Cardinal calls for changes to tackle abuse
Cardinals attending Pope Francis’s summit on preventing clergy sex abuse have called for a new culture of accountability in the Catholic Church to punish bishops and religious superiors when they fail to protect their flocks from predator priests.
On the second day of Francis’s extraordinary gathering of Catholic leaders yesterday, the debate shifted to how church leaders must acknowledge that decades of their own cover-ups, secrecy and fear of scandal had only worsened the sex abuse crisis.
‘‘We must repent, and do so together . . . because along the way we have failed,’’ said Mumbai Cardinal Oswald Gracias. ‘‘We need to seek pardon.’’
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich told the 190 bishops and religious superiors that new legal procedures were needed to both report and investigate Catholic superiors when they were accused of misconduct themselves or of negligence in handling other abuse cases.
He said lay experts had to be involved at every step of the process, since rank-and-file Catholics often knew far better than priests what trauma the clergy sex abuse and its cover-ups had caused.
‘‘Mothers and fathers have called us to account, for they simply cannot comprehend how we as bishops and religious superiors have often been blinded to the scope and damage of sexual abuse of minors,’’ he said.
Francis summoned the bishops for the four-day tutorial on preventing sex abuse and protecting children after the scandal erupted again last year in Chile and the United States.
While the Vatican for two decades has tried to crack down on the abusers themselves, it has largely given a pass to the bishops and superiors who moved the predators from parish to parish.
Gracias’ prime-time speaking slot drew some criticism, since the Indian church isn’t known for being proactive in combating clergy sex abuse, and he himself has been publicly criticised.
‘‘Why was Gracias allowed to speak? He is a poster boy for the lack of accountability of church leaders, especially in developing countries,’’ said Anne Barrett Doyle of online group BishopAccountability, which tracks the abuse scandal.
But it appeared the Vatican may have chosen as speakers precisely those cardinals whose own national churches have not confronted the scandal openly.
Victims have turned out in droves on the sidelines of the summit to demand greater accountability from the church, saying it has for decades put its own interests over those of who were harmed.
German survivor Matthias Katsch said victims were beyond angry. ‘‘We are really fighting for truth and justice for the survivors.’’