fbpx
Politics Foreign Affairs Culture Fellows Program

On Abuse, Dark Clouds Gather Over Francis

Watch what the pope does about sex abuse, not what he says
shutterstock_216311500

For those who thought things would be dramatically different on the sex abuse scandal front when Pope Francis came to town, recent events in Chile have been a bucket of cold water in the face. Here, according to the Associated Press, is what’s happening:

Several members of Pope Francis’ sex abuse advisory board are expressing concern and incredulity over his decision to appoint a Chilean bishop to a diocese despite allegations that he covered up for Chile’s most notorious pedophile.

In interviews and emails with The Associated Press, the experts have questioned Francis’ pledge to hold bishops accountable and keep children safe, given the record of Bishop Juan Barros in the case of the Rev. Fernando Karadima.

The five commission members spoke to the AP in their personal and professional capacity and stressed that they were not speaking on behalf of the commission, which Francis formed in late 2013 and named Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to head.

“I am very worried,” said commission member Dr. Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist and author on child sex abuse. “Although the commission members cannot intervene with individual cases, I would like to meet with Cardinal O’Malley and other members of the commission to discuss a way to pass over our concerns to Pope Françis.”

Another commission member, Marie Collins, herself a survivor of abuse, said she couldn’t understand how Barros could have been appointed given the concerns about his behavior.

“It goes completely against what he (Francis) has said in the past about those who protect abusers,” Collins told AP. “The voice of the survivors is being ignored, the concerns of the people and many clergy in Chile are being ignored and the safety of children in this diocese is being left in the hands of a bishop about whom there are grave concerns for his commitment to child protection.”

The AP story goes on to say that as archbishop of Buenos Aires in neighboring Argentina, Francis would have known well the Karadima scandal when it broke in 2010. This is not a case in which a remote pontiff knows next to nothing about a local problem, and is getting advice from people who are misleading him. He can’t possibly not know what’s going on.

But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a Wormtongue in his ear. Says the AP:

The scandal implicated his friend, the then-Archbishop of Santiago,Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, who admitted that he shelved an investigation into Karadima in 2005 but reopened it in 2010 as the global abuse crisis was erupting.

Francis has since made Errazuriz a member of his group of nine core cardinal advisers. Any wavering by Francis on the Barros appointment could open a Pandora’s box of renewed allegations against Errazuriz and others in the Chilean church heirarchy who dismissed allegations from victims and instead stood by Karadima.

Fortunately, the lay Catholics of that diocese are not content to take whatever Rome dishes out. The installation mass of Bishop Barros was a disaster. Scores of the faithful mobbed the cathedral in protest. American Catholic Kevin O’Brien writes:

I am becoming increasingly convinced that “a little leaven leavens the whole loaf”, and that a “leaven of malice” and perversion, a self-serving evil that holds God and neighbor in contempt, has infected the Church.  Think about this.  How can stricter procedures on the administrative level reform the Church?  What sort of bureaucratic alterations will change the heart of a bishop who facilitates sex abuse, making this bishop suddenly realize that’s the kind of thing a Christian should not be doing?

If you knew that someone under your authority and control was sexually abusing minors, would you aid and abet him, only changing your ways if new procedures forced you to?  And if you (sinful reader) would not do such a thing, why do your bishops?

The noisy chaos in the cathedral of Osorno was simply a glimpse into the silent chaos that’s taken hold of our Church.

It is possible, one must admit, that the accusations against this bishop — that he watched Fr. Karadima abuse kids, and said nothing — are untrue. John L. Allen, Jr., whose opinion on anything is always worth reading, adds:

All that may well be the case, but it still doesn’t explain why a clean record on the abuse scandals isn’t an absolute prerequisite for a leadership position in the Catholic Church in 2015. (Barros was already a bishop, so the move to Osorno was a transfer.)

In addition, the situation also raises questions about the oft-proclaimed commitment of Pope Francis and his Vatican team to accountability, not just for personnel who commit abuse, but also for bishops and other supervisors who cover it up or defend the guilty.

A perceived lack of accountability is “Exhibit A” for critics who believe the Church hasn’t done enough, and both Pope Francis and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, the president of the pope’s anti-abuse commission, have pledged that the gap will be filled.

Worse for Francis, says Allen, if abuse victims that Francis actually named to his panel say they and the people they represent are being ignored, that could cause a big hit to his reputation. It is one thing to sack a German bishop who is a stranger to you for living like a prince in an episcopal palace. It is quite another to advance the careers of people you know, a friend of your close friend, who may well be guilty of turning a blind eye to the rape of children by a priest. In ousting the German “bling bishop,” Francis said that he wanted bishops aligned with his vision of having “a poor church for the poor.”

Well, the poor may have inadequate housing, but they also have children that they love, and would prefer not to be raped by the clergy. Where is the social justice in promoting a bishop who is credibly accused of being knowledgeable about specific abuse crimes, but indifferent to that outrage?

Advertisement

Comments

Want to join the conversation?

Subscribe for as little as $5/mo to start commenting on Rod’s blog.

Join Now