Pope Francis has called for caution in the “interpretation” of a damning report released in October that found as many as 330,000 children may have been sexually abused by clergy and lay members of the Catholic Church in France.
The pontiff said on Monday that the “historical situation” must be framed in context when conducting studies that explore incidents dating back decades. The inquiry behind the report, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE), examined allegations of sexual abuse of minors in the Catholic church in France from the 1950s to 2020.
Noting that studies “must be attentive to the interpretation” people will “make of it,” the Pope said that historical abuse must be viewed according to the standards of the time. He gave as an example that the “attitude” of the church to cases of abuse was “to cover it up,” but acknowledged that this was an “attitude that unfortunately still exists today in a large number of families.”
Abuse 100 years ago, 70 years ago, was brutality. But the way it was experienced is not the same as today.
The comments drew backlash from victims’ groups in France, with the founder of one association – La Parole Liberee (Freed Speech) – criticizing the Catholic leader’s “ignorance, stupidity and denial.”
“This will show everyone that the Pope is at the heart of the problem,” Devaux told the AFP news agency. He also expressed disbelief at the pontiff’s “distressing” lack of interest in the inquiry. Francis had on Monday revealed he had yet to read the CIASE report, but said he would discuss it with French bishops during their scheduled visit later this month.
In October, he had expressed “shame” on behalf of himself and the Catholic Church over the scale of sexual abuse revealed by the 2,500-page report. The CIASE had referred to a “veil of silence” within the church that enabled decades of abuse and ensured that victims were “not believed, not heard.” This, it said, allowed “systemic” abuse to continue unchecked for decades.
Over the last 70 years, roughly 216,000 children were found to have been abused by clergy, with the number of victims potentially growing to 330,000 when including incidents by lay representatives of the church. From a total of 115,000 priests and clergy with the church over that time, the evidence showed some 2,900 to 3,200 are being accused of abuse.
VILNA, Dec 07 (IPS) – Independent journalism has come increasingly under attack in Belarus, as the country has become a regional hotspot of media repression. Lately, as many as six media outlets have closed shop to ensure the security of their staff. Some media workers have fled the country.
Pope Francis has denounced the EU’s attempt to replace the term “Christmas period” with a more-neutral “holiday period,” saying it was a move that some oppressive regime might well have made.
The European Commission last week made a U-turn on its language replacement after a public backlash, including from the Vatican. Pope Francis minced no words as he decried, during a flight home from Cyprus and Greece, what he saw as an ill-advised idea.
“In history many, many dictatorships have tried to do so,” the Pope was cited as telling journalists.
Think of Napoleon: From there … think of the Nazi dictatorship, the communist one… it is the fashion of watered-down secularism… But this is something that, throughout, hasn’t worked.
The EU, the pontiff added, should “be careful not to take the path of ideological colonization,” since otherwise it will only cause division among its members, leading to a fall of the entire bloc.
“The European Union must respect each country as it is structured within, the variety of countries, and not want to make them uniform,” he said, adding that he was according Brussels the benefit of the doubt in this particular case.
The resolution to change existing wording appeared in a guidebook on “inclusive communications” that advised EU bureaucrats on how to make their messaging more accommodating to minority groups. “Christmas” was deemed unsuitable because adherents of religions other than Christianity could dislike it. In another example, the instruction said that “man-made” should be dropped in favor of a gender-neutral “human-induced.”
The suggestions, which were released in late October on the order of European Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, were highlighted by the Italian newspaper il Giornale in late November.
The news triggered outrage among more conservative people, including many prominent public figures. The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, even called it an attempt at “cancellation of our roots, the Christian dimension of our Europe”.
