Here’s the story. In January 2018, Pope Francis visited Chile to heal a divided church. It did not happen. Rather, evidence was presented to him that one of his appointees, Bishop Juan Carlos Barros, was protecting one of his priests who had sexually abused young men. The pope not only criticized those speaking against the bishop, he charged them with slander.

The response of the National Catholic Reporter was immediate and harsh. A January 23 editorial stated: “The overwhelming consensus in the media is that Pope Francis has a blind spot when it comes to sexual abuse. ... He just doesn’t get it when it comes to victims of abuse. The evidence for this assertion is the pope’s unwavering support for Juan Barros.”

When I read this, I understood, yet felt sadness. When I was director of various institutions, I instinctively wanted to protect the institution and my employees. CEOs do it all the time. They often have a public relations team that provides some hopefully convincing spin.

Yet I was saddened. The Pope had promised a ”zero tolerance” policy against clergy sexual abuse. He penned in the preface of a book by a sexual abuse survivor that this abuse was an “absolute monstrosity” in the history of the church.

Pope Francis has supported paying billions of dollars to sexual abuse victims. He has removed hundreds of abusing priests from the priesthood. But the bishops who protected and reassigned abusing priests had remained mostly unaccountable.

On Jan. 30, Francis surprised everyone. He sent Archbishop Charles Scicluna to Chile to take testimony about Bishop Juan Carlos and the charge that he covered up for an accused priest. Scicluna has a reputation of being an expert in sexual abuse cases.

By April, Archbishop Scicluna gave the pope a 2,300-word report of his findings. After studying the report, the pope called Juan Cruz and his two friends to apologize to each.

This remarkable story continued. In a letter released on April 11 to the Chilean bishops, Francis admits that he made “serious mistakes” in handling the sexual abuse cases in Chile. He adds that he feels “pain and shame” for the “crucified lives” of those who suffered abuse.

Over April 27-30, the pope met individually with Juan Carlos Cruz and his two friends at the Vatican. He met each man for two to three hours apiece before meeting as a group for another two hours.

In Cruz’s case, the encounter began with Francis apologizing. “I felt he was very, very sincere,” Cruz said.

Two weeks later, the Chilean bishops had their turn to meet with the pope. On the third day of their meeting, all of them offered their resignations. This has never happened in the modern history of the Catholic church. To date, Francis has accepted five of the resignations, including Bishop Barros.

Cruz called the mass resignation a “triumph for all survivors.” He noted how fast Francis acted in a church that has historically moved slowly. Cruz concluded, “I think it’s a new day in many ways, and people now can refer to the Chilean situation as precedent.”

When Francis was elected pope, theologian Father Hans Kung said it would take five years for Francis to reform the church. In March 2018, he completed his fifth year.

While he continues to set precedents, much is unfinished. There is no institutional process for dealing with bishops who have failed to protect children. He has not received a report from the commission formed in 2016 studying the possibility of woman deacons. He has just received a report on restructuring the Curia, the administrative branch of the Vatican. The meeting with South American bishops on providing the Mass for priestless parishes has yet to occur.

The atheistic director of the documentary on Pope Francis said that Francis is the most fearless person he has ever met. As I witnessed his listening to the victims of sexual abuse and admitting his mistakes, I think he may be the humblest leader in the world.

Gracious God, bless us with five more years of this fearless, humble man.