UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture
By Dr. Jeff Mirus Oct 09, 2015
Pope Francis has done more than any of his predecessors to seek to punish those guilty of clerical sexual abuse. Even so, when he defends a cleric who has been accused, he is in a no-win situation. That’s because huge numbers of people form their positions on individual cases of sexual abuse without any significant knowledge of the facts.
Clearly it is foolish to reflexively deny claims of clerical sexual abuse by victims. Too many have been proved true. But it is just as foolish to reflexively believe such claims. We live in an age when people revel in victim status, confessing to all kinds of things on radio talk shows, making money from the media for “telling their story”, and often receiving significant cash settlements from the Church—not infrequently without going to trial.
It often takes far too long a time to recognize that someone has been abused, and to repair as much of the damage as possible. But those who are falsely accused are also thrust into a purgatory that may never end.
Pope Francis has deliberately created a sexual abuse commission which consists partly of victims and long-time victim-advocates. That’s probably a good thing. But is very hard to find victims and long-time advocates who do not instinctively believe that every allegation against a cleric is true. This means that even the Pope cannot conclude that a bishop or a priest is innocent in a particular case without taking flak from his own commission.
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