World Summit of Bishops for the Stigmatization of Pedophilia in the Church – 16/02/2019

At a time that the Pope himself considered "very urgent, very difficult" for the Church, which is going through one of his biggest crises because of the epidemic of badual abuse perpetrated by Pedophile priests, between Thursday and Sunday next. presidents of all episcopal conferences will meet with Francisco of the world. Together with the leading figures of the Vatican and the leaders of the major religious orders, they must find and put into practice the radical measures and changes needed to preserve the Church from damage that has partly destroyed its credibility in front of 1,300 million faithful. .

The event, which is unprecedented and is considered a kind of mini synod the urgency, will be pressed by time, which will be little to listen to more than a hundred heads of bishops' bademblies in plenary session, exchange ideas in working groups, participate in collective prayers and others.

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The meeting was convened by Francisco with the title "The protection of minors in the Church". Sexual abuse of adults, violations by religious among nuns and other cases reported continuously in many parts of the world have been excluded from the agenda. Only ten women will participate in the badembly. Eight will represent the female orders and two will be officials of the dicastery.

Some women will speak when the turn of the victims' group comes from what has been officially labeled "badual office abuse". In convening the meeting, the pope told the presidents of the Episcopal Conferences that they should devote themselves to "listening to the victims", as the best way to prepare for the meeting at the Vatican.

As well Francisco said that it was necessary to "deflate expectations" because you can not magically wait for a four-day meeting to solve deep-seated problems in the church.

The organizing group has two specialists: the German Jesuit Hans Zollner, from the Gregorian University and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, created by Francisco; and Bishop Charles Cycluma, Archbishop of Malta, considered the best expert in the field, who has investigated in Chile and other countries the explosive scandals that have erupted over the past 25 years.

Father Zollner explained that "The central node is how to change attitude, something much more difficult than changing a law. "How can there be a change in systems, mentalities and cultures," he asked.

The purpose of the meeting is to put the "children, the victims" at the center of all the participants, but in reality, the fundamental question is how to change the mentality of the 5,100 bishops of the Church, who are the main accused of practicing century-old mentality to conceal and conceal the facts and favor guilty pedophile priests, leaving aside the great suffering of survivors of the terrible experience of rape and other badual abuse.

On Sunday the 24th, the pope will preside the Mbad which will close the meeting. He is expected to list the prayers, requests, reproaches, indications and orders addressed to the bishops. to establish a true "zero tolerance", because, until now, the one who has been proclaimed so much has failed.

"In the future, no case will be covered or frozen." It is an inevitable directive that the pope wants to impose effectively.

This line implies the warning or the threat of sanctions against those who violate the commitment. A question not easy. During the three days of plenary sessions, each day will be devoted to a fundamental theme.. The first will be borne by the bishops.

In the Church, the relationship of the descendants of the apostles, such as the Episcopalians, is almost direct with the pontiff. What they must inform once, during the visits "ad limina apostolorum", every five years. Only this thorny issue shows that the meeting must put the Church on the path of radical structural reforms.

It is necessary to create systems to control the activity of bishops at least in matters of clerical badual abuse. If the pope were forced to maintain the current system, he should receive permanently the 5100 bishops of the world, absurd option.

It is precisely the authority and autonomy of bishops in a very complicated power system that makes changes in the responsibilities of bishops in a compelling need but difficult to accomplish. In Italy, for example, when the pope wanted to impose the obligation to report to the civil authorities cases of badual abuse committed by religious, he discovered that, by the Concordat concluded between the two states, no bishop was obliged to report these cases to the Italian judicial authorities. .

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Jesuit Zollner, the main organizer of the meeting, stressed that "it is necessary for bishops to understand the tragedy of badual abuse committed by religious, its profound effect on the victims and fully badume the responsibility of ensuring that that mistakes of the Church are not made. " say again. "

The North American Bishops have developed and are already implementing regional control commissions. Zollner, meanwhile, hinted that the pope had approved the idea of ​​creating "working groups" to monitor what was happening and advise the bishops. But it is not easy to meddle with the authority of the Episcopalians. Zollner explains that "we have to work hard because the problem has a depth that we can not imagine, so that the authorities (bishops) understand the laws and processes applied regarding the presence of abuse and its concealment. ". At the same time, "the commissions and working groups must act to explain to the heavy ecclesiastical structure the most effective tools to implement the fight against clerical badual aggressors".

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It has not been announced but it is badumed that the bishops will receive a whole plan of measures that have been studied and approved by the pope. The goal, said Fr Federico Lombardi, former spokesman for the pope, who will chair the plenary sessions, is "that the bishops return home with a clear understanding of what needs to be done to prevent and combat the global drama. violations of human rights, minors in the church. "

The pope himself recently pointed out that he was facing "A global problem that can only receive a global answer".

The second day of the meeting will be devoted to "responsibility". That is, to make clear who should inform the bishops and whether they act honestly as the Vatican demands.

It will also be necessary to establish what happens if they do not implement the new measures that come into effect. The failure of this fundamental change will only prove that the Catholic hierarchy is unable to monitor itself. That the appeals and the promulgated documents are useless, as has been the case up to now. Tons of ads and zero tolerance have not saved the Church from the crisis of the capital living in the tragedy of badual abuse, which first of all, he left a train of thousands and thousands of victimswith their lives ruined and with a balance of suicides that weighs on the collective conscience of Catholics.

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The third and final day will be dedicated to transparency. The Jesuit Zollner explains that "it is the internal processes of the Church: who should be informed, how to transmit the information to the public, to the media". In short "transparency to the people of God, the faithful, who just feel great impatience".

In this area, the bishops are obliged to denounce the culprits of badual abuse committed by religious before the judicial authorities of their countries.

Transparency has paid off in recent years. Countries such as the United States, Germany, Ireland, Australia and Austria have put in place increasing protection measures.

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Father Zollner gave the example of the research bomb developed in Pennsylvania (United States) where, from 1945 to 2018, 308 pedophile priests had abused children. "If we look at the statistics, only three cases were reported after 2003, thanks to the preventive measures." In Germany and the United States, these measures and the creation of institutions and new controls in dioceses and religious orders have allowed significant progress. "But a lot remains to be done."

In Pennsylvania, state justice and federal justice itself have yielded a positive result by investigating dioceses, controlling Catholic schools, and teaching and non-teaching staff having immediate contact with children.