18 May 2018 | by Christopher Lamb in Rome
Chile's bishops offer to resign en masse
The Tabletg
Francis has excoriated the bishops for 'grave negligence', for destroying evidence and for simply transferring priests
Every Chilean bishop has offered his
resignation to Pope Francis after a series of closed-door meetings with
all 34 bishops at the Vatican this week, to discuss the abuse crisis in
the country.
The dramatic announcement followed the
leaking of a 10-page letter to television channel T13, reportedly handed
to the bishops at the start of this week’s discussions, in which
Francis said removing bishops may be needed but would not be sufficient
to solve the abuse crisis in Chile. In the letter Francis cites
clericalist, elitist and authoritarian attitudes dominating in the
Church and an urgent need to put Christ back at the “ecclesial centre”.
"It would be irresponsible on our part not
to delve into looking for the roots and the structures that allowed
these [abuses] to happen and to be perpetuated,” the Latin American Pope
explained.
Francis ordered the bishops to Rome after
receiving a 2,300- page report into the sex abuse problems written by
the Archbishop of Malta, Charles Scicluna. He commissioned the report
after his visit to Chile in January in which he defended Bishop Juan
Barros of Osorno against accusations from abuse survivors.
Juan Carlos Cruz and others said that
Barros witnessed his being abused by Fr Fernando Karadima in the 1980s,
and did nothing about it. In January, Francis said: “The day they bring
me proof against Barros, I will speak. There is not one piece of
evidence against him. It is calumny.” But on 11 April he admitted that
he had made “grave errors” of judgement in the sex abuse scandal.
While personnel changes to the Church
leadership in Chile are expected, the Pope is intent on seeing a root
and branch reform of handling abuse cases to take place as well.
Warning against the tendency to "scapegoat"
or "turn the page on the problem", Francis says in the letter given to
bishops at the start of this week that the removal of bishops is “not
enough”, even if it would help the situation and is needed. Instead, he
calls for a collective response that is “humble, concrete" and involves
the “whole People of God”.
In this letter, Francis excoriates the
bishops for “grave negligence” in their handling of cases, of destroying
evidence and simply transferring priests who were accused of offences
against children.
On Thursday evening, the Vatican released
another letter from the Pope which adopted a more conciliatory tone,
indicating that the meetings – which were aimed at discerning a way
forward – have had an effect.
In it, Francis thanked the Chilean bishops
for agreeing to make the “short, medium and long-term” changes in order
to restore “justice and ecclesial communion”.
“After these days of prayer and reflection,
I mandate you to continue to build a prophetic Church that can put what
is most important in the centre: the service to the Lord in the hungry,
in the prisoner, in the migrant, in the abused,” he explained.
The meetings with the bishops come after
Francis met and apologised to three Chilean abuse survivors, including
Mr Cruz, at his Vatican residence, the Casa Santa Marta.
Many are now expecting the Pope to
re-structure Chile’s hierarchy while also transferring his ambassador to
the country after Francis admitted to not having received “truthful and
balanced information” about the abuse problems.
While the focus of Chile’s abuse crisis has
been on Karadima - who was sentenced to a life of prayer and penance in
2011 – the problems go much deeper. Archbishop Scicluna’s 2,300 page
report includes alleged abuses by the Marist Brothers, the Salesians and
the Franciscans which were repeatedly swept aside by the bishops.
Among those facing serious criticism for
his handling of abuse complaints is Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz
Ossa, the retired Archbishop of Santiago, who, awkwardly for the Pope,
is a member of his council of cardinal advisers.
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