UNITED STATES
The Seattle Times
By Mary Dispenza
Special to The Times
THERE was a time when I would have been among the throngs chanting “Viva la papa” when Pope Francis arrives this week. However, as a survivor of priest sex abuse as a child, along with other survivors, I am experiencing very unsettling feelings about his presence in the United States. The pope symbolizes the dismal past and present response to the darkest era in the Catholic Church — that of sex crimes by clergy and the continued, systematic cover-up by bishops and popes.
Yes, Pope Francis is a breath of fresh air and brings a new tone. Taking care of our Earth is a worthy cause (“On Care for Our Common Home”), and caring for the poor and downtrodden is admirable. Yet, I find that Francis is skirting an elephant that still remains largely unaddressed in the Catholic Church.
In 2014, a Pew Research Center survey gave Pope Francis his lowest marks for not addressing priest sex abuse of children and adults. In the beginning of Pope Francis’ reign in 2013, 70 percent of U.S. Catholics said that addressing the sex-abuse scandal should be “a top priority” for the new pope, far more than said the same about standing up for families and traditional moral values, spreading the Catholic faith or other issues.
To date, Pope Francis hasn’t exposed one cleric who has committed or is concealing sex crimes.
Nor has he ordered any of the world’s 5,100 bishops to do so.
Francis is a powerful leader, able to make change quickly and effectively as he did in cleaning his own house, the Vatican, from corruption and financial mishandling. It really is time to address, once and for all, a major issue that still hangs as a dark cloud above the Catholic Church. Francis could put into effect immediate actions by ousting priests and bishops who cover up sex crimes. I propose five actions to get this done.
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