ROME
Crux
Inés San Martín
VATICAN CORRESPONDENT
May 12, 2018
ROME – Days before Pope Francis is scheduled to meet with over 30 Chilean bishops to discuss the clerical sexual abuse crisis in the country, victims are speaking out, and the laity of the diocese at the center of the story are demanding to have a voice in the naming of their bishop.
The laity, more than “mere observers”
A group of laity in the Diocese of Osorno released a statement on Thursday saying that they are “expectantly” awaiting the outcome of the May 14-17 meeting between Francis and the Chilean bishops. They also request that Spanish Father Jordi Bertomeu, a member of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, be appointed as the “interlocutor” to choose their new bishop.
The statement also demands that the laity be consulted in the decisions that need to be made to resolve the crisis, instead of being “mere observers and receptors of important decisions already taken – either in Rome, the bishops’ conference, or the Apostolic nunciature.”
The statement called for an end to “unilateral decision-making,” adding that the Church is living through a moment which is calling it to a “profound and genuine conversion.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.