UNITED STATES
BeyondChron
by Ralph E. Stone on July 11, 2017
In a December 28, 2016 letter to bishops, Pope Francis exhorted them “to adhere to “zero tolerance” so that “these atrocities [sexual abuse of children by priests] will no longer take place in our midst.” However, since his appointment as Pope in 2013, Pope Francis has not made “zero tolerance” a reality. It is time to do so.
But what about the victims of these pedophile priests? Pedophile priests acted criminally by taking advantage of the intimate trust of their youngest and most vulnerable parishioners. But it is also apparent that the Roman Catholic Church itself, rather than acting decisively to end the victimizations and facilitate prosecutions, had engaged in a systematic effort to shield predator priests dating back several decades. Childhood abuse can lead to lifelong health and social issues.
One source claims that Pope Francis admitted that “about two percent” or 1 in 50 Roman Catholic priests are pedophiles. The accuracy of this claim, however, is in some dispute. If the claim is true, that means there are about 8,200 pedophile priests. Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said the “real percentage of predator priests” is much higher than 2%. SNAP called upon the Vatican to fire or defrock pedophile priests and their enablers.
Recently, Pope Francis admitted that there are now 2,000 pedophile priest cases “piled up.” Are these priests still performing their priestly duties? What kind of punishment can we expect Pope Francis to mete out to these pedophile priests?
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