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The meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops opens in Baltimore Monday morning under the surprising leadership of the Vatican. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images)
BALTIMORE – The bishops of 196 US Catholic dioceses and archdioceses gathered in Baltimore Monday morning, for the first time since the scandal of sexual abuse at the church this summer. They planned to vote on measures to deal with the crisis and prevent new crimes.
In the minutes of the opening of the meeting, the bishops heard a surprising report: Pope Francis had asked them not to vote on any of their proposals.
The pope does not want the American bishops to act so that bishops are held accountable for sexual abuse until he leads a global meeting of church leaders in February, said Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, at the meeting. open Monday morning.
"At the insistence of the Holy See, we will not vote on both points of action," DiNardo said. He said he was "disappointed" by the pope's directive.
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, described the Vatican's last minute order as "really incredible".
"What we see here is that the Vatican is again trying to prevent American bishops from making even modest progress," said Doyle, whose group compiles data on abuses committed by the US. clergy in the church. "We see where is the problem, which is with the Vatican. At best, the results of this meeting would be lukewarm and ineffective, but now they will be completely devoid of substance. "
As soon as the bishops heard DiNardo's announcement, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the Vatican's ambassador to the United States, made a long speech in which he defended what the bishops had already done to reduce the number of abuses committed by clergy and hesitated about anyone clergy, such as lay leaders or civil authorities, punishing clergy abuse.
"There are many calls for reform in the church, especially in the current crisis. You yourself expressed a greater desire for accountability and transparency, "he said. But then, Pierre, a French bishop sent by Francis to Washington in 2016, quoted a French author who said that "anyone who claims to reform the church with the same means of reforming the temporal society" will fail.
"Some might be tempted to give up the responsibility of reforming ourselves, as if we were no longer able to reform or trust ourselves," said Pierre, who seemed to refer obliquely to both to bishops and bishops. presented a proposal to create a secular commission capable of investigating the fault of bishops, as well as ongoing criminal and civil investigations conducted by more than a dozen US states on crimes committed by priests. "Help is both welcome and necessary, and collaboration with the laity is essential. However, the responsibility as bishops of this Catholic Church is ours.
DiNardo followed Pierre's speech with a different tone. He declared that he and other American bishops remained committed to the proposals they had planned to vote on Wednesday, including a new code of conduct to which the bishops must adhere and a secular commission charged with the task. to investigate the bishops.
"Brother bishops, evading this high level of responsibility is unacceptable and can not stand," DiNardo said. "Our actions will determine whether we will be considered the guardians of the victims of violence or the aggressors."
Then, the bishops adjourned their prayer day – which was supposed to precede two days of debate and vote on concrete proposals – leaving survivors of violence and stunned church initiates to discuss what had just happened. pass.
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago was the only bishop to speak in the brief morning session after the announcement of the proposal. He proposed an alternative to the Vatican's request not to vote on any of the proposed proposals. Cupich suggested a non-binding vote during this session, followed by an additional meeting of all bishops in March – following François' global meeting – in order to formally vote on these policies as soon as possible.
Becky Ianni, Regional Manager of CSC for SNAP – the most established survivor advocacy group – said she was frustrated by the surprise announcement. "For me, it's not rocket science. Someone conceals the abuse of a child, they are gone. It seems very simple to me, "she said. "We treat [in the U.S.] with the crisis, here, now. Yes, it's a global problem, and they have to discuss it there, but the United States has to come up with something now. "
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