Like virtually everyone in Catholic circles, the Vatican has known since December about Cardinal George Pell’s conviction in his native Australia for alleged sexual offenses against two minor boys in 1996. As a result, Rome was not at all caught off guard when news of the conviction made the rounds Tuesday, after a gag order was lifted.
An Australian court found Cardinal George Pell guilty on five charges related to the sexual abuse of two 13-year-old boys; sentencing is expected in early March, but the cardinal’s lawyer already has announced plans to appeal the conviction.
Watching disturbing developments in politics, entertainment, the economy and even the Catholic Church – especially in light of a recent summit in Rome focusing on the sexual abuse of children by clergy – many people in the 21st century could be forgiven for thinking that the idea of robots taking over the world might not be so bad.
Pope Francis will issue a document on “young people, faith and vocational discernment” five months after the world Synod of Bishops gathered to discuss the topic.
If the global clergy sex abuse crisis was once thought of as an “American” problem, Pope Francis’s efforts to get the global Church to take the issue seriously may now be drawing on American solutions.
Clerical sexual abuse is the work of the devil and Church personnel complicit in abuse become tools of Satan, Pope Francis said on Sunday, closing a Vatican summit on the protection of children.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston wants to see a report from the Vatican detailing who knew what and when about Theodore McCarrick, once among the most influential men of the Church in the United States – and, as of last Saturday, an ex-priest found guilty of sexual sins with both minors and adults.
After meeting with victims of sexual abuse on Friday, the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See affirmed its support of Pope Francis’ efforts to rid the Catholic Church of abuse.
As a Vatican summit on the protection of children from clerical sexual abuse rolls on, in Pope Francis’s native Argentina two cases of priestly sexual misconduct close to him continue to develop.
Over the years, the Vatican has demonstrated a fairly remarkable capacity from a PR point of view to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory – striving to offer the world good news about the pope and the Church, only to find a way to step on that story and turn it into something else.
