Pope Francis’ Powerful Words on Protecting Children Abused by Priests

By Fr. Shay Cullen

While many good and dedicated bishops and priests in the Philippines and elsewhere are examining their conscience about their responsibility to bring pedophile clergymen to justice, many more are not. In the past, Pope Francis — who remains hospitalized — has strongly spoken out on the urgent need to cleanse the institution of child-abusing priests and religious. “A priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser,” he said.

As the successor of Saint Peter and Vicar of Christ, Francis speaks with authority in urging Church leaders to take responsibility for the widespread clerical child sexual abuse that has come to light in the past 20 years and its constant concealment by bishops and priests. “I will be responsible that it doesn’t happen anymore,” he told CNN Portugal in the wake of shocking revelations of such abuse there. Frequently, bishops, priests and lay leaders turned away from the victims, even blaming them for tempting the priests who raped them. They let it happen, and it was shamefully revealed. In the Philippines, this is still happening because no priest has ever been convicted. People think some bishops believe they are holy and above the law.

In an interview, Pope Francis said he was trying to establish “zero tolerance” of the abuse, but it was hard to do. He may have said “a priest cannot remain a priest if he is an abuser,” but many bishops don’t seem to agree. They ignore the child victims and reassign the abusive priest to where he is likely to abuse more children, instead of allowing prosecutors and courts to pursue justice.

All eyes are now on the ongoing case of jailed Fr. Karole Reward Israel in Cagayan, where testimony is being heard of the multiple acts of rape and sexual assault he allegedly committed against a 15-year-old girl. He admitted to the acts but claimed they were consensual, although he had recorded them and used them to blackmail the teenager to not report the abuse. Even though she was traumatized, she reported the abuse to a friend. We hope and pray for the brave judge in Cagayan to follow her conscience and the evidence to where it would eventually lead to the truth.

These various revelations of clerical sex abuse scandals and their initial coverup make the Church look like an accessory to these crimes. The loss of credibility and trust in the Catholic hierarchy is growing. When Francis was elected in March 2013 as the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, he was determined to end clerical child abuse. But many bishops resisted, preferring to cover up and hope there would be no civil cases that would bankrupt their dioceses. They frequently cited the “Pontifical Secret,” an old rule that wrongly advised church leaders not to report clerical abuse to the local authorities. It prevented any church cooperation with prosecutors and police when seeking legal information. It consequently blocked the discussion of cases outside the circle of church authorities.

In December 2019, Pope Francis took the historic decision to cancel and abolish the Pontifical Secret. Instead, he made the reporting of clerical child abuse mandatory for all clergy and religious. For the first time, he ordered each diocese to set up reporting mechanisms for reporting clerical abuse and its coverups. The pontifical instruction required bishops and priests to file, record and protect all data regarding every case of clerical child abuse and never allow it to be lost or destroyed. In his wisdom, Francis also forbade church authorities to gag anyone for reporting abuse or claimed they had been abused.

Then in 2022, Francis went even further. He made revisions to Church law and issued directives that demanded bishops to act strongly and bring child-abusing priests to justice. “I don’t deny the abuse. Even if it was only one [case], it is monstrous. Because you, priest, you, nun, have to take that boy, that girl to God and with this (sexual abuse), you destroy their lives. It’s monstrous. It is destroying lives. This is one thing about abuse; it is a destructive thing, humanly diabolical…. So, it is simply the monstrosity of a man or woman of the church who is psychologically ill or evil and uses their position for their personal satisfaction,” he said.

Francis noted in interviews that some Church leaders refuse to obey his instructions and changes to Church laws to protect children. They choose secrecy instead. But Francis said: “There is no turning back. My instructions are irreversible.”

As I said earlier, Church authorities are now required to provide all information and evidence on abuse cases to prosecutors and courts. Pope Francis has even removed the threat of excommunication to all Catholics who do that and who will testify and provide information, as well as cooperate with prosecutors and civil courts. In other words, the highest virtue is to tell the truth about child abuse. Archbishop Charles Scicluna said Francis’ pontifical instruction was highly significant.

Some bishops defy Pope Francis’ instructions and continue to protect pedophile priests. These were not just some rotten apples in the barrel; the whole barrel was rotten, as one reporter said. When the accused is a bishop, cardinal or religious, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican office for bishops, said: “We have said for years that priests must conform to certain strict rules, so why shouldn’t bishops and others in the hierarchy do the same? It’s not just a law, but a profound responsibility.”