‘These deaths of these so beloved children of
God weigh upon the heart and my conscience and that of the whole church.’
Church’s inadequate response led to ‘even
greater suffering’ by victims, Pope admits.
Even while the pope spent his morning with the three
men and three women, listening to their stories one by one, several victims’
groups blasted the meetings as being “a PR event.”
`’Before God and his people, I express my sorrow
for the sins and grave crimes of clerical sexual abuse committed against you.
And I humbly ask forgiveness,” Francis said in his homily.
Pope Francis begged forgiveness Monday from the
victims of clergy sex abuse as he held his first meeting with several abuse
survivors. He also promised to
hold bishops accountable for the protection of
minors.
Without naming specific cases, Francis noted the
abuse caused some victims to resort to addictions or even suicide!! These
deaths of these so beloved children of God weigh upon the heart…
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| Politician Fidel Espinoza, right, and fellow Chileans protest as Bishop Juan Barros conducts his first service as bishop in Osorno cathedral, south of Santiago. Photo: Reuters |
by Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith -
(Catholic Herald) – What on earth is happening in the Diocese of Osorno,
Chile? Quite a few observers are bewildered by the recent appointment of Bishop
Juan Barros to the diocese. Let us start with what happened when the newly
appointed bishop was enthroned in his cathedral this Saturday last. A fight –
yes, you read that correctly – broke out as His Lordship entered the cathedral,
between the rival factions in the diocese, those who support the new bishop and
those who oppose him. This is hardly what you would expect to see in any
church, let alone in a cathedral, let alone at the show of unity that the entry
of a new bishop is supposed to be. Moreover, one sees that no less than 30
priests and deacons of the diocese wrote to the papal nuncio to make clear to
him that they did not want Bishop Barros as their bishop. One thing is
certainly clear: Bishop Barros, perhaps through no fault of his own, is a
divisive figure. As bishop, he is meant to be the focus of unity. Even before
he has started his time as bishop, he has failed. So, why was he
appointed? At this point things become murky. Bishop Barros was already
Bishop of the Armed Forces, so this was a transfer, not a promotion. It seems
he was a protégé of one Fr Fernando Karadima, who was found guilty of child
abuse.
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| Hundreds of Catholics in Chile protested against the appointment of Juan Barros as bishop.Photo: Reuters |
While there is no suggestion that Mgr Barros is a child abuser, some
allege that he was too close to Karadima and complicit in the cover up of
Karadima’s crimes. He firmly denied this.That much can be said without fear of
contradiction. But why, then, did the papal nuncio, with the full consent of
the Vatican, decide to move the bishop to Osorno, against the will of a large
section of the people? And why is it the official Church line that this was the
correct thing to do?
The Huffington Post draws several conclusions from
this fracas that may or may not be correct. The appointment may well be an
indication that Bishop Barros has powerful and important friends in high
places, both in Chile and in Rome.
But it may be
a simple miscalculation on the part of the Church, namely, that moving the
bishop to Osorno would be something that would attract little notice. (It is,
from what I can determine, a pretty small diocese.) If that is the case, how
wrong that calculation proved to be.
The best
commentary I have read on the matter comes from the ever-excellent John Allen
and can be read here.
My own
reflections are as follows.
First,
someone, somewhere, the person with whom the idea of this appointment
originated, simply does not get it. Anyone perceived to have a poor record on
clerical abuse is toxic. Any attempt to place someone like Bishop Barros over a
diocese is going to lead to a strong reaction. This should have been foreseen.
Which leads to the question: given that this was such a huge unforced error,
where were the checks and balances that should have kicked in and effectively
stopped this appointment getting beyond the very first stage?
So what we have here, not for the first time, is clear evidence that the
process of consultation that leads to the appointment of bishops is not
working. Secondly, the Vatican has set up a child protection commission. This
was seen as a hopeful sign. But if you are going to have a commission that you
yourself set up, you have to take its advice seriously. There is now the
serious risk that the Pope will lose the confidence of his own commission, for
several members of it are not happy. This would be catastrophic.
Allen puts it
better than I could:
The Barros situation is worrying for Francis because members of his own
anti-abuse commission have broken ranks, including the two abuse survivors on
the panel: Marie Collins of Ireland and Peter Saunders of the United Kingdom.
It’s not clear if Francis fully grasped this at the time, but when he named
survivors to that group, he was handing them significant control over his
reputation. If Collins and Saunders were ever to walk out, saying they’d lost
confidence or feeling that they’d been exploited for a PR exercise, it would
have a vast media echo.
Long gone are
the days when problems like these could have been solved in the corridors of
power. The world is watching. My guess is that Bishop Barros will be removed
sooner or later, simply because he has been handed an ungovernable diocese. But
the truth is he should never have been appointed in the first place. Can you
imagine the uproar there would have been if this had happened under Benedict
XVI’s watch? As it is Pope Francis still has the media onside – but that will
not last forever. As Allen says, a tipping point may have been reached.
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