UNITED STATES
BishopAccountability.org

Statement by Anne Barrett Doyle
Co-Director, BishopAccountability.org

An archival organization that gathers documents and data about the global Catholic abuse crisis

July 7, 2014

Though overdue, Pope Francis’s meeting today with clergy sex abuse victims was a positive and necessary step. The Pope’s homily shows some readiness to be transformed by his encounter in Rome with the survivors, and makes several important points – he emphasizes the specifically Catholic nature of abuse by priests, and the terrible impact of abuse on the victims’ families, and the role of “Church leaders.” (See the English and Spanish text of the Pope’s homily.)

Most notably, the pope made a significant and historic promise to discipline bishops who fail to respond adequately to child sexual abuse: “All bishops must carry out their pastoral ministry with the utmost care in order to help foster the protection of minors, and…