When Pope Francis recently met with six victims of clerical sexual abuse, he made an important statement that the Roman Catholic Church is committed to change.

 

He compared priests who abuse minors to “a sacrilegious cult.”

He begged for forgiveness.

He vowed to take action on priests abusing their vows.

And Pope Francis referred to the “sins of omission” by those who covered up or failed to report incidents of child sexual abuse.

The pope has also appointed a commission to confront the sexual abuse issue.

History suggests that’s a wise and proactive step.

In 2001, the Vatican required credible cases of abuse to be forwarded to civil authorities.

But it took until 2010 for the Vatican explicitly inform bishops to do so, The Associated Press reported.

That played a role in creating a culture so alarming that the Vatican was called to address a United Nations committee reviewing its compliance with an international treaty that forbids torture.

THE CONTEXT

All of that is reality. And it is sobering and troubling.

Yet it’s important to add some context, as well.

There are more than 400,000 Catholic priests worldwide.

So the defrocked and disciplined priests represent a small percentage of all active priests.

In the U.S., allegations of abuse represent 6 percent of active priests from 1950 to 2012, estimates BishopAccountability.org.

Unfortunately, however, many abusive priests were able to commit multiple abuses.

Nick Cafardi, a U.S. canon lawyer and former chairman of the U.S. bishops lay review board that monitored clerical abuse, told the AP the church used to give too much credibility to the explanations given by priests.

“This is a move away from that and more toward giving credibility to victims, which is progress,” he said.

ACTION IN THE U.S.

Since 2002, the Catholic Church in the United States has moved to confront the child sexual abuse crisis since 2002.

■ More than 2.1 million clergy, employees and volunteers have been trained to create safe environments and prevent sex abuse.

■ More than 5.2 million children have been taught how to recognize abuse and protect themselves.

■ Background checks have been run on 1.9 million volunteers and employees, 166,000 educators, 52,000 clerics and 6,000 candidates for the priesthood.

In 2004, Georgetown University was commissioned to conduct an annual survey of all dioceses. The purpose is to collect information on new allegations of abuse.

The Catholic Church in the U.S. also produced a 2011 charter for the protection of children.

Here is how it begins: “Since 2002, the church in the United States has experienced a crisis without precedent in our times.”

The charter also states:

■ Dioceses must reach out to victims, survivors and their families and show a sincere commitment to their spiritual and emotional well being.

■ Dioceses must respond promptly to allegations. There must be a review board of lay people not employed by the diocese.

■ No settlement must require confidentiality unless the victim requests it.

■ Dioceses must report allegations to civil authorities.

■ For even one established case of sexual abuse, the offending priest is to be permanently removed from the ministry and may be removed from the clerical state.

Helping professions, like the clergy, have a special status in our society. When members of those professions abuse that status, they must be brought to justice.