"Pope Francis’ closest adviser on child protection has said the pontiff’s
defence of a Chilean bishop accused of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse is a
“source of great pain” for sexual abuse survivors.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the leader of a papal child safeguarding commission,
said he could not explain why the Pope had described
accusations that Bishop Juan Barros covered up the abuse of a
high-profile priest as slanderous.
During his trip to Chile, Francis told reporters that not “one shred of proof”
had been brought against Bishop Barros and the claims
against the bishop are “all calumny”.
Barros, who the Pope controversially appointed to lead the Diocese of
Osorno in 2015, is accused of knowing about – and even witnessing –
the crimes of Fr Fernando Karadima.
he Pope’s remarks defending Barros sent shockwaves through Chile
and caused upset among Karadima’s victims who argue that
Barros knew about the abuse. In 2011,
the Vatican found Fr Karadima guilty of abusing three boys
and sentenced to him to a lifetime of "prayer and penance".
In a statement released on Saturday Cardinal O’Malley,
the Archbishop of Boston, said he could understand their hurt.
“Words that convey the message ‘if you cannot prove your claims then
you will not be believed’, abandon those who have suffered
reprehensible criminal violations of their human dignity and
relegate survivors to discredited exile,” the cardinal explained.
“Not having personally been involved in the cases
that were the subject of yesterday’s interview
I cannot address why the Holy Father chose the particular
words he used at the time.”
Cardinal O’Malley emphasised, however, that the Pope
“fully recognises the egregious failures of the Church and
its clergy who abused children” and understands
“the devastating impact those crimes have had
on survivors and their loved ones".
Nevertheless, his implicit rebuke of Francis’ handling of the
Barros case is highly unusual by a cardinal to a Pope and
fuels the perception that the 81-year-old Argentinian
pontiff has not grasped the scale and magnitude of the c
lerical sexual abuse scandal.
Marie Collins, a prominent abuse survivor, has said recently
that child protection was being given a “low priority”
in the Vatican despite assurances from the Pope and
cited a lack of new members to the Pontifical Commission
for the Protection of Minors.
Ms Collins, who resigned her membership of the commission in
frustration at the slow pace of change, also argued that
two Chilean church leaders sought to block attempts
to appoint a Chilean abuse survivor to the papal safeguarding body.
Cardinal O’Malley is currently travelling to Peru where he i
s due to meet the Pope during the final part of Francis’ visit.
A Capuchin Friar – a branch of the Franciscan order following the
teachings of the Pope’s namesake, St Francis of Assisi – there is
no-one more experienced in dealing with the Church’s sex
abuse crisis than O’Malley.
He took over the Archdiocese of Boston following a high profile
abuse cover-up exposed by the Boston Globe in a high-profile series
of exclusive exposés that were documented in the Oscar-wining film
Spotlight and also handled the aftermath of abuse scandals in
Massachusetts and Florida.
On Friday 19 January, Kevin Cullen of the Boston Globe commented:
"Let the record show that the promise of Pope Francis died in
Santiago, Chile,
on Jan. 18, in the year of our Lord 2018.
When Pope Francis slandered victims of sexual abuse, ironically
by accusing those very victims of slandering a Chilean bishop
who was complicit in that abuse, he confirmed what some critics
have said all along, what I have always resisted embracing:
Pope Francis is a company man, no better than his predecessors
when it comes to siding with the institutional Roman Catholic Church
against any who would criticise it or those, even children, w
ho have been victimised by it."
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