Pope needs to act decisively to defrock, prosecute pedophiles

Re: Pope apologizes for church ‘crimes’ in Ireland — Aug. 27

Pope Francis issued a plea to clean up the oceans of plastic and underscored the need of drinking water for all. On the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, he lamented “too many efforts fail due to the lack of effective regulation and means of control.”

While the pontiff has limited influence about how countries and their billions of people use and abuse the oceans, he does have absolute power to cleanse the Roman Catholic Church of the troubling minority of priests who are pedophiles and perverts, and who have sexually hurt children for many decades.

Sorrowful words from the Pope, as recently heard in Ireland, are not enough. Effective action is needed to help defrock and convict these pathetic and criminal priests worldwide. Also, the Vatican must similarly help in prosecuting all bishops and cardinals anywhere who covered up and looked the other way for decades when thousands of cases of sexual abuse were reported to them.

Such action to cleanse the church takes courage — courage that is rare among popes. When the Roman Catholic Church was rife with corruption about 500 years ago, there was no pope to sound the alarm, but rather a mere monk, named Martin Luther.

Pope Francis can act effectively now, or follow his predecessors and do very little. Alan J. Nanders

Kitchener