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| Pope Francis meets with leaders from the US church at the Vatican on Thursday to discuss claims of sexual abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/Handout) |
Vatican
City (AFP) - Pope Francis met with US bishops and cardinals on Thursday to
discuss the Vatican's response to a new wave of devastating claims of sexual
abuse by clergy.
The pope
met Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, who leads the US Conference
of Bishops, and Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, who advises the pope on sex
abuse issues.
DiNardo's
deputy Jose Horacio Gomez and general secretary Brian Bransfield also attended
the closed-door meeting.
The US
Catholic Church has been shaken by the publication of a report on sexual abuse
by clergy in Pennsylvania and by the resignation in July of US Cardinal
Theodore McCarrick.
McCarrick
was accused of sexually abusing a teenager while working as a priest in New
York in the early 1970s.
The US
Bishops' Conference issued a statement after the talks "regarding the
recent moral crisis in the American Catholic Church".
The men
told the pope how the US Church "is lacerated by the evil of sexual
abuse... It was a lengthy, fruitful, and good exchange," the statement
said.
"We
look forward to actively continuing our discernment together identifying the
most effective next steps."
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US Cardinal
Daniel DiNardo is presenting a new "action plan" to the pope for
tackling sex abuse by clergy (AFP Photo/GABRIEL BOUYS, GABRIEL BOUYS)
|
Falling
popularity
According
to a new poll published by the US news channel CNN on Wednesday, Pope Francis's
popularity has nosedived in the United States recently.
The poll
showed that only 48 percent of Americans in general supported the Argentinian
pontiff, and his popularity has also plummeted among US Catholics to 63 percent
from 83 percent 18 months ago.
A former
ambassador to the Holy See, Monsignor Carlo Vigano, has even demanded the
pope's resignation, accusing him of covering up for McCarrick.
On
Thursday, the pope accepted the resignation of US Bishop Michael Bransfield --
a cousin of the Bransfield attending Thursday's Vatican meeting -- and ordered
an investigation into allegations he sexually harassed adults, his Baltimore
diocese said in a statement.
'Church's
own 9/11'
Archbishop
Georg Gaenswein, private secretary to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, on Tuesday
described sexual abuse against minors by clergy as the Church's "own
9/11".
Cardinal
DiNardo said he wanted to present an "action plan" to the pope to
facilitate reporting of abuse and misconduct by bishops.
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Pope
Francis has called a meeting of the heads of bishops' conferences worldwide
next February to discuss the issue of sexual abuse (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)
|
Referring
to the McCarrick case, DiNardo called for a "prompt and thorough
examination... into how the grave moral failings of a brother bishop could have
been tolerated for so long and proven no impediment to his advancement."
Police on
Tuesday arrested a priest in DiNardo's Texas diocese following allegations he
abused a male high school student between 1998 and 2001.
A diocesan
statement also referred to allegations the priest, Manuel La Rosa-Lopez, abused
a 16-year-old girl in 2001.
Her parents
"decided not to pursue the matter" and left the country, and the
priest was allowed to resume his duties in 2004 after an internal
investigation, the statement said.
In the
United States, a group of 5,000 Catholic chief executives have frozen $820,000
(700,000 euros) in funds paid annually to the Holy See pending clarification of
the sex abuse cases.
While Pope
Francis has refused to respond to Vigano's allegations so far, the Vatican said
Monday that he was "formulating the eventual and necessary
clarifications".
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Archbishop
of Washington Donald Wuerl has said he plans to travel
to Rome in the near
future to discuss his resignation with Pope
Francis (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)
|
Cover-up
allegations
Among the
clergymen targeted by Vigano, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of
Washington and formerly a bishop in Pennsylvania, is accused of covering up the
sexual abuse in that state.
Wuerl has
said he plans to travel to Rome in the near future to meet with Pope Francis to
discuss his resignation.
On
Wednesday, the pontiff called for a meeting of all the heads of Catholic bishops'
conferences worldwide at the Vatican next February to discuss the issue of the
"protection of minors".
More cases
are coming to light.
The
conclusions of a study commissioned by the Church in Germany were leaked to the
press on Wednesday.
They included
the finding that priests sexually assaulted more than 3,600 children in Germany
over nearly seven decades.
Related Articles:
Germany's Catholic Church 'ashamed' by child sex abuse
Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
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Part of the
painting, said to one of the highlights of the Vatican collection
|
Jesus and Joseph, UK, May 27, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
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