Catholic Church Officials Discuss Plan for Transparency during 3rd Day of Vatican Sex Abuse Summit

By Alan Krashesky and Ross Weidner
WLS TV
February 23, 2019

https://abc7chicago.com/religion/catholic-church-officials-discuss-plan-for-transparency-during-3rd-day-of-vatican-sex-abuse-summit/5152990/

As the Vatican Summit on sex abuse enters its third day, transparency became a major topic of discussion.

Transparency - and the frank acknowledgement that the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandal seriously damaged the credibility the church and its bishops in leadership.

On Saturday morning, strong words came from Sister Veronica Openibo of Nigeria as she called out church leadership for hypocrisy.

"We proclaim the Ten Commandments," Openibo said. "Why did we keep silent for so long?"

Cardinal Reinhart Marx, of Germany, was also direct in his criticism.

"The rights of abuse victims were trampled underfoot," Marx said.

Marx also said that in an era of rapidly-spreading information on social media, the Church's attempts to protect itself raises suspicions of a cover-up.

"...Transparency has to be the way we handle things and deal with things, here, but it also has to invade all of our procedures," said Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich in an interview Friday.

Cardinal Cupich leading the way on new procedures with a new plan for how bishops would be disciplined if they are involved in abuse or mismanage abuse cases.

Friday, Chicago's Archbishop called for a new structure for investigating bishops who are themselves abusers or those who grossly mishandle abuse cases. Those men - the Cardinal believes - should lose their jobs.

Alan Krashesky: You could begin that process that could eventually lead to a bishop being dismissed?

Cardinal Cupich: Yes.

Alan Krashesky: That seems to be a very important move.

Cardinal Cupich: It's a big change.

The Cardinal's plan covers 12 points, including:

Treating abuse victims with respect

Involving laypeople to conduct investigations

Suspending Bishops immediately if necessary

Sending credible allegations to The Vatican

And finally, the Pope would make the decision to fire the Bishop.

Pope Francis listened intently to the Cardinal's proposal - as they sat side-by-side, seemingly giving his initial approval. Cardinal Cupich says the Pope gave him a "thumbs up" at the conclusion of his remarks.

American bishops as a group would need to choose this plan, but now that it's been heard here at the Vatican they would be able to consider it. In the same way, other bishops in countries around the globe now would be able to consider the proposal, tailoring this framework to their particular cultures.

There's recent precedent for this type of action. Theodore McCarrick, the former Cardinal, former Washington Archbishop and now, former priest... kicked-out of the priesthood over sexual abuse.

Cardinal Cupich's plan would also rely on the oversight of what are called metropolitan archbishops- the most influential senior bishop in a particular geographic area- empowering them to take charge of abuse investigations of other bishops. For example, since Cardinal Cupich is the metropolitan archbishop of Illinois, he would have oversight over bishop misconduct investigations in the state's five other dioceses.