Six years of Pope Francis: "Nobody is a prophet in his country"

In a critical moment for Catholicism for denunciations against pedophile and hidden priests, Jorge Mario Bergoglio will celebrate the six years of his papacy next Wednesday. While the pope continues to strengthen the renewed leadership of the Vatican in the foreign sphere, the issue of badual abuse against minors, which is today more serious and widespread than he imagined, exposes like no other subject the limits of Francisco to produce changes at the bottom of the church internally.

The pontifical summit on pedophilia organized by the pope in February faded a few hours after its closure, when an Australian court ordered the arrest of Cardinal George Pell, Minister of Economy and Trade. number three of the Vatican, convicted of raping a child. and abused another.

Pell was a key figure of the Catholic Church in his powers. He has worked with Francisco since the beginning of his papacy. He was part of the group of nine cardinal councilors of Pope C9. He was in charge of cleaning the accounts of the Vatican. He had been accused of child abuse in 2016, but had subsequently enjoyed the trust and support of the Vatican. The Pell affair will ruin the pope's birthday: the cardinal will be jailed on the same Wednesday 13.

After the summit, Francisco did not say he was willing to press for the obligation to transfer to the ordinary courts any pedophile reports received by the Church. All accusations are in the hands of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but the Vatican does not make them public. The pope considers that the current canon law does not need modifications to fight against the abuses, but that it is a problem of "mentality" of the priests. Which is frustrating for most groups of victims.

"It is true that the measures that can be taken after so many years of silence and complicity are still a little disappointing," said José Maria Poirier, director of the Catholic magazine, at PERFIL. Criterion– Words are not worth much because moral credibility has been lost. In addition, the pope has met a Roman curia unwilling to accompany him and episcopal conferences that do not share his policy of transparency and rigor ".

In some Catholic areas, it is argued that Francisco fails to resist structural reforms, as he faces conservative resistance from part of the Roman curia. But that's only part of the question. You can also discuss the reality of the reformist vocation of Bergoglio, which some take for granted.

"Francisco is not a great reformer," says religious sociologist Fortunato Mallimaci, researcher at Conicet and professor of the seminary Society and religion in the UBA-. Today, the Catholic movement is in contradiction with the reformist spirit of Vatican Council II. The pope is convinced that priesthood and priests should be better, but that does not mean transforming the structure of the parish or seminary. The idea that the sacred is the only thing that can bring the Catholic Church on the right path remains intact. "

The last unpleasant news received by Francisco this week was the six-month sentence of imprisonment of another ecclesiastical hierarch, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon, for concealing cases of pedophilia. The pope has attributed the "true meaning" of what is happening with whistleblowing around the world to "the spirit of evil, the Enemy, who acts under the pretext of". To be the boss of the world ".

Papal dogmatism in doctrinal issues is also reflected in its position on the place of women in the Church. It is to be expected that the female priesthood is not discussed, but Francisco is perceived as uncomfortable with the demands of women's movements in general. "All feminism ends up being a machismo with pollera," he said at the end of the last pontifical summit. According to Mallimaci, the Church pays for the lack of flexibility of its male leaders with a considerable influx of nuns in different parts of the world.

While the balance of internal church reform leaves little to be desired, Francisco can list the foreign policy achievements that are enviable for any international leader.

"Francisco has revitalized John Paul II's tradition of a papacy that accompanies suffering people," Mallimaci said. There is a Vatican geopolitics regarding helping the marginalized, promoting peace, interreligious dialogue and denial of the alleged existence of a civilizing conflict. There are no other international leaders who embody these values ​​today. That the Pope badumes this kind of leadership and plays in the major leagues is very interesting. "