How pedophilia in the Catholic Church has been viewed as well as addressed in the past, and what is being done today in order to solve the problems of sexual abuse within the church.
What is Happening In the Church?
The Catholic church has been an epicenter for scandal and sexual abuse crimes for many years. Members of the church, including priests, high ranking officials, and the pope himself, have not always handled this controversy well. Recent convictions involving high ranking church members have shed further light on the issue and reignited a public movement to stop abuse from occurring within the church.
History
Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church has been an ongoing issue throughout history, perhaps as old as the church itself. However, molestation by priests was first given significant media attention in the 1980s, especially in the US and Canada. In the 1990s sexual abuse was viewed through a more critical lens and stories began to emerge in Argentina, Australia and elsewhere worldwide.
In 1995, the Archbishop of Vienna, Austria, stepped down amid sexual abuse allegations, which caused major repercussions within the church. Also in that decade, revelations began of widespread historical abuse in Ireland and the United Kingdom. By the early 2000s, church sexual abuse was a major global story. However, even with the large amount of media attention, the catholic church has not changed significantly in the years since.
It has become clear that it is time for the church to address the thousands of cases of priests molesting, abusing and traumatizing children in their care. However, the Vatican has refused basic requests to create transparency.
Responses Over Time
Overall, the church has a long reputation of ignoring priestly pedophilia and silencing controversy.
However, during the 1980s, victims began to speak out against the church’s systemic attempts to mask the crisis. In 1984, survivors of priest Gilbert Gauthe refused to be silenced through offers of money, and instead many chose to initiate public lawsuits in the state of Louisiana, US. Gauthe ultimately confessed to abusing 34 children, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. and the national outcry that followed forced dioceses to reevaluate how they were handling abuse accusations.
When the first shocking disclosures of clerical abuse emerged in the 1990s, then Pope John Paul II referred to those clerics who abused children as a “few bad apples”. This was believed to be true at the time, and many were unaware of how extensive pedophilia actually was in the church. Abuse crimes typically went unreported or victims were silenced. Also in the 1990s, Benedict XVI instead accused the high number of closeted gay men in the clergy as responsible for the abuse scandals.
This pattern of abuse, blaming other factors, and cover ups is still relevant today. In 2018, a report by a grand jury in Pennsylvania identified more than1,000 victims abused by hundreds of priests over seven decades. The report demonstrated that the Church’s policies have remained unchanged since the1950s. Instead of reporting rape and sexual abuse to authorities, the church instead continues to ignore predatory priests. The Catholic Church is not full of a few "bad apples", but has a deep rooted history of sexual abuse.
Recent Scandals
Just days before the summit at the Vatican, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was removed from the priesthood by Pope Francis. This comes after several men claimed that they were abused by McCarrick as boys in the church, dating back to the year 1971. Ex- archbishop McCarrick was one of the church’s most prominent figures in the church, and his conviction has sent the message that the Vatican will no longer tolerate sexual abuses.
In addition, Cardinal George Pell was accused of abusing choir boys in Melbourne in 1996, however these abuses only recently came to light. He is Australia's highest-ranking Catholic figure and was previously a Vatican treasurer, which means that he was widely seen as the Church's third most powerful official globally. The outcome of the formal investigation convicted Pell guilty of sexual abuse of minors in the church, and ultimately resulted in him being removed from the church and sentenced to prison for six years.
This twitter post from user @approachingcrti shows firsthand scenes from Melbourne, where the conviction of Cardinal George Pell has caused widespread outcry against the church and public support for victims. The illuminated letters spell out "Crime Scene" in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral to reference Cardinal Pell's heinous crimes of sexual abuse within the church.
Another example can be seen in the abuse accusations of Cardinal Donald Wuerl. The video below shows an example of Catholic community frustration with such problems in the Catholic Church. One churchgoer can be heard yelling "shame on you" to Cardinal Wuerl as he addresses the Catholic Church's clergy sexual abuse scandal (CNN). Cardinal Wuerl later resigned due to these allegations of mishandling cases of clerical sexual abuse.
Current State of Affairs: Pope Francis
The current Pope Francis has taken strides to fix such problems within the church. On 21-24 of February 2019, Pope Francis ran a four-day Catholic Church Summit meeting in Vatican City to discuss preventing sexual abuses by church clergy. The Vatican is under pressure to show it is serious about dealing with a crisis this profound at the Summit. The pope has asked for prayers at the summit, calling the sexual abuses “an urgent challenge of our time”.
However, many believe that this is not enough to change the culture of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Even the pope himself has expressed doubt about the long term effects of his efforts, which echoes the stances of his predecessors. He has stated:
“The problem of abuse will continue. It is a human problem.”
Although there is doubt, the fact that the pope has called this meeting indicates his resolve to make sure there is a clear method to handle future cases. He has acknowledged and apologized for his mistakes and made clear that an official can be removed from office or sentenced if he has committed or facilitated abuses.
At this point in time, the church is attempting to make lasting change. They have recognized that sexual abuse in the church is due to more than just a few “bad apples” and needs to be taken care of as a widespread problem. However, will this be enough to end the history of abuses in the catholic church? As of now, only time will tell.