UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
May 18, 2018
by NCR Staff
Survivors of clergy abuse and their advocates praised Pope Francis for his confrontation with Chile’s bishops over their handling of abuse cases, which led to a mass resignation today, and the survivors and advocates urged the pope not to allow the momentum for reform to slow.
“We didn’t expect it and it is a powerful gesture,” said Juan Carlos Claret, spokesperson for Lay Catholic group in Osorno, Chile, who opposed the 2015 appointment of Bishop Juan Barros to Osorno because of his alleged complicity in covering up the sexual abuse of minors.
Claret told CNN Chile that the church is a mother for the community and “today’s big message is that they aren’t going to protect impunity in the church and this is important as Catholics because we can’t accommodate an injustice.”
“The en masse resignation of the Chilean episcopacy is as stunning as it is justified,” said Anne Barrett Doyle of the U.S.-based abuse watchdog group BishopAccountability.org. “Let’s hope Pope Francis accepts all of the resignations and begins to re-build this profoundly corrupt church.”
“The renunciation of the entire Chilean hierarchy might serve at least in the near term as a powerful deterrent to complicit bishops and religious superiors around the world,” Barret Doyle said in a statement May 18.
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