tvc.dsj.org | March 5, 2019
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Pope: No More Excuses; Time for ‘All-Out Battle’ Against Crime Of Abuse
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY -- The time has
come for an “all-out battle” against the
abuse of minors, erasing this abomi-
nable crime from the face of the earth,
Pope Francis said, closing a global four-
day summit on child protection in the
Catholic Church.
For quite some time, the world has
been aware of the “serious scandal” the
abuse of minors by clergy has brought
to the church and public opinion, both
because of the dramatic suffering it has
caused victims and because of the “un-
justifiable negligence” and “cover-up”
by leaders in the church, he told people
gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
Since the problem is present on ev-
ery continent, the pope said he called
leaders of the world’s bishops and
religious superiors to Rome because
“I wanted us to face it together in a co-
responsible and collegial way,” he said
after praying the Angelus February 24.
“We listened to the voice of victims,
we prayed and asked for forgiveness
from God and the people hurt, we
took stock of our responsibility, and
our duty to bring justice through truth
and to radically reject every form” of
sexual abuse and the abuse of power
and conscience, he said.
“We want every activity and every
place in the church to be completely
safe for minors,” he said, which means
taking every possible measure so that
such crimes never happen again.
It will also entail working with great
dedication together with people of
good will everywhere in order to fight
this “very grave scourge of violence”
that affects hundreds of millions of
minors around the world.
The pope’s noonday summary of
what he called a “very important”
meeting came after he delivered his
closing remarks at the end of Mass
February 24.
Surrounded by the ornate frescoed
walls and ceiling of the Sala Regia, the
pope told some 190 cardinals, bishops
and religious superiors from around
the world, “the time has come, then,
to work together to eradicate this evil
from the body of our humanity by
adopting every necessary measure
already in force on the international
level and ecclesial levels.”
However, despite the importance of
knowing the sociological and psycho-
logical explanations behind this crimi-
nal act of abuse, he said, the church
must recognize this is a spiritual battle
against the “brazen, aggressive, de-
structive” power of Satan.
“I see the hand of evil that does not
spare even the innocence of the little
ones. And this leads me to think of the
example of Herod who, driven by fear
of losing his power, ordered the slaugh-
ter of all the children of Bethlehem,”
the pope said.
Just as the pagans once sacrificed
children on their altars, such cruelty
continues today with an “idolatrous
sacrifice of children to the god of
power, money, pride and arrogance,”
he said.
While the majority of abused minors
are victims of a person they know, most
often a family member, he said, it is “all
the more grave and scandalous” when
a member of the church, particularly a
priest, is the perpetrator “for it is utterly
incompatible” with the church’s moral
authority and ethical credibility.
“Consecrated persons, chosen by
God to guide souls to salvation, let
themselves be dominated by their
human frailty or sickness and thus
become tools of Satan,” he said.
There is no excuse for abusing
children, who are an image of Jesus,
he said, which is why it has become
increasingly obvious “the gravest cases
of abuse” must be disciplined and dealt
with “civil and canonical processes.”
“Here again I would state clearly: if
in the church there should emerge even
a single case of abuse – which already
in itself represents an atrocity – that
case will be faced with the utmost
seriousness.”
In fact, he said, the church should
recognize that people’s anger over the
mishandling of abuse is nothing other
than a reflection of “the wrath of God,
betrayed and insulted by these deceit-
ful consecrated persons.”
“The echo of the silent cry of the
little ones who, instead of finding in
them fathers and spiritual guides, en-
countered tormentors will shake hearts
dulled by hypocrisy and by power,”
Pope Francis said. “It is our duty to pay
close heed to this silent, choked cry.”
The church must combat this evil,
both inside and outside its walls, he
said, and protect children “from raven-
ous wolves.”
The Catholic Church must “hear,
watch over, protect and care for abused,
exploited and forgotten children,
wherever they are,” he said. And to do
that, the church “must rise above the
ideological disputes and journalistic
practices that often exploit, for various
interests, the very tragedy experienced
by the little ones.” Because concrete
measures will need to be adopted on a
local level, the pope pointed to the work
of international organizations in their
“Seven Strategies for Ending Violence
against Children” and guidelines and
other resources produced by the Pon-
tifical Commission for the Protection
of Minors.
Summit Affirms Need to Hold Bishops Accountable, U.S. Cardinal Says
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican sum-
mit on child protection and the clerical
sexual abuse crisis affirmed the U.S.
bishops’ strong belief that bishops and
cardinals who abuse children or cover
up abuse must be held accountable,
said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of
Galveston-Houston.
The cardinal attended the February
21-24 summit as president of the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops.
“While here, it became obvious to
me” that several speakers were in-
sisting that “any loopholes” existing
in how bishops are treated -- if they
are accused of abuse or of negligence
in handling allegations -- “must be
closed,” Cardinal DiNardo told Catho-
lic News Service.
Most people feel “justice was done”
when the Vatican dismissed Theodore
E. McCarrick, the former cardinal and
archbishop of Washington, from the
clerical state, he said. But he and many
U.S. Catholics are still awaiting a prom-
ised Vatican report on how the former
cardinal could abuse minors and sexu-
ally harass seminarians for so long and
still rise through the hierarchical ranks
of the church.
The calls at the summit to hold bish-
ops accountable, he said, affirmed the
U.S. bishops’ in their efforts to establish
standards of conduct for bishops and
procedures for reviewing complaints
against bishops. The bishops had
planned to vote on the proposals in
November, but the Vatican asked them
to delay considering the measures until
after the summit.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago
presented a step-by-step plan for bish-
ops’ accountability at the summit Feb-
ruary 22 using what has been described
as a “metropolitan model” that would
rely on the metropolitan archbishop of
each church region coordinating the
initial investigation into complaints
made against a bishop in that region.
The guidelines also would name an
alternate -- perhaps the neighboring
metropolitan or the senior diocesan
bishop -- in cases where the accused is
the metropolitan archbishop.
Both Cardinal Cupich in his pre-
sentation and Cardinal DiNardo in his
comments Feb. 24 insisted that model
would need to include the involvement
of laypeople.
Cardinal DiNardo said it obviously
will be up to the entire U.S. bishops’
conference to determine what proposal
they will approve, but it could end up
being “a kind of fusion” of a “metro-
politan model” and the establishment
of a special commission of mostly lay-
people to receive and initially review
complaints against bishops.
While some commentators thought
the U.S. bishops’ proposals turned too
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