I have said a number of times that the real test as to whether or not Pope Francis will bring real change to the Roman Catholic Church will be how he addresses the worldwide sex abuse scandal and those in the Church hierarchy that aided, abetted and covered up for predator priests. And this test includes those at the very top, including the former Benedict XVI. Sadly, it appears that we have gotten an answer to this question and it seems to confirm that while Francis is ushering in a more PR savvy papacy, nothing has really changed whatsoever. Those responsible for decades of cover ups and the obstruction of justice on a global scale will go unpunished - including Benedict XVI who for over 20 years knew what was happening and did nothing. Andrew Sullivan laments what we now know:
The Acid Test For Francis - And he fails:
Speaking about the horrific abuse of children by priests, Francis said “the cases of abuse are terrible because they leave very deep wounds”. Benedict XVI “was very courageous and opened a road, and the Church has done a lot on this route, perhaps more than all others”, he stated. He noted that the statistics reveal the tremendous violence against children, but also that the vast majority of abuse takes place in the milieu of the family and those close to them. The Church is the only public institution to have moved “with transparency and responsibility”, he said; no one else has done as much as it, “but the Church is the only one to be attacked”.This is more of the institutional defensiveness that has proven so devastating to the church’s moral authority and a bad omen for more thoroughgoing accountability and reform.
The UN Report on the Vatican’s role as a global conspiracy to enable, abet and cover up crimes against humanity is a vital reminder of just how hideous the Catholic Church has been in violating the souls and bodies of so many innocents.
It seems nothing every truly changes in the corrupt, morally bankrupt world of the Vatican.
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