In Ireland, pope finds torn church over abuse scandal
DUBLIN
Nearly 40 years since the last papal visit to Ireland, Pope Francis arrived Saturday to a transformed country where the oncemighty Roman Catholic Church is in tatters –– its authority eroded by deepening secularization and a global sex abuse crisis challenging the pope’s papacy.
With recent revelations of institutional cover-ups of sexual abuse in the United States and Chile, many Catholics had hoped that Francis, who has struggled throughout his tenure to grasp the enormity of the scourge, would use the wreckage of the Irish church as a backdrop to announce muscular new measures to protect children in his church.
Instead, on the first day of his two-day visit here for the ninth World Meeting of Families event, he offered a familiar account of his disgust at the sins of priests and bishops, disappointing advocates of abuse survivors who found his remarks too tepid and disconnected from concrete plans to take action.
“I cannot fail to acknowledge the grave scandal caused in Ireland by the abuse of young people by members of the church charged with responsibility for their protection and education,” Francis said at Dublin Castle. There, he met with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who called on Francis to use his “office and influence” to safeguard children in Ireland and around the world.
“The failure of ecclesiastical authorities –– bishops, religious superiors, priests and others –– adequately to address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community,” the pope added. “I myself share those sentiments.”
As recently as a few weeks ago, the pope’s visit to Ireland mostly promised an awkward encounter in an estranged relationship. Since the last papal visit –– by John Paul II in 1979 –– Ireland, once a cornerstone of the church, has abandoned its teachings by legalizing divorce and same-sex marriage. The prime minister is gay, and just a few months ago, Ireland voted to lift a ban on abortion.
But the sex abuse scandal has lent increasing urgency to the pope’s visit, casting a shadow beyond Ireland to the heart of the Vatican, where it threatens to tarnish the legacy and remaining influence of Pope Francis.
Well into his fifth year as pope, Francis has focused on championing migrants, the poor and the disenfranchised, shifting the church’s emphasis away from divisive social issues like abortion and toward a more inclusive, pastoral style.
That mission is imperiled by his slow response to a scandal that some of his top advisers argue is the central issue facing the church.
Before the trip, Francis made it clear that he viewed the secrecy, ambition and self-preservation that came with a culture of clericalism –– priests who put themselves above their parishioners –– as the root cause of the crime. For years, he has scorned priests who raise themselves as unreachable elites invested with authority.
“To say ‘no' to abuse is to say an emphatic ‘no' to all forms of clericalism,” Francis wrote in a remarkable letter of apology to all Catholics last week.
Critics say that is not enough.
“The actions of the church do not match the words,” Marie Collins, a former member of the
have reached at least 35 years old and cannot exceed 60 years of age when beginning a first term. There is no upper age limit for the vice president, who also must be a National Assembly deputy.
The president also will be limited to a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. That virtually guarantees that any future Cuban president will be drawn from the generations born after the 1959 Cuban Revolution.
Rather than being elected by direct vote, the president and vice president will be elected by the National Assembly.
Another interesting change is that if either the president or vice president of the republic is unable to serve, the president of the National Assembly will assume the role until a new president is selected by the National Assembly.
Prime minister: Being a
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National Assembly member is also a requisite for the new prime minister, who will serve as head Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors said at the world meeting’s panel on safeguarding children. “And in fact they are totally opposite.”
She called the pope’s speech in Ireland on Saturday “disappointing –– nothing new.”
Others said the situation was even worse outside the United States, Ireland and a few other countries and urged the pope to do something.
“Words are sweet,” said another panelist, Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a Filipino psychologist who sits on the pope’s commission, “but of government for a period of five years.
The president will propose the prime minister, who must be approved by an absolute majority in the 605-member National Assembly.
Currently, the president appoints and presides over the Council of Ministers or cabinet. But under the new constitution, the prime minister would direct and call meetings of the Council of Ministers, the chief administrative and executive body in Cuba.
Why the change? Government officials say the changes are to improve efficiency and accountability.
“The prime minister will be like a COO [chief operating officer] who makes sure the bureaucrats are following the policy they’re supposed to be carrying out,” LeoGrande said.
President of the National
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Assembly and Council of State: This new combined position will more closely align the love means deeds.”
On stage only a few feet from the pope, Varadkar, the prime minister, gave a forceful criticism of the church’s sins that many wished the pope would deliver.
“In place of Christian charity, forgiveness and compassion, far too often there was judgment, severity and cruelty, in particular, toward women and children and those on the margins,” he said, citing “stains” such as child abuse, illegal adoptions, forced labor and other sins. “People kept in dark corners, behind closed doors, cries for help that went unheard.”
Ireland knows the ravages of clericalism first hand, from its sex abuse scandals to forcing the adoption of the children of unwed mothers to many other exploitations of what was for decades authoritarian power.
The abuses the clergy committed, and their tendency to seek exaltation by parishioners instead of humbly serving and accompanying them through troubles, cost the church a country where it once had more than 90 percent attendance at Mass. Now it has about 30 percent.
On Sunday, the pope is expected to pray alongside the faithful at Ireland’s holiest sanctuary in Knock and celebrate Mass in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, where a third of the Irish population turned out for Pope John Paul II. work of the National Assembly with the Council of State. Not only will the same president head both entities, but they will also have a common vice president and secretary.
While the National Assembly meets twice yearly except when extraordinary sessions are called, the Council of State remains in session throughout the year, issuing decree laws and ratifying agreements and treaties when the National Assembly isn’t in session.
This will continue to be the Council of State’s role, according to the government.
“The Council of State will shed most of its executive functions,” said Carlos Alzugaray, a retired Cuban diplomat.
But it also will be getting some new duties under the proposed constitution. Among them are interpreting the constitution and setting and eliminating taxes.
Follow Mimi Whitefield on Twitter: @HeraldMimi