VATICAN CITY
USA Today
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis named his first batch of cardinals Sunday, choosing 19 men from around the world, including the developing nations of Haiti and Burkina Faso, in line with his belief the church must pay more attention to the poor.
But advocates for victims of sex abuse by Catholic clergy said they felt let down that Francis didn’t unequivocally embrace their calls that prelates who hadn’t made a clean break with past practices of covering up pedophile behavior never be promoted. …
The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, expressed disappointment that Francis didn’t promote Martin.
SNAP criticized the choice of Mueller, saying he had a “dreadful” record on children’s safety.
Under the tenure of Mueller, who was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, a fellow German, critics have accused the Vatican’s handling of the sex abuse scandal, including letting pedophile priests transfer from parish to parish when complaints were made.
Groups such as SNAP also have criticized the Vatican’s recent refusal under Francis to allow the extradition of a Polish archbishop being investigated in his homeland for alleged sex abuse. But SNAP welcomed the fact that three high-ranking archbishops in the U.S, where the sex scandal has enraged faithful for decades now, weren’t promoted to cardinal.
In Chile, those who had denounced for sex abuse a priest who had long been one of the country’s most popular clerics, lamented that one of Chile’s church hierarchy was being promoted.
Dr. James Hamilton, the first to publicly denounce the priest, said he hoped the soon-to-be cardinal, Santiago Archbishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, would “drown in power, boastfulness, vanity, corruption, perversion and greed,” adding sarcastically, “that is a good cardinal.”
Ezzati, commenting on his selection, insisted the Chilean church is “learning from its mistakes.”
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