Tornado Alley (PROG)

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nlightn, Why is the Pope still silent about damning sex abuse report?

You're right, the Pope is letting his church, and the world down. More of his church are unhappy with him now. He and his conservative Vatican
opponents have to do more to fix their organization's most perverse ill. Francis and Trump are similar in some ways damaging to each of them.

Analysis by Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor
Updated 0037 GMT (0837 HKT) August 17, 2018

[...]

What can the Pope do?

Under canon law, the rules that govern the Catholic Church, the Pope has the power to remove or otherwise punish bishops.

But canon law is vague about when, exactly, that should be done, church experts said. No concrete crimes or corresponding penalties are listed in canon law, said the Rev. Hans Zollner, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and a professor of psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

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Priest abuse victims detail lifetime of trauma and broken trust
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/15/us/pennsylvania-catholic-church-victims/index.html
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What's more, there are some 5,100 bishops around the world, Zollner said, and it would be impractical to expect the Pope to personally monitor every one and investigate every accusation of abuse or negligence.

Other offices within the Vatican have the power to commence investigations, but it is unclear whether they have the power to discipline bishops, Zollner said.

"What is needed is a complete overhaul of that system," Zollner said, "at least in the penal part of the Code of Canon Law."

In response to the McCarrick scandal, top American bishops have proposed subjecting bishops and other high-ranking clergy to oversight from bishops or competent lay leaders.

On Thursday, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the bishops have begun to outline a plan that would ask the Vatican to launch a full investigation into McCarrick, make reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops "easier" and advocate for "better procedures" to resolve complaints against bishops.

"The first criterion is genuine independence," DiNardo said. "Any mechanism for addressing any complaint against a bishop must be free from bias or undue influence by a bishop. Our structures must preclude bishops from deterring complaints against them, from hampering their investigation, or from skewing their resolution."

DiNardo also said that lay people -- not just church clerics -- should be given "substantial involvement."

"Whatever the details may turn out to be regarding Archbishop McCarrick or the many abuses in Pennsylvania (or anywhere else), we already know that one root cause is the failure of episcopal leadership."

Bishops have resigned over sexual abuse cover-ups before.

In the United States, three bishops resigned .. https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/us/minnesota-archbishop-resigns/ .. in 2015 after accusations that they covered up cases of clergy sexual abuse.

After an emergency summit in Rome this May, 31 bishops from Chile offered to resign, an unprecedented action in the modern church, according to a church spokesman. The Pope had called the country's bishops to Rome after he received a 2,300-page report detailing sexual abuses by priests in Chile. The Pope has accepted the resignations of five of the bishops.

After the Pennsylvania grand jury report, none of the bishops named in the report offered to resign. At least, not publicly.

'A playbook for concealing the truth'

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/08/15/us/pennsylvania-catholic-sex-abuse-vatican/index.html

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Pennsylvania sexual abuse report is another setback for Pope Francis

Pontiff vowed ‘decisive action’ when elected but has failed to get a grip on series of scandals

Harriet Sherwood Religion correspondent
@harrietsherwood

Wed 15 Aug 2018 17.35 AEST
Last modified on Wed 15 Aug 2018 19.00 AEST


Pope Francis has misread the extent of betrayal by the Catholic church.
Photograph: Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty Images

The damning report on the sexual abuse of potentially thousands of children by priests in Pennsylvania, and the subsequent cover-up by a Catholic church primarily interested in self-protection, is another blow for Pope Francis, who is already reeling .. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/pope-francis-catholic-church-abuse-scandal-failed .. after a series of damaging scandals over recent months.

The shocking accounts of rape and assault of vulnerable children by men who are supposed to be moral exemplars are bad enough. But, as is almost always the case, the actual abuse is compounded by collusion and concealment by senior church figures and attempts to silence and intimidate survivors.

More than 300 Pennsylvania priests abused 1,000 children over decades, report says
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/14/more-than-300-pennsylvania-priests-committed-sexual-abuse-over-decades

Francis, considered progressive and enlightened on many issues, has struggled to get a grip on the scandal that has gravely weakened the Catholic church’s moral authority. Despite calling for “decisive action” when he was elected as pontiff in 2013, he has failed to turn that into a reality. Instead he has been on the back foot, reactive rather than proactive, and has misread the extent of betrayal by the church.

A special papal commission set up to make recommendations on the church’s role in child protection ran into difficulties last year when two members – both abuse survivors – quit. One, Peter Saunders .. http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/12/13/abuse-survivor-resigns-from-vatican-child-protection-commission/ , said he had thought the pope was “serious about kicking backsides and holding people to account” but that it turned out not to be so. The other, Marie Collins .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/01/abuse-victim-marie-collins-quits-vatican-child-protection-body , said the abuse crisis was handled “with fine words in public and contrary actions behind closed doors”.

[... to the end]

The pope should say “I failed, my institution failed, and as pope I’m taking responsibility”, Colm O’Gorman, who was raped by a priest as a teenager in the 1980s, told the Observer last week. “He should come here and tell the truth, but the chances of that are very slim. The thing the church fears most is the damage to its reputation.”

The test for Francis is whether he can get from the back foot on to the front foot, to move from damage limitation and the tardy acceptance of resignations to actively rooting out abuse and cover-ups, wherever they are found. The Pennsylvania report is the culmination of two years of investigation and a serious blow to the church, but it looks like the blows will keep coming.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/15/pennsylvania-sexual-abuse-report-another-setback-pope-francis

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