UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
A lowly US county judge did more yesterday to protect kids than the most powerful prelate on the planet. Yesterday, Judge John Van de North forced the Catholic archbishop of St. Paul/Minneapolis to disclose the names, whereabouts, statues and work histories of about 30 credibly accused child molesting clerics.
Yesterday, as he’s done for eight months, Pope Francis refused to disclose a single predator’s name. Nor, as best we can tell, did a single one of the planets 5,000 Catholic bishops disclose a single predator’s name.
The pontiff is at least consistent: In 15 years as head of Argentina’s largest archdiocese, he also did not disclose a single predator’s name. (In fairness to the pope, however, none of his predecessors as pope or as archbishop – ever revealed a single predator’s name.)
Yesterday, Pope Francis did, however, announce he’ll appoint a new church panel to look at abuse.
So yesterday, the earth’s most powerful religious figure promised to study clergy child sex crimes.
And yesterday, a lowly US judge actually prevented clergy child sex crimes.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.