HARRISBURG (PA)
CNN
August 16, 2018
Analysis by Daniel Burke
In July, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro wrote a personal letter to Pope Francis, warning him that “a comprehensive investigation” by his office had found “widespread sexual abuse of children and a systemic coverup by leaders of the Catholic Church.”
Shapiro says he never received a response.
The six Pennsylvania dioceses named in the scathing grand jury report received copies of the 800-page document in May, according to Crux News. Before the report was published on Tuesday, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, one of the Pope’s top allies and the former archbishop of Pittsburgh, had a detailed website prepared to defend himself against charges that he shielded abusive priests. (The website was removed on Thursday after an outcry from Catholics.)
So the idea that the Vatican was caught off guard by the explosive report or needs more time to process it is increasingly difficult to understand — as is the Pope’s silence on the matter. This is a pontiff, after all, who has chastised the media for ignoring the deaths of homeless people.
What’s the threshold of victims it would take for the Vatican to quickly respond to the grand jury report? 2,000 children? Or 3,000?
Is 1,000 children abused at the hands of Catholic clergy not enough to warrant a comment from their Holy Father?
Apparently not.
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