LEGATUS WITHHOLDING $ 1 MILLION DOLLARS IN DONATIONS TO HOLY SEE

In the wake of the latest round of sex abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, a group of Catholic women are stepping up pressure on Pope Francis to take on a leadership role in dealing with the crisis.

The American group Legatus announced Thursday that it would withhold $1 million in donations in the midst of the controversy, saying that they want clarity on how the Church is going to proceed in investigating the abuse allegations.

“I certainly would support a very prudent study, and that’s why we really need the Holy Father’s answers,” Mary Fiorito of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said.

This is no small matter to the Holy See!

Legatus, a group of Catholic business leaders, has given the Vatican $18 million annually since 1987, and they’re using the donation as a wake-up call to the Church to address the crisis more forcefully.

Fiorito, who was Cardinal George’s executive assistant for 12 years, is one of 37,000 Catholic women who have signed a letter asking for answers after Archbishop Carlo Vigano’s letter stated that Pope Francis was aware of sex abuse allegations surrounding Cardinal Theodore McCarick.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, a member of the very first lay review board appointed in 2002, is asking the Pope to reinstate that group to investigate what the Catholic Church knew about the situation, and when they knew it.

“It has to be done because there’s no trust in the Church,” she said. “(We seek) to inquire about how Cardinal Theodore McCarrick rose through the ranks to become a bishop.”

Cardinal Blase Cupich does not support Justice Burke’s request.  “I am confident the current national lay review board has the competence to carry out any task the President of our conference requests,” he said in a statement.

Then again, Cardinal Cupich's competence in discerning the state of affairs (no pun intended) is certainly suspect.

And so, His Eminence’s confidence notwithstanding, the withholding of millions of American dollars in donations to the Holy See might just be the way to get the Pope’s attention.

For far too long, the generosity of American Catholics has been both presumed and unappreciated by Pope Francis who has shown that he is all to keen to attack American enterprise while remaining quite happy and eager to receive the largesse of so many US Catholics.

I personally support the move by Legatus and would counsel other such benevolent Catholic organizations to consider following the example of these women.

Perhaps, the silence of the Holy Father will be broken by the loud “Ouch” he mutters when the Vatican coffers find themselves a bit lighter and emptier.