THE CHALLENGE for all Filipinos — and people everywhere, really — is to take a principled and moral stand and act without fear to protect children from sexual abuse.
Adults must find their true Christian faith and have the courage to speak out, report the sexual abuse of children, and stop it by exposing the crime, telling the truth, and ending the culture of silence.
This applies to all churches, especially the Catholic Church and its bishops everywhere, as Pope Leo XIV recently spoke out in France to remind these prelates of their sacred duty to stop sexual abuse in their ranks and report them to the civil authorities.
Bringing clerical child abusers to justice and convicting and jailing them is a most important way to protect children from priests and laypeople committing this heinous crime. Child sexual abuse can happen in sacristies and rectories, schools and hotels, as well as online.
One such abuser was from the Diocese of Tuguegarao. He is in the Cagayan provincial jail facing 20 criminal counts, including 11 counts of qualified child rape, for abusing a 16-year-old church volunteer. He videotaped his abusive acts and used the video showing these to blackmail the minor to keep silent.
Upon his arrest, he admitted to the crimes but claimed it was consensual. The child denied giving consent.
Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, protects all children younger than age 18. It explicitly says an adult who uses authority, influence, or moral ascendancy to engage a child in sexual conduct is guilty of child abuse and exploitation.
When Pope Leo was in Lourdes last month, he held a private, emotional two-hour meeting with seven French survivors of clerical child abuse. He hugged them and listened to their stories of the clerical abuse they suffered. He committed himself to stand with them to prevent further abuse.
The pontiff told the bishops in France and beyond to stop child abuse by their priests. He also told them to root out the “scourge” of sexual abuse and maintain the “greatest vigilance.” Abuse, he said, destroys the faith of victims. There must be total accountability.
Sexual abuse of any kind contradicts the words of Jesus of Nazareth in the Gospel of Saint Matthew: “It would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Mt 18:6).
Strong words, indeed. For abusers, there should be no impunity, no denial, and no coverup, just repentance, confession and penance according to the civil law. There is no exception, not even bishops.
Children, Jesus said, are the most important in the Kingdom of God. “Protect and receive a child, and you receive me,” he said.
“The Church must look into the mirror of truth without fear. This scourge is not merely a collection of isolated events; it represents a profound human and spiritual failure that demands our ongoing vigilance, absolute transparency, and unyielding support for the healing of survivors. Our accountability must be absolute, for where trust was broken, only the truth can begin to rebuild,” Pope Leo said. (To be continued)/PN
