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Year in Review: for Pope, It Was Year to Come to Terms with Abuse Crisis

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
December 27, 2018

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/year-review-pope-it-was-year-come-terms-abuse-crisis

Pope Francis is pictured after posing for a photo with officials representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Vatican Sept. 13. From left are Msgr. Brian Bransfield, general secretary of the conference; Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors; Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the conference; and Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles, vice president of the conference. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Pope Francis marked the fifth anniversary of his election in March in the midst of a firestorm over his handling of clerical sexual abuse and bishops' accountability in Chile.

He soon apologized for his slow response and invited Chilean abuse survivors to the Vatican and then all the country's bishops to meet with him in May. By mid-October, the pope had dismissed two Chilean bishops from the priesthood and accepted the resignations of seven others.

The firestorm began when Francis visited Chile and Peru in January, but the trip also included a meeting with the region's indigenous peoples, marking an important stage in the preparation for the 2019 special Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, which will focus on safeguarding creation and on the pastoral care of the people who live in the region.

Also during 2018, Francis traveled to the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches to celebrate the ecumenical body's 70th anniversary; he went to Ireland for the World Meeting of Families; and he visited the Baltic nations of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

He spent most of October presiding over the Synod of Bishops on young people, and during the synod, he celebrated the canonizations of St. Paul VI, St. Oscar Romero and five others.

But the sex abuse crisis dominated news coverage of the pope's year, particularly after accusations were deemed credible that former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, had abused a minor and for years had sexually harassed seminarians.

The pope accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals, forbid him from publicly exercising priestly ministry and ordered him to "a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined" in a canonical process.

Less than a month later, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former nuncio to the United States, inflamed the situation by claiming that Francis had known of McCarrick's history of sexual misconduct and of supposed sanctions imposed on him, but ignored or lifted them. Vigano later admitted sanctions were never formally imposed, but he continued to insist Francis ignored warnings about McCarrick.

Bishop Juan Barros of Osorno, Chile, arrives in procession for Pope Francis' celebration of Mass near Temuco, Chile, Jan. 17, 2018. Francis initially defended Barros, who was accused of personally witnessing and covering up abuse, but later accepted his resignation. (CNS/Paul Haring)

In mid-September, the Vatican announced that Francis was calling the presidents of all the world's bishops' conference to a four-day meeting at the Vatican in February to address the abuse crisis and better ways to protect children.

At the synod on young people, faith and vocational discernment, some bishops — especially from Australia and the United States — insisted the abuse crisis be a topic of discussion.

Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney used his speech at the synod to formally apologize to young people for all the ways the Catholic Church and its members have harmed them or let them down.

In the presence of Francis, he apologized Oct. 4 "for the shameful deeds of some priests, religious and laypeople, perpetrated upon you or other young people just like you, and the terrible damage that has done."

He apologized "for the failure of too many bishops and others to respond appropriately when abuse was identified, and to do all in their power to keep you safe; and for the damage thus done to the church's credibility and to your trust."

U.S. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, a member of the synod council that planned the gathering, had asked Francis in August to cancel the synod and focus instead on the abuse crisis.

In his speech to the synod, he urged his fellow bishops to reaffirm strongly and clearly Catholic teaching on sex, sexuality and sexual morality.

 

 

 

 

 




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