Catholic Church leaders launch reform process

By Nicolas Senèze
LaCroix International
February 25, 2019

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Did Pope Francis' closing speech at the meeting of bishops conference presidents on child protection on Feb. 24 come as a disappointment?

The long text he read out in the Sala Regia inside the Apostolic Palace did not in fact contain any significant new announcements.

On the other hand, he had already warned well in advance against "inflated" expectations from the meeting.

But the real point of his address had less to do with the concrete measures the Vatican has already started working on than the kind of Church that Pope Francis envisions.

In how it responds to sex abuse by priests, this will be a very different Church from the one that existed only a few years ago.

No longer will it be a besieged citadel but rather a Church genuinely in the world.

Instead of identifying the cause of abuse as society's "moral decadence," the Church will now perceive it as more deeply rooted in evil, or "Satan" at work in the world as well as in the Church itself, as Francis said.

It will be a Church that therefore also admits its own faults and sins. A Church that rejects what the pope has characterized as "justicialism."

This amounts to an overly legalistic vision that is content simply to punish abusers but without a corresponding real increase in awareness or without working with those who have already mobilized to combat the scourge of child abuse around the world.

In an achievement that would have been impossible just a few short years ago, Pope Francis has succeeded in his efforts to develop a much greater level of awareness among the world's bishops, many of whom who were a long way from sharing his vision.

The pope is convinced that processes are more important than blunt decisions. And through patience he been able to change the collective state of mind in the space of a few short days.

Whereas Rome's attempts at change have bumped up against the inertia of some bishops' conferences for many years, the bishops' growing awareness of their common responsibility for abuse and its management should now enable the Church to make much more orderly progress both against abuse and cover ups.

"The message given to the bishops was to 'return home and get to work'," said Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, one of the meeting organizers.

"There were many ideas but now we need to put it all into practice and I am also expecting the backing of the Holy See with this," said Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the German bishops' conference, which has often been at loggerheads with Rome when it sought more freedom to act.

By removing the blinkers of a number of bishops, the meeting also enabled them to better appreciate their own failures.

"Many of those who believed that abuses did not exist have suddenly begun to raise very basic questions," noted one observer of the meeting.

"Now, they are aware of what they need to to do and they want to act," he added. "The meeting was very useful on this point."

"This change in attitude will allow us to apply the law," said Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, the adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).

The CDF will also soon publish a practical document that will clearly set out the procedures bishops must follow in abuse cases.

In addition, regional task forces will be created in order to provide experts who will assist the bishops conferences with fewer resources.

And since example needs to come from the top, Father Federico Lombardi, the moderator of the meeting's plenary sessions, announced on Feb. 24 the forthcoming publication of legislation against abuse in the Rome Curia and the Vatican as well as specific guidelines for the Vatican state.

While all bishops conferences must send their own guidelines to the CDF for evaluation, the Holy See has until now has strangely lacked any legislation on the issue.

This also concerns the Vatican diplomatic service and thus any crimes committed by nuncios during the course of their service.

Although general legislation on abuse and against cover up already exists in the Church, there are many more issues that still need to be addressed.

One of these is the pontifical secret, which means victims have no access to the procedures taken against those who abused them.

"The pontifical secret exists for the freedom of the Church, e.g. in the selection of future bishops, and should not be used to cover up abuse," admitted Archbishop Scicluna, who told La Croix that he is "hopeful" of reform in the CDF on this issue.

"In any event, it has no absolute value. It's not the secret of the confessional," he added during a press conference.

Other more technical issues were also raised, including ensuring the responsibility of bishops as outlined in the motu proprio, As a Loving Mother, which provides for any bishop who covers up abuse to be punished.

On Feb. 22 morning, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago also shared a reflection on the process, which is very detailed but should not be difficult to implement.

Meanwhile, Father Lombardi noted that the working groups in which the bishops met twice each day also offered many suggestions.

And just as iron must be forged when it is still hot, the summit's organizers were scheduled to meet again at 9 a.m. on Feb. 25 with the heads of each dicastery of the Roman Curia.

This exceptional "council of ministers" meeting organized by the pope will provide an opportunity to launch in depth work on each of the issues which should lead to concrete results.

Even more significant than adopting any new laws, it will be vital to establish a more collegial Church in which Rome will work more closely with the bishops and they, in turn, with lay people.

It will be no longer be a Church inherited from the Council of Trent. Rather, it will be the Church of Vatican II.