Despite the Vatican’s will of enhancing its institution and recovering the prestige lost because of the huge scandals involving religious personnel, the situation does not seem likely to change. Victims consider insufficient those initiatives undertaken, and they denounce many other unjust affairs inside the Holy See that must be fixed if the real aim is gaining a positive progress on the matter.
The catholic church is living one of the worst situations these days. For some years ago until today, it has become public that several Bishops, Priests and other religious members are constantly linked with sexual abuses, and in particularly, pederasty cases. Many victims all around the world have found the courage to manifest and demand for effective solutions: they claim for the correct judicial and civil remedies. For that reason and due to the necessity of installing new measures and regulation against such practices, the Pope held a historical Summit at the Vatican. During the meeting, Pope Francisco proposed 21 “Reflection Points” in order to prioritize and help the protection of minors in the Church.
Is this proposal an enough measure?
Even though this Vatican summit has been conceived as a historical approximation through the eradication of pederasty within the religious institution, many have criticized it because of trying to show an apparent “aesthetic lift” but without any result. The event gathered more than 190 Bishops, Cardinals and Presidents of the Episcopal Commissions, but also a group of victims as representatives of all sufferers. After three days of meetings, the reaction among survivors of sexual abuse was generally negative: despite some of them express little optimism through the 21 measures presented, the majority catalogued the response as “faint” and “delayed”. They still demand transparency and true accountability for religious superiors who protect priest who rape children.
The real problem: the “cover-ups”
If something is really making the Church taking steps backwards instead going forward, it is the covering actions they have carried out to hide and protect the institutions from as many accusations as possible. Good evidence for this is the grand jury report released in Pennsylvania that identified 301 “predator priest” and more than 1.000 victims. For decades these sexual abuse cases were locked away in a “secret archive” for just one main aim: not to help children, but to avoid scandal.
What is more, religious members themselves had recognized those “hiding” practices. It is the case of Reinhard Marx, a German cardinal who destroyed archives about some authors of sexual abuses. He confessed in the past Vatican Summit that keeping secrecy of those files was contributing not in the mission of the Church, but in distancing from the very first duty they have.
“It is not transparency which damages the Church but rather the acts of abuse committed, the lack of transparency or the ensuing cover-up,”
The power of the Church to legislate
There is another great problem inside the institution in which victims claim a change: its power for having their own jurisdiction area. For years, this has been their “umbrella” for covering illegal actions and avoid further civil investigation. They have specific procedure to judge their accusations, and it has been criticized because of reserving the good reputation of the accused.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the religious body responsible of such internal judgment, and has clear steps and conditions to follow when judging, that ensures greater protection for those religious members involved in the accusation.
Still fighting for more effective measures
Even though the Hole See has taken the first steps toward the protection and eradication of sexual abuse, it still exists much more work to do. Transparency, justice and legal remedies should be fairly applied in all fields, if the catholic Church wants its institution regain credibility. Cleaning up its image would not be as easy as it seems; they have gain numerous followers in opposition who demand more severe measures, not just 21 slightly modification inside an institution which has reflected huge deficiencies.
