UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
In his first Sunday remarks as Pope, Francis, as priest, reminded Vatican visitors that Jesus showed God’s great mercy and capacity to forgive. But he also reminded his listeners that Jesus mandated, as an essential part of the forgiveness process, that believers must sin no more, or at least try not to.
In many ways, this captures the essence of the problem Pope Francis now faces. He needs to get Catholics to forgive the Catholic hierarchy, while at the same time he needs to get the Catholic hierarchy to try to sin no more. Because defenseless children are still at risk of predatory priests protected by complicit hierarchs and many Catholics also needlessly suffer because of the Church hierarchy’s unChristian moral positions, fine words and humble gestures from the new Pope will not be enough. The ex-Pope was hard to beat on fine words.
Pope Francis needs now to take concrete and clear actions that are desperately needed, including making the Church leaders organizationally accountable as they were in the Church that Jesus’ first followers left behind.
Given the Catholic Church’s current top-down and unaccountable structure, Pope Francis’ rearranging of some Vatican departments and personnel and shaming of some hierarchs, while positive and welcome steps, will surely not be enough to minimize future hierarchical sins. The Vatican’s often shameful history, as well as the current secret dossier of Vatican misdeeds, makes clear that fundamental reforms will be necessary pronto.
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