Pope Should Not Get Warm Welcome until He Deals with Legacy of Child Abuse

By Cormac Lucey
The Times
April 14, 2017

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pope-should-not-get-a-state-visit-until-he-deals-with-legacy-of-child-abuse-drtbnxp88

Francis has done much to address inequality and homophobia but his efforts on this vile part of the church’s history need more work

Next year Pope Francis is scheduled to come to Ireland in what will be the second papal visit since John Paul II popped by in 1979.

The charismatic Argentinian’s visit is likely to be a big success. The pontiff’s appeal to old-style leftists such as President Michael D Higgins will ensure that. Calling inequality the root of social evil, the Pope regularly pressures governments to help the poor and there is much to admire in his simple lifestyle and refusal to move into the papal palace. He is also rumoured to sneak out of the Vatican to talk to the homeless and give them money.

In one of his most celebrated comments, the Pope said: “If someone is gay, and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” It represented a huge shift from the position of Pope Benedict, his predecessor, who described homosexuality as an intrinsic moral evil.

Compared to his stuffy and conservative predecessors, Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air, but the Irish state should be circumspect in our welcome for him next year. He does preside, after all, over an organisation that still refuses to deal in a moral way with its legacy of child abuse and child rape. As the Pope knows, one should not forgive a sinner until the sinner truly repents.

Last month Marie Collins, who was molested by a Dublin hospital chaplain when she was 13 years old, resigned from a special Vatican commission that was created by Pope Francis to propose child protection initiatives and address the issue of clerical sex abuse. Ms Collins lamented that some senior figures in the church continue to put “other concerns” before the safety of children and vulnerable adults.

She also complained that the reluctance of some in key sections of the Vatican to implement recommendations or co-operate with the work of a commission set up to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults around the world was “unacceptable”.