[ad_1]
Breaking News Emails
Receive last minute alerts and special reports. News and stories that matter, delivered the mornings of the week.
The Vatican is increasingly criticized for failing to take a harsher approach to allegations of sexual abuse after accepting the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, but has allowed him to remain influential in # 39; church.
Pope Francis on Friday issued a letter in which he announced that he would accept the resignation of the Archbishop of Washington, DC, in response to accusations that he would have done nothing to prevent the abuses. committed by Pennsylvania religious, where he was bishop from 1988 to 2006.
While some church leaders and parishioners have called for the resignation of Wuerl in recent weeks, critics point out that Francis asked Wuerl to remain the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese. He will also attend the annual meeting of American bishops scheduled for November and play an influential role within the Congregation of Bishops, who chooses who will assume the leadership roles of the church.
Wuerl will no longer serve as the leader of more than 650,000 Catholics in Washington, but he should still retain significant influence as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees Vatican theology.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to NBC News's request for comment.
In sharing his disappointment with the Vatican, Pennsylvania's attorney general, Josh Shapiro, discussed details of a Pennsylvania grand jury report that Wuerl could have concealed abuses committed in the Pittsburgh diocese.
"He is now able to retire, apparently without consequences for his actions," Shapiro said at a press conference Friday.
The report released two months ago revealed that more than 300 state priests had sexually abused minors for 70 years. Wuerl, 77, has not been accused of abuse, but has been quoted several times in the report. Francis's key ally, he has been the most prominent figure of the fall since the publication of the report.
Shapiro has advocated for legal reforms recommended by the grand jury to remove the statute of limitations for sexual violence claims on children in order to convict the guilty of decades later. The Attorney General said Friday that he was focusing on strengthening the law to help victims seek justice and prevent future cases of abuse.
"I think we learned in this process that we can not rely on the church to repair itself," he said.
While Francis accepted the resignation, the letter thanks Wuerl for not taking a defensive approach to justify "some mistakes" that he could have made.
"[You] Explain clearly the intention to put God's project in the foreground, before any personal project, including what might be considered good for the Church, "says the report.
A group representing survivors of the scandal said that the Vatican should reprimand church leaders for covering up the abuses and that the letter downplayed the impact of Wuerl's acts on the victims. "This is another knife in the hearts of those who have already suffered from the hands of the Catholic Church," said in a statement the Network of Survivors of those who were mistreated by priests.
Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented many victims of sexual abuse among the clergy, including people involved in the sexual abuse scandal committed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, said the pope does not want to see it. had not gone far enough. Based on Francis' statement, he noted that it would not be surprising that Wuerl was promoted to a basilica in Rome, as was the case of Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, accused of concealing decades of abuse in Boston.
"Instead of portraying Cardinal Wuerl as a victim having made mistakes, Pope Francis should instruct Cardinal Wuerl to fully reveal Cardinal Wuerl's role in camouflage while he was Bishop of the Pittsburgh Diocese for about 18 years old and in the scandal involving the former Cardinal McCarrick so that the victims can try to heal, "he said, evoking Cardinal Théodore McCarrick, dishonored. "The representation of Cardinal Wuerl by Pope Francis adds an extra layer to the cover."
Garabedian said all should keep in mind that many Attorneys General have opened investigations on the Catholic Church and sexual abuse.
"The momentum is improving," Garabedian told NBC News. "What happened in Boston and Pennsylvania has led many other states to investigate criminal activity related to pedophilia within the church and a domino effect is occurring."
And it's an encouraging sign, according to Garabedian, who pointed out that mistreatment and concealment are two criminal acts.
"Take off their clothes and their religion and we have one of the biggest criminal enterprises in the world," he said. "We are talking about sexual abuse of thousands of children in general for decades, when thousands of priests and supervisors were covering it – they are criminals. They belong to the prison.
