THE GREATEST sadness and suffering of Pope Francis was over the numerous sex crimes by priests against children and their cover-up by bishops. This clerical abuse caused lifelong trauma to the child victims and denied them justice. It brought shame and disgrace, and damaged the credibility of the Church.
Pope Francis was shocked by the extent of the clerical child abuse, and many had been convicted and jailed abroad.
In the Philippines, only one out of dozens of credibly accused priests is in jail and on trial in Cagayan.
During a visit to Chile in January 2018, Bishop Juan Barro connived with other bishops and convinced Pope Francis that the survivors’ allegations of clerical sex abuse were false. Pope Francis called the allegations slander, causing anger and consternation in the Chilean church.
In April that year, a group of child victims of clerical abuse from Chile visited him at Casa Santa Marta. He learned that the conniving Chilean bishops who had blamed the survivors of lying were, in fact, lying themselves.
Although the pope is supposed to be infallible, he humbly admitted his mistake and blamed himself, and asked the victims for forgiveness. With true humility, he apologized for his “tragic error” and later expressed “shame and sorrow” for the clerical abuse.
He then challenged the Chilean bishops with evidence of the abuse. They begged for forgiveness and Pope Francis asked the 34 bishops to offer their resignation. They did, and he fired three bishops at once, including Barro, and later replaced others.
The pope later held an extraordinary summit of the world’s bishops on pedophilia in the church and changed church laws to explicitly criminalize such abuse. But some bishops defied Pope Francis and continued to protect their pedophile priests.
Pope Francis discovered widespread corruption in Caritas, the worldwide church charity. After an investigation, he fired every member, including the Asian cardinal in charge, The Crux reported.
He felt betrayed again when CNN revealed in 2019 that the same cardinal knowingly approved the appointment of a convicted pedophile, Belgian Salesian priest Fr. Luk Delft, as head of Caritas in the Congo.
It was widely known that Delft was convicted of child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography in 2017. The knowledge of his conviction did not prevent the cardinal from approving his appointment.
These cases are only a tip of the iceberg of the worldwide clerical child abuse and its cover-up. Some Filipino bishops protect their pedophile priests, calling them “sons,” thereby making themselves accessories to heinous crimes of child sexual abuse.
In the Philippine church, only two priests are known to have been convicted, and both are from the Archdiocese of Cebu. They admitted their crimes, but with the connivance of the prosecutor and judge, made a plea bargain and got off without any punishment and continued to serve in ministry.
There are enough child-abuse crimes and cover-ups to cause the great Pope Francis to turn in his grave. His spirit lives on./PN
