After McCarrick report, pope vows to 'uproot evil' of clerical sexual abuse

[JudyM]

Source: Reuters

Pope Francis, in his first public comment after the release of an explosive report on the Vatican’s mishandling of the case of ex-U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, on Wednesday again vowed to put an end to sexual abuse in the Church.

“Yesterday, the report about the painful case of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was published. I renew my closeness to the victims of every abuse and the commitment of the Church to uproot this evil,” Francis said at his weekly general audience. He then closed his eyes and prayed silently.

The 450-page report said the late Pope John Paul II promoted McCarrick in 2000 despite rumours of his sexual misconduct, one of a series of failings by popes and officials who let him rise through the ranks regardless of repeated allegations against him.
...

Francis’ words also followed an independent inquiry in London on Tuesday that said the Roman Catholic Church in Britain betrayed its moral purpose over decades by protecting those who sexually abused children rather than caring for their victims.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-abuse-mccarrick-pope/after-mccarrick-report-pope-vows-to-uproot-evil-of-clerical-sexual-abuse-idUSKBN27R114

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More background:

Spanning 449 pages, the internal investigation found that bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed multiple reports of sexual misconduct by the now-90-year-old McCarrick, who as one of the highest-ranking, most visible Roman Catholic officials in the U.S. traveled the world and hobnobbed with presidents.

McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a separate Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused minors as well as adults. An attorney for McCarrick, who now lives as a layman in a residence for priests, declined to comment on the report.

The report detailed the alarm bells that were ignored, excused or dismissed in 1992-93 when six anonymous letters were sent to U.S. church officials and the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., alleging McCarrick was a “pedophile” who would sleep in the same bed with young men and boys.
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Bellocchio, who formerly worked as an administrator in Catholic school systems and went on to found a company that trains service dogs, said Francis should consider removing former Pope John Paul II, who took most of the blame in the report, from the calendar of saints. As pontiff, John Paul appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed he slept with seminarians, according to the report.

https://apnews.com/article/sexual-abuse-by-clergy-f9c8e7bfcfb21a5e9c05e680366f63bc

[irisblue]

1. Uh huh.

[jb5150]

2. Yeah .... right

He can start by stripping John Paul II of his sainthood.

[JudyM]

4. That would be a great start.

One of the articles suggests some are pushing for that to happen. It would certainly send a message.

[Warpy]

3. That would be nice

[MicaelS]

5. Francis is the most progressive of any Pope.

And he is going against his own hierarchy. So, for skeptics

[pnwmom]

7. He's trying, against a strong opposition. He's not all-powerful, as some non-Catholics think. n/t

[usajumpedtheshark]

12. The pendulum will swing back the other when the next Pope is appointed

The Church does not like change and does not want change. The Church leadership is much more worried about themselves than it is about their lay members. They just want to keep the money rolling in, maintain their vast real estate holdings, adore their expensive art collection, and continue to live their pampered lives.

[SunSeeker]

6. I won't hold my breath. nt

[Larissa]

8. Spotlight

McCarrick headed the Archdiocese in New Jersey where I was raised as a cradle (from birth) Catholic. I have been lapsed from the church for many years. You could not have met a more charming and respected individual, the modus operandi of mortal monsters.

I highly recommend the book: "Betrayal -- The Crisis in the Catholic Church" which details the findings of the investigative team of The Boston Globe into systemic sexual abuse by members of the clergy in the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, MA. The unspeakable destruction of the lives of innocent and trusting children, young men and entire families is the stuff of nightmares; some passages will emotionally bring you to your knees. I also recommend the film "Spotlight" (Academy Award for Best Picture) based upon the Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation. The work of the Spotlight team, although focused on the Boston Archdiocese, helped to pry open and expose the network of abuse throughout the Catholic Church. The decades long abuse of McCarrick is the tip of the iceberg.

https://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Catholic-findings-investigation-Spotlight/dp/0316271535/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Spotlight&qid=1605164543&s=books&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Spotlight-Mark-Ruffalo/dp/B019NB5GZU/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3B2Y54XYVEQP9&dchild=1&keywords=spotlight+dvd&qid=1605164664&s=movies-tv&sprefix=Spotlight%2Caps%2C150&sr=1-1

[JudyM]

9. Children should be warned about charming and respected monsters, not just caricaturish monsters.

One of the great sadnesses in life. Such a grotesque breach of trust by the church to let this monster roam free. It’s like the republican party in preaching “holy” morals from the pulpit but carrying out dastardly schemes in the shadows, out of the public view.

[olegramps]

10. As a Catholic raised in the faith I would suggest the Pope read 1 Timothy chapter 3.

Paul lays out the qualities that are must be adhered to be for leadership in the church. He should be married once and "He should rule well his own household, keeping his children under control and perfectly respectful. For if a man cannot rule his own household, how is he to take care of the church of God?" 1 Timothy 3.4&5.

It wasn't until I attended Seminary that I actually sat down and read the Gospels from start to finish which led to many questions that were left unanswered and eventually resulted in my leaving. I no longer attend church services, but remain faithful, especially the teaching of Jesus regarding our commitment to our neighbors in need. I am a firm believer that the requirement of celibacy is a source of many of the problems. I am not saying that unmarried men must be excluded but it must be seriously considered due to the position of thrust that they accept. It was during the upheaval Vatican II that led to the massive exodus of those in the seminaries. Everyone of my fellow classmates, only two remained and one left the priesthood later, because of the refusal of the church to abandon the requirement along with the ridiculous continuation of opposition to reasonable and effected birth control. It is like the scales had fallen from our eyes and we were able to see clearly after years of indoctrination from childhood to young adulthood. How could we have been so blind?

[JudyM]

11. Celibacy should be a choice, not a requirement. How ironic if enforced "purity" leads to abusiveness

But IMO, pinning it on celibacy is a bit of a red herring. These men are not victims of the system, they are capitalizing on the system. Men need to be civilized about acting on their desires throughout our society.

This is also a deeper structural problem that warrants rigorous investigation by the church... not merely temptation and bad actors who are emboldened to molest by a cultural sense of superiority and infallibility, but also the church structure of authority over parishioners (especially children) is part of it, the turning a blind eye by others who should act responsibly when they learn of molestation is like the blue wall of silence with cops...

And most importantly, the failure of the church leaders to have a clear view of how to react in the face of an ethical violation. Because this is the most newsworthy area of ethical violation by the church, but by no means the only one. Jesus’ teachings have a way of being disregarded in other situations, as well. I don’t mean this to besmirch the church but a genuine systemic overhaul is in order to clarify what it stands for in the world. It holds itself out as idealized morality but historically it has fallen far short.

🙏

[olegramps]

13. Thanks for your comments.

It was not my intention to "pin it on celibacy." The training of young men for the priesthood prior to the massive exodus from the church stressed that priests were called to a higher life and that chastity made them superior to those who chose marriage. This is the key to the problem from the outset. It cannot be dismissed that human sexuality was from the early years of the church regarded with distain and only justified by the children it produced. Those such as Augustine along with numerous other church leaders demeaned marriage and only condoned sexual relations for the children it produced. It was a defilement that was to be shunned by those seeking perfection. The scandal of the sexual abuse brought about a madcap scramble to correct the training of priests, however, the basic concepts that produced the problem were not rectified. It was the enthronement of the concept of the purity of chastity that took precedence over any virtue.

The ironic aspect that they were not drawing from Jesus traditional religion but from pagan writers such a Plato and other Hellenistic philosophers. The deeply ingrained identification of the impurity of sexual relations was recognized by the church following Vatican II and the massive exodus. The refusal of the church leaders to properly react to the situation was of course a major issue and they should be prosecuted for their attempts to cover up the horrendous crime of sexual abuse of children.

The church has totally failed to abandon its anti-sexual teaching. It clings to the ridiculous condemnation of effective birth control for example and condemns any sexual behavior outside of the sexual relations as seriously sinful and those in marriage must adhere to the concept that relations are only justified by possibility of unimpeded impregnation. The church was provided with an opportunity to reform by John XXIII and miserably failed.