A victim of clerical sexual abuse from Ireland shared his story in a private meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Monday.
David Ryan, who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest at Blackrock College in Dublin in the 1970s, told a small group of reporters, including Colm Flynn of EWTN News, after the meeting that the pope “was horrified” by his story during their 40-minute conversation Feb. 2.
“I didn’t hold back. I told him about the abuse,” said Ryan, whose deceased brother, Mark, was also abused while attending the same school.
The pope “just listened to me and then I put my questions to him and we spoke about each one at length,” Ryan said.
Ryan said Leo called his questions “tough” and asked if he could have more time to reflect on them and respond further via email at a future date.
“What an experience. I’ll never, never forget it. [Pope Leo’s] sincerity, his empathy. He felt my pain,” Ryan said.
Irish abuse survivor David Ryan speaks outside the Vatican right after his private meeting with Pope Leo XIV. @EWTNews
Ryan, who has been open about being abused for years from around age 11 by a Catholic priest from his school, said in a 2024 interview with EWTN News that “you never forget about it. It ruined my life, it ruined Mark’s life.”
He said that he shared with Leo that it took him 40 years to realize what happened to him was not his fault.
“I did get a feeling of being listened to and being understood,” he said, adding that he hopes other victims will feel inspired to come forward.
Deirdre Kenny, CEO of One In Four, an Irish organization that supports child sexual abuse survivors, also briefly met Pope Leo.
Kenny called the encounter “very human … very down-to-earth.”
Ryan said he is not “very religious,” which he told the pope, but that he talks to God “in my own funny, little way.”
