Pope Francis himself addressed the faithful in St. Peter’s Square yesterday, in light of the Anti-Abuse Conference, which will begin in a few days‘ time, with a haunting appeal:
„I ask to pray for this meeting, which I have wanted as an act of great pastoral responsibility in the face of an urgent challenge of our time,“ said the pontiff.
But even a pope does not rely solely on prayers. That’s why Francis acted in the particularly prominent case of Theodore McCarrick on the weekend and thus set the tone: When it comes to abuse he made no more compromises.
Unprecedented crash
A notable decision, also finds the German Father and anti-abuse expert Hans Zollner. McCarrick will be charged with various sexual offenses, including at the expense of minors. With the removal of the US cardinal from the priesthood Francis had made it clear before the conference in the Vatican that church law is the same for everyone, so Zollner: „Even if it is a cardinal who went in and out here, the crazy has also collected a lot of money and in the US was the figurehead of Catholicism for several decades. “
Especially McCarrick was long considered a symbol of the too lax handling of the Vatican and the Pope himself with the abuse topic. Although numerous accusations against the cardinal had been public for years, Francis had used him for special diplomatic missions.
Now the unprecedented crashing of the cardinal to the simple Catholic layman – more drastically in the modern age has never been demoted a Catholic church leader. An unmistakable signal, Zollner says: „It makes it very clear that the keywords that we have, responsibility and accountability, apply to everyone, I mean, it’s clearer than such a judgment can not speak.“
„Credibility is at stake“
Zollner is co-organizer of the Anti-Abuse Convention, which the Vatican officially calls the Conference for the Protection of Minors. For years, the German Father has worked as a member of the Pontifical Child Protection Commission on this subject, as one of the driving forces in the Catholic Church.
The meeting of the chairmen of all episcopal conferences will be moderated by the former speaker of Pope Benedict, Federico Lombardi. He also leaves no doubt about the significance of this meeting for the future of the Catholic Church.
„As a person of the Church, as a priest and as a believer, I am deeply convinced that our credibility is at stake,“ said Lombardi.
But how the strong signal hoped for by Francis and his followers at the end of the conference could look concrete is unclear. Many tools that can be used to prevent and punish abuse in the Catholic Church are also being said by Francis followers.
High expectations of conference
It is now important to apply these instruments consistently, even in countries that still deny the problem. In Africa, for example, many in the Vatican say that abuse is an expression of the decadence of Europe and North America.
Conference co-organizer Zollner says he can imagine that the participants agree, for example, on the formation of task forces, which go to the individual countries, in order to ensure the implementation of the rules on child protection. Meetings with victims of abuse during the conference should create awareness of the theme among all church leaders.
In today’s Cardinal Council, Francis with his most important advisors, among them the German Bishops‘ Conference Chairman Marx, will be able to coordinate his line for the conference.
