VATICAN CITY (VATICAN CITY)
Religión Digital [Spain]
February 15, 2024
By 02/15/2024 Jose Lorenzo
An economic fund to help nuns who abandon religious life after having suffered abuse from religious, priests and/or bishops. This is the request made by former German consecrated woman Doris Reisinger – herself a victim of sexual and spiritual abuse by a priest – to Pope Francis in a press conference organized by the anti-abuse platform BishopAccountability.org
“The Pope has recognized abuses against nuns, but he has not acted accordingly,” said the researcher and activist, aware that Francis already addressed the issue of abuse and exploitation in female consecrated life in 2019, when he admitted having knowledge of cases of “slavery” and “even sexual slavery”
Reisinger also demanded that the Vatican create another fund for the care of children fathered by priests – to prevent them from “a life of poverty and shame”, as he stressed -, as well as the expulsion of clerics who force women to abort. those who have gotten pregnant
An economic fund to help nuns who abandon religious life after having suffered abuse from religious, priests and/or bishops. This is the request made by former German consecrated woman Doris Reisinger – herself a victim of sexual and spiritual abuse by a priest – to Pope Francis in a press conference organized by the anti-abuse platform BishopAccountability.org.
“The Pope has recognized abuses against nuns, but he has not acted accordingly ,” said the researcher and activist, aware that Francis already addressed the issue of abuse and exploitation in female consecrated life in 2019, when he admitted having knowledge of cases of “slavery” and “even sexual slavery.” The topic was also addressed in the pages of L’Osservatore Romano .
However, he added, “we have never heard a pope or a bishop acknowledge coerced abortion at the hands of priests . They always treat abortion as a women’s issue, but they have never talked about priests forcing abortions, even though they know that this happens.”
Legal reform to force congregations
Faced with this situation that affects many of the 600,000 nuns around the world, Reisinger urged that the Church force, through a legal reform, that religious congregations allocate a financial amount to help the sisters who leave the community due to that their rights have been seriously violated. “And until they do, the Pope should create a central fund of the Church for this purpose,” according to agency information.
In the same way, Reisinger also demanded that the Vatican create another fund for the care of children fathered by priests – to prevent them from “a life of poverty and shame”, as he stressed -, as well as the expulsion of clerics who force to abort women they have made pregnant.
From the Vatican, requested through its press office, no comments have been made so far regarding the formal request of the abused former religious.