Bridget Mary's Response: Of course, pastoral care of victims should be done by the local bishop but also by the Vatican. The least the Vatican could do is express deep care to abuse survivors. Cardinal Muller's defense is lacking in Christ-like compassion toward survivors who have suffered deep wounds. Can you imagine Jesus treating anyone this way? It reads like a cop-out from sharing responsibility for the tragedy of world-wide abuse. The Vatican needs more women like Marie Collins with major decision-making power in the CDF and in its major offices. The Vatican Curia needs a holy shakeup Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, www.arcwp.org
"Collins said her decision to resign was immediately precipitated by one Vatican office's refusal to comply with a request from the commission, approved by the pope, that all letters sent to the Vatican by abuse survivors receive a response.
While Collins did not specify the Vatican dicastery in question in her NCR statement, Muller’s interview seems to make apparent that it was his office that refused the request.
The cardinal also seems to reveal that several Vatican dicasteries resisted implementing a decision by Francis in 2015 to create a new tribunal to judge bishops who act inappropriately in sexual abuse cases.
While that tribunal was announced by Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the head of the commission, in June 2015, it was never created. Francis instead signed a new universal law for the church in June 2016 specifying that a bishop's negligence in response to clergy sexual abuse can lead to his removal from office.
“The congregation has the task of running canonical trials,” Muller said. “Personal contact with the survivors is better done by local shepherds. And when a letter arrives, we always ask the bishop to provide pastoral care to the victims, clarifying to them that the congregation will do everything possible to do justice.”
It’s a misconception, he said, to believe that the office in Rome could take care of all the dioceses and religious orders in the world, because it would not respect the “legitimate autonomy of dioceses and the principle of subsidiarity.”
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