Vatican tries to rein in expectations for sexual abuse summit

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

Vatican tries to rein in expectations for sexual abuse summit

By Chico Harlan February 9 at 6:00 AM

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is preparing to convene an unprecedented summit on sex abuse this month, widely viewed as among the most pivotal moments of his papacy, but the Vatican is cautioning not to expect too much.

“I permit myself to say that I’ve perceived a bit of an inflated expectation,” Francis said. “We need to deflate the expectations.”

The Holy See’s press office released a statement calling the meeting just one stage in a 15-year journey.

The pope described his goal as educating bishops on the problem of abuse and how properly to handle it — which advocates say the church has talked about for years.

Francis called for the summit while facing a crescendo of sexual abuse scandals across the Catholic world — cases in which bishops and cardinals are alleged to have enabled abuse or carried it out themselves.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/vatican-tries-to-rein-in-expectations-for-sexual-abuse-summit/2019/02/08/129643b8-23f2-11e9-b5b4-1d18dfb7b084_story.html

[MineralMan]

1. Don't expect too much? How about expecting

that it stops, and that priests who abuse children are reported immediately to police? Instead of "deflating expectations," how about dealing with your rogue priests, Papa Francis? That'd be great.

[Major Nikon]

2. Evidently we can't even expect the RCC to report child rape to the police when they know about it

Because of reasons.

[MineralMan]

3. It looks to me as though the Pope has washed his hands of this,

after dipping them in the Holy Water basin. The abuse will continue, no doubt.

"Don't expect too much from us," the Pope says. "We're just, you know, humble priests."

[Major Nikon]

4. His interest is what's best for the RCC

Anyone who doubts this is allowing themselves to be deluded by the RCC. That's why we need oversight of the RCC to protect those the RCC is unwilling to protect. Yet there will still be those who carry the RCC's child raping holy water by claiming the venerated rituals of the RCC somehow trump the interests of children not being raped.

[MineralMan]

5. And only in the short term.

He may think he's protecting the RCC, but that's a false idea. The kitty has escaped the sack at this point. The information about the extent of sexual abuse of children by priests is rapidly becoming known, and not just here in the United States.

By continuing to shrug off this horrible network of abusers and those who protect them, he may well be dooming the RCC in the long term. With the faith community dwindling in size, less and less money will be forthcoming from Catholics, and the coffers will begin to shrink. Fewer people will become priests and other religious in the church.

Already, there is a shortage of priests, and even nuns, who are beginning to chafe at being the maidservants of the church. Huge financial judgments against archdioceses and dioceses connected with the long-term child sexual abuse, are sapping available funds. For example, here in the Twin Cities, the archdiocese has been forced to sell off real estate, including the archbishop's mansion. Catholic schools are closing or being consolidated and parishes of historical significance are being shuttered. And that's in just one jurisdiction.

The Pope is being short-sighted, to say the very least. Perhaps he's busy praying for the Second Coming. Who knows? Perhaps he's planning to shuffle off this mortal coil and pass the problem on to the next Cardinal to get the white smoke. But his announcement that people should not expect too much is alarming, or should be, to Catholic parishioners.