UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
Thomas Reese | Mar. 14, 2014 Faith and Justice
During his first year in office, Pope Francis has been such a whirlwind of activity and surprises that it is difficult to know what to say. I have already written extensively about him, so I was uncertain what to write on the anniversary of his election. During the last two weeks, scores of reporters have been calling me with questions about Pope Francis, so I thought I would share with you the most common questions and my responses.
What is the most important achievement of Pope Francis?
The most important achievement of Pope Francis is that he has rebranded Catholicism and the papacy. Prior to Francis, if you asked someone on the street, “What is the Catholic church all about? What does the pope stand for?” the response would be, “They are against abortion, gay marriage and birth control.” Certainly in the media, that was what was portrayed, along with clerical sexual abuse.
Today, the response would be different. “He is concerned about compassion, love, especially for the poor.” He has even won over the media. As one religion reporter told me, “It’s nice to be off the crime beat and back to religion.” The church is making the front page for something other than criminal activity and scandal. Pope Francis has made it fun to be a religion reporter again. …
The second area where he needs to improve is in responding to the sex abuse crisis. He believes that Pope Benedict got it right with zero tolerance of abuse by priests. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, he sounded defensive in talking about how the church was much better at responding to abuse than society at large. While this may be true, for people who feel they were betrayed by bishops who simply moved priests around, such comments are like a cheating husband telling his wife that the other men in the neighborhood cheat more. The only proper response is “I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry.” Regaining trust is going to take a lifetime.
As the National Catholic Reporter editorialized, he needs to meet with survivors of sexual abuse by priests. Listening to their stories will affect him as nothing else can. He also needs to take action against bishops who are not responding appropriately to abuse by priests. If a bishop in Germany can be forced to resign because of a financial scandal, why can bishops who scandalize the faithful by not protecting children remain in office? Is money more important than children?
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