Pope seeks sex abuse solutions
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis warned top Roman Catholic leaders Thursday that they would need to emerge with more than just “predictable” statements as he opened a highly anticipated summit aimed at defining a worldwide response to clergy sex abuse.
To back up his call for “concrete” solutions, the pontiff offered 21 proposals to punish predators and keep children safe, including expanding roles for lay experts in investigations and requiring prelates to report abuse to civil authorities in their countries.
“The holy people of God are looking at us, expecting not only simple and predictable condemnations but concrete and effective measures to put in place,” he said. “We need to be concrete.”
The assertive tone Francis set at the start of the unprecedented four-day gathering of bishops he summoned from more than 100 countries came as something of a surprise even to some of the meeting’s organizers. For weeks, the pope has been downplaying expectations that the global summit would end with the implementation of any specific reforms.
Still, there was skepticism among the victims and their advocates — who have flocked to St. Peter’s Square as the conference plays out behind closed doors.
“First, they said this meeting was going to be serious. Then they said it was only going to be a teaching lesson. Now they say there will be concrete action,” said Mark Rozzi, an abuse victim and state legislator from Berks County, Pa., who met Thursday with Italian lawmakers and victims. “When I heard that there was going to be a meeting to have a meeting, as a Harrisburg politician I laughed at that. It basically means we’re kicking the can down the road.”
The outcome of this week’s summit could shape the legacy of Francis’ papacy — one that has become overwhelmed by an issue that plagued the church for decades.
In less than a year, the United States alone has seen the defrocking of top Cardinal Theodore McCarrick for his alleged abuse of seminarians and minors and the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report that has since spawned similar investigations in more than a dozen states.
On the eve of this historic meeting, some took offense at his remarks to a group of pilgrims from an Italian archdiocese.
“Those who spend their life accusing, accusing, accusing are. friends, cousins, relatives of the devil,” he said. “This is not good. Flaws must be indicated so they can be corrected, but at the moment that flaws are noted, flaws are denounced, one loves the Church. Without love, that is of the devil.”
Others questioned why Francis has no meetings with victims on his schedule during the conference.
A handful of survivors from across the globe have been invited to share their accounts during the opening and closing prayers of each day’s session.
