Pope Francis Must Back up Talk with Action

Idaho State Journal
July 10, 2014

http://www.idahostatejournal.com/members/pope-francis-must-back-up-talk-with-action/article_023b5c60-072d-11e4-a7f4-0019bb2963f4.html

In what’s being called the Catholic Church’s most serious attempt yet to apologize for tolerating decades of priests molesting children, Pope Francis this week asked the abuse victims for forgiveness and promised to bring molester priests and their enablers to justice.

“I beg your forgiveness…for the sins of omission on the part of church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves. This led to even greater suffering on the part of those who were abused and it endangered other minors who were at risk,” said the pope following his meeting at the Vatican this week with six people who as children were molested by Catholic priests.

The pope also promised that the church would make reparations to those who were molested, though it’s unclear how the Catholic Church could ever financially heal the wounds suffered by the numerous victims of the abuse in the United States and several other countries. Francis seemed to be equally angry at the church leaders who have tolerated the molester priests as he is with the abusers themselves, and the tone of his words made it clear that his sorrow and desire to change the church’s image are sincere.

He said, “There is no place in the church’s ministry for those who commit these abuses, and I commit myself not to tolerate harm done to a minor by any individual, whether a cleric or not.... Before God and his people, I express my sorrow for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you. And I humbly ask forgiveness.”

One of the abuse victims who met with the pope this week was Marie Kane, a 43-year-old Irish woman.

She told the British Guardian newspaper: “It can’t go any higher than this. I felt it came from the heart. For me (the pope) seemed very sincere and very sorry. And I think he realizes he has a lot of changes to make. I’d like to believe he will, but, you know, I don’t know. We can only leave it with him and wait and see.”

Kane said she hopes the pope follows through with a no-tolerance policy on both the molester priests and the church leaders who have seemed reluctant to hold them accountable in the past. It’s amazing in a bad way that this problem within the church has been in a pretty intense spotlight for the past 10 years and yet the victims still feel not much has changed.

Some groups representing the abuse victims were critical of the pope’s words this week, disbelieving that he’d follow through on his promises and criticizing him for not taking stronger action to protect future young Catholics from abuse. The main U.S. group representing molested Catholics, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in a statement about the pope’s meeting this week with the victims: “The pope says the church should ‘make reparations’ to victims. That’s secondary. Stopping abuse and protecting children comes first. And sadly, no child on Earth is safer today because of this meeting.”

Regardless, it’s refreshing to see the pope show some anger at both Catholic priests for molesting children and church leaders for letting it happen for decades if not centuries. The Catholic church has learned that being soft on sex abuse is not a way to attract people to your congregation or persuade people to tithe even a cent. By failing to take action against molester priests, the church has lost numerous members and potential members, as well as their financial support.

If one could add up the number of all the priest abuse victims who’ve committed suicide because of the abuse, it would fill all of us with the worst kind of rage.

Another tragedy about this ongoing scandal within the Catholic church is it sadly paints all Catholic priests as possible molesters.

The truth is the majority of Catholic priests are faithful followers of Christ who live their lives to help the rest of us find our way in a not-so-nice world.

For the sake of the many good priests out there as well as the numerous abuse victims, Pope Francis needs to make good on his tough talk. Any priest who molests someone and any Catholic bishop who allows it need to be criminally charged and booted from the church. That’s the only way people will ever start to regain their faith in the Catholic Church—an organization that does a lot of good in our world.

We feel Pope Francis’ words this week came from the heart and the majority of abuse victims feel like there is now hope for justice.

It will be easier to forgive if we know Francis is truly bringing change to his church.