ABUSE SURVIVOR DAVID Ryan is set to have a private audience with Pope Leo XIV later today at the Vatican.

Ryan will meet with Leo at around 12 noon Rome time and he told The Journal that he hopes to give a voice to survivors.

He said he wants Leo to “hear my own voice, face-to-face”.

“It was never our fault, it was their fault, and that’s what I want to get across to him and that’s why I’m doing it,” said Ryan. 

“I’ve got a lot of questions to put to him, some of which are going to remain private.

“It will be a huge day.”

Blackrock Boys

In November 2022, Ryan and his brother Mark revealed in an RTÉ radio documentary, Blackrock Boys, that they had been sexually abused at Blackrock College during the 1970s.

Blackrock College is run by the Spiritan Order and its leader issued an apology to all victims following the documentary.

The documentary led to hundreds more allegations being made against 77 Irish Spiritans in ministries throughout Ireland and abroad. 

It is understood that Leo has listened to the documentary and has been briefed on action that has been taken since it aired.

A scoping inquiry report published in 2024 into sexual abuse in schools run by religious orders identified 308 schools where alleged abuse took place.

This in turn led to a Commission of Investigation being established last year into allegations of historical child sexual abuse in every school across the country.

Private audience

After the documentary aired in 2022, Ryan suggested to his brother that they should send a copy to Pope Francis, who was pontiff at the time, and seek a meeting in Rome.

Ryan’s brother, Mark, died suddenly in 2023 and Ryan said the idea was then “put on the back burner”.

However, he said he was “determined to do it and I told Mark I was going to do it” and in 2024, Ryan sent a copy of the documentary to Francis, who agreed to meet with him.

Francis’s health soon declined and the meeting could not take place as a result.

Ryan told The Journal that he again contacted the Vatican after the election of Leo and received an email just before Christmas that an audience with the pope had been granted.

A later email confirmed that it would be a private audience, lasting for at least 40 minutes.

Pope Francis was a native Spanish speaker with limited English.

However, Pope Leo hails from Chicago and his first language is English.

Ryan said the lack of a language barrier with the new pontiff should mean that the meeting is as productive as possible. 

A number of people will accompany Ryan to Rome, though not to the private meeting, including One in Four CEO Deirdre Kenny. One in Four is a charity that supports those who were victim to childhood sexual abuse.