UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
Recent events make clear Catholics cannot realistically expect Pope Francis to curtail sufficiently any time soon, if ever, priest sexual abuse of children. Catholics must therefore press their democratically accountable governments to compel an unaccountable and out of control Vatican to protect their children better. Recent UN hearings on Vatican child abuse cover-ups, a disturbing AP report indicating the Vatican is quietly discharging some predator priests into an unsuspecting society and continuing confusion on the Vatican attitude towards gay persons indicate clearly Pope Francis has no mystical solutions.
These discouraging disclosures make it clear that the Vatican will most likely continue under Pope Francis to try to operate as a law unto itself and above the law that applies to everyone else, unless compelled by outside governments to act according to international legal rules that protect children.The UN hearings make increasingly clear Francis is continuing the stonewalling cover-up and won’t stop unless pressed by government leaders, including by President Obama. Many have already asked the President to act on priest child abuse by signing the active online petition available here, see:
Many in the media appear content to report crowd pleasing stories about the sale of Francis’ Harley motorcycle and his permitting mothers to breast feed in the Sistine Chapel. Thankfully, some journalists are still awake professionally. The rants of a new Cardinal from Spain and reports on the Swiss Guards’ take on the Vatican “gay lobby” are still being noted. These, and other reports discussed below, indicate the Vatican has a long way to go to fix itself and even to provide a consistent message from week to week.
For the Cardinal’s troubling remarks on gay persons, see:
[Express]
For the Swiss Guards’ reports on the gay lobby, see:
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.