Numerous reports have been circulating that 34 Bishops (31 active and 3 others) handed over resignations for their part in sex crime cover-ups. But unless the Pope accepts those resignations, the paper isn’t worth wiping tears with.
Based on the evidence and the past knowledge of these crimes, I wonder why Pope Francis needs any time for deliberation. Crimes were committed, evidence was destroyed and the Vatican is most definitely more than culpable.
Here is a review of the key dates as presented by Fox News (EDITED for brevity)
- Jan. 10, 2015
Pope names Barros, as bishop of Osorno, over the objections of some members of the Chilean bishops’ conference. They were concerned about the fallout from the Karadima affair. - Jan. 31, 2015
Francis acknowledged the bishops’ concerns in a letter, but Francis wrote that it fell apart because the nuncio revealed it. The pope later acknowledged that he had blocked the plan himself because there was no “evidence” Barros was guilty of any cover-up. - February 2015
Fifty Chilean lawmakers and priests, deacons and more than 1,000 laity in the Osorno diocese sign petitions protesting Barros’ appointment and urging Francis revoke it. - Feb. 3, 2015
Juan Carlos Cruz writes an eight-page letter to the Vatican’s ambassador in Santiago, Monsignor Ivo Scapolo, accusing Barros of watching the sex abuse he experienced and doing nothing to stop it. The letter, which Cruz said should be considered a formal complaint, would form the basis of a subsequent letter to the pope.Pope Francis received a victim’s letter in 2015 that graphically detailed sexual abuse at the hands of a priest and a cover-up by Chilean church authorities, contradicting the Pope’s recent insistence that no victims had come forward, the letter’s author and members of Pope Francis’ own sex- abuse commission have told The Associated Press
- March 21, 2015
The Mass installing Barros as bishop of Osorno is marred by violent protests. Black-clad demonstrators storm the church with signs that read, “No to Karadima’s accomplice.” Ten days later, the Vatican publicly defends Barros, saying it “carefully examined the prelate’s candidature and did not find objective reasons to preclude the appointment.” - April 12, 2015
Four members of the pope’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors fly to Rome to meet with Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Francis’ top adviser, to raise concerns about Barros’ suitability to run a diocese. The commissioners cite the victim testimony that Barros witnessed and ignored abuse. Member Marie Collins hands Cruz’s letter to O’Malley, who would go on to tell Collins and Cruz he delivered it to the pope and relayed their concerns. - May 15, 2015
Pope is filmed in St. Peter’s Square telling the spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference that the Chilean church had become too politicized and the opposition to Barros was coming from “leftists.” Francis says: “Osorno suffers, yes, from foolishness, because they don’t open their heart to what God says and they let themselves guided by the nonsense all those people say.” - Jan. 15, 2018
Francis arrives in Chile to protests that are unprecedented for a papal visit. During his first public remarks, he apologizes for the “irreparable damage” suffered by all victims of sexual abuse. He meets with two survivors and weeps with them.
Members of the movement Laicos de Osorno sing while holding up images showing the Rev. Fernando Karadima, and his protege Juan Barros, bishop of Osorno, with a message that reads in Spanish: “A bishop who covers up cannot be a priest,” during a vigil in front of the Cathedral of Santiago, Chile, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2018. Chile’s church has yet to recover its credibility following the scandal over Karadima, Chile’s most notorious pedophile priest. Protests are expected to greet Pope Francis during his visit to Chile, which begins Monday. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) Full article By NICOLE WINFIELD | The Associated Press
- Jan. 18, 2018
While visiting the northern city of Iquique, Francis is asked by a Chilean journalist about Barros and says: “The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak. There is not one shred of proof against him. It’s all calumny. Is that clear?” More Pope’s on slander accusations – CBSnews - Jan. 20, 2018
Cardinal O’Malley publicly rebukes the pope, saying his words in Iquique “were a source of great pain” for abuse survivors. “Words that convey the message ‘if you cannot prove your claims then you will not be believed’ abandon those who have suffered reprehensible criminal violations of their human dignity and relegate survivors to discredited exile,” O’Malley said. - Jan. 21, 2018
Francis partially apologizes, saying he shouldn’t have used the word “proof” but rather “evidence.” During an in-flight news conference, he repeats that accusations against Barros are “slander” and denies any victims had come forward accusing Barros of covering up for Karadima. “I’m convinced he’s innocent.”more from SFgate.com
Francis further drew rebuke when, during a January trip to Chile, he said the accusations against Barros were “calumny” and said he was “certain” he was innocent. - Feb. 5, 2018
The AP reports the contents of Cruz’s letter, which contradict the pope’s claim about no victims coming forward. Cruz wrote: “Holy Father, it’s bad enough that we suffered such tremendous pain and anguish from the sexual and psychological abuse, but the terrible mistreatment we received from our pastors is almost worse.”
Fast forward to May 2018
In a letter to the Chilean monsignors, the pope said he had some “changes and resolutions” planned for the church. | Photo: Reuters
More from Telesurtv Published 17 May 2018
But the Pope already knew.
He had been advised (on more than one occasion and in writing), had even been given a letter from a victim, but on more than one occasion denied the verity of the claims and defended Barros.
“No one can exempt himself and place the problem on the shoulders of the others,” Francis wrote in the document published by Chile’s T13 television and confirmed as accurate Friday by the Vatican.
Pope Francis, center, poses for a picture with Chilean Bishops during a meeting at the Vatican in this image from CTV Vatican television Thursday, May 17, 2018. (CTV via AP)
excerpt from CruxNow.com
The pope also wrote that the “special mission” of Scicluna and Bertomeu was designed to “help find the light to adequately treat an open wound, one which hurts and is complex, and which for a long time hasn’t stopped bleeding in the lives of so many people, and as such, in the life of the People of God.”
From the beginning, the pope made clear he’s not pleased by what has been done to date, describing “a wound treated so far with a medicine which, far from curing, seems to have made it deeper and more painful.”
In the footnotes, Francis didn’t sugarcoat the failures of the Chilean bishops, saying that his envoys confirmed that some clerics guilty of immoral behavior were transferred to other dioceses, with the gravity of their actions “minimized” and attributed to “simple weakness or lack of morality.”
That research, Francis says, also showed mishandling of the allegations, because “in not a few cases” grave indications of a crime “were superficially dismissed as improbable.”
In his statement on Friday, Ramos noted that the pope’s text indicated a series of “absolutely reprehensible things that have happened in the Chilean Church in relation to unacceptable abuses of power, of conscience and of a sexual [nature], and which have led to diminishing of the prophetic vigor that characterized [the Church].”
According to Ramos, in the context of “dialogue and discernment” during the summit with the pope, several suggestions were made to “face this crisis.” During the meetings, he said, the decision was cemented that “to be in greater tune with the will of the Holy Father, it was convenient to declare our most absolute availability to put our pastoral assignments in the hands of the pope.”
“In this way, we could make a collegial and charitable gesture to assume- not without pain- the grave facts that have occurred, and so that the Holy Father could, freely, dispose of all of us,” Ramos said.
Building on that statement, González explained that until the pope makes a decision, they are still on active duty and members of the Chilean bishops’ conference.
I searched for the 2,300 page report by Scicluna and Bertomeu but was unable to find an authentic copy online. Considering the length, you would think that there must be some pretty serious allegations included, I wonder if the Pope even read it? His remarks to the victims certainly did not reflect his understanding or acceptance of the seriousness of the allegations.
from Nola.com
In other cases, there was “grave negligence” in protecting children from pedophiles by bishops and religious superiors — a reference to the many cases of sexual abuse that have arisen in recent years within Chilean religious orders, including the Salesians, Franciscans and the Marist Brothers community.
Some of these religious order priests and brothers were expelled from their congregations because of immoral conduct, but had their cases “minimized of the absolute gravity of their criminal acts, attributing to them mere weakness or moral lapses,” Francis wrote.
But those same people “were then welcomed into other dioceses, in an obviously imprudent way, and given diocesan or parish jobs that gave them daily contact with minors,” he said.
Such behavior has been the hallmark of the clerical sex abuse crisis worldwide, with bishops and religious superiors shuttling abusers from parish to parish or dioceses rather than reporting them to police or launching canonical investigations and removing them from ministry.
Will anything ever change? Why has the church been left to ‘police’ itself when unspeakable crimes have been proven and continue to exist against children. Why are governments not stepping in? Centuries of abuse have been documented but forgiveness continues to be issued, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Enough!
Lock them all up, the Pope included.
Links to additional articles:
http://www.allnewsandreports.com/chiles-34-catholic-bishops-resign-over-child-sex-abuse-scandal/
The Big Picture, The Fine Print 
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