AI
Sunday, April 07, 2013 12:15:02 PM
BullNBear52 -- just to be clear, that story at that link (originally dated March 15, 2013) currently begins:
UPDATE IV: Vatican says Italian reports are false via John Allen [ http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/report-pope-exile-law-totally-false-vatican-says ]
(We’ve posted this update first to clear the air on the issue – to see the initial reports see below.)
Reports that Pope Francis has ordered Cardinal Bernard Law to stay away from the Basilica of St. Mary Major and is about to ship him off to a monastery are “completely and totally false,” according to a Vatican spokesperson.
During a press briefing on Thursday about Pope Francis’ visit to St. Mary Major, one of the four pontifical basilicas in Rome, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Law had briefly greeted Francis and then exited the scene.
The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, however, reported that Francis had told Law to stop appearing in public at the basilica, where he retired as Archpriest in November 2011. The report also said that the new pope, “as his first act of purification,” is preparing to dispatch the 81-year-old Law to a cloistered monastery.
Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who’s acting as an assistant Vatican spokesperson during the papal transition, told NCR today that those reports are “completely and totally false.”
[...]
http://www.stpeterslist.com/asides/report-pope-francis-bans-disgraced-cardinal-law-from-his-church/
a couple of further items since then:
---
Pope’s visit with Cardinal Law criticized
Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard Law the Boston archbishop who resigned amid criticism of his handling of sex abuse by priests.
Michael Sohn/Associated Press
Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard Law the Boston archbishop who resigned amid criticism of his handling of sex abuse by priests.
Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
By Martine Powers
March 17, 2013
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse said they were dismayed to learn that Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Boston archbishop who resigned in 2002 under heavy criticism for his handling of the abuse crisis, in one of the pope’s first appearances after his election to the papacy.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the Waltham-based online research center BishopAccountability.org, called the Vatican’s report of a brief but friendly meeting between the two officials on the pope’s first day an affront to those working to end sexual abuse in the church.
“It was a truly unfortunate first step on the pope’s part,” said Doyle in a phone call from Rome, where she has traveled to raise awareness about the abuse crisis. “Intended or not, the pope was sending a dispiriting signal to the victims and Catholics of Boston in particular.”
As Francis, the first non-European pope in modern times, steps into his new role as leader of the Catholic Church, observers worldwide are now looking to each decision he makes in his first days in the papacy for perspective on how he plans to lead.
Some believe the pope’s meeting with Law could be a sign of how Francis will deal with the sexual abuse crisis, an issue with which he has not had much high-profile experience.
Law became the object of immense criticism after failing to remove sexual predator priests from their posts in the archdiocese, allowing for more children to be abused under the church’s watch. He was later given a role as archpriest at St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
The basilica was one of Francis’ stops on his first day as pope [ http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/03/14/pope-francis-spends-first-hours-leader-catholic-church-prayer-pays-his-own-bill-residence-before-moving-vatican/ASAF5f2wgvCUg2i7O5H0KI/story.html ].
A report by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, translated and re-reported by Britain’s The Daily Mail [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2293785/Pope-bus-Francis-shows-hes-man-people-hops-board-minibus-church-day-job.html ], contended that the meeting between Francis and Law was fraught with conflict and that the pope banished the cardinal from the church.
“Hearing that the new Pope was offering prayers at the very same church, it seems [Law] couldn’t resist a discreet [peek],” the Daily Mail wrote. “But when Pope Francis recognised him, he immediately ordered that Law be removed, according to Italian media reports. He went on to command: ‘He is not to come to this church any more.’ One of the new Pope’s first acts will be to arrange new ‘cloistered’ accommodation for the disgraced cardinal.”
But the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, quickly dismissed that report as a fabrication and called it “absurd.”
“The Italian media story is completely false and without any foundation,” Rosica wrote in an e-mail Friday. “One only need watch the images of Pope Francis greeting Cardinal Law at this morning’s meeting with the Cardinals at the Vatican.”
For advocates for victims of Catholic sexual abuse, the reports that Francis had rebuked Law were surprising, and seemed unlikely.
“We thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if it were true,’?” Doyle said.
David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, who has been in Rome for the past three weeks in efforts to bring light to the sexual abuse crisis, said he was skeptical when he heard that Law may have been banished from his church.
“The pope is by all accounts a brilliant man, with a sizable and experienced PR staff,” Clohessy said. “If he wanted to rebuke Law, it’s pretty doubtful they would have leaked this to one local newspaper.”
The congeniality of the meeting between the church officials, as described by the Vatican, was “incredibly insensitive to those who are suffering,” Clohessy said.
“There are hundreds of churches and church officials the new pope could have visited on Day One,” Clohessy said. “It’s hard to think of a more hurtful choice.”
A Vatican spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the criticisms made against the pope. A spokeswoman for Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley also declined to comment on the meeting.
Doyle said she hoped for an apology from Francis.
“He needs to take responsibility for the fact that he sent a very bad message,” Doyle said. “The message he sent is that he’s not going to be a reformer.”
Others, however, were more optimistic that the meeting, though perhaps offensive to some, was not a harbinger for a lenient stance on sexual abuse in the priesthood.
Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, said he is hopeful that Francis may yet mete out a tougher punishment for Law — or at least an assignment to live out his days in prayer and penance — and that the Argentinian pope recognizes that members of the Catholic Church, especially within the United States, “are very aware of the symbolic quality of Law and how he’s treated.”
“It’s not just symbolism,” McKiernan said. “There are children in Boston who were sexually abused because Cardinal Law did not do his job.”
“I have a hunch that [Francis] understands that,” McKiernan said.
Lisa Wangsness of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/16/anti-abuse-advocates-slam-new-pope-for-meet-and-greet-with-cardinal-law/s29iSzkLUnSJvBlkUPsWiL/story.html
---
Debunking three 'urban legends' about Pope Francis
Pope Benedict XVI in open-air jeep before a Mass in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 11, 2012
by John L. Allen Jr.
Mar. 24, 2013
In the early days of a papacy, absolutely everything the new pope says or does is subject to endless interpretation as a hint of things to come. At times, the frenzy produces a few instant "urban legends," meaning words or deeds attributed to the new pope that never actually happened, or that are subjected to so much over-interpretation that they become essentially unrecognizable.
During his first ten days in office, the "Francis phenomenon" has given rise to at least three such urban legends worth debunking here, lest they take on a life of their own.
[...]
Law's exile
On March 14, the day after his election, Pope Francis made a visit to Rome's basilica of St. Mary Major to pay homage to the Virgin Mary. As it happens, the basilica is also home to an apartment belonging to Cardinal Bernard Law, who offered the new pope a brief greeting upon his arrival.
Law, of course, resigned in Boston amid protests over his handling of the child sexual abuse scandal in 2002, and then served as Archpriest of St. Mary Major until his retirement in 2011 when he turned 80.
The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that when Francis saw Law that morning, he brusquely ordered him to stop appearing in public at the basilica. The report also said that the new pope, "as his first act of purification," is preparing to dispatch the 81-year-old Law to a cloistered monastery.
Once again, it would be a dramatic insight into the new pope if true – and, once again, that insight turned out to be built on sand.
Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who was acting as an assistant Vatican spokesperson during the papal transition, told NCR on March 16 that those reports were "completely and totally false." Both Rosica and Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that same thing over and over again to other media outlets, and as of this writing Law still maintains his residence at St. Mary Major.
Francis obviously will face mounting pressure to pick up where Benedict XVI left off in terms of confronting the church's abuse crisis, but rational evaluations ought to be based on what he actually says and does, as opposed to false expectations created by misleading reports.
[...]
Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/debunking-three-urban-legends-about-pope-francis [with comments]
---
Solving the sex abuse crisis: Experts draft a to-do list for Pope Francis
Pope Francis waves as he leads the weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square, at the Vatican on April 3.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
David Clohessy, left, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests with outreach director Barbara Dorris.
Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images
Rev. Thomas Reese
Nancy Wiechec / Catholic News Service via AP file
By Tracy Connor
April 6, 2013
Pope Francis ordered the Vatican this week to act "decisively" in protecting children from sexual abuse and punishing predator priests, but his brief statement contained few specifics on how to stem the crisis that has roiled the Catholic Church for a decade.
The new pontiff directed the Vatican office known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to "continue the line" on the anti-abuse policies set by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Observers say that to restore the church's credibility and ensure the safety of children worldwide, Francis will have to back up his words with actions. Here they offer some recommendations:
Heads should roll
The pope should demote or discipline a few bishops who were found to have covered up misdeeds, said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, noting that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City has held onto his diocese even though he was convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to report a pedophile priest.
Although others said the pope was just being polite, Clohessy was incensed that he greeted scandal-scarred Cardinal Bernard Law during the traditional visit to St. Mary Major the day after his election. "Actions speak louder than words," he said.
Name names
"The church needs to be open about the names of offenders who have been found to be abusers," said Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI official and ex-director of the Office of Child Protection at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "If you're a diocese and you know that these 10 clergy members abused children, you should put those on the website."
Church officials may be rightly concerned about the danger of naming a priest who is falsely accused. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center, said that to build trust that no coverup is going on, victims' groups should be included in the process of deciding which allegations aren't strong enough to make public.
Meet with victims
The pope has been accused of giving the cold shoulder to abuse victims while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Whether that's true or not, he needs to give victims plenty of face time now, Reese said.
"He has to listen to their stories, reach out to them and apologize -- and do it again and again, and the sooner the better," Reese said. "You don't understand it until you've sat down and talked to these victims. When you hear their stories, it just tears you apart."
World Youth Day in Brazil in July would be the perfect moment for Francis to sit down and hear those stories first-hand.
Get new advisers
Francis should make sure his inner circle includes people who understand the gravity of the crisis. Thomas Groome, chair of the Department of Religious Education at Boston College, said he hopes the pope recruits Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who had to clean up Law's mess, to assist him in Rome.
The pontiff is less likely to act on Groome's other suggestion: making women, grandmothers in particular, cardinals. He noted that lay cardinals existed centuries ago and that wise old Catholic women with children and grandchildren might bring a new perspective on youth-protection to a church run by childless men.
Crunch the numbers
A decade ago, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a survey of every diocese in the country that collected data about the extent of the sex-abuse problem. Even though victims' groups claimed there was under-reporting, McChesney said, "people in the church were stunned at the numbers" -- more than 4,000 priests accused of molesting children.
But predatory priests are not just an American problem. The Vatican should undertake an international survey that would help it identify other regions where abuse is happening, McChesney said.
Shake up the bureaucracy
The Vatican should create a new office in charge of the protection of childen, separate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which would continue to investigate individual abuse claims, McChesney said.
"They have enough on their plate," she said of the CDF, which needs to plow through a large backlog of complaints against priests.
The new office, McChesney said, would serve as a sort of professional board of directors -- helping dioceses across the globe replicate anti-abuse programs that have been successful in the U.S. and making sure the world's bishops and religious communities are complying with Vatican guidelines.
Benedict ordered every diocese in the world to establish policies and procedures to deal with abuse. Two years later, many dioceses have not followed through.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/06/17620009-solving-the-sex-abuse-crisis-experts-draft-a-to-do-list-for-pope-francis [with comments]
UPDATE IV: Vatican says Italian reports are false via John Allen [ http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/report-pope-exile-law-totally-false-vatican-says ]
(We’ve posted this update first to clear the air on the issue – to see the initial reports see below.)
Reports that Pope Francis has ordered Cardinal Bernard Law to stay away from the Basilica of St. Mary Major and is about to ship him off to a monastery are “completely and totally false,” according to a Vatican spokesperson.
During a press briefing on Thursday about Pope Francis’ visit to St. Mary Major, one of the four pontifical basilicas in Rome, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that Law had briefly greeted Francis and then exited the scene.
The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, however, reported that Francis had told Law to stop appearing in public at the basilica, where he retired as Archpriest in November 2011. The report also said that the new pope, “as his first act of purification,” is preparing to dispatch the 81-year-old Law to a cloistered monastery.
Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who’s acting as an assistant Vatican spokesperson during the papal transition, told NCR today that those reports are “completely and totally false.”
[...]
http://www.stpeterslist.com/asides/report-pope-francis-bans-disgraced-cardinal-law-from-his-church/
a couple of further items since then:
---
Pope’s visit with Cardinal Law criticized
Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard Law the Boston archbishop who resigned amid criticism of his handling of sex abuse by priests.
Michael Sohn/Associated Press
Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard Law the Boston archbishop who resigned amid criticism of his handling of sex abuse by priests.
Andrew Medichini/Associated Press
By Martine Powers
March 17, 2013
Advocates for victims of sexual abuse said they were dismayed to learn that Pope Francis met briefly with Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the Boston archbishop who resigned in 2002 under heavy criticism for his handling of the abuse crisis, in one of the pope’s first appearances after his election to the papacy.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the Waltham-based online research center BishopAccountability.org, called the Vatican’s report of a brief but friendly meeting between the two officials on the pope’s first day an affront to those working to end sexual abuse in the church.
“It was a truly unfortunate first step on the pope’s part,” said Doyle in a phone call from Rome, where she has traveled to raise awareness about the abuse crisis. “Intended or not, the pope was sending a dispiriting signal to the victims and Catholics of Boston in particular.”
As Francis, the first non-European pope in modern times, steps into his new role as leader of the Catholic Church, observers worldwide are now looking to each decision he makes in his first days in the papacy for perspective on how he plans to lead.
Some believe the pope’s meeting with Law could be a sign of how Francis will deal with the sexual abuse crisis, an issue with which he has not had much high-profile experience.
Law became the object of immense criticism after failing to remove sexual predator priests from their posts in the archdiocese, allowing for more children to be abused under the church’s watch. He was later given a role as archpriest at St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
The basilica was one of Francis’ stops on his first day as pope [ http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/03/14/pope-francis-spends-first-hours-leader-catholic-church-prayer-pays-his-own-bill-residence-before-moving-vatican/ASAF5f2wgvCUg2i7O5H0KI/story.html ].
A report by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, translated and re-reported by Britain’s The Daily Mail [ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2293785/Pope-bus-Francis-shows-hes-man-people-hops-board-minibus-church-day-job.html ], contended that the meeting between Francis and Law was fraught with conflict and that the pope banished the cardinal from the church.
“Hearing that the new Pope was offering prayers at the very same church, it seems [Law] couldn’t resist a discreet [peek],” the Daily Mail wrote. “But when Pope Francis recognised him, he immediately ordered that Law be removed, according to Italian media reports. He went on to command: ‘He is not to come to this church any more.’ One of the new Pope’s first acts will be to arrange new ‘cloistered’ accommodation for the disgraced cardinal.”
But the Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, quickly dismissed that report as a fabrication and called it “absurd.”
“The Italian media story is completely false and without any foundation,” Rosica wrote in an e-mail Friday. “One only need watch the images of Pope Francis greeting Cardinal Law at this morning’s meeting with the Cardinals at the Vatican.”
For advocates for victims of Catholic sexual abuse, the reports that Francis had rebuked Law were surprising, and seemed unlikely.
“We thought, ‘Wow, wouldn’t it be great if it were true,’?” Doyle said.
David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, who has been in Rome for the past three weeks in efforts to bring light to the sexual abuse crisis, said he was skeptical when he heard that Law may have been banished from his church.
“The pope is by all accounts a brilliant man, with a sizable and experienced PR staff,” Clohessy said. “If he wanted to rebuke Law, it’s pretty doubtful they would have leaked this to one local newspaper.”
The congeniality of the meeting between the church officials, as described by the Vatican, was “incredibly insensitive to those who are suffering,” Clohessy said.
“There are hundreds of churches and church officials the new pope could have visited on Day One,” Clohessy said. “It’s hard to think of a more hurtful choice.”
A Vatican spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on the criticisms made against the pope. A spokeswoman for Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley also declined to comment on the meeting.
Doyle said she hoped for an apology from Francis.
“He needs to take responsibility for the fact that he sent a very bad message,” Doyle said. “The message he sent is that he’s not going to be a reformer.”
Others, however, were more optimistic that the meeting, though perhaps offensive to some, was not a harbinger for a lenient stance on sexual abuse in the priesthood.
Terence McKiernan, president of BishopAccountability.org, said he is hopeful that Francis may yet mete out a tougher punishment for Law — or at least an assignment to live out his days in prayer and penance — and that the Argentinian pope recognizes that members of the Catholic Church, especially within the United States, “are very aware of the symbolic quality of Law and how he’s treated.”
“It’s not just symbolism,” McKiernan said. “There are children in Boston who were sexually abused because Cardinal Law did not do his job.”
“I have a hunch that [Francis] understands that,” McKiernan said.
Lisa Wangsness of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© 2013 The New York Times Company
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/16/anti-abuse-advocates-slam-new-pope-for-meet-and-greet-with-cardinal-law/s29iSzkLUnSJvBlkUPsWiL/story.html
---
Debunking three 'urban legends' about Pope Francis
Pope Benedict XVI in open-air jeep before a Mass in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 11, 2012
by John L. Allen Jr.
Mar. 24, 2013
In the early days of a papacy, absolutely everything the new pope says or does is subject to endless interpretation as a hint of things to come. At times, the frenzy produces a few instant "urban legends," meaning words or deeds attributed to the new pope that never actually happened, or that are subjected to so much over-interpretation that they become essentially unrecognizable.
During his first ten days in office, the "Francis phenomenon" has given rise to at least three such urban legends worth debunking here, lest they take on a life of their own.
[...]
Law's exile
On March 14, the day after his election, Pope Francis made a visit to Rome's basilica of St. Mary Major to pay homage to the Virgin Mary. As it happens, the basilica is also home to an apartment belonging to Cardinal Bernard Law, who offered the new pope a brief greeting upon his arrival.
Law, of course, resigned in Boston amid protests over his handling of the child sexual abuse scandal in 2002, and then served as Archpriest of St. Mary Major until his retirement in 2011 when he turned 80.
The Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that when Francis saw Law that morning, he brusquely ordered him to stop appearing in public at the basilica. The report also said that the new pope, "as his first act of purification," is preparing to dispatch the 81-year-old Law to a cloistered monastery.
Once again, it would be a dramatic insight into the new pope if true – and, once again, that insight turned out to be built on sand.
Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica, who was acting as an assistant Vatican spokesperson during the papal transition, told NCR on March 16 that those reports were "completely and totally false." Both Rosica and Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that same thing over and over again to other media outlets, and as of this writing Law still maintains his residence at St. Mary Major.
Francis obviously will face mounting pressure to pick up where Benedict XVI left off in terms of confronting the church's abuse crisis, but rational evaluations ought to be based on what he actually says and does, as opposed to false expectations created by misleading reports.
[...]
Copyright © The National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company
http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/debunking-three-urban-legends-about-pope-francis [with comments]
---
Solving the sex abuse crisis: Experts draft a to-do list for Pope Francis
Pope Francis waves as he leads the weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square, at the Vatican on April 3.
Stefano Rellandini / Reuters
David Clohessy, left, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests with outreach director Barbara Dorris.
Gabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images
Rev. Thomas Reese
Nancy Wiechec / Catholic News Service via AP file
By Tracy Connor
April 6, 2013
Pope Francis ordered the Vatican this week to act "decisively" in protecting children from sexual abuse and punishing predator priests, but his brief statement contained few specifics on how to stem the crisis that has roiled the Catholic Church for a decade.
The new pontiff directed the Vatican office known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to "continue the line" on the anti-abuse policies set by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.
Observers say that to restore the church's credibility and ensure the safety of children worldwide, Francis will have to back up his words with actions. Here they offer some recommendations:
Heads should roll
The pope should demote or discipline a few bishops who were found to have covered up misdeeds, said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, noting that Bishop Robert Finn of Kansas City has held onto his diocese even though he was convicted of a misdemeanor for failing to report a pedophile priest.
Although others said the pope was just being polite, Clohessy was incensed that he greeted scandal-scarred Cardinal Bernard Law during the traditional visit to St. Mary Major the day after his election. "Actions speak louder than words," he said.
Name names
"The church needs to be open about the names of offenders who have been found to be abusers," said Kathleen McChesney, a former FBI official and ex-director of the Office of Child Protection at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "If you're a diocese and you know that these 10 clergy members abused children, you should put those on the website."
Church officials may be rightly concerned about the danger of naming a priest who is falsely accused. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center, said that to build trust that no coverup is going on, victims' groups should be included in the process of deciding which allegations aren't strong enough to make public.
Meet with victims
The pope has been accused of giving the cold shoulder to abuse victims while he was archbishop of Buenos Aires. Whether that's true or not, he needs to give victims plenty of face time now, Reese said.
"He has to listen to their stories, reach out to them and apologize -- and do it again and again, and the sooner the better," Reese said. "You don't understand it until you've sat down and talked to these victims. When you hear their stories, it just tears you apart."
World Youth Day in Brazil in July would be the perfect moment for Francis to sit down and hear those stories first-hand.
Get new advisers
Francis should make sure his inner circle includes people who understand the gravity of the crisis. Thomas Groome, chair of the Department of Religious Education at Boston College, said he hopes the pope recruits Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who had to clean up Law's mess, to assist him in Rome.
The pontiff is less likely to act on Groome's other suggestion: making women, grandmothers in particular, cardinals. He noted that lay cardinals existed centuries ago and that wise old Catholic women with children and grandchildren might bring a new perspective on youth-protection to a church run by childless men.
Crunch the numbers
A decade ago, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a survey of every diocese in the country that collected data about the extent of the sex-abuse problem. Even though victims' groups claimed there was under-reporting, McChesney said, "people in the church were stunned at the numbers" -- more than 4,000 priests accused of molesting children.
But predatory priests are not just an American problem. The Vatican should undertake an international survey that would help it identify other regions where abuse is happening, McChesney said.
Shake up the bureaucracy
The Vatican should create a new office in charge of the protection of childen, separate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which would continue to investigate individual abuse claims, McChesney said.
"They have enough on their plate," she said of the CDF, which needs to plow through a large backlog of complaints against priests.
The new office, McChesney said, would serve as a sort of professional board of directors -- helping dioceses across the globe replicate anti-abuse programs that have been successful in the U.S. and making sure the world's bishops and religious communities are complying with Vatican guidelines.
Benedict ordered every diocese in the world to establish policies and procedures to deal with abuse. Two years later, many dioceses have not followed through.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/06/17620009-solving-the-sex-abuse-crisis-experts-draft-a-to-do-list-for-pope-francis [with comments]
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
Join the InvestorsHub Community
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
