UNITED STATES
Washington Post
Pope Francis is the most popular pontiff in a generation — but can even he defeat the sex abuse scandal?
By Terrence McCoy July 8
Pope Francis is a man of immense personal charisma, one who combines the humility of a Nelson Mandela with an almost Clintonian drive to interact with people of the land. But that warmth that has at once made him this generation’s most popular pope has also to some degree deflected attention from a darker, ongoing reality in the church: clergy sexual abuse.
In the year Francis has been pope, he has addressed scores of politically unpalatable issues — ballooning inequality, church profligacy, poverty — but some observers say he has been more reticent on the matter of sexual abuse, a scandal that continues to haunt the Vatican and likely contributed to the resignation of predecessor Pope Benedict. “He’s carefully avoided all the issues that could lead to conflict,” the editor of Vatican Radio told Frontline.
The issue of sex abuse is “a real minefield in the life of this Pope,” Robert Mickens, longtime Vatican analyst for the Tablet, also explained to Frontline. “It’s such a big issue in the Catholic Church and it’s not gone away, even though they’re singing hosannas to him right now, and that’s the sexual abuse of minors, clergy sex abuse. I know a lot of Catholics would like it to be over, but it’s not. We’re seeing new cases all the time. If the Pope doesn’t come out and set very clear, transparent and public guidelines, I think this could cripple him.”
Francis has addressed the issue of clergy sexual abuse on multiple occasions, once even saying it was like “celebrating a black mass.” But for the first time on Monday, he met with six victims of clergy sexual abuse — three male and three female European victims — and begged for forgiveness.
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