VATICAN CITY (AP) — A coalition of survivors of clergy sexual abuse demanded Wednesday that cardinals entering the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis pick a pope who will adopt a universal zero-tolerance policy for abuse and himself has a clean record handling cases.
The group End Clergy Abuse issued an open letter to the cardinals who are meeting informally this week before the start of the May 7 conclave. SNAP, the main U.S.-based survivor group, also identified cardinals who themselves have problematic records in a new database, highlighting a new level of scrutiny of all possible contenders for the papacy.
The developments come amid real questions about how prominent the abuse scandal is featuring in the discussions about finding a new pope. After two decades of unrelenting revelations about abuse and cover-up that have discredited the Catholic hierarchy, many church leaders would like to think the issue is in the past, the survivors said.
“The sexual abuse crisis is not a matter of the past. It is present. And nowhere is its devastation more visible than in the Global South,” the survivors said in the open letter.
ECA and SNAP have called for the Catholic Church to adopt a zero-tolerance policy that a priest will be permanently removed from church ministry based on even a single act of sexual abuse that is either admitted to or established according to church law. That is the policy in the U.S. church, adopted at the height of the U.S. scandal in 2002, but it is by no means embraced elsewhere.
The issue is playing out in real time in Rome as the cardinals gather: Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, 81, has been seen in full cardinal garb entering and exiting Vatican City, despite being under Vatican sanction for allegedly abusing a minor. Cipriani is not allowed in the conclave itself because he is over 80, but he has been participating in the pre-conclave meetings this week.
The Vatican in January confirmed that disciplinary sanctions were in effect against Cipriani, the first-ever cardinal from Opus Dei, following accusations of sexual abuse. The sanctions included requiring him to leave Peru and included restrictions on his public activity and use of insignia. The Vatican said he was allowed to deviate from them on some occasions.
Asked why Cipriani was presenting himself as a cardinal and participating, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the Vatican regulations concerning the pre-conclave meetings are clear. The rules, he said, all cardinals must participate unless they have “legitimate impediments,” which involve “personal or physical questions.”
Cipriani, who lives in Madrid and Rome, has called the allegations “completely false.”
Bruni said the issue of abuse was discussed this week by cardinals in the pre-conclave discussions, among other challenges facing the church.
SNAP earlier this year launched an online initiative, Conclave Watch, to provide information about individual cardinals and their records. The group says since the launch, survivors from Fiji, Tonga, Belgium, France, South Africa, Malawi, France, Italy, Canada and the U.S. have gotten in touch with additional information.
The initiative vets cardinals who are considered contenders for the papacy on their records handling sexual abuse cases, including whether they were involved in covering up cases, as well as their acceptance of a zero-tolerance law that SNAP and ECA have proposed.
"Abuse survivors do not want to see another conclave that elects a pope who has shielded and covered up for clergy offenders,” said Sarah Pearson, a SNAP spokesperson.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
The St. Peter's Basilica is reflected in a puddle during the fourth of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
People and the St. Peter's Basilica are reflected in a puddle during the fourth of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Nuns walk along St. Peter's Square after rain during the fourth of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis, at the Vatican, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's photo portrait display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery has had references to his two impeachments removed, the latest apparent change at the collection of museums he has accused of bias as he asserts his influence over how official presentations document U.S. history.
The wall text, which summarized Trump's first presidency and noted his 2024 comeback victory, was part of the museum's “American Presidents” exhibition. The description had been placed alongside a photograph of Trump taken during his first term. Now, a different photo appears without any accompanying text block, though the text was available online. Trump was the only president whose display in the gallery, as seen Sunday, did not include any extended text.
The White House did not say whether it sought any changes. Nor did a Smithsonian statement in response to Associated Press questions. But Trump ordered in August that Smithsonian officials review all exhibits before the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. The Republican administration said the effort would “ensure alignment with the president’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”
Trump's original “portrait label," as the Smithsonian calls it, notes Trump's Supreme Court nominations and his administration's development of COVID-19 vaccines. That section concludes: “Impeached twice, on charges of abuse of power and incitement of insurrection after supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, he was acquitted by the Senate in both trials.”
Then the text continues: “After losing to Joe Biden in 2020, Trump mounted a historic comeback in the 2024 election. He is the only president aside from Grover Cleveland (1837– 1908) to have won a nonconsecutive second term.”
Asked about the display, White House spokesman Davis Ingle celebrated the new photograph, which shows Trump, brow furrowed, leaning over his Oval Office desk. Ingle said it ensures Trump's “unmatched aura ... will be felt throughout the halls of the National Portrait Gallery.”
The portrait was taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, who is credited in the display that includes medallions noting Trump is the 45th and 47th president. Similar numerical medallions appear alongside other presidents' painted portraits that also include the more extended biographical summaries such as what had been part of Trump's display.
Sitting presidents are represented by photographs until their official paintings are commissioned and completed.
Ingle did not answer questions about whether Trump or a White House aide, on his behalf, asked for anything related to the portrait label.
The gallery said in a statement that it had previously rotated two photographs of Trump from its collection before putting up Torok's work.
“The museum is beginning its planned update of the America’s Presidents gallery which will undergo a larger refresh this Spring,” the gallery statement said. “For some new exhibitions and displays, the museum has been exploring quotes or tombstone labels, which provide only general information, such as the artist’s name.”
For now, references to Presidents Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton being impeached in 1868 and 1998, respectively, remain as part of their portrait labels, as does President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation as a result of the Watergate scandal.
And, the gallery statement noted, “The history of Presidential impeachments continues to be represented in our museums, including the National Museum of American History.”
Trump has made clear his intentions to shape how the federal government documents U.S. history and culture. He has offered an especially harsh assessment of how the Smithsonian and other museums have featured chattel slavery as a seminal variable in the nation's development but also taken steps to reshape how he and his contemporary rivals are depicted.
In the months before his order for a Smithsonian review, he fired the head archivist of the National Archives and said he was firing the National Portrait Gallery's director, Kim Sajet, as part of his overhaul. Sajet maintained the backing of the Smithsonian's governing board, but she ultimately resigned.
At the White House, Trump has designed a notably partisan and subjective “Presidential Walk of Fame” featuring gilded photographs of himself and his predecessors — with the exception of Biden, who is represented by an autopen — along with plaques describing their presidencies.
The White House said at the time that Trump himself was a primary author of the plaques. Notably, Trump's two plaques praise the 45th and 47th president as a historically successful figure while those under Biden's autopen stand-in describe the 46th executive as “by far, the worst President in American History” who “brought our Nation to the brink of destruction.”
Barrow reported from Atlanta.
People react to a photograph of President Donald Trump on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors to the National Portrait Gallery walk past the portrait of President Donald Trump, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Visitors stop to look at a photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A photograph of President Donald Trump and a short plaque next to it are on display at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery's "American Presidents" exhibit on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Anna Johnson)
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
