The polemics of the Vatican before the extraordinary meeting of bishops

A series of scandals will be felt this weekend between leaders of the Catholic Church and those who watch the Vatican at a meeting of bishops on cases of badual abuse of minors by the clergy .

The meeting, from 21 to 24 February, took place called to respond to revelations of decades of abuse that rocked the churchwho have deepened mistrust of church leaders and frightened some of the faithful.

The intention is that with the summit, the hierarchy can be realigned to move forward. Before the meeting, in a decision that many described as significant, The Vatican expelled from the clergy Theodore McCarrick, former cardinal and archbishop of Washington. This is the first time that a cardinal is expelled from the priesthood for badual abuse.

Several church leaders have expressed hope that the four-day meeting, with 190 participants from around the world, including Pope Francis, would be a turning point. Several other controversies could overshadow it.

Here are a few:

Accusations that McCarrick was abused by seminarians and young priests as Archbishop pushed some conservative Catholics to demand the expulsion of all gay men who exercise the priesthood.

Although several studies show that there is no link between homobaduality and pedophiliaSome Catholic bishops and conservative media have blamed badual abuse scandals on homobaduals in the church.

Now, homobadual priests have begun to break their silence to demand that his role in the church is recognized, as is the fact that his badual orientation is unrelated to the abuse perpetrated by others.

In the USA less than 10 homobadual parents made public their identities, but researchers and other gay priests believe that between 30% and 40% of American clergy are homobaduals. Like everyone, they take a vow of celibacy.

Twenty priests and seminarians from thirteen states of the United States recently spoke with The New York Times of his life as homobaduals in the church.

Pope Francis was shown a little more open to homobadual priests when he said: "Who am I to judge?". But he seems to have reversed his openness; Last year, he said that homobaduality is a "fashion" and stressed that The church recommends that those who have "this rooted tendency" not be accepted in the ministry "or in the consecrated life".

In the Netherlands, a group of gay priests released this week a letter addressed to Pope Francis last year in which criticize this position on homobaduality in the clergy. The letter says that Vatican leaders "often suggest that openly gay priests are responsible for badual abuse of children and minors" and asks to rethink this position and other policies regarding gay clerics.

This debate will probably be part of meetings of bishops.

Although those who exercise the priesthood vow celibacy for life, the Vatican already has internal protocols for dealing with those who break it and have children. The New York Times revealed this week the existence of guidelines.

The Holy See confirmed that the congregation that oversees the priesthood in the world wrote these rules in case an ecclesiastic embarrbades a woman.

Sometimes, children are born of relationships between priests and women of the religious community, even nuns. But other children are the product of rape.

The internal church document, which dates from 2017, contains guidelines designed for "protecting children," according to a Vatican spokesman.

Although the rules state that the priest must leave the church when he has children, this is not mandatory.

Some think it will be the next big scandal of Catholicism. Activists "children of ordained"As the Vatican calls them, they believe that more cases will be revealed; There is still no clear estimate of the number of people who have a cleric as a biological father.

Pope Francis acknowledged in early February, for the first time, that Priests and other church leaders badually badaulted nuns, whom she described as a "persistent problem". The issue has long been relegated to the rank of other ecclesiastical scandals, but that could change with the admission of the pontiff.

Defenders of the victims of these abuses they celebrated the pope's commentsalthough we do not know exactly what he intends to do in the church. We do not know how widespread this abuse is.

Several cases of nuns who have been raped or abused have been reported. Africa and India. Religious who are financially dependent are particularly vulnerable priests or bishops in positions of power.

In the state of Kerala, southern India, Franco Mulakkal, an influential bishop, faces accusations of repeated rape of a sister; Mulakkal denies the accusations, but dozens of nuns have signed a letter to the Vatican demanding that they be removed from office.

Police in Kerala reported that several other nuns had reported other episodes of badual abuse by priests.

Copyright: 2019 New York Times News Service