The Legal Examiner Affiliate Network The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner search instagram avvo phone envelope checkmark mail-reply spinner error close The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner The Legal Examiner
Skip to main content

Recently I wrote about the Pope supporting Bishop Juan Barros in Chili against survivors.

The Pope: Zero Tolerance???

The Pope hopefully learned from that when he restarted the Sex Abuse Commission.  But I am again I am asking the questions I asked when the commision was started the first time.  what will a commission do?    Will it be filled with either yes men or individuals with no authority?  Will it be prevented from getting all available documents?    Will there be cannon law vs. common law distinctions made that are used to prevent disclosure?

NBC  reported:

None of the most outspoken lay advocates for victims from the original group returned, but a statement stressed that the commission’s work would be imbued throughout with the experience of victims. Commission members are to open their April plenary by meeting with victims privately, and discussions are continuing to create an “international survivor advisory panel” to advise the commission and make sure the voices of victims are heard in all its deliberations, the statement said.

The Chicago Tribune also added:

“As must be done in good jurisprudence, always in favor of the offender,” he told reporters Jan. 21 en route home from South America.

Francis applied that concept in the case of the Rev. Mauro Inzoli, a well-known Italian priest defrocked by the Vatican for having abused children as young as 12. He had his sentence reduced on appeal to a lifetime of penance and prayer in 2014 after what his bishop said was a show of mercy from Francis. But in 2016, an Italian judge convicted Inzoli of abusing five children aged 12-16 and sentenced him to four years, nine months in prison. The Vatican opened a new church trial against him and in 2017 he was definitively defrocked.

The issue is that they don’t need the commission. What they need to do is to turn over the names of those who are still active in the church who are the perpetrators of these crimes.  They need to look at Zero Tolerance and actually practice it.  They need to be hailed by the UN for their openness and not questioned about their commitment to truly protect children.

Will future kids be protected and will those pedophiles who continue to offend be disclosed?

Will survivors of the past be allowed to come into the light and see real justice for what they have suffered?

Will the Church stop fighting Statute of Limitation changes who open the window for those that have suffered?

Will all lists out there be finally disclosed?

Will we finally see an end to the practice of hiding and transfers?

Justice can be achieved.  It will be either as a fight or in real action and repentance.

The Pope has been named the Time Person of the Year.   A interesting perspective can be found with Jeff Anderson’s:    Pope Francis: Person of the Year?

Abuse of children and the continued silence by the offenders needs to be prevented. If you suffered, saw, or suspected such events, it is important to know that there is help out there.

Comments for this article are closed.