The Fifth Anniversary of Pope's Conference on Priests who Abuse


Five years ago, Pope Francis convened a large group of Bishops, etc., to solve the problem of priests who sexually abuse children. A recent article by a professor at a Catholic University reviewed what has happened since. 

It is not easy to summarize the results of that confab nor where things stand today. One positive result was that in 2019 the Pope abolished the rule that dictated all abuse was to be kept secret inside the church. One has to ask why such a rule was ever put into place? Why was it kept in place by world famous Popes such as Paul and Benedict? They traveled the world passing by adoring crowds in the Popemobile while holding evil secrets. 

The link mentions that Pope Francis directed the person in charge of clean up to report all abuse allegations and, I assume, track their resolution. This, according to the link author, is an assignment beyond the amount of personnel funded by the Pope. 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation devotes several pages in each of its every other month publication to clergy crime that has appeared in the news. There are always three or four pages, small print, of publicly reported new cases. A few are about theft or other crimes. The majority of them are sexual crimes and most of these are from independent Protestant churches. It's as if abusers see starting a church as an avenue to enjoy abuse. Every publication has some new cases of Catholic priests. The priests seem to be removed from the priesthood and prosecuted in secular courts. 

The link reflects the view not enough progress has been made in the Catholic hierarchy to stop abuse. One has to conclude progress has been made. It has not, however, stopped all abuse. Is it reasonable to ask that the Catholic church, with its thousands of employees, have a better record of abuse than society at large?

It seems to me the answer is yes. Public schools have abuse. Public schools, however, do not market themselves as sources of moral authority. The Catholic Church in its opposition to birth control, gay marriage, trans and abortion has its moral nose to high in the air it has altitude sickness. 

It would do well to pull back its moral superiority and admit it is just there to entertain people.   

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