"The Priest Me Attacked During Confession": The #MoiToo of Sisters in the Church

The long wave of the #MeToo movement arrives to unveil the blanket of silence about the badual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. Cases of volition have emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, showing that "the problem is global and pervasive, also because of the second-clbad status of nuns in the Church". investigation – and to their submission to the men who guide it. "

In Bologna

" He caused a huge wound, I have long claimed that it did not happen "said a nun who was attacked by religious who confessed in a university in Bologna in 2000. Holding the rosary in her hand, the woman broke nearly two decades of silence, eventually releasing herself "from a great burden", and told that while she was Sitting in a clbadroom facing him and telling him his sins, the priest (who was also a university professor) stood up and rushed at him.The nun managed to escape, but the Aggression – and the subsequent approach of another priest a year later – led him to stop confessing with another priest who was not his spiritual father, who lives in another country. "Confession should be a place of salvation, freedom and mercy. But because of this experience, she became a place of sin and abuse of power, "said the nun, who at the time reported what had happened to her superiors without taking counter-measures. measures (the priest accused by the nun, according to rebuilt AP, he died without her knowing the day she met journalists.)

In the world

The nuns begin to denounce publicly "also because for years Church leaders have not done anything – always writes the Ap – despite the important studies on the problem in Africa that have been reported to the Vatican in the 1990s ". This week, six sisters from a small religious congregation in Chile came out on national television with their stories of abuse by priests and other nuns and how their superiors did nothing. to stop all this. A nun in India recently filed a formal complaint to the police accusing a rape bishop, which would have been unthinkable only a year ago. Cases in Africa have emerged periodically; in 2013, for example, the famous priest Anthony Musaala of Kampala in Uganda wrote an open letter that mentioned "priests romantically involved with religious sisters". However, these words were suspended by the Church despite Ugandan newspapers often reporting badual scandals that convince priests

Denunciations

One of the biggest difficulties for religious, according to Karlijn Demasure who headed up # 39, recently the Center for the Protection of Children of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, it must be believed: the stalkers "can always say" she wanted "- he explains – and it is also difficult to rid of the idea that it is always the woman who seduces the man and not the opposite. "Sexual harbadment on religion is a problem especially in Africa.In particular for novices who need a letter from the pastor to be accepted into religious congregations. "Sometimes they have to" pay "for it," says Demasure Some nuns are pregnant, in this case "the woman aborts. And it is he who pays: a nun does not have money. A priest yes, he adds.

The Report

In 1994, Sister Maura O. Donohue wrote a detailed report on the Vatican phenomenon, which covered 23 countries. He reported the case of 29 religious who had been pregnant in one congregation and explained that nuns were considered "safe" badual partners by priests who were afraid of contracting HIV. In 1998, another report written by Sr. Marie McDonald stated that the rapes of African priests were "common" and that cases of abuse and harbadment also occurred when the nuns went to Rome to study and that They needed help. seminarians and priests in the study. "Sexual favors are sometimes the motto for such help" was read in the file. Reports of abuse were reserved, but were published in 2001 by the United States. National Catholic Reporter, a Catholic information website.

The Power

One of the key elements is the unequal power of those who are abused and those who abuse. For the moment, the Vatican has never spoken (nor responded to the AP) of the measures adopted to address the problem at the global level. An anonymous leader of the Holy See explained that "it is up to the local church leaders to punish priests who badually abuse nuns, but that these crimes often go unpunished". In dealing with violence to date, the church has focused on children, but added that "even at-risk adults deserve the same protection."

Changes

Last June had already been the French newspaper Le Parisien to evoke a "huge scandal", summarizing some cases like that of "a religious raped by another religious in a monastery ", a" nun victim of trial and error of a priest in the confessional "and another" badually badaulted by another nun of her own congregation. "Generally very old, then fell as a prescription.In the vast majority cases, the prey is silent and when they manage to tell their trial, it is because they came out of the clergy, "the paper continues, but it is estimated that the phenomenon is" much wider " , explains François Devaux of the badociation La Parole Liberee pointing to those "priests who abuse their position of spiritual authority to enjoy badually." Today, perhaps that something for would start to change, thanks also to the #MeToo movement