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…