VATICAN CITY
Boston Globe
By Frances D’Emilio
Associated Press
April 05, 2013
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis directed the Vatican on Friday to act decisively on clergy sex abuse cases and take measures against pedophile priests, saying the Catholic Church’s ‘‘credibility’’ was on the line. The announcement was quickly dismissed by victims’ advocates as just more talk.
Clergy abuse victims have called for swift and bold action from Francis as soon as he was elected pope last month. Yet in his homeland, Roman Catholic activists had characterized him as being slow to act against such abuse in his years heading the Argentine church.
Friday’s development left victims’ advocates unimpressed.
‘‘Once again, has have happened hundreds of times already, a top Catholic official says he’s asking another top Catholic official to take action about pedophile priests and complicit bishops,’’ said Barbara Dorris, an official of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a U.S.-based organization.
‘‘Big deal. Actions speak louder than words. And one of the first actions Pope Francis took was to visit perhaps the most high-profile corrupt prelate on the planet, Cardinal Bernard Law, who remains a powerful church official despite having been drummed out of Boston for hiding and enabling crimes by hundreds of child molesting clerics,’’ Dorris said in a statement.
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