POPE FRANCIS ACCEPTS TWO MORE RESIGNATIONS OF CHILEAN BISHOPS...NOW WHAT ABOUT ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD?

Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of two more Chilean Bishops, the latest fallout from a sex abuse scandal whose scope and gravity were initially underestimated by the Pontiff.

After an emergency meeting of the Bishops’ Conference of Chile called by the Holy Father in Rome, all 31 of Chile’s active Bishops submitted their resignations for collectively failing to protect children from pedophile priests.

The Vatican announced that Pope Francis allowed Rancagua Bishop Alejandro Goic Karmelic and Talca Bishop Horacio del Carmen Valenzuela Abarca to resign, bringing to five the total number of resignations accepted so far.

In the region of the Rancagua Diocese, 14 Priests have been accused of having had sex with minors. Goic had served as head of the Chilean church’s child protection commission.

The Pope had already accepted the resignation of Osorno Bishop Juan Barros, once a top aide to Chile’s most notorious predator priest. Originally Francis had been a staunch defender of Barros, dismissing outcries from many of Chile’s faithful, including some church officials, that the Bishop was unfit for the office because he ignored abuse by the Father Fernando Karadima.

The Vatican in 2011 had sentenced Father Karadima to a life of penance and prayer for his sex crimes.Bishop Barros had denied assertions from victims that he had witnessed abuse by Father Karadima.

Bishop Barros had twice offered to resign his post, but Pope Francis had steadfastly defended him. Then the Pontiff radically changed his view after he invited to the Vatican abuse survivors, including one who had lobbied the Vatican for years to take action.

Two Vatican investigators reported their extensive findings. 

Their report exposed a scandal implicating several Religious Orders as well as evidence that the Chilean hierarchy systematically covered up or minimized abuse, including pressuring Church investigators to discredit those making abuse accusations.

But the scandals in Chile are no worse than those in other parts of the world, including among members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

If the Holy Father is going to seriously begin “cleaning house”, I suggest there is a substantial amount of dust and grit with the USCCB that needs attention.

Moreover, scandals revealing systematic abuse and cover-ups have stained the Catholic Church in other countries as well, lately and most notably in Ireland and Australia, where Cardinal Pell is facing trial for personal acts of sexual abuse. 

As more cases are exposed, Pope Francis has come to denounce what he calls a “culture of abuse and cover-up” in the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis cannot afford to be arbitrary in his treatment of the Bishops of Chile, for two reasons.

First, it might appear he only decided to personally and forcefully engage the scandal in Chile because he had embarrassed himself by his initial claims that the scandals there were less nothing more than calumny and libel.

Second, it would undermine the confidence of the Catholic faithful that the Holy Father’s words of condemnation are nothing other than a public relation hype.

What the Pope has done in Chile needs like doing in other countries.

Let us see if Pope Francis has the will and stamina to rid the vermin from the House of God.