
How Pope Francis did — and didn't — address the Catholic Church's sexual abuse crisis
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TODAY'S STARTING POINT
Pope Francis, who died yesterday at 88, never visited Boston. But he was a presence in the city throughout his 12-year papacy in part because of how he approached the problem of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy — a crisis that rocked the Boston Archdiocese.
In some ways, Francis was an innovator. He apologized to victims and enacted policies meant to catch abusive priests. Yet his limited reforms disappointed many, and he sometimes doubted victims' stories or sided with the accused.
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Francis's death has left people who hold both perspectives mourning. Some who think he made progress on clerical abuse note that the next pope may not continue it. And those who think he did too little lament his papacy as a missed opportunity to do victims justice. Today's newsletter explains.
Beyond his predecessors
In March 2013, one day before Francis became pope, James Carroll, a former priest and columnist for this newspaper, compared the church's sex abuse crisis to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear meltdown.
The crisis, he wrote, was '
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Francis wasn't the first pope to act on those revelations. In 2002, John Paul II accepted the resignation of Bernard Law, the Boston archbishop who failed to oust priests he knew were abusing children. Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, defrocked
Yet Francis, with his liberal-reformist reputation, seemed to promise tougher action. In some ways, he delivered. He convened a first-of-its-kind summit during which bishops
Many remembrances of Francis have focused on his empathy — for migrants, Palestinians, people of other faiths, and more. At times he seemed to approach abuse victims in the same spirit. During a 2018 visit to Chile, Francis
'It sounds trivial to say, but his heart was in the right place,' said Francis X. Clooney, a Jesuit priest and professor at Harvard Divinity School who likened the pope's reforms on sex abuse — though imperfect — to his other efforts to make the clergy more welcoming, more diverse, and less doctrinaire. 'And he was also trying to change the church to get the church's heart in the right place.'
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Not enough, advocates say
Francis's reforms weren't sufficiently expansive or enforced, argues Sarah Pearson, a spokeswoman for the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
Francis required clergy to report abuse — but
There's also Francis's own history. While serving in Argentina as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the future pope commissioned a report that concluded
Like Francis's
Who's next?
Francis
'I don't think there's any guarantee that the next pope is going to be exactly in the line of Francis, or more progressive than Francis, or do the things Francis didn't,' said Clooney, of Harvard.
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Pearson wants to ensure they do. She and other victims' advocates from SNAP will travel to Rome today to urge cardinals to pick someone who will prioritize accountability for abusers. SNAP has launched
When I asked what her goal was, Pearson told me about Beatriz Varela, an Argentine mother who alleged that a local priest abused her son in 2002. When Varela went to confront Cardinal Bergoglio — the future Francis — she says his staff
'How did she feel when she first saw the news that this person, whose office she had been escorted out of by security, was now the head of the Catholic Church?' Pearson said. 'In a month or so, most likely, there's going to be another pope. And what we want to avoid is somebody else reading the news of who that person is and feeling the same way that that mother felt.'
More on Francis:
Church leaders across New England praised his humility. Francis 'constantly
The death of the first Latin American pope
The pope's last public appearance was in St. Peter's Square for Easter.
Francis died from a stroke and heart failure less than a day
🧩 7 Across:
| ☀️ 72°
POINTS OF INTEREST
Runners on Heartbreak Hill yesterday.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Boston Marathon:
'The most fun I've had at Boston':
The weather delivered, and so did the crowds.
Solid debut:
Jess McClain, 33, finished as the fastest American woman
Going out on top:
Des Linden has run 24 marathons, half of them in Boston. She says
Like you were there:
See a man crawling across the finish line, a Princess Leia lookalike, and
And check out the signs
Boston and New England
Karen Read re-run:
Opening statements start today in her second trial. Allegations that the police framed Read for her boyfriend's death
In mourning:
Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, an old-school politician who wielded power for decades, died at 76. His passing
Inaccessible:
Some MBTA escalators
Flagg down:
Cooper Flagg, from Maine, will enter the NBA draft after just one season at Duke. He's favored to be the No. 1 overall pick. (
Trump administration
Pointing down:
US stocks fell after Trump
'Lawlessness':
As Trump moves to detain and deport foreign students, some of his harshest critics
The price of principle:
A nonprofit that tutors Boston students will forego a $250,000 federal grant
Cash poor:
Someone stole Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's bag at a DC restaurant with her keys, makeup, passport, and $3,000 in cash inside. (
The Nation
Antitrust:
The Justice Department wants a judge to force Google to sell its Chrome browser after he ruled last year that the company has an illegal monopoly in online search. (
Goose, gander:
A jury convicted Nadine Menendez, former Senator Bob Menendez's wife, of helping him collect bribes. (
BESIDE THE POINT
By Teresa Hanafin, Globe Staff
🗓️
Free things to do:
A sing-along with budding musicians at the JFK Library, GBH's Nova Science Trivia Night, poetry readings in Cambridge,
🌍
Happy Earth Day:
A striking new visualization by a climate scientist looks like a flower in bloom, but actually tells an alarming story about global warming. (
🦎
Better grease the Hancock Tower:
In a popular comic book series, Godzilla visits various US cities and mayhem ensues.
Advertisement
🐶 😛
Dog face:
A hot trend on Reddit and TikTok is to ask AI — specifically ChatGPT — to imagine your dog as a human. The results are ... unnerving. (
♻️
Miss Conduct:
Letter-writer suspects that a neighbor is mistakenly putting diapers in the recycling bin.
🏊🏽♀️
Deep end:
The Black Swimmers Alliance in St. Louis encourages Black parents to take swimming lessons alongside their kids so the whole family can stay safe. (
💌
Love Letters podcast:
Meredith and a reader discuss perimenopause, menopause, and how
Thanks for reading Starting Point.
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