UNITED STATES
Waiting for Godot to Leave
Kevin O’Brien
Below is the press release from SNAP on the Bishop Livieres issue.
It had appeared as if Livieres had been the first and only bishop removed from office since the Sex Scandal broke over ten years ago. And even though his case was particularly egregious – making an accused child molester his vicar general, even after being warned by other bishops that the man was a danger to others, and then lashing out against the Vatican publicly – still this appeared to be good news. It appeared as if Pope Francis was setting the bar very low, but at least he was setting the bar. After all, if you won’t sack a bishop for making an accused child molester and scam artist his vicar general and allowing him continued access to boys, then how serious are you about reforming the very worst element in the Church?
And indeed for the first time since the crisis, the Vatican seemed to be getting serious about the problem, forcing into “house arrest” an archbishop and former Vatican envoy who is reported to have been molesting boys in the Dominican Republic and who was discovered to have over 100,000 pornographic images of children on his computer.
But now the Vatican makes it a point to slap some cold water in our faces.
Bishop Livieres has NOT been removed for enabling and promoting an accused child molester and scam artist, but for other reasons that apparently the Vatican regards as none of our business, allowing Livieres to spread the story that it’s all a right vs. left power struggle.
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