ROME
The Daily Beast
by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Mar 7, 2013
As Cardinals arrive in Rome to choose a new pontiff, victims of priest sex abuse have laid out their case against the top contenders, and say that even the best options are tainted by the global scandal.
“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and a pure heart…” says the Bible. But as the College of Cardinals gets closer to choosing a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who retired on February 28, it is becoming an
This week, as the cardinals descended on Rome for pre-conclave congregational meetings to share concerns for the global church and form a profile of what they want in a new pontiff, another group of concerned Catholics held court of their own to voice the concerns of victims of predator priests. SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests), the 12,000-member strong priest abuse victims’ group, issued its “dirty dozen” of potential popes who they feel would be “the worst papal candidates for the safety of children” and gave their blessing to three others who they feel are “the least of the bad” who could lead their church out of its darkest hour. They also presented a wish list for what they believe the church should do going forward, which includes “to severely and clearly discipline, demote, denounce and defrock bishops caught concealing sex abuse crimes.” They would also like the church to order bishops in local diocese to “turn over every piece of paper relating to accusations of abuse” which they believe would stop predators in their tracks.
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