Vatican Abuse Summit

Commentary: The most stunning result of the four days in Rome was what the Vatican summit inspired: the unprecedented gathering of clergy abuse survivors from all corners of the globe.

NCR Connections: I would often wonder in the past when the church would turn some corner of realization and figure out how to deal with the crisis. The awareness I slowly came to is that no corner exists around which is some magical, instant conversion. 

Grace on the margins: Survivors were right to be disappointed that their demands were not met, but anyone listening to press briefings could hear that the bishops who went to Rome were nowhere near ready to take action.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The Franciscan story has a clear exhortation from Christ to "repair" or "rebuild" the church. What if we are meant to take that literally?

NCR Today: The divisiveness at the Vatican's conference to address sex abuse by priests does not bode well for progress. But a recent report in the U.S. offers some first steps.

We say: The recent meeting has the potential to mark a large step forward in the church's efforts to deal with the scandal and regain the trust of Catholics and others. It is essential, however, to note two factors that significantly qualify the meeting's success.

Bishops W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City, Missouri, Steven Biegler of Cheyenne, Wyoming, John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, and William Wack of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, are 50 to 59 years old and relatively "new" bishops. They talk to NCR about the current state of the church's sex abuse crisis.

Francis, the comic strip: Gabby and Brother Leo take care of Francis.

Distinctly Catholic: Checking out how conservative U.S. Catholics reacted to the Vatican sex abuse summit would be funny if it were not so pitiful. Their commentary betrays their biases.

In separate interviews with NCR, Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna both said the Vatican should begin disclosing the reasons for a Catholic prelate's removal from office. Among other topics, they also talked about seminary culture and about inclusion of women in synods of bishops.

On the last full day of the meeting in Rome on clergy sex abuse, a German cardinal and a Nigerian nun, each in his or her own way, explained that transparency was the only way for the Catholic Church to deal with the crisis. They spoke with bluntness unusual in meetings of bishops, practicing the transparency they preached.

Francis, the comic strip: Winter weather may bode well for church reform.

One of the most pressing questions about the clergy sexual abuse crisis is how the church should deal with bishops who are accused of covering up allegations of abuse or who have committed abuse themselves.

Distinctly Catholic: It was easy to forget that the fact of the meeting itself was a significant step forward. It was unprecedented to gather the presidents of the world's episcopal conferences together on relatively short notice to address a specific problem. 

Vatican City: Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, who served as moderator of the Feb. 21-24 summit, said Pope Francis will soon publish a new set of laws and guidelines concerning child protection for Vatican City State.

Vatican City: The Vatican summit on child protection and the clerical sexual abuse crisis affirmed the U.S. bishops' strong belief that bishops and cardinals who abuse children or cover up abuse must be held accountable, said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

Vatican City: Pope Francis ended his landmark summit with 190 Catholic bishops on clergy sexual abuse Feb. 24 with a promise the church will "decisively confront" the abuse of minors, but also warned that the global institution must avoid "ideological disputes and journalistic practices" that he said exploit the scandals.

Vatican City: If they are truly serious about fighting clerical sex abuse, bishops must join forces with journalists and not view them as enemies plotting against the Catholic Church, Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki said.

Vatican City: Here is the prepared text of the presentation given Feb. 23 by Valentina Alazraki at the Vatican summit on child protection. Alazraki, a Mexican journalist and writer, is the Vatican correspondent for Televisa.

The prepared text of the presentation given Feb. 23 by Nigerian Sr. Veronica Openibo, leader of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, at the Vatican summit on child protection. 

Vatican City: A top cardinal has admitted that the global Catholic Church destroyed files to prevent documentation of decades of sexual abuse of children, saying that such misadministration led "in no small measure" to more children being harmed.

Presentations during the second day of Pope Francis' highly anticipated global summit on clergy sexual abuse focused widely on how Catholic bishops should police one another for signs of questionable conduct, while also making room for the "essential role" of laypeople in rooting out abuse.

Vatican City: Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge said such an office could be focused on ensuring "integrity in the church" and would be a way of signaling the seriousness of the problems facing the worldwide institution.

Immediately after asking bishops and religious superiors to be concrete in confronting the clerical sexual abuse crisis and the need to protect children in the church, Pope Francis handed them a list of 21 action items to consider.

Signs of the Times: The most important result of this meeting would be to get other bishops, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, not to make the same mistakes that U.S. bishops made.

Laypeople must be involved in a "more meaningful and influential role" to help Catholic bishops create "an environment of safety within the church," the chairman of the National Review Board said in an opinion piece published by The Boston Globe.

Pope Francis opened the highly anticipated global summit on Catholic clergy sexual abuse Feb. 21 by telling the hundreds of bishops he had called to Rome for the encounter that people expect them to consider "concrete and effective measures" to confront what he termed the "evil" of abuse.

Commentary, Part 3 of 3: The church's cover-up debacle owes greatly to John Paul II. In 1989, U.S. bishops sought the authority to defrock child predators. John Paul refused. For years, I wondered why.

Vatican City: Peter Isely, an Ending Clergy Abuse member who took part in the meeting, said some of the survivors told the summit organizers it was "not OK" that Francis was not there.

Commentary, Part 2 of 3: For years, bishops proclaimed the sanctity of life in the womb while playing musical chairs with child molesters. They kept the closed system operating, until insiders leaked information.

Rome: The heads of Catholic religious orders around the world apologized to clergy abuse survivors Feb. 19, acknowledging in a rare joint statement that orders habitually denied accusations in the past and covered up for abusers.

Commentary, Part 1 of 3: Pope Francis is trying to chart a way out of the long, aching scandal by forging standards where few exist. How did the crisis reach this stage? What feasible reforms can the pope engineer?

Vatican City:  Vatican officials Feb. 18 declined to comment on the case of a priest working at the Catholic Church's highest court who has been listed by his home diocese as credibly accused of abuse.

Reform starts with ordinary Catholics because we are the ones who financially support the present failed system. We are complicit in the sins of that system if we are not involved in creating inclusive structures of accountability. 

Commentary: Euphemization has enabled the hierarchy to mask the double truths — celibacy/sexual activity and priestly service/power — that have sustained its consecrated status for many generations of Catholics.

What should people expect from the four-day Vatican meeting Feb. 21-24? Five points hit the highlights.

Distinctly Catholic: I hope that, whatever happens next week in Rome at the meeting to discuss the church's response to sex abuse, every country is able to take a giant step forward from where it is now in its commitment to confronting this sin and crime.

Signs of the Times: The meeting is not aimed at the American church, which has been working on the sex abuse crisis for decades. The meeting is aimed at bishops around the world who do not understand the crisis and are making the same mistakes that the American bishops made in the past.

Only about half of the national bishops' conferences in the world have adopted complete, Vatican-approved guidelines for handling accusations of clerical sexual abuse and promoting child protection, said the Jesuit named to moderate the Vatican's February summit on abuse.

Pope Francis wants leaders of the world's bishops' conferences to clearly understand what must be done to prevent abuse, care for victims and ensure no case is whitewashed or covered up.

A prominent survivor and advocate for those affected by clerical abuse has urged Pope Francis to publicly name bishops who have been found guilty of negligence by church tribunals.

The aim of Pope Francis' February meeting on abuse and safeguarding is to clarify and underline what must and must not be done with allegations and make sure no more cases are ever covered up, said Andrea Tornielli, editorial director for the Vatican Dicastery for Communication.

Three former members of Pope Francis' commission on clergy sexual abuse are calling on the pontiff's February Vatican summit on child protection to re-evaluate the structure of the group in order to make it more effective in pursuing policy reforms.

Before traveling to Rome for a major Vatican summit on the clerical sex abuse crisis and child protection, each participating bishop should meet with survivors of abuse, said the committee organizing the meeting.

Pope Francis has called all of the presidents of the world's various conferences of Catholic bishops to Rome for a February meeting on clergy sexual abuse, in the first such global summons by a pontiff.