As the Pope’s Summit Ends, Survivors Continue on Their Own Path

ST. LOUIS (MO)
Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests

February 25, 2019

After four long days in Rome, survivors and advocates who had hoped to see Catholic church officials take concrete action towards ending the clergy abuse and cover-up crisis were left disappointed. At the end, Pope Francis offered only words, “reflection points,” and policies to consider for the future.

No bishop who had been involved in covering-up or minimizing allegations was fired. No directive was handed down to order bishops to turn over their secret abuse files to police. No punishment was agreed upon nor system put in place for disciplining those bishops who continue to cover-up abuse cases in the future.

In other words, no child was made safer and no survivor was helped during this summit.

And so, in many ways, not only was the summit everything that survivors expected it would be, but is also an affirmation that we are right to lay our hopes for change at the feet of secular officials, not those in the church.

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