Papal inaction

On the most explosive and morally subversive challenge facing the Roman Catholic Church – clerical sexual abuse of children, and the bishops who tolerate it – Pope Francis has said the right things but done too little. Even now, 15 years after the explosive revelations of church complicity in enabling and covering up the predations of American priests who damaged so many young lives, not a single bishop has been explicitly held accountable and stripped of his title.

The pope’s sluggish, inadequate and compromised stance in the face of this outrage is the subject of a new book, Lust, by a respected Italian journalist, Emiliano Fittipaldi. The book, published last week, is an indictment not just of a papal policy that has failed to live up to its ringing promises about ‘‘zero tolerance’’ for clerical sexual abuse, but of Francis’ papacy.

Fittipaldi reveals that the pace of complaints about sexual abuse filed with the Holy See has been virtually unchanged in the nearly four years since Francis became pope, compared with his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who was deservedly condemned for his inaction.

More damningly, the book details repeated instances where church officials implicated in allegations of abuse and cover-ups were promoted, often to top positions in the church’s sprawling hierarchy.