ROME (ITALY)
Crux
April 30, 2019
By Claire Giangravè
Members of a global anti-clerical abuse network met with the Argentine Ambassador to the Holy See, Rogelio Francisco Emilio Pfirter, on Monday to promote initiatives in support of “zero tolerance” in Pope Francis’s native land.
“Argentina is also the land of Pope Francis, and we thought it was important to bring forward certain requests to the Argentine government,” said Francesco Zanardi, president and founder of Italy’s most prominent survivor network Rete l’abuso, in an April 29 interview with Crux.
Unlike the situation in Italy, Zanardi said, actions to promote accountability and transparency in Argentina are proceeding “very well.”
The Italian clerical abuse survivor and activist led a delegation of “Ending Clarical Abuse,” (ECA), a global network of survivors, during a meeting Monday with the ambassador in Rome only a stone’s throw from the Vatican.
From May 3-6, ECA will launch a series of initiatives in Argentina calling Francis to address the growing concerns about clerical abuse and cover-up in the country.
The pope hasn’t traveled to his native country in the six years since the beginning of his pontificate. Despite bishops from all over the world generally being required to come to the Vatican for an ad limina visit every five years, meaning “to the threshold” of the apostles, the Argentinian episcopacy will be travelling to Rome for the first time since 2009 in the coming weeks.
Some believe that the upcoming visit from Argentine bishops is meant to encourage Francis to return to his homeland.
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