An Open Letter toPope Leo XIV From a "Cancelled" Priest

Gene Thomas Gomulka, a cancelled Priest of the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, has written an open letter to Pope Leo.

From a Facebook posting of the letter:

This letter is being translated into different foreign languages. So far, the translations have been completed in Spanish and Portuguese.

May 10, 2025

Dear Pope Leo XIV,

When I was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown in 1974, it was because I believed that I was responding to a vocation from Christ to “Come, follow Me.” After 30 years of fulfilling ministry as a parish priest, pro-life director, seminary instructor, and a military chaplain which led me to become part of the lives of countless families throughout the world, Dominican Father Thomas Doyle and I were reprised against and coerced into leaving the priesthood by then-Archbishop Edwin O’Brien for our work in exposing sexual abuse and cover-ups in the Catholic Church.

When I was informed in July 2018 by Msgr. Steve Callahan, the Judicial Vicar for the San Diego Diocese, that Pope Francis was willing to laicize me, I told him [at the age of 70] I had no desire to marry, and that if anyone is laicized, it should be the abusive priests and the bishops who covered up and retaliated against me for reporting clerical sexual predation and homosexual misconduct in the military services. I questioned why I should be laicized for telling the truth while only 8 of some 150 bishops met this same fate for engaging in sexual abuse.

I wrote to Bishop McElroy in September 2018, following the publication of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report and Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s “Testimony,” saying that I could never return to ministry as long as Pope Francis and so many bishops continue to cover up the sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults. At that time McElroy had already covered up the July 2016 abuse report of the late psychotherapist Richard Sipe involving twelve seminarians and priest victims of Theodore McCarrick, as well as the satanic ritual abuse of Rachel Mastrogiacomo.

As a canceled priest, my current “ministry without a parish” has become one of offering guidance to abuse victims who were abandoned by the Church and left on the brink of despair and suicide by bishops who covered up their reports, kept their abusers in ministry, and even threatened their safety.

Because I believe in the authenticity of my priestly vocation, I could see myself returning to ministry if I were praying for “Leo, our Pope” in a Church led by a Pontiff who has banished clergy sex abuse and punished all the bishops who make it possible. Until then, I cannot in good conscience promise my “respect” for a fellow North American College (NAC) alumnus like Cardinal Timothy Dolan whose cover-ups have caused victims to commit suicide, or my “obedience” to prelates in archdioceses like Washington where Christ-like, faithful, and holy priests like Michael Briese are threatened to stop reporting credibly accused predators like Father Adam Park or be laicized.

I am writing you to ascertain if under your leadership, priests like me who are deeply pained by clergy abuses and cover-ups can once again claim the Church as our home, or if predatory bishops and priests who punish truth-tellers will continue to find shelter within walls of silence.

While some in the United States and abroad are celebrating your election, abuse survivors, victims’ advocates, and unjustly dismissed whistleblowers became apprehensive when they read media reports accusing you of covering up abuse including complaints submitted by Maria Quispe Diaz and her two sisters Aura Teresa and Juana Mercedes. As you begin your papal ministry, I hope you will take this occasion to be a Shepherd for all souls, even those who have experienced sexual corruption and cover-ups at the hands of cardinals, bishops and priests.

As you ponder your response to a crisis that continues to ravage millions of innocent lives, I invite you consider the following questions:

1. At a time when you were chosen over your other American brother bishops to become the first American Pope, American cardinals like Timothy Dolan, Robert McElroy, Wilton Gregory, Joseph Tobin, Edwin O’Brien, and Donald Wuerl are documented to be among the College of Cardinals’ most scandal-plagued members and therefore may have the most sex abuse “dirt” to hide. How will you show the world that you plan to be a fearless advocate for victims, even when that means punishing credibly accused bishops in your own backyard?

2. Rome’s North American College (NAC), mere meters away from your new post, has faced serious credible sexual predation and cover-up allegations against its superiors, reports which led to the resignation of former vice-rector, Father Adam Park, and former rector, Father Peter Harman, when damning sworn testimony was brought against them and Cardinal Dolan in Court by multiple former NAC seminarians. The NAC is only one of more than 40 seminaries and dioceses racked with seminarian abuse and cover-up scandals causing a hemorrhage of holy vocations. What will you do to punish predatory seminary superiors who “prey on” rather than “pray for” the vulnerable adults entrusted to their care?

3. In a May 2025 survey, 64% of Catholics interviewed said that they feel the Church is “out of touch with their needs” because of Church leaders’ mishandling of clergy abuse reports. This sentiment is amplified when the Faithful see devout priests and seminarians being punished, dismissed, and even evicted from rectories because they reported sexual abuse. If you truly wish to be a “Pope of the People,” what will you do to end sex abuse cover-ups and bring scandalized Catholics back home?

4. Your predecessor called abusive clergy “tools of Satan;” however, satanic ritual abuse survivors like Lisa Roers and Rachel Mastrogiacomo who penned an Open Letter to Pope Francis have yet to see Archbishop George Lucas and Cardinal Robert McElroy disciplined for covering up these abuses. Insofar as Vos Estis’ mandate for bishops to investigate their brother bishops has led to disastrous internal whitewashes, what policies will you implement to assure victims that they will not be re-victimized by cover-ups?

5. Bishops have flooded the media with sex abuse pledges of “never again,” but clergy accused of abusing minors and seminarians continue to keep posts in chanceries, parishes, seminaries, and schools like those identified in recent reports such as “Who Will Save Our Seminarians?” “From Predators to Pastors?” and “Clerical Abuse and Misconduct: Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.” What will you do to ensure that all abusive prelates and priests are removed lest they pose a “clear and present danger” by being kept in ministry?

I urge you to imitate your namesake, Leo XIII (1878-1903), who demanded concrete action on behalf of the vulnerable, and not Leo X (1513-1521) who both excommunicated Martin Luther for exposing truly scandalous clerical behavior and refused to address many of the Church’s problems such as the selling of indulgences. Had a truly prophetic Pope intervened rather than Pope Julius III (1550-1555) who bedded 15-year-old Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte and made him a cardinal at the age of 17, the exodus of millions of Catholics during the Protestant Reformation in response to the Church’s cover-up of problems could have been averted.

Even though you may feel indebted to cardinals guilty of covering up abuse, you have to choose whether you will side with predators or the victims; with those who cover up abuse or those who report it.

Please let me know if you would welcome a formal request from me to return to ministry after you discipline priests like Father Marko Rupnik, over 150 bishops credibly accused of abuse, and even more bishops and religious superiors who are keeping predator priests in ministry while unjustly having dismissed priests and former seminarians who report it. I, along with many victims of clerical sex abuse victims who often suffer more from cover-ups than the actual abuse, look forward to your response.

Sincerely in Christ,

Gene Thomas Gomulka