Vatican City, Vatican.- Pope Francis addressed allegations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on Tuesday, acknowledging that the institution has a long way to go to deal with the problem, that more transparency is needed and that Church leaders must speak out more about abuse. against “vulnerable adults”.
Francis recalled that he himself had a steep learning curve about abuse by priests, admitting that his “conversion” moment came during a trip to Chile in 2018, when he himself discredited the victims of the most notorious predatory priest. from the country.
Several journalists, including from the AP, questioned Francis about his comments during the flight back to the Vatican. “I couldn’t believe it. You were the one who told me on the plane: ‘No, that’s not how it is done, Father.’ it was,” Francisco recalled.
Making a gesture indicating that his head had exploded, the Pope continued: “The bomb exploded on me, when I saw the corruption of many Bishops in this.”
“There you witnessed that I myself had to wake up to cases that were all covered up, right?”
More recently, the pope said he has been dealing with cases of “vulnerable adults” who were victims of sexual abuse and who are considered minors under the Vatican’s legal code in internal proceedings.
In 2019, the Vatican issued a broader definition for people it deemed “vulnerable” that went beyond the previous description of simply someone who “habitually lacks the use of reason.”
Francis used that expanded definition in his comments to the AP, and went even further, noting that there are a number of situations in which an adult can be considered vulnerable.
“One can be vulnerable because they are sick, they can be vulnerable due to mental disabilities, they can be vulnerable due to dependency,” he said.
Sometimes seduction occurs. A personality that seduces, that manages consciences and this creates a relationship of vulnerability, and thus you remain imprisoned”.
Francis addressed two cases that drew attention last year, including one involving a leader of the East Timorese independence movement, Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo.
A Dutch magazine, De Groene Amsterdammer, published in September that two people accused Belo of sexually abusing them as children in the 1990s. The magazine said there were other victims who had not come forward.
After the publication, the Vatican acknowledged that it had secretly sanctioned the priest and Nobel Prize winner in 2020, after the complaints that reached Rome a year earlier. The sanctions consisted of restricting his movements and ministry, as well as prohibiting him from having contact with minors or visiting East Timor.
However, the Vatican did not provide information at the time on whether Belo’s superiors knew in advance of any claims against him. Nor did he provide explanations as to why Saint John Paul II allowed Belo to step down two decades earlier in 2002.
The suspicion arose that Belo, like others before him, had been allowed to quietly retire rather than face any reckoning, given the damage he would have caused to the Church’s reputation.
Francis said he wanted more transparency in how cases are handled, but noted that this is an uphill battle in an institution that for centuries has handled predatory priests behind closed doors.
“It’s what I want, right? And with transparency comes a very nice thing that is shame. Shame is a grace,” he asserted.
