CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Sun-Times
Editorial
With actions and words, Pope Francis has given new heart to the Catholic Church. He is a pope in touch with the trials and tribulations of ordinary people.
From the promise Pope Francis made at his installation Mass in 2013, when he pledged to serve “the poorest, the weakest, the least important,” to his open-minded and powerful sensibility on gay men and women, when he asked just months into his papacy, “Who am I to judge,” he has exhibited great compassion and charity.
As the pope traverses the globe, such gestures resonate not only with relatively more progressive Catholics but also the world. Eager, large crowds are expected to greet him on his U.S. visit. It begins Tuesday with his arrival at the Joint Base Andrews military facility in Maryland, and includes stops at the White House, Capitol, New York and Philadelphia.
Only 2 ½ years into papacy, it is too early to know what kind of impact Francis will have on church doctrine. But there is no denying he is shifting the church’s focus to be more inclusive of everyday people.
We see it in Chicago with his choice to lead the Chicago archdiocese, Archbishop Blase Cupich, who gave a forceful endorsement of working people Thursday in a speech at a union hall on the West Side. Cupich will join the pope on his U.S. visit.
This new direction is vital for the church in the U.S., where 52 percent of U.S. adults who were raised Catholic have left the church at some point, according to Pew Research. Most have not returned.
A pope full of surprises has been a breath of fresh air, and as he visits our country we hope he keeps at the forefront these issues:
Sexual abuse by priests
The pope has apologized to victims of sexual abuse by priests and created a commission of experts that includes two survivors of abuse to advise the Vatican on protecting children from pedophile priests and counseling victims. He accepted the commission’s recommendation for a Vatican tribunal to prosecute bishops who failed to remove abusive priests. Yet, the process is bureaucratic and frustratingly slow.
“The commission gives the impression that with more time and study experts can give recommendations,” Barbara Blaine, president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, told us. “That’s not making children safer.”
Blaine’s group wants all case files at the Vatican turned over to law enforcement and swift punishment for bishops who engaged in cover-ups.
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