WASHINGTON (DC)
Huffington Post
Antonia Blumberg
Associate Religion Editor, The Huffington Post
Pope Francis praised U.S. Catholic bishops for their response to the clergy sex abuse crisis Wednesday during an address in Washington — comments that victims called “insulting” and “hurtful.”
The pope applauded what he said was bishops’ “generous commitment to bring healing to victims.” And he praised them for courage in facing “difficult moments in the recent history of the church in this country without fear of self-criticism and at the cost of mortification and great sacrifice.”
John Salveson, a Philadelphia business owner who was victimized by clergy sex abuse, said he found the pope’s comments “bizarre.”
“First of all, he’s characterizing the bishops’ response as generous,” Salveson told The Huffington Post. “They have treated victims for decades like adversaries. It’s just been horrible. I don’t know how you could ever characterize them as generous.”
Barbara Blaine, of Chicago, president of Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, released a statement decrying the years of clergy abuse that the church tolerated. By praising bishops, Blaine said in the statement, Francis revealed his own reluctance to take decisive action.
“His remarks today confirm what we’ve long said and suspected: this pope, like his predecessors, is doing and will do little if anything to bring real reform to this continuing crisis,” Blaine said. “Those who care about kids must focus on secular authorities, not church figures (however popular they may be).”
Dennis Coday, an editor for National Catholic Register, [note: He is with the National Catholic Reporter] criticized the pontiff for dancing around the issue without offering specifics.
“At the very least he could have used the words ‘clergy sexual abuse of minors,’” Coday wrote in an National Catholic Register [Reporter] opinion piece. “This oblique reference will do nothing to assuage the fears of victims’ advocates who believe Francis is more public relations manager than crisis manager when it comes to sexual abuse.”
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