NEW YORK (NY)
NBC News
May 9, 2019
By Corky Siemaszko
Victim advocates said Thursday that the fatal flaw in Pope Francis’ new mandate that priests and nuns report clerical sex abuse is that it requires the church to police itself, instead of notifying law enforcement.
They say it’s not enough that Francis has required whistle-blowers to report any abuse or cover-ups to their superiors.
“We’re already seeing this ‘new’ church plan described as ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘sweeping,’ but that’s irresponsible,” said David Clohessy, director of Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). ”These are promises, plain and simple. They might lead to change. They might not. But children need concrete action, not more pledges from a complicit church hierarchy.”
Popes, said Clohessy, “have always had the power to defrock, demote and discipline bad bishops.”
“They just refuse to do so,” he said. “And that’s why clergy sex crimes keep happening. What’s needed is courage, not policies. Until heads roll, until a few dozen bishops are fired for hiding predators, little will change.”
“We’re disappointed that the pope still refuses to simply tell church employees they must call the police. Any policy or pledge that still largely enables the Catholic hierarchy to handle crimes internally is doomed to continue both abuse and cover-up.”
Clohessy said the silver lining in Francis’ latest effort to tackle the sex abuse scandal, which some say has wrecked the credibility of the Roman Catholic Church’s hierarchy — and resulted in the church’s paying millions of dollars to settle lawsuits — is that priests and nuns are required to report even decades-old abuse allegations.
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