By Panay News
WHILE many good and dedicated bishops and priests in the Philippines and elsewhere are examining their conscience about their responsibility to bring pedophile clergymen to justice, many more are not.
In the past, Pope Francis — who remains hospitalized — has strongly spoken out on the urgent need to cleanse the institution of child-abusing priests and religious.
“A priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser,” he said.
As the successor of Saint Peter and Vicar of Christ, Francis speaks with authority in urging Church leaders to take responsibility for the widespread clerical child sexual abuse that has come to light in the past 20 years and its constant concealment by bishops and priests.
“I will be responsible that it doesn’t happen anymore,” he told CNN Portugal in the wake of shocking revelations of such abuse there.
Frequently, bishops, priests and lay leaders turned away from the victims, even blaming them for tempting the priests who raped them. They let it happen, and it was shamefully revealed. In the Philippines, this is still happening because no priest has ever been convicted. People think some bishops believe they are holy and above the law.
In an interview, Pope Francis said he was trying to establish “zero tolerance” of the abuse, but it was hard to do. He may have said “a priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser” but many bishops don’t seem to agree. They ignore the child victims and reassign the abusive priest to where he is likely to abuse more children, instead of allowing prosecutors and courts to pursue justice.
All eyes are now on the ongoing case of a jailed priest in Cagayan, where testimony is being heard of the multiple acts of rape and sexual assault he allegedly committed against a 15-year-old girl.
He admitted to the acts but claimed they were consensual, although he had recorded them and used them to blackmail the teenager to not report the abuse. Even though she was traumatized, she reported the abuse to a friend.
We hope and pray for the brave judge in Cagayan to follow her conscience and the evidence to where it would eventually lead to the truth.
These various revelations of clerical sex abuse scandals and their initial coverup make the Church look like an accessory to these crimes. The loss of credibility and trust in the Catholic hierarchy is growing. (To be continued)/PN