UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
For immediate release: Thursday, October 9
Statement by Barbara Dorris of St. Louis, Outreach Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests ( 314 503 0003, SNAPdorris@gmail.com )
Some will be offended by our saying this, but we hope the esteemed Nobel committee does not award the Nobel Peace Prize to Pope Francis.
While he’s made strides in improving church governance and finances and speaks often about the poor, that doesn’t merit a prize of this stature. And he’s done almost nothing to protect kids, expose predators, punish enablers, and deter future child sex crimes and cover ups. And it would be very ironic were the Pope to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year two United Nations panels harshly criticized his institution for continuing cover ups of sexual violence by clergy. What other “head of state” who has been cited for non-compliance with United Nations treaties on torture and children’s rights is up for consideration?
Francis made a few well-orchestrated “feel good” gestures about the church’s on-going abuse and cover up crisis. Like his predecessors, he’s belatedly taken timid action against a high profile child molesting cleric. (Francis has disciplined Archbishop Josef Wesolowski, much like Benedict disciplined Fr. Maciel.)
Like his predecessors, he’s belatedly taken timid and vague action against a controversial bishop.
Like his predecessors, he has apologized for abuse and met with victims. But like his predecessors, he’s also done very little, if anything to make a single child safer, preferring instead to use words rather than deeds and symbolism rather than substance.
Unlike his predecessors, he’s slowly setting up an abuse commission, but to us, that seems like a paltry public relations move rather than a meaningful reform move. He needs no panel to guide him. He knows that every Catholic official who commits or conceals child sex crimes should be turned over to law enforcement and be disciplined harshly by the Vatican. But he refuses to take decisive action that will really make a difference, preferring instead soothing words that won’t really make a difference.
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