The Pope Asks for Forgiveness on Sex Abuse. but He Refuses to Act.

By Editorial Board
Washington Post
January 20, 2018

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-pope-asks-for-forgiveness-on-sex-abuse-but-he-refuses-to-act/2018/01/19/dae5aad8-e1d7-11e7-8679-a9728984779c_story.html?utm_term=.7c1a8e6d6bbf

On a recent trip to Chile, Pope Francis apologized, once again, for clerical sex abuse, expressing the “pain and shame, shame I feel over the irreparable harm caused to children by church ministers.” He then proceeded to compound that shame by dismissing credible accusations that a Chilean bishop was complicit in hiding abuse committed by a priest who was once his mentor.

The episode was emblematic of the pope’s apparent inability to come to terms with revelations about pedophile priests and the bishops and cardinals who cover for them. “Is it fair to ask for forgiveness?” he wondered, on arriving in Chile.

Well, no, it’s not fair — not when the church has failed to fully uproot the moral rot that the abuse scandal has planted at its core.