by Tom Gjelten
Catholic leaders from around the world [convened in Rome] to discuss the continuing clergy sexual abuse crisis. Abuse survivors say they’re not hopeful meaningful change will come from it.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Pope Francis has summoned bishops from around the world to the Vatican this week to talk about clergy sex abuse. They’ll consider priests who abused children, bishops who cover up for them and how the Catholic Church should address these problems. This is the first summit of its kind. But as NPR’s Tom Gjelten reports, it may leave Catholics in the U.S. disappointed.
TOM GJELTEN, BYLINE: It was clear in the U.S. before it was in other countries that abusive priests are everywhere. And though church leaders here have been notoriously slow in responding to the crisis, at least they came up with some plan to deal with it. It wasn’t very ambitious, and it would have been hard to enforce under church law. Even so, the U.S. bishops were not happy when their reforms were blocked by Pope Francis.
Originally published on 19 February 2019 at National Public Radio.
The Institute for Human Ecology
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Avenue, NE
339 Caldwell Hall
Washington, DC 20064
© 2024 The Institute for Human Ecology. All rights reserved.