{"id":16260,"date":"2025-04-25T18:59:53","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T01:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=16260"},"modified":"2025-04-25T18:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-26T01:59:54","slug":"pope-francis-took-vital-steps-on-abuse-but-it-will-be-up-to-his-successor-to-ensure-reforms-are-enacted-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=16260","title":{"rendered":"“Pope Francis took vital steps on abuse, but it will be up to his successor to ensure reforms are enacted”, CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Christopher Lamb<\/a>, CNN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thu April 24, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis attends the closing Mass of “The Protection Of Minors In The Church” meeting in Vatican City in February 2019.\u00a0Vatican Pool\/Corbis\/Getty ImagesRomeCNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although he was a pontiff well-attuned to the concerns of ordinary Catholics, Pope Francis had a surprising blind spot when it came to the abuse crisis. He did not talk very much about the issue in his first months in the Vatican, and when he did, in 2014, appeared on the defensive, saying\u00a0\u201cno one else has done more\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to root out abuse than the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His election took place at a time when the problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy was well known, and after more scandals had emerged during the papacy of Benedict XVI. While important steps had been taken to address the abuse scandals during his predecessor\u2019s tenure, there was still much more the church needed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Survivors of church sexual abuse say the next pope needs to do more to tackle clergy guilty of abuse and hold bishops accountable when they mismanage cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The biggest mistake for Francis came when he initially refused to believe that a Chilean bishop, Juan Barros, had covered up for a notorious abuser. The pope then defended Barros publicly<\/a>, dismissing the allegations as \u201cslander.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, the pope commissioned an investigation into the matter and made a heartfelt apology, admitting to survivors that he, too, \u201cwas part of the problem.\u201d<\/a>\u202fHis willingness openly to admit failings and reverse earlier decisions was remarkable, given that historically popes have been believed infallible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The turning point for Francis came when Chilean abuse survivors stayed with him for several days in April 2018 at his home in the Vatican, the Casa Santa Marta. He later took the dramatic step of ordering every bishop in Chile to offer their resignation, replacing a large section of the hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Juan<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Juan Carlos Cruz poses for a photo in Manhattan in February 2018. Andres Kudacki\/AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those survivors was Juan Carlos Cruz, who went on to advise the pope on anti-abuse measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think he has done more than any pope has ever done. But I think there is a lot more to be done,\u201d Cruz told CNN in 2024. \u201cWhat frustrates me is people in the curia (the church\u2019s central administration) and bishops around the world who are not on the same page. What infuriates me is that survivors are walking this earth without justice\u2026 It\u2019s like someone having cancer and no one doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement issued Monday after news of Francis\u2019 death, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called<\/a> for whoever succeeds him to institute a \u201czero tolerance law\u201d for sexual abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survivor advocacy group wants abusive clergy \u2014 and church leaders who\u2019ve covered up their crimes \u2014 to be ejected from the ministry. It also wants more oversight of bishops.\u201c (The next pope) must use his authority to enact fundamental, institutional changes to end the systematic practice of sexual abuse and its concealment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steps to end secrecy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Francis diagnosed clericalism, the wielding of power within the church by an unaccountable few, as being at the heart of the crisis. As he sought to get to grips with the problem, he held an unprecedented four-day summit on the issue<\/a> at the Vatican, where survivors addressed cardinals and bishops and made a series of recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2019 gathering led to the pope issuing new norms for handling abuse<\/a>, including procedures to hold bishops accountable for cover-ups, and the removal of secrecy obligations<\/a> from abuse investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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VIDEO<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED VIDEO<\/strong>\u2018He was almost in tears\u2019: Gay Vatican adviser describes Pope Francis\u2019 support for trans worshipers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made it a legal obligation for Vatican officials to report abuse<\/a> and ordered sweeping changes to the church\u2019s canon law to recognize that vulnerable adults can be victims of abuse and that lay people in official positions can be held responsible<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would like to see his legacy and what he stood for continued,\u201d Cruz added. He said the church had to find justice for survivors, to care for and support them and to seek to repair the damage that was done. \u201cIt\u2019s frustrating that something so simple can be so complicated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Father Hans Zollner believes more consistency is needed when handling cases. Zollner, who runs a safeguarding institute in Rome<\/a>, is considered one of the church\u2019s most respected voices in calling for action on the abuse crisis. He resigned, however, from a papal commission tasked with child protection saying that more needed to be done on \u201cresponsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking following Francis\u2019 death, the German priest and psychologist told CNN said the late pope brought to attention the \u201csystemic\u201d issues involving abuse in the church and met with many survivors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe (Francis) made important reforms in a journey that is far from over, especially when it comes to the church\u2019s need for consistency in engaging with victims, holding perpetrators to account and in applying the established norms and laws when dealing with abuse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sex abuse survivor Alessandro Battaglia, center, marches alongside other survivors and advocates in Rome in February 2019 as Pope Francis hosts a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse.Alessandra Tarantino\/AP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis had established the Holy See\u2019s first pontifical commission for the protection of minors early on in his reign. But the commission, led for many years by a former Boston archbishop, Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley, struggled to find its place within the church\u2019s central administration and to become truly effective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marie Collins, a survivor and safeguarding expert from Ireland who served on the commission in the early years, resigned in frustration at the slow pace of change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins told CNN last year that Francis had \u201cmade some positive moves\u201d and \u201cstarted out well with the right intentions\u201d but that the \u201cold guard in the Vatican\u201d had diluted those intentions and provided him with bad information. When it came to the abuse crisis in Chile, Francis admitted that he had made serious mistakes due to a \u201clack of truthful and balanced information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins also lamented the lack of transparency around the accountability of bishops and how new policies are being applied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is change, there is advancement, but it\u2019s been far too slow,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are not getting the transparency we were promised.\u201d Collins said she hoped that the next pope would bring \u201ccomplete transparency\u201d over the handling of abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Systemic failings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Pope<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pope Francis prays inside St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral during his visit to Dublin in August 2018. Stefano Rellandini\/Pool\/Reuters<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crisis widened during the Francis pontificate to include not only minors but also the sexual abuse of nuns and \u201cme too\u201d-style instances of abuse. In 2019, Francis publicly acknowledged the problem of the sexual abuse<\/a> of nuns by priests and bishops and also warned against psychological and spiritual abuses of sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He showed, too, that he was willing to take action<\/a> against groups within the Catholic Church where abuse had occurred<\/a>, and brought in rules to try to prevent new groups being set up without proper oversight<\/a>. He took time to meet victims<\/a> and looked for ways to help them find justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The abuse crisis in the Catholic Church exposed deep cultural and systemic <\/strong>failings. Francis\u2019 renewal efforts, including his convening of worldwide synod assemblies, sought to build more accountability and transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his mistakes, Francis took some vital steps in tackling the scourge of abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it will be up to his successor to ensure the necessary reforms are implemented as the Catholic Church continues to grapple with the most damaging scandal it has faced in centuries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Christopher Lamb, CNN Thu April 24, 2025 Pope Francis attends the closing Mass of “The Protection Of Minors In The Church” meeting in Vatican City in February 2019.\u00a0Vatican Pool\/Corbis\/Getty ImagesRomeCNN\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Although he was a pontiff well-attuned to the concerns of ordinary Catholics, Pope Francis had a surprising blind spot when it came to the abuse […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16260"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16262,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16260\/revisions\/16262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}