Pope Francis meets with U.S. bishops as more leaders face allegations of harassment and cover-ups

Top American bishops met in the Vatican with Pope Francis on Thursday to discuss the sexualabuse crisis that the leader of the U.S. church said has “lacerated” the church.

That leader, Cardinal Daniel Dinardo of Galveston-houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was himself accused this week of covering up the actions of an abusive priest in his archdiocese – prompting questions about Dinardo’s fitness to lead the reforms.

“It’s too early to say, but just looking at the case, it looks very bad. It seems like a violation – is he the guy who should be leading at this point?” David Gibson, the director of the Center on Religion and Culture at the Catholic university Fordham said about Dinardo. “What he’s got to be seen to be doing is pushing for a very rigorous policy. Can he do that if he himself has not been as diligent, to say the least, as he should be?”

The moral authority of bishops across the United States has come under new scrutiny, after one cardinal resigned this summer and another publicly stated he might do so, and another bishop was removed from ministry by Pope Francis on Thursday. That bishop, Michael J. Bransfield of West Virginia, will face a church investigation on charges of sexual harassment.

Amid the crisis facing the church’s leaders, the bishops who met with Francis on Thursday said very little about what exactly they discussed in terms of plans for reform.

“We shared with Pope Francis our situation in the United States – how the Body of Christ is lacerated by the evil of sexual abuse He listened very deeply from the heart,” Dinardo said in a statement after leaving the meeting, which also included Archbishop Seán Patrick O’malley of Boston and Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles. “... It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange. As we departed the audience, we prayed the Angelus together for God’s mercy and strength as we work to heal the wounds. We look forward to actively continuing our discernment together identifying the most effective next steps.”

On Wednesday, as Dinardo prepared for his meeting with the pope, the Associated Press reported that a woman claims to have told Dinardo about an abusive priest in his Texas archdiocese, and that Dinardo failed to take action to remove the priest from ministry until the priest was arrested on child abuse charges this week.

The accusation only fueled the calls for increased lay leadership and for the resignation of bishops nationwide that have echoed through the Catholic church since a Pennsylvania grand jury completed a massive report last month, detailing allegations of abuse by more than 300 priests in the state. States including Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico and New York have now launched their own investigations.

Gibson called for a board of lay leaders, not clergy, empowered to investigate whether bishops are properly handling all allegations of abuse. “The pope seems to feel that he can do it on his own here and there. But I don’t think that’s a credible way to go forward,” he said.

However, some in the church believe internal investigations are still the proper way to handle the crisis.