In his first public statement on the subject, Pope Francis has called for the Church to continue “decisive action” against clerical sex abuse.
The Pope asked the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Müller, to “continue the line desired by Benedict XVI of decisive action regarding cases of sexual abuse, primarily by promoting measures for child protection”.
He also urged the congregation to offer “help for the many who in the past have suffered such violence” and to ensure “due process against those who are guilty”.
He also called on Archbishop Müller to continue to seek “the commitment of bishops’ conferences in the formulation and implementation of the necessary directives in this area which is of great importance to the witness of the Church and its credibility”.
In 2011, the congregation called on bishops’ conferences around the world to submit guidelines for helping victims; protecting children; selecting and training priests and other Church workers; dealing with accused priests; and collaborating with local authorities.
Three-quarters of the 112 bishops’ conferences have sent in such guidelines, with most of those yet to respond coming from Africa, the Vatican says.
Dr Rebecca Rist, a papal historian at Reading University, said: “The papacy has always taken a strong line on the importance of the purity of life of its clergy. In the 11th century, the medieval papacy took stringent measures against the abuses of ‘simony’ — the buying and selling of ecclesiastical office — and ‘nicolaism’ — clerical concubinage.
“Pope Francis is signalling that he regards clerical sexual abuse as the modern-day scourge of the Church.”
But a victims’ group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), responded to the statement by calling for actions rather than words.
“We must insist on new tangible action that helps vulnerable children protect their bodies, not old vague pledges that help a widely-discredited institution protect its reputation,” said SNAP outreach director Barbara Dorris.
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