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Boston Globe
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
A new pope confronts his church's abuse scandal amid praise and scrutiny
Leo has not made any public statements about the sexual abuse crisis, though in past interviews he disavowed 'cover-up and secrecy' and emphasized assistance for victims. One possible sign of an early focus on the issue came Wednesday, when the pope met with Cardinal Sean O'Malley, a retired leader of the Boston Archdiocese who heads the Vatican's commission on the abuse of minors. Advertisement Experts and those who have worked with Leo during his lengthy tenure as priest, missionary, bishop, and leader of an international order express confidence that he has the characteristics to accelerate progress -- excellent listening skills, a canon law degree, experience suppressing an abusive Catholic movement in Peru. Advertisement Yet his record during those years, when he was known as Father Robert Prevost, has already faced scrutiny from some survivor groups. They say they are troubled by his ascent to the apex of the church, calling his oversight of two cases involving accused priests problematic. In March, the US-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, sent a complaint to the Vatican calling for investigations into both cases: an accusation that a quarter-century ago, Prevost approved the relocation of an abuser to a Chicago friary located near a parish elementary school; and a 2023 claim by three sisters in Peru who say that Prevost, at that point a bishop for the Diocese of Chiclayo, insufficiently investigated their allegations of sexual abuse by two priests years earlier. In neither case did the alleged abuse occur under Prevost's watch. Still, SNAP president Shaun Dougherty said he felt 'flabbergasted' last week when Prevost emerged as Pope Leo XIV on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The cardinals' selection of Prevost was 'tone deaf' as the church continues to grapple with the decades-long crisis, Dougherty said. Others have a different assessment, saying abuse in the church has been so widespread that the conclave would have struggled to choose a pontiff whose career was untouched by the fallout. Activists of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests held a press conference in Rome in March. From left were Sarah Pearson, Peter Isely, and president Shaun Dougherty. Andrew Medichini/Associated Press 'For me, the bigger story is what he does moving forward,' said Brian Clites, an expert at Case Western Reserve University on clergy sexual abuse. The allegations 'are serious,' he said, 'but they're so common that I cannot imagine many people who would have been elected pope who would not have had similar profiles.' Advertisement And in a statement posted last week on X, the president of the Peru Survivors Network said he had met with Prevost in January and praised the new pope's role in helping to dismantle Sodalitium Christianae Vitae. The Peru-based movement, a lay community founded to recruit 'soldiers for God,' was dissolved early this year after a Vatican investigation uncovered sexual and spiritual abuses. 'He listened with attention to my ideas and showed his total agreement and support for my fight against physical, psychological, spiritual, and sexual violence in the Catholic Church,' Jose Enrique Escardó Steck wrote of their conversation. The church's reckoning became far more visible under Francis, who met several times with survivors and in 2014 created a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Five years later, he convened an unprecedented summit on clerical sexual abuse, where he called for an 'all-out battle' to end it. Francis followed that with a sweeping law to hold clerics accountable, requiring church officials to report accusations of abuse or cover-ups to their superiors. (The law does not require civil authorities to be contacted.) Even so, Francis was criticized for slow-walking certain cases, and survivors and their advocates saw many of his moves as toothless. Some commission members quit in protest, saying the body lacked independence and transparency, a charge the group itself echoed in a report last year. Though thousands of priests have been disciplined by the Holy See and abuse cases keep surfacing, critics say the investigative process remains cloaked, the result of an entrenched hierarchy averse to openness and change. Advertisement Hans Zollner, a German Jesuit priest who is considered one of the church's foremost authorities on safeguarding children from sexual abuse, quit the commission out of frustration in 2023. But he said he has seen 'a positive dynamic' worldwide over the past two to three years and is looking for the new pope to build on it. Zollner hopes Leo will invite victims to Rome -- not only so he can hear directly from them, but also so he can involve them in 'rethinking procedures in the church and in promoting safeguarding.' As a native of the United States, where the scandal exploded in Boston in 2002, Leo would have significant familiarity with the problem and what is now the US church's 'zero tolerance' policy. Across the country, dioceses and other Catholic entities have since reported more than 16,200 credible allegations of abuse made by minors, as detailed in a report early this year by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. But Leo's many years in Peru may give him a broader perspective -- one that grasps the scope of abuse in countries from Ireland to Australia to the Philippines. Some Catholics around the world continue to believe 'this is a decadent American problem,' said Stephen White, who leads Catholic University's response to the abuse crisis. 'I think he will be very much disabused of that idea.' Clites said Leo, like Francis, seems to embrace a liberation-theology-style approach that gives a 'preferential option' for the poor. Whether he will extend the same to survivors of abuse, as SNAP and other groups have demanded, is unclear. 'The biggest thing a pope could do that we haven't seen from the past few popes would be to direct dioceses around the world to be more transparent. We really have no idea about the rates and cases of abuse outside of the most developed countries,' Clites said. He added: 'It's not just about implementing policies and the speech acts that Francis did a good job at.' Advertisement
NBC News
09-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
A world on fire and sexual abuse scandal: the issues in Pope Leo XIV's in-tray
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has inherited a raging battle for not only the soul of the Catholic Church, but also its place in the geopolitical world. The new pope will have to decide whether his global pulpit will continue Pope Francis' broadly progressive legacy, or revert to a more conservative approach. The first American pontiff will grapple with the spiritual decline in the church's European power base, coupled with its rise in parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. And he will be forced to confront the legacy of the decadeslong sexual abuse scandal. 'Usually the most important thing that the pope has to take care of is the Catholic Church — but right now it's much more complicated because we are in a time of global disruption,' said Massimo Faggioli, a professor and world-leading expert on the church's inner workings, based at Villanova University. 'The church is much more global than ever before, so the cardinals will have to consider what it means to elect a global leader of the Catholic Church in this situation.' Here's a look at what's in the ecclesiastical inbox: Sexual abuse scandal After hundreds of thousands of cases emerged in dozens of countries over the past century, the church's endemic sexual abuse scandal is far from resolved. Cases continue to be uncovered, and although Francis went further than his predecessors in addressing this, campaigners said he did nowhere near enough. 'The next pope must institute a zero tolerance law for sexual abuse that immediately removes abusive clergy and leaders who have covered up abuse from ministry,' Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, a Chicago-based watchdog, said before Leo was elected. 'He must use his authority to enact fundamental, institutional changes to end the systematic practice of sexual abuse and its concealment,' it said. Ideology Francis was widely seen as a progressive force, at least compared with predecessors and peers. He allowed priests to informally bless same-sex couples, asking, 'Who am I to judge?' And over doctrinal dogma he favored topics such as global capitalism and the climate crisis. Though this was not cut-and-dried (he likened abortions to 'hiring a hitman'), his message enraged conservative traditionalists, including those on the American hard right, who would like to see Francis' successor revert to what they believe are the church's core teachings. 'In a time when illiberalism is gaining ground internationally,' Francis' 'messaging was an unexpected oasis for many, and unwelcomingly out of step for others,' said Effie Fokas, a research associate specializing in geopolitics and religion at the London School of Economics and Political Science before Thursday's election of Leo. 'So there is great anticipation over whether the church will, on the one hand, choose to be an oasis or, rather, in step with the waves of right-wing conservatism sweeping over the United States and much of Europe and beyond.' Geopolitics Whether Leo likes it or not, the new leader of 1.4 billion Catholics will become a leading voice in an upended world. Francis chose to use that platform to pontificate against the war in the Gaza Strip, for example, and even rebuked President Donald Trump's stance on immigration. The next pope can choose to continue these fulminations, or not. But even a less outspoken pope would be notable by his absence on the world stage. 'Francis has been a beacon of hope in the world, probably the only ethical helm in the (sinking) ship of global politics,' said Sara Silvestri, a senior lecturer in international politics at City St. George's, University of London, in an email. She hoped the new pope wouldn't 'fall in the trap of siding with' any one political faction, but rather 'bypass this by emphasizing the universality of the Christian message, and its core values of justice and mercy that are non negotiable and cannot fit into the narrow box of a political party or political ideology.' Geography A key element of how the new pontiff navigates these roiling waters will be his approach to the rapidly changing demographics of the church. Europe's Catholic population fell by nearly half a million in 2022, according to the Vatican's most recent figures, released late last year. Meanwhile, the Catholic population grew by 7.3 million in Africa, 5.9 million in North and South America, and about 900,000 in Asia. The number of priests tracks the European decline and rise elsewhere, the figures show. So a big issue for the new pope will be how to address the needs of a church whose followers are increasingly based in the Global South. 'We need a pope who understands the issues facing the Third World,' Piere Domerson, a priest from Haiti who is studying in Rome, told NBC News shortly before Leo's election was announced. 'We always remember how Pope Francis understood this universality of the church,' he said in St. Peter's Square. 'And because he appointed more cardinals from outside Europe, we have seen that become more universal, too.' Néstor Medina, a professor of religious ethics and culture at the University of Toronto, said people in the Global South are 'becoming more actively vocal about the church's involvement with colonization.' That means if the new pope wants 'to keep people in the church, then social justice, ecology and critique of capitalism will still have to be front and center of the new papacy,' he said. Managing these changing currents will not be straightforward — the developing world is not a monolith. While many progressive Catholic voices have come from Latin America, a number of African bishops, also for example, can be among the most conservative when it comes to same-sex couples, divorce and cohabiting outside of marriage.
The Sun
24-04-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Disgraced US cardinal shamed in Catholic child abuse scandal awarded honour of closing Pope Francis's coffin
AN AMERICAN cardinal who was disgraced for his role in covering up shocking child abuse will preside over the closing of Pope Francis' coffin. Roger Mahony, 89, was stripped of all his administrative and public duties in 2013 over his handling of the abuse scandal. 4 4 4 Yet he is listed among the 15 figures who have been granted the honour of closing the late pontiff's coffin tomorrow. Cardinal Mahony was disgraced after the LA archdiocese released 12,000 pages of documents on priests accused of child molestation. He had helped to shield accused priests from investigation back in the 1980s, papers unsealed as part of a civil case showed. At the time, Mahoney's successor Archbishop Jose Gomez said: "I find these files to be brutal and painful reading. "The behaviour described in these files is terribly sad and evil. "There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children. "The priests involved had the duty to be their spiritual fathers and they failed." Cardinal Mahony retired in 2011 after running the archdiocese for 25 years. But he is now named in a Vatican bulletin as one of the individuals "requested" to take part in the closing of Pope Francis ' coffin. This ceremony will happen tomorrow evening ahead of the pope's funeral on Saturday. The Catholic Church under successive popes has been accused of failing victims of child sex abuse. David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, previously blasted the Church's handling of the scandal. He said: "When Cardinal Mahony had real power, and abused it horribly, he should have been demoted or disciplined by the Church hierarchy, in Rome and in the US. "But not a single Catholic cleric anywhere had the courage to even denounce him. Shame on them." Members of the College of Cardinals are making their way to the Vatican ahead of the forthcoming conclave - the process that elects the new pope. There are currently 252 cardinals, but only the 135 under the age of 80 are eligible to vote. Another cardinal who was convicted of financial crimes is seeking the right to take part in the conclave. Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu was ordered in 2020 to resign the "rights and privileges" of a cardinal by Pope Francis. He maintains his innocence, and is still allowed to live in a Vatican apartment pending an appeal. Cardinal Becciu claims he can still take part in a conclave despite being listed as a "non-elector", according to CNN reports. Pope Francis died on Monday just hours after his final public appearance on Easter Sunday. He was elected in 2013 following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. His funeral is will be held on Saturday in front of St Peter's Basilica.
Washington Post
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
The abuse crisis is still roiling the Catholic Church
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis had once vowed to eradicate the 'evil' of sexual abuse from the Roman Catholic Church. He called bishops to Rome for listening sessions. He drew up new guidelines for handling cases. Anti-abuse advocates commend Francis for grasping the systemic nature of the problem and for meeting empathetically with victims. But they say he struggled to alter the church's penchant for secrecy and its habit of acting forcefully only when under outside pressure. What that means, in the aftermath of Francis's death, is that the next pope will inherit a crisis that is still roiling the Catholic Church. Even now, the Holy See is receiving a steady 800 cases per year from places like Poland, Italy, Latin America and Asia, according to Archbishop Charles Scicluna, a member of the Vatican department that oversees the handling of abuse claims. The church, with its meticulous recordkeeping, was aware of rampant clerical sexual abuse well before it exploded into public view in the early 2000s. The first revelations emerged primarily in Western countries with strong prosecution services, independent media and advocacy groups. Now, the nature of the crisis is changing, and new regions are training a spotlight on crimes within the church. 'Now it is different places,' he said. 'A culture of disclosure takes time to develop.' One concern within the church is that any revelations could geographically broaden the church's credibility problems, which have already driven a historical exodus of Mass-goers in Western Europe. The church is growing most quickly in Africa and parts of Asia, and even if reckonings don't happen anytime soon, they lurk as potential risks during future pontificates. The lesson of the past three decades is that clerical abuse is widespread — so long as somebody is looking for it and victims have confidence to come forward. Shaun Dougherty, an American who is the board president of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said that abuse 'is the single biggest issue in the church today.' 'They are still more willing to protect their church and themselves than the innocent,' he said. The issue has altered the course of the last three pontificates. Pope John Paul II, who led the church when the early evidence came to light, tended to view individual priests as the problem, paying less attention to crimes or cover-ups in the hierarchy. That oversight posthumously bruised his reputation, when it emerged that he had known about and overlooked sexual misconduct claims against Theodore McCarrick, a powerful American cardinal who was defrocked in 2019. John Paul II's successor, Pope Benedict XVI, moved more aggressively to punish priests and was the first pope to meet with clerical abuse survivors. But he also faced accusations — levied in a 1,900-page report released a year before his death — that he'd mishandled cases during an earlier point in his career. He expressed 'profound shame' to abuse victims but admitted no wrongdoing. Francis faced abuse-related challenges on many fronts. Conservatives, connecting the scourge to homosexuality in the priesthood, accused the pope of overlooking the root causes. Liberals, particularly in Germany, said the pope wasn't going far enough in reforming the church. And several of Francis's international trips, including to Belgium in September, were dominated by feelings of anger and betrayal stemming from the church's response to abuse. 'It is shameful,' Francis said during that trip. 'The church must be ashamed, ask for pardon and try to solve this situation.' Some critics say that Francis, when not directly confronted with the issue, paid less attention to abuse in his final few years. During a landmark two-year church gathering that ended in 2024, known as a synod, many thorny church issues were discussed. But abuse was not a focus. 'Given that this was the existential crisis to the moral legitimacy to the church around the world, it was a stunning disappointment,' said Anne Barrett Doyle, the co-director of the watchdog group BishopAccountability. Francis's most relevant measures to counter abuse came at the midpoint of his pontificate, when global scandals brought pressure to an unprecedented level. In Chile, prosecutors were raiding church offices and accusing church leaders of a cover-up. In Australia, a cardinal was preparing to stand trial on numerous sex-related offenses. And in the United States, accusations about McCarrick were bubbling to the surface — as the pope promised a canonical trial. Francis swiftly summoned bishops to Rome for a first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss abuse. They listened to victims and aired proposals about improving oversight. At the end of the four-day summit, the pope vowed an 'all-out battle' against abuse. He subsequently issued a sweeping new law that aimed to create a better system for fielding and investigating abuse claims. As part of that law, dioceses were required to set up offices for receiving complaints. Priests and nuns were obligated for the first time to report accusations of wrongdoing to religious authorities. And, perhaps most importantly, the measures added a new layer of oversight for bishops, who'd previously been answerable only to the pope — meaning they could operate without much scrutiny. Under the new system, bishops could essentially police their own ranks: If one bishop was accused of abuse or a cover-up, a prelate heading the largest regional dioceses could step in and lead an investigation. The Vatican also made an example out of McCarrick. He was stripped of the rights of the priesthood, the most significant abuse-related punishment ever given to a onetime cardinal. His rise through the ranks was also subjected to an internal investigation, resulting in a 449-page report that unearthed papal decision-making in searing detail. But the McCarrick report was a one-off. And abuse experts, as well as Vatican officials, acknowledge that the church still does not operate with transparency or consistency. A report issued last October by the pope's abuse commission noted that not all dioceses have created the offices for receiving cases. Sometimes the church investigates higher-ups according to its rules. But other cases are improvised, without explanation. Experts say it is hard to tell how well the system is working, because the church does not make public information about which bishops are sanctioned and why. 'We need to work on a consistent application of adhering to the law,' said Hans Zollner, a German priest who helped organize Francis's abuse summit, and who specializes in safeguarding. 'This is the main challenge for the church' when it comes to abuse. When one of Francis's top-ranking cardinals, Canadian Marc Ouellet, faced accusations of inappropriate touching, the Vatican delegated the investigation to a priest who already knew Ouellet well. When a Nobel-winning bishop from East Timor, Carlos Ximenes Belo, was accused of abusing impoverished children, the Vatican disciplined him. But the restrictions — including a ban on contact with minors — were kept secret until a Dutch news outlet looked into the case. Victims commonly say they struggle to obtain information about any discipline meted out against their alleged abusers. Scicluna called that a 'fair' criticism. 'If you look at the record of Pope Francis, we are in a better place when it comes to laws and structures,' Scicluna said. 'One thing is having laws and structures. Another is how they operate on the ground.'
