Time to get tough
So after three decades of sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has finally summoned more than100 bishops from around the world to a meeting in Rome in February to discuss protecting minors. The way to do that should be clear by now. The church must establish a zero tolerance policy that would take away bishops’ leeway in how to deal with priests who have abused children, the handicapped and seminarians.
And it should agree to open church archives so that predator priests — and those who covered up for them — will be unmasked.
If those steps are not taken, it will be both deplorable and dangerous, a sign the church is not willing to take tough actions to prevent abuse.
Indeed, the call for the unprecedented meeting actually comes in the shadow of a church-commissioned study that was leaked this month. It told the tale of the abuse of thousands of German children over decades by more than a thousand clergymen.
And that study came only weeks after a grand jury in Pennsylvania found that church had covered up the abuse of more than 1,000 minors, some as young as 7, by some 300 priests over 70 years.
Those scandals, of course, come after others in the U.S. (most notably Boston), Canada, Ireland, England, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Chile and the Philippines.
While Francis has shown some signs that he will take action against abusive priests, the lack of urgency — he was, after all, elected in 2013 — is worrisome.
It’s commendable, for example, that in February, Pope Francis instated a new commission for the protection of minors. But it must be remembered that some members quit an earlier commission in frustration at the Vatican’s reluctance to implement recommended changes.
It was also heartening that the Pope released a letter in August that admitted that by failing to establish a zero tolerance policy and a system of accountability for both perpetrators and those who covered up the crimes, the church had shown “no care for the little ones.”
It’s high time the church stopped vacillating on this issue. Pope Francis must act unequivocally to right past wrongs and prevent future ones. He need not wait until February to do so.
While Pope Francis has shown signs he will take action against abusive priests, the lack of urgency is worrisome