Pope Francis Hasn't Done Anything Unusual or Unexpected in Regard to Clergy Sex Abuse

By David Clohessy
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
April 2, 2013

http://www.snapnetwork.org/pope_francis_hasn_t_done_anything_unusual_or_unexpected_in_regard_to_clergy_sex_abuse

"He's done something unusual/unexpected practically every day." That’s how an anonymous but high ranking Vatican official describes Pope Francis. 

http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/news/insight-pope-to-review-vatican-bureaucracy-scandal-ridden-bank  

Except, however, in clergy sex abuse and cover up cases. So far in that arena, tragically, we see no changes whatsoever.

Pope Francis is being proclaimed as a master of the touching and unexpected gesture. He’s known for his simple lifestyle, and his openness and willingness to meet with “regular” people by doing things like taking the bus to work.

But the sole gesture he's made regarding the church's central crisis has been a hurtful one: meeting with disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/03/16/anti-abuse-advocates-slam-new-pope-for-meet-and-greet-with-cardinal-law/s29iSzkLUnSJvBlkUPsWiL/story.html

And on the most troubling recent disclosure in the church's central and continuing crisis, he has said nothing. 

We are referring to the February 19 Washington Post article which revealed that a convicted Argentinean priest – Fr. Julio Cesar Grassi – now walks free largely because of then-Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio’s intervention.

Fr. Grassi, who founded the Fundacion Felices los Ninos (“Happy Children”) charity, was later found to be abusing the children there that he was supposed to be helping. However, following his conviction Bergolgio commissioned a report that proclaimed the priest innocent, and has worked to get his conviction overturned. In the meantime, Fr. Grassi still lives across the street from the location where he abused kids.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/pope-francis-was-often-quiet-on-argentine-sex-abuse-cases-as-archbishop/2013/03/18/26e7eca4-8ff6-11e2-9cfd-36d6c9b5d7ad_story_1.html

It's worth noting that Vatican officials have defended Pope Francis' actions during Argentina's 'dirty war.' As they have done for decades, however, those same Vatican officials are saying nothing about Pope's Francis’ actions in Argentinean clergy sex abuse cases.