By Jason Horowitz, Rome, Jan. 23, 2018<\/p>\n
ROME \u2014 For years, victims of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church and their advocates have asked when Pope Francis would adjust his blind spot<\/a> on an issue that has caused enormous damage to Catholics, the reputation of the church and the pontiffs who preceded him.<\/p>\n But the pope\u2019s remarks overnight Sunday as he returned from a trip to Chile and Peru<\/a> \u2014 apologizing for demanding proof of abuse from victims in Chile even as he continued to doubt them \u2014 prompted concerns that he just does not understand.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was great hope that this pope understood \u2014 he \u2018got it\u2019 \u2014 but if that were true we would not have his words today,\u201d said Marie Collins<\/a>, a survivor of abuse who last year resigned in frustration from the pope\u2019s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who was still clinging to the hope there would be real change in the church to the issue of abuse and this change would be led by Pope Francis will have lost that hope today,\u201d Ms. Collins said.<\/p>\n At this point in his papacy, some supporters worry that the pope\u2019s lackluster record on holding the church hierarchy accountable for its role in the abuse crisis could threaten to erode the moral authority and global popularity necessary for the pope to make progress on priorities in and out of the church.<\/p>\n On his flight back to Rome, Francis issued a rare apology for what he called a \u201cslap in the face\u201d to victims. He was referring to the crisis he had created in Chile<\/a> when he said that he had seen no \u201cproof\u201d that a bishop covered up abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cHere I have to apologize because the word \u2018proof\u2019 hurt them,\u201d he said on the plane. \u201cIt hurt a lot of abused people.\u201d He added: \u201cI know how much they suffer. And to hear that the pope told them to their face that they need to bring a letter with proof?\u201d<\/p>\n But then he wound up making an unclear distinction between proof and evidence, and offered a spirited defense of Bishop Juan Barros Madrid<\/a>, the Chilean accused by some abuse victims of protecting the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a notorious Chilean pedophile priest.<\/p>\n Some of those victims have said Bishop Barros witnessed the abuse and did nothing, an accusation he denies.<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone who accuses insistently without evidence, this is calumny,\u201d the pope said. \u201cIf I say, \u2018You stole something, you stole something,\u2019 I\u2019m slandering you because I don\u2019t have evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n The pope revealed that he had twice rejected the resignation of Bishop Barros in recent years, explaining that while an investigation continued into the bishop, whom he appointed to the small diocese of Osorno in 2015, \u201cI cannot condemn him because I do not have the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut I am also convinced he is innocent,\u201d the pope added.<\/p>\n The pope\u2019s inaction and missteps on the issue seem to be drying up his once seemingly bottomless well of good will.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he wanted evidence, why didn\u2019t he reach out to us when we were willing to reaffirm the testimony that not only us, but so many witnesses, have been providing for more than 15 years,\u201d said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean victim of sexual abuse by members of the clergy.<\/p>\n The death last month in Rome of Cardinal Bernard F. Law<\/a>, the disgraced face of a complicit church hierarchy that enabled sexual abuse, drew attention in the Vatican to a rift on the issue.<\/p>\n On one side are those who believe a policy of \u201czero tolerance\u201d and accountability remain vital for the church\u2019s credibility and the protection of minors. On the other are those who feel that the church has already done enough on the issue, and that the problem is behind them and has become a cudgel used by enemies of the church.<\/p>\n For some advocates, Pope Francis this week moved decisively into the second camp. The website BishopAccountability.org<\/a> said the pope had \u201cturned back the clock to the darkest days of this crisis.\u201d On Monday, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, said in a statement that \u201cPope Francis has made his true feelings known.\u201d<\/p>\n Emiliano Fittipaldi, an Italian investigative reporter who has looked into sexual abuse and who is the author of the book \u201cLust<\/a>,\u201d said \u201cfor Francis, addressing sex abuse is priority in words, not actions.\u201d He said the pope\u2019s belief in zero tolerance seemed to evaporate when the accused were his friends.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it is people he knows and respects, like Barros, it\u2019s really hard for him to accept the accusations,\u201d Mr. Fittipaldi said. \u201cIn the Vatican they often say his people are protected.\u201d<\/p>\n Many Vatican watchers have suggested that Francis is shaping up to be a less effective reformer on the issue than his conservative predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who kicked hundreds of priests out of the church.<\/p>\n When Francis was elected in 2013, advocates expressed unbridled optimism that he would take the crucial, and politically delicate, step of holding accountable bishops who covered up for pedophile priests.<\/p>\n That has not happened. The Vatican scrapped a proposed tribunal to try bishops. Francis brought to Rome Cardinal George Pell, who subsequently became the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate to be formally charged with sexual offenses<\/a>.<\/p>\n In September, the Vatican recalled Msgr. Carlo Alberto Capella<\/a>, a high-ranking priest working as a diplomat in the Holy See\u2019s embassy in Washington<\/a>, after American authorities sought to strip his immunity and potentially charge him with possession of child pornography<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, the three-year terms of members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which the pope created in 2014, expired without any news of renewed terms or appointments. Ms. Collins and another abuse survivor on the commission resigned. The pope said on the plane that he had received a list of possible new members and called the delay \u201cnormal.\u201d<\/p>\n Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley, the archbishop of Boston \u2014 Cardinal Law\u2019s old diocese and ground zero for the global sexual abuse crisis \u2014 leads the commission. After the pope\u2019s defense of Bishop Barros, Cardinal O\u2019Malley released an extraordinary statement<\/a> chastising the pontiff for doubting victims, calling it \u201ca source of great pain for survivors\u201d that relegates them \u201cto discredited exile.\u201d<\/p>\n On the plane, Francis thanked Cardinal O\u2019Malley for the statement, calling it \u201cvery just,\u201d and he defended his own record on the issue. He said that since the start of his pontificate he had refused to sign \u201ceven one\u201d request for a pardon from about 25 pedophile priests.<\/p>\n He sought to turn back the clock to happier days, reminding reporters that he landed in Chile expressing \u201cpain and shame\u201d<\/a> for children abused by priests.<\/p>\n But many advocates for victims heard less truth in those prepared remarks than in the pope\u2019s off-the-cuff response to a Chilean reporter\u2019s question about whether Bishop Barros was complicit in covering up crimes of abuse.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day someone brings me proof against Bishop Barros, then I will talk,\u201d Francis said before celebrating Mass<\/a> outside the northern Chilean city of Iquique. \u201cBut there is not one single piece of evidence. It is all slander. Is that clear?\u201d<\/p>\n On Sunday, the pope reiterated his doubts.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is showing a very different attitude to those who have been abused,\u201d Ms. Collins said.<\/p>\n