Pope Francis just declared ‘all-out battle’ on clergy sex abuse. We have no reason to take him seriously

By Becket Adams
WashingtExaminer
February 26, 2019

https://washex.am/2Nx1EHZ

Pope Francis concluded the Vatican’s summit on clerical sexual abuse this weekend by promising an “all-out battle” against this disease plaguing the Roman Catholic Church.

A bold statement, but in the words of St. Thomas the Apostle: I’ll believe it when I see it.

“We are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth,” Francis said, adding that “even a single case of abuse” must be answered, “with the utmost seriousness.”

He also said the church would “spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice.”

Nice words, but we have no reason to take them seriously, especially when they come from Francis.

First, as just a brief aside, what does he mean by "all-out battle"? Has the church not been doing this already?

Secondly, we’ve heard these promises before. In the early 2000s, after the Boston Globe uncovered rampant sexual abuse in the Boston Archdiocese, the Catholic Church promised a vigorous and thorough housecleaning. It was not so vigorous and thorough as we were led to believe, as evidenced by recent reports from Chile, Australia, and Pennsylvania. Further, let's not forget that it was the disgraced, now-laicized former archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore McCarrick, who led the church's response to the Boston Globe’s reporting. He served in this capacity despite it being known for years within the church that he was a sexual predator.

Worse than the cruel joke of a known sex-pest heading the response to the Boston clergy abuse scandal is the fact that McCarrick went on to flourish in the Catholic Church, rising so high as to become one of Francis’ top allies. And all this even after Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI tried to impose restrictions on the now-disgraced cardinal.

The fact that McCarrick was able to thrive under Francis despite his sexual predilections being an open secret to church leaders brings us to the second point, which is that the current pope has given us reason to distrust him specifically on the issue of addressing clergy sexual abuse.

When Francis was accused last year by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano of enabling men who were known to church leaders as sexual predators, including McCarrick, the normally chatty-to-a-fault pope refused to address the issue. Instead, Francis dismissed the matter casually, saying, “ I will not say a single word on this.”

Later, on Sept. 11, 2018, Francis delivered a homily wherein he appeared to complain that the devil had revealed the church's institutionalized horror of abuse.

Then, in October of last year, after Washington's archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, resigned following revelations he “permitted to occur on [his] watch” the crimes of at least three predatory priests, Francis accepted, but only begrudgingly.

“You have sufficient elements to 'justify' your actions and distinguish between what it means to cover up crimes or not to deal with problems, and to commit some mistakes,” the pope said in a note addressed to a man who had explicitly refused to expel three known sexual predators from his dioceses. “However, your nobility has led you not to choose this way of defense. Of this, I am proud and thank you.”

It’s also worth mentioning that the summit this weekend produced no specific details regarding the church's plans to address the rampant abuse of minors at the hands of priests. Francis himself outlined no new changes, opting instead to allude only to the possibility of new legislation. This comes after the Vatican muzzled the U.S. bishops last November when they moved to enact serious reforms. The American bishops were told by Vatican officials to hold off in favor of the summit that concluded this weekend without any concrete plans or resolutions.

You’ll pardon me, then, for not greeting Francis’ bold declaration of “all-out battle” with hope and high expectations.

Fool me once, shame on you.