Responding to the latest priest sex-abuse scandal, 87-year-old Pope Francis red the riot act in a 2,00-page letter to the Holy See, apologizing profusely for another embarrassing round of priest sex abuse. Pope Francis. Known as Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio since ordained a Catholic priest Dec. 13, 1969, eventually rose to Cardinal of Buenos Aires. Cardinal Bergoglio chose St. Francis of Assisi as his namesake, elected pope by the papal conclave by his fellow cardinals March 13, 2013. Speaking in Dublin, Irelands, Pope Francis laid out his new vision. “Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such [abuses] from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated,” Pope Francis wrote. Yet Pope Francis knows the Vatican made the same promises before, and promises to make the same changes now.
Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict made the exact same promises in 2000 hoping to prevent future generations of priest abuse. Generations of choirboys have suffered the indignity of priest sex abuse, only to watch the Vatican fight every lawsuit that threatens the Vatican. Only last week, a Pennsylvania jury released a report documenting abuse by some 300 priests, with children allegedly raped, plied with alcohol, and covered up by Church officials. When Pope Francis visits Ireland this weekend, a country wracked by its share of pedophile priests, he’s expected to apologize for Church officials covering up the crimes. Paying out billions in damage awards over the last 30 years, Pope Francis wants to deal with priest abuse once-and-for-all. Acknowledging that the Vatican has been slow to change, Pope Francis wants no more excuses, only action when it comes to pedophile priests.
With Pope Benedict XVI apologized to the Irish people in 2000, another apology by Francis this weekend won’t be enough. Benedict said the Church was “truly sorry,” for the sex abuse of pedophile priests. Benedict said the Church in Ireland needed to acknowledge the “serious sins committed against defenseless children,” echoing today’s response from Pope Francis. Yet Pope Francis knows that Pope John Paul’s Vatican II didn’t solve all the Church’s problems, certainly not priest sexual abuse. Expressing sexuality is strictly prohibited by ordained priests where the celibacy vow remains an essential part of a priest’s spiritual evolution. “Vatican II never settled the celibacy vow, with Pope Francis concluding in work of Vatican III in 2914, insisting that the celibacy issue would not be touched by Vatican lawmakers. Pope Francis’s powerful letter suggests changes are in the works.
Outraged by another round of priest sex abuse, Pope Francis wants change but doesn’t know how to get there. While the percentage of pedophile priests is a small fraction of ordained priests, the consequences of even one wayward priest can be devastating to generations of young people. Sex abuse victims rarely get over or recover from adverse events. One sex abuse occurs with authority figures like priests or parents, it’s the most difficult of childhood traumas from which to recover. “H has show the capacity to change, and I think that’s the single most important lesson he has given us about himself,” said Church sex abuse journalist Jason Berry, author of articles and books on priest sex abuse. Berry doesn’t believe that Pope Francis has the right senior leadership capable of dealing with priest sex abuse. Berry sees the Church in damage control mode, not finding systemic fixes.
Pope Francis hoped that Vatican III would not have to change time-honored tradition like celibacy. “He does not have a brain trust around him that is focused on systemic reform,” Berry said. “Right now they’re putting out fires,” said Berry, skeptical that anything can be done about priest sex abuse. When Berry talks about “systemic” change, he’s not preventing future sex abuse cases. Only by ending the celibacy vow can young Catholics be spared the indignity of acting out priests, so consumed with sexual frustration they can barely contain themselves. While the Church provides discipline to ordained priests, it still doesn’t take into account the unnatural biologic state of prolonged sexual deprivation. Without ending the celibacy vow, the Church remains vulnerable to human sexual physiology. Sigmund Freud showed over100 years ago that sexuality is a ubiquitous human emotion.
Running out of options, it’s high time for Pope Francis to officials convene Vatican II with, as he says, an eye to the future. If the Vatican really wants to deal with the systemic problem of priest sex abuse, no amount of divine or earthly punishment can reverse the current trend. Vatican III must break with age-old tradition an once-and-for-all jettison the obsolete celibacy vow the priest. No other Christian sect requires its clergy to remain celibate. “The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced,” said Pope Francis. Now amount of purging from the ranks can get to the bottom of the priest sex abuse scandal. Vatican II can set the record straight for a new generation of priests no longer bound by an obsolete tradition of celibacy. No amount of apologies can undo the dame from priest sex abuse, requiring real changes ahead.
