The sixth anniversary of the Francisco era at the worst time of the Church's history

(ANSA) – The sixth anniversary of the pontificate of Francisco It could be defined as "the annus horribilis", in which the crisis in the structures of the Church, in relation to the papal leadership itself, manifests itself in the most painful forms. On Wednesday, March 13, will be celebrated the sixth anniversary of the election of the pope "arrived from the end of the world". Beginning with the evangelical diktats and ready to reconcile, he sought to revolutionize the presence and mission of the Church in the world.

But the reform carried with weariness by Francis in the ecclesial organizations and in the positions of the clergy, his "pastoral conversion" invoked by the hierarchical structures, even the papacy, and by the service of the men of the Church to release all " In this sixth year, we had to face another outbreak of the scandal of pedophilia, which, with its infinite ravages, continued to harm the image and prestige of the Catholic clergy in the world. world.

To the point that high prelates, chosen by the Argentine pontiff as collaborators and close advisers, found themselves engulfed by trials and convictions that decapitated dicasteries of the Curia and defeated dicesis and episcopal conferences.

An emblematic case is that of 77-year-old Cardinal George Pell, appointed by Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the first reformer of the Vatican's finances and ending up having to defend himself in Australia at a trial for the abuse of two boys. 39, altar, found guilty and now in prison waiting for the sentence. In addition, with canonical research open to the Vatican and the extreme hypothesis of renunciation and reduction to the secular state.

This same sanction reached another ranking cardinal, the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, first without the cardinal position arranged by Francisco for his aggression towards a minor, then reduced to a post of Former Saint-Office.

The case of McCarrick, accused of homobadual proposals to seminarians, which created so much confusion in the Vatican, was used by the former nuncio in Washington, Carlo Maria Vigan, to report to Francisco who, for the monseigneur, ignored during years of information about the "to Teddy's" behavior – as he called himself – and therefore he had even had to resign. But there are other documents having a devastating effect this past year.

Like that of the Chilean church, on which Bergoglio himself had to change after having long defended Bishop Juan Barros accusations of covering the pedophile Fernando Karadima and, once the victims heard, the resignations (received in part) from all the bishops of the country.

The people suspected of remaining silent fell on another member of the "Council of Cardinals" of the Pope, the former Santiago Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa. Or even the United States, where the grand jury of Pennsylvania – but other states have encouraged similar investigations – have uncovered dozens of violations and hundreds of pedigrees with thousands of victims. Besides the systematic coverage of the bishops, which led to the very painful resignation of another cardinal very close to Francisco, another Washington cardinal, Donald Wuerl.

A "siege", one that will take place during decades of badual abuse covered by the Church, with which Francis wanted to respond with an unprecedented initiative by bringing together at the Vatican all the episcopal conference leaders at the time. a summit in late February and promoting new practices and rules (but all are not satisfied) in the protection of minors.

Shortly after, another prominent man of the Church, French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was sentenced by the omission of denunciation, a few years ago, of abuses committed by a scout chaplain.

Obviously, not everything has been monopolized this year by the scourge of abuse. Among the main "conquests" for Francisco figure the historic agreement with Beijing China on the appointment of bishops and a joint document on "human fraternity" with the great Imam of Al-Azhar during his recent trip to the Arab Emirates. United, the first pope of the peninsula of Arbica, cradle of Islam. And also the reform advances, with the project almost ready of the new constitution of the curia, the "Praedicate evangelium", which will replace the bonus of the pastor. The success of Snodo on young people that took place in October was the apostolic exhortation that the pope signed in Loreto on the 25th of this month.