VATICAN CITY
The Washington Post
February 9, 2019
By Chico Harlan
Pope Francis is preparing to convene an unprecedented summit on sex abuse this month, widely viewed as among the most pivotal moments of his papacy, but the Vatican is cautioning not to expect too much.
“I permit myself to say that I’ve perceived a bit of an inflated expectation,” Francis told reporters in late January. “We need to deflate the expectations.”
The Holy See’s press office released a statement calling the meeting just one stage in a 15-year journey.
The pope described his goal as educating bishops on the problem of abuse and how properly to handle it — which advocates say the church has talked about for years.
Francis called for the summit while facing a crescendo of sexual abuse scandals across the Catholic world — cases in which bishops and cardinals are alleged to have enabled abuse or carried it out themselves.
The four-day meeting — scheduled to begin Feb. 21 and to be attended by the heads of more than 100 national bishops’ conferences — marks the first time a pope has brought together the religion’s top leaders to discuss the issue of abuse. It presents an opportunity for Francis to work to repair the church’s damaged reputation and demonstrate that it will be more proactive in its effort to eliminate the scourge of abuse.
But the landmark event is a risk for the pontiff and could end up boosting criticism that he is moving too slowly and reluctantly to tackle the Roman Catholic Church’s greatest crisis.
Vatican watchers say it is unclear whether the church can emerge from the summit with the kind of concrete policymaking reforms that have long been urged by advocates. Such reforms would include changes in canon law or new mechanisms that aim to hold accountable bishops who cover up abuse.
Speaking to reporters last month, Francis said he intended the event to help bishops become better aware of both the suffering of victims and the “protocols” for dealing with complaints.
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