BETHESDA (MD)
Rewire News
February 5, 2019
By Mary Hunt
Pope Francis’ agenda for the highly anticipated February 21-24, 2019 meeting in Rome with presidents of the national bishops’ conferences around the world is really about branding and market share despite public focus on sexual abuse and coverups. The Roman Catholic brand is in tatters, its market share shrinking by the minute.
The advertised theme of the ill-fated gathering is “The Protection of Minors in the Church,” with the explicit goal “that all of the Bishops clearly understand what they need to do to prevent and combat the worldwide problem of the sexual abuse of minors.” This is a losing proposition from the outset. The meeting is being held at the wrong time with the wrong people about the wrong issues.
Virtually any other global corporate board with such a serious product problem and as profound a public relations disaster would have met months ago. The Pennsylvania Grand Jury report that exposed hundreds of priest abusers and thousands of cases of abuse, and the extraordinary exploits of the alleged serial abuser Cardinal Theodore McCarrick broke in late summer of 2018. High-ranking Vatican official Australian Cardinal George Pell was found guilty of sexually abusing young boys in December of 2018. How long does it take to get a plane ticket to Rome? Why not convene a Zoom meeting to save time, money, and face? Any PR flack knows that step one is to put out the fire ASAP.
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