so-called Lute case. The aim is not to clarify the facts but to rewrite them, constructing a conspiratorial narrative designed to discredit the victims and their former lawyer.» That same day, Coronado responded with a letter to the same blog, in which he accused Prevost of falsely smearing him with a sexual scandal and wrote: «I take this opportunity to highlight the possible ongoing and persisting public sin of the then-Bishop Prevost and call him to repentance.»

Even El País’s 1 October article was crafted to manipulate the testimony of Ana María Quispe Díaz (one of the victims), who had stated plainly: «Unfortunately, Robert Prevost did not act correctly in our case.» In September, the women in question had expressly demanded that no dispensation be granted the accused priest, Vasquez, until a proper investigation had been conducted and a verdict reached. In response, they were handed an anonymous message from the Vatican—without envelope, official seal, or case reference—announcing that the Pope had granted their aggressor dispensation from the clerical state, thereby rendering him no longer liable. Feeling mocked even by León, in November 2025 Quispe Díaz issued a communiqué concluding:

 

«We therefore announce:

 

– The initiation of legal proceedings before the competent ecclesiastical authorities against all officials who participated or were responsible for such negligence.

– The formal submission of our case to associations of abuse victims worldwide, so that it may be heard and in order to work together towards genuine reform within the Church.

– Immediate communication of the case to the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, requesting that it examine what occurred and take measures in the face of the abuse suffered.

– A request for a personal audience with the Pope, to explain to him the pain that situations such as this cause to victims and to ask him to change course in the manner in which the Church addresses abuse cases.»

 

These facts alone should suffice to shame Robert Francis Prevost, those who defended him, and those who elected him. The major newspapers censored the scandal, while bishops and cardinals were too busy venerating the relics of «Saint Father» Pope Francis at Santa Maria Maggiore to attend to the matter. The entourage of the Vatican mafia remained far from idle, and by March 2026 Rai News News.it ran an article from El País about a case of paedophilia supposedly covered up by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger—yet another calumny against the very man who had fought paedophilia, but one demanded by the system. Scandal upon scandal: on 8 March 2026 InfoVaticana published a photograph in which, during a parish event, Eleuterio Vásquez appeared smiling beside Fr. Edward Tocto, Prevost’s close friend and former lawyer in the Lute case.

I summarise in a few lines a staggering interview, lasting over 47 minutes, recently given by Fr. Ricardo Coronado to John-Henry Westen, director of LifeSiteNews:

A genuine persecution was unleashed against me because I was not to Bishop Prevost’s liking. Returning to Peru from the United States, I was accused of concubinage by Bishop James Robert Golka of Colorado Springs, and later faced further accusations of paedophilia. Prevost instructed a fifty-year-old woman to fabricate charges against me. After Lute’s victims approached the bishop of Chiclayo, Prevost replied that the matter was not his responsibility and promptly wrote to the competent Vatican authorities, affirming that there was no evidence against Eleuterio Vásquez González. The accused priest knew too much, and for that reason Prevost shielded him. The victims sought my help because in Peru no canon lawyer would dare defend them, given the power wielded by those involved. No Episcopal Conference in the world has jurisdiction over a priest, yet after Prevost arrived in Peru and met with several bishops—including Cardinal Héctor Miguel Cabrejos Vidarte, president of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference—a press release was issued to prevent me from practising law. Fr. Carlos Cardó Franco, a close friend of Bergoglio, telephoned a civil-lawyer friend of mine with orders to convince me to leave the priesthood, as they had received instructions from above to protect Prevost. The Church’s judicial system has been destroyed. In Argentina, Bishop Zanchetta abused seminarians, was tried by civil authorities, yet faced no canonical penalties; he was protected by Bergoglio and now by Prevost. Those who are friends of the system incur no sanctions. Bergoglio and Prevost are sources of division… we are living in apostasy.

Will our hero León XIV succeed in stifling the case against Lute—just as he has so brilliantly managed to do in the case of his protégé, Marko Rupnik, accused of abusing souls and bodies? As long as the masonic mafia retains power in the Vatican, the answer can only be yes.

 

Antonio Romano

 

This month saw the death of Fr. Ricardo Yesquén Paiva, also accused of sexual abuse of minors and an accomplice of Lute, yet always defended by Prevost. In this photograph of 12 January 2023, Bishop Prevost appears beside Yesquén on his birthday—nearly three years after the first complaint and nine months after the second.