LATIN AMERICA
GlobalPost
Will Carless on Sep 22, 2015
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — Last week, a GlobalPost investigation detailed a disturbing new chapter in the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal: Priests accused of molesting children have been able to escape scrutiny by relocating to poor, remote parishes in South America.
Two-and-half years into Pope Francis’s papacy, these revelations raise questions over whether he has done enough to address the church’s plague of sex abuse. More than 6,000 priests face allegations, according to Bishop-Accountability.org, and many have never faced justice for their alleged crimes.
The sex abuse crisis is among the biggest challenges for this popular pope.
So far, there have been major announcements during this papacy. Last year, Pope Francis announced the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, tasked with advising the church on how to deal with its sex abuse crisis. Then, this year, he sent a letter to every bishop instructing them to abide by “zero tolerance” for priests who sexually abuse children. He also pledged to create a special tribunal to judge bishops accused of covering up child sexual abuse scandals. And he has begged forgiveness from priests’ victims.
But are these actions just lip service? Or is the pope effecting real change across the Catholic world?
GlobalPost polled five experts on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. We asked: Do you believe the pope’s actions constitute meaningful change? Do they go far enough to protect children at risk of sexual abuse by clergy? If not, what should the pope do to show that he’s serious about cleaning up this problem?
Below are the responses, edited by GlobalPost for clarity and length.
(We also contacted Vatican Spokesman Federico Lombardi, as well as Terrence Donilon, communications secretary for Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who heads the pontifical commission. They did not respond.)
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