VATICAN CITY
Time
John L. Allen, Jr./Rome @JohnLAllenJr
A veteran Vatican watcher sizes up Pope Francis
This article is adapted from the new book THE FRANCIS MIRACLE: Inside the Transformation of the Pope and the Church, published by Time Books.
Since his surprise election two years ago, Pope Francis has electrified and baffled the world in roughly equal measure. He’s launched Roman Catholicism on a reform path—though without altering its traditional teaching—and he’s tried to put a more compassionate and attractive face on its message. He has moved to address scandals and meltdowns that plagued the church under his predecessor and has done so in such a far-reaching and unexpected fashion that some of the Cardinals who elected him may be getting more than they bargained for. But on some fronts, the ultimate impact remains unclear. Here’s where Pope Francis’ reform campaign stands on five key issues. …
3. Sex Abuse: PROMISING BUT INCOMPLETE
Pope Benedict XVI left behind a mixed legacy on Catholicism’s child-sexual-abuse scandals. He was the first Pope to meet victims and the first to embrace a zero-tolerance policy. He moved aggressively to weed abusers out of the priesthood, removing more than 400 in his final two years alone. Yet critics say Benedict fell short of holding bishops around the world accountable for failing to deal with the scandals.
Francis has taken steps to try to complete Benedict’s unfinished business, including the creation of a Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is led by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston and includes two survivors of clerical abuse as members.
He has also launched a Vatican criminal trial for a former papal diplomat charged with abuse in the Dominican Republic, insisting that there will be no special privileges on his watch. In early February he dispatched a letter to all bishops saying “everything possible must be done to rid the church of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors.”
Critics nevertheless charge that progress under Francis has been halfhearted and slow. In 2014 he approved an investigation of Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City—to date the only American bishop found guilty of a crime for failure to report a charge of child abuse. Until victims see a prelate like Finn disciplined, many will argue that the Pope’s efforts deserve a grade of incomplete.
4. Vatican Finances: THE NUMBERS WILL TELL
Over the years, money has been a recurrent source of Vatican scandal. The roll call runs through the Vatican bank crises of the 1970s and ’80s all the way up to the arrest in summer 2013 of “Monsignor 500 Euro”—a onetime Vatican accountant indicted by Italian authorities as part of a cash-smuggling scheme.
Francis began his reform by creating an ambitious three-part structure: a Secretariat for the Economy with power to impose fiscal discipline and accountability; a Council for the Economy composed of heavy-hitter Cardinals as well as business professionals to oversee operations; and an independent auditor general to keep everyone honest.
To run it all, Francis brought in a tough-as-nails Australian prelate named George Pell. In mid-February, Pell reported to all Cardinals that his team had discovered $1.5 billion in hidden assets and a shortfall of almost $1 billion in the pension fund.
Pell and his team have their critics. Some members of the Vatican’s old guard believe it’s a reform in the spirit of the classic Italian novel Il Gattopardo: “Everything must change so that everything can stay the same.” More will become clear when the secretariat submits its first audited financial statement later this year.
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