VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV could soon accept the resignation of an ailing Spanish bishop who is under church investigation for allegedly sexually abusing a young seminarian in the 1990s, the head of the Spanish Catholic bishops conference said Monday.

Archbishop Luis Javier Argüello García told reporters in St. Peter’s Square that the conference hierarchy had discussed the case with Leo during an audience Monday.

Argüello confirmed a report in El País newspaper that a canonical investigation into Cádiz Bishop Rafael Zornoza, 76, had been opened two weeks ago. It is believed to be the first publicly known church investigation of a Spanish bishop accused of abuse since the Spanish church began reckoning in recent years with a decades-long legacy of abuse and cover-up.

The diocese of Cádi

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