Vatican City, Jun 5, 2018 / 07:53 am (CNA).- In a letter to Catholics in Chile on May 31, Pope Francis said he is ashamed of the Church’s failure to listen to victims, and urged all the baptized to make a commitment to ending the culture of abuse and cover-up.
Please find below CNA’s translation of the full text of Pope Francis’ May 31 letter:
To the Pilgrim People of God in Chile
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This past April 8, I called my brother bishops to Rome to seek together in the short, medium and long term the ways of truth and life in face of an open, painful and complex wound which for a long time has not stopped bleeding.[1] And I suggested that they invite the entire faithful Holy People of God to place themselves in a state of prayer so the Holy Spirit might give us the strength to not fall into the temptation of getting wound up in empty word games, in sophisticated diagnostics, or in vain gestures which would not allow us the necessary courage to look directly at the pain caused, the face of its victims, the magnitude of the events. I invited them to look to where the Holy Spirit is moving us, since “closing our eyes to our neighbor also blinds us to God.”[2]
With joy and hope I received the news that there were many communities, towns, and chapels where the People of God were praying, especially the days we were gathered together with the bishops: the People of God on their knees who implore the gift of the Holy Spirit to find the light in the Church, “wounded by her sin, granted mercy by her Lord, and so that every day she may become prophetic in her vocation.”[3] We know that prayer is never in vain and that “in the midst of darkness something new always buds forth, that sooner or later bears fruit.”[4]
1. To appeal to you, to ask for your prayers was not a practical recourse nor was it a simple goodwill gesture. On the contrary, I wanted to frame things in their precise and valuable place and put the issue where it ought to be: the condition of the People of God “the dignity and freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in His temple.”[5] The faithful Holy People of God are anointed with the grace of the Holy Spirit; therefore when we reflect, think, evaluate, discern, we must be very attentive to this anointing. Whenever as a Church, as pastors, as consecrated persons, we have forgotten this certainty, we have lost our way. Whenever we try to supplant, silence, look down on, ignore or reduce into small elites the People of God in their totality and differences, we construct communities, pastoral plans, theological accentuations, spiritualities, structures without roots, without history, without faces, without memory, without a body, in the end, without lives. To remove ourselves from the life of the People of God hastens us to the desolation and to a perversion of ecclesial nature; the fight against a culture of abuse requires renewing this certainty.
As I said to the young people in Maipú, I want to specially tell each one of you: “Holy Mother the Church today needs the faithful People of God to challenge us […] you need to take out your adult ID card, as spiritual adults, and have the courage to tell us ‘I like this,’ ‘this is the way I think we should go,’ ‘that’s not going to work,’ …Tell us what you feel and think.”[6] This is capable of involving all of us in a Church with a synodal character which knows how to put Jesus in the center.
The People of God does not have first, second or third-class Christians. Their participation is not a question of goodwill, concessions, rather it is constitutive of the nature of the Church. It is impossible to imagine a future without this anointing operating in each one of you, which certainly demands and requires new forms of participation. I urge all Christians to not be afraid to be the protagonists of the transformation that is demanded today and to propel and promote creative alternatives in the daily search for Church that every day wants to put what is important in the center. I invite all the diocesan organizations from whatever area they may be to consciously and lucidly seek areas of communion and participation so that the Anointing of the People of God may find its concrete mediations to express itself.
The renewal of the Church hierarchy by itself does not create the transformation to which the Holy Spirit moves us. We are required to together promote a transformation of the Church that involves us all.
A prophetic Church and, therefore, full of hope, demands of everyone an eyes-wide-open mysticism, that questions, that is not asleep.[7] Do not let yourselves be robbed of the anointing of the Spirit.
2. “The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8) This is how Jesus responded to Nicodemus in the conversation they were having on the possibility of being born again in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
At this time in the light of this passage it is good for us to look back at our personal and communal history: The Holy Spirit blows where and how he wills with the sole purpose of helping us to be born again. Far from letting us get boxed up in schemes, modalities, fixed or obsolete structures, far from letting yourself be resigned or “letting down your guard” in the face of events, the Spirit is continually in movement to widen your horizons, to make the person who has lost hope[8] to dream, to do justice in truth and charity, to purify from sin and corruption, and always invited to necessary conversion. Without looking at this with faith, everything we could say or do would be useless. This certainty is essential to look at the present without evasions but with bravery, with courage, but wisely, with tenacity but without violence, with passion but without fanaticism, with constancy but without anxiety, and thus change all that which today puts at risk the integrity and dignity of every person; since the solutions that are needed demand facing the problems without getting trapped in them or, what would be worse, repeating the same mechanisms that we want to eliminate.[9] Today we are challenged to look straight ahead, assume and suffer the conflict, and thus be able to resolve and transform it in a new direction.[10]
3. In the first place, it would be unfair to attribute this process just to the recently experienced events. Every process of review and purification that we are experiencing is possible thanks to the effort and perseverance of specific individuals, who even against all hope or stains of discredit, did not tire of seeking the truth; I am referring to the victims of abuses of sexuality, power and authority and to those who at the time believed and accompanied them. Victims whose cry reached the heavens.[11] I would like once more to publicly thank all of them for their courage and perseverance.
This recent time is a time of listening and discernment to arrive at the roots that allowed such atrocities to occur and be perpetuated and thus find solutions to the abuse scandal, not merely with containment strategies—essential but insufficient—but with the measures necessary to take on the problem in its complexity.
In this regard I would like to pause on the word “listening,” since discerning supposes learning how to listen to what the Spirit wants to tell us. And we will only be able to do it if we are capable of listening to the reality of what is going on.[12]
I believe that here resides one of our main faults and omissions: not knowing how to listen to the victims. Thus partial conclusions were drawn which lacked crucial elements for a healthy and clear discernment. With shame I must say that we did not know how to listen and react in time.
The visit of Archbishop Scicluna and Monsignor Bertomeu was born when we saw that there were situations that we did not know how to see and hear. As a Church we could not continue to walk ignoring the pain of our brothers. After reading the report, I wanted to personally meet with some of the victims of sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience, to listen to them and to ask forgiveness for our sins and omissions.
4. In these meetings, I noted how the lack of recognition/listening to their stories, as well as the recognition/acceptance of the errors and omissions in the entire process impedes us from making headway. A recognition that ought to be more than an expression of goodwill toward the victims, rather that ought to be a new way to for us to adopt a new attitude before life, before others and before God. Hope for tomorrow and confidence arises from and grows in taking on the fragility, the limitations and even the sins in order to help us go forward. [13]
The “never again” to the culture of abuse and the system of cover up that allows it to be perpetuated demands working among everyone in order to generate a culture of care which permeates our ways of relating, praying, thinking, of living authority; our customs and languages and our relationship with power and money. We know today that the best thing we can say in face of the pain caused is a commitment to personal, communal, and social conversion that learns to listen to and care for especially the most vulnerable. It is therefore urgent to create spaces where the culture of abuse and cover up is not the dominant scheme, where a critical and questioning attitude is not confused with betrayal. We have to promote this as a Church and to seek with humility all the actors that make up the social reality and promote ways of dialogue and constructive confrontation to move toward a culture of care and protection.
To attempt this enterprise by ourselves alone, or with our efforts and tools, would shut us up in dangerous voluntaristic dynamics that would perish in the short term.[14] Let us allow ourselves to be helped and to help create a society where the culture of abuse does not find the space to perpetuate itself. I exhort all Christians and especially those responsible for centers of higher education, formal or informal, healthcare centers, institutes of formation and universities, to join together with the dioceses and with all of civil society to lucidly and strategically promote a culture of care and protection. Let each of these spaces promote a new mentality.
5. The culture of abuse and cover up is incompatible with the logic of the Gospel, since the salvation offered by Christ is always an offer, a gift that demands and requires freedom. Washing the feet of the disciples is how Christ shows us the face of God. It is never by way of coercion or obligation but by way of service. Let us say it clearly, every means that attacks freedom and a person’s integrity is anti-Gospel. Therefore it is also necessary to create processes of faith where we learn to know when it is necessary to doubt and when not to. “Doctrine, or better our understanding and expression of it ‘is not a closed system, deprived of dynamics capable of bringing up questions, doubts, questionings,’ since the questions of our people, their anxieties, their fights, their dreams, their struggles, possess an hermeneutical value that we cannot ignore if we want to take seriously the principle of incarnation.[15] I invite all centers of religious formation, theology schools, institutes of higher learning, seminaries, houses of formation and spirituality to promote a theological reflection that is capable of rising to the challenge of the present time, to promote a mature, adult faith that assumes the vital humus of the People of God with their searching and questioning. And thus, to then promote communities capable of fighting against abusive situations, communities where exchanges, debate and confrontation are welcome.[16] We will be fruitful to the extent that we empower and open communities from within and thus free ourselves from closed and self-referential thoughts full of promises and mirages which promise life but which ultimately favor the culture of abuse.
I would like to make a brief reference to the pastoral ministry of popular devotion carried out in many of your communities since it is an invaluable treasure and authentic school of the heart for our people and in the same act the heart of God. In my experience as a pastor I learned to discover that pastoral ministry of popular devotion is one of the few places where the People of God is sovereign from the influence of that clericalism that seeks to always control and stop the anointing of God on his people. Learning from popular piety is to learn to enter into a new kind of relationship of listening and spirituality that demand a lot of respect and does not lend itself to quick and simplistic readings since popular piety “reflects a thirst for God that only the poor and simple can know.” [17]
To be “the Church that goes out” also is to allow itself to be helped and to be challenged. Let us not forget that “the wind blows where it wills: you hear its sound but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (Jn 3:8)
6. As I told you, during the meetings with the victims I was able to see that the lack of recognition prevents us from getting anywhere. That is why I think it is necessary to share with you that I rejoiced and it gave me hope to confirm in conversation with them their recognition of people that I like to call “the saints next door.”[18] We would be unfair if alongside our pain and our shame for those structures of abuse and cover up that have been so much perpetuated and have done so much evil, we would not recognize the many faithful lay people, consecrated men and women, priests and bishops who give life through love in the most obscure areas of the beloved land of Chile. All of them are Christians who know how to weep with those who weep, who hunger and thirst for justice, who look and act with mercy;[19] Christians who try every day to illumine their lives in the light of the standards by which we will be judged: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.” (Mt 25:34-36)
I recognize and am thankful for their courage and constant example – in turbulent, shameful and painful moments they continue to make a stand with joy for the Gospel. That witness does me a lot of good and sustains me in my own desire to overcome selfishness to give more fully of myself.[20] Far from diminishing the importance and seriousness of the evil caused and seeking the root of the problem, it also commits us to recognize the acting and operating power of the Holy Spirit in so many lives. Without looking at this, we would remain half-way there and we could enter into a logic that far from seeking to empower what is good and remedy what is wrong, it would partialize the reality, falling into grave injustice.
Accepting the successes, as well as the personal and communal limitations, far from being just one more news item, becomes the initial kickoff of every authentic process of conversion and transformation. Let us never forget that Jesus Christ risen presents himself to his own with his wounds. Moreover, it is precisely from his wounds that Thomas can confess his faith. We are invited to not dissimulate, hide, or cover over our wounds.
A wounded Church is able to understand and be moved by the wounds of today’s world, make them its own, suffer them, accompany them and move to heal them. A wounded Church does not put itself at the center, does not think it is perfect, does not seek to cover up and dissimulate its evil, but places there the only one who can heal the wounds and he has a name: Jesus Christ.[21]
This certainty is that which will move us to seek in season and out of season, the commitment to create a culture where each person has the right to breathe an air free of every kind of abuse. A culture free of the cover ups which end up vitiating all our relationships. A culture which in the face of sin creates a dynamic of repentance, mercy and forgiveness, and in face of crime, accusation, judgment and sanction.
7. Dear brothers, I began this letter telling you that appealing to you is not a practical recourse or a gesture of goodwill, on the contrary it is to invoke the anointing which as the People of God you possess. With you the necessary steps for ecclesial renewal and conversion will be able to be taken, that will be sound and long term. With you the necessary transformation can be generated that is so needed. Without you nothing can be done. I exhort all the faithful Holy People of God who live in Chile to not be afraid to get involved and go forward moved by the Holy Spirit in search of a Church which is increasingly more synodal, prophetic and hopeful; less abusive because it knows how to place Jesus at the center, in the hungry, the prisoner, the migrant, and the abused.
I ask you to not cease praying for me. I pray for you and I ask Jesus to bless you and the Virgin to care for you.
Francis
Vatican May 31, 2018, Feast of the Visitation of Our Lady.
[1]Cf. Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops of Chile following the report of His Excellency Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, April 8, 2018
[2]BENEDICT XVI Deus Caritas Est, 16.
[3]Cf. Meeting of the Holy Father Francis with priests, men and women religious, consecrated men and women, seminarians, Cathedral of Santiago de Chile, January 16, 2018.
[4] Cf. FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium, 278
[5]Cf. VATICAN COUNCIL II, Lumen Gentium, 9.
[6]Cf. Meeting of the Holy Father Francis with young people at National Shrine of Maipú, January 28, 2017
[7]Cf. FRANCIS, Gaudate et Exsultate, 96
[8]Cf. FRANCIS, Homily at Solemnity of Pentecost Mass 2018
[9]It is good to recognize some of the organizations and media that have taken up the issue of abuse in a responsible way, always seeking the truth and not making out of this painful reality a means to boost program ratings.
[10]Cf. FRANCIS, Evangelii Gaudium, 227
[11]“The Lord said ‘I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry against their taskmasters, so I know well what they are suffering’.” Ex 3:7
[12]Let us remember that this was the first word-commandment that the people of Israel received from Yahweh: “Listen Israel” (Dt 6:4)
[13]Cf. Visit of the Holy Father Francis to the Women’s Correctional Center, Santiago de Chile, January 16, 2018
[14]Cf. FRANCIS, Gaudete et Exsultate, 47-59
[15]Cf. FRANCIS, Gaudete et Exsultate, 44
[16]It is essential to carry out the much needed in the centers of formation promoted by the recent Apostolic Constitution Veritates Gaudium. By way of example, I emphasize that “in fact, are called to offer opportunities and processes for the suitable formation of priests, consecrated men and women, and committed lay people. At the same time, they are called to be a sort of providential cultural laboratory in which the Church carries out the performative interpretation of the reality brought about by the Christ event and nourished by the gifts of wisdom and knowledge by which the Holy Spirit enriches the People of God in manifold ways – from the sensus fidei fidelium to the magisterium of the bishops, and from the charism of the prophets to that of the doctors and theologians. FRANCIS, Veritates Gaudium, 3
[17]PAUL Vl, Evangelii Nuntiandi,48.
[18]Cf. FRANCIS, Gaudete et Exsultate,6-9.
[19]Cf. FRANCIS, Gaudete et Exsultate,76, 79, 82.
[20]Cf. FRANCIS Evangelii Gaudium,76
[21]Cf. Meeting of the Holy Father Francis with priests, men and women religious, consecrated men and women, seminarians, Cathedral of Santiago de Chile, January 16, 2018.
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This sort of thing is exactly why I completely dismiss the actions taken against Fr. Frank Pavone. The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has simply lost all credibility and all claim to obedience.
Agreed. Come Holy Spirit!
I’ve long had concerns about Fr Pavone. But I have to say, in reading accounts like this, I really do feel the anger so many of his defenders feel over the blantant double standards that apply to the friends and courtiers of those in power.
Totally gross and scandalous beyond belief. Yet Fr. Frank Pavone is defrocked (excuse me, Mr. Pavone). What did Jesus say about straining the gnats?
Well, both those guys are camels. Just different species. Thankfully, we don’t get a limit on the number of bad priests we need to eject from ministry.
That said, let’s remember that the cover-up crisis of 2001 and the subsequent charter never addressed priest misbehavior against adults. Only children. The clerical culture protects its own: it delayed six years for Mr Pavone’s blasphemy, and 29 on his disobedience. I think Fr Rupnik will be out a lot sooner.
That said, let’s remember that the cover-up crisis of 2001 and the subsequent charter never addressed priest misbehavior against adults.
That, definitely; but it also failed to create any process of accountability for bishops, either. And that’s really what made this crisis so severe.
I certainly agree. People knew for decades that priests and nuns abused their authority. We even made jokes about rulers rapping knuckles and weird priests in the confessional. No, what many bishops have missed, including the last three popes, is that the most severe scandal is their own leadership and defense of the clerical culture.
Church teaching on holding bishops accountable is in serious need of update.
Boycotts.
Boycotts.
Boycotts.
Against these vermin and those in the Vatican who enable the vermin, nothing except comprehensive lay boycotts has any hope of working.
For the love of the Crucified God, stay home from Mass this Christmas Day. And keep staying home every Sunday until the sacerdotal trailer-trash get the message.
Not one dollar to diocesan schools.
Not one dollar to diocesan charities.
Until at the very least the election of a future pipe.
Let the priestly predators eat, not cake, but grass.
future *pope*
I don’t agree with skipping Mass, where we receive the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. I also don’t agree with withholding funds from Catholic charities and schools. What I think should happen is the appointment of more women to leadership positions (not priests!) in the Church–women are more likely to sense, confirm, and report sexual sins, and be tireless and unrelenting in the pursuit of justice for the victims, which include Holy Mother Church.
“What I think should happen is the appointment of more women to leadership positions (not priests!) in the Church–women are more likely to sense, confirm, and report sexual sins, and be tireless and unrelenting in the pursuit of justice for the victims”
Oh? Any statistics on that?
There’s possibly nothing wrong with women in senior positions in the Church. The problem is the type of women who would be attracted by these posts.
Too dangerous, keep them out! The last thing the Church needs on top of all the other appalling scandals is a an influx of feminists. We have enough of them in every parish under the sun.
Have you seen what has happened with the many Protestant Denominations that have given great influence, power and rank to women, from making them deacons and Pastors, to power to decide which doctrines to approve and dissaprove? Corruption in those churches has exploded and as a direct consequence, they now fully embrace more and more of the corruption, language and delusions of the world, including abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, imaginary identities, critical race theory, etc.
Women are by no means inferior but neither are they superior and, on top of that, generally more easily influenced by false sentimentalism, false compassion, false love, false justice, etc. Ask Eve from the Garden of Eden, as Satan preached “equality” from the “patriarchal”, “colonialist”, “misogynist”, “oppressor” God by portraying Him as supposedly cheating Adam and Eve away from higher glory and power. It is those power-hungry women that are showing to be more devastating than any crooked man ever.
It is the women like Mary, much stronger than any man ever in defeating pride, that have built the Church for 2,000 years. We must all, women and men, learn from Mary, who being the absolute very highest among all humans, never demanded power, position, priesthood or any privilege. God’s tough love and loving order is infinitely superior to Satan’s disguised-as-love, soft, poisonous, deceiving feelings.
Until now, I have refrained from commenting on any articles on this website, but, Phil, I just HAD to give them my name and email just to say – you hit it right on the head inasmuch as women thinking that if they have more power they can fix this. I am a woman. I believe that with Vatican II, women have already been given too much power…. I don’t have to say anything else because you’ve said it all and so well and correctly. I don’t have an answer to the disgust and evil that permeates the Church, but I do know that softer and more emotional is NOT better.
Perfectly stated Phil.
As one woman convert observed about her journey from her Protestant church to the Catholic: the purpose of women priestesses is to sanctify abortion.
What also tends to occur in denominations that ordain women are ageing, shrinking congregations. Last time I checked the mainline branch of US Presbyterians had the oldest average age of church members in America.
I saw a photo of a local Presbyterian female minister and her flock in our hometown weekly newspaper. They were performing some charitable deed at Christmastime. The church appeared to consist of half a dozen congregants. I suppose those were the able bodied ones.
My grandpa was Presbyterian when it meant something. The hero of Chariots of Fire was Presbyterian. There are still old school, conservative Presbyterian congregations that are thriving but none of those ordain women.
I agree ! But I also see a problem with that. Many women that seek leadership roles are also radical activists in supporting and promoting the women’s rights movements , many of which I do not support.
The poor female victims of Fr.Rupnik weren’t especially prompt or tireless in reporting his misdeeds. I don’t blame them considering their circumstances but women have just as many conflicting issues reporting abuse as men do. Having more women in leadership roles is not going to solve that institutional problem.
“–women are more likely to sense, confirm, and report sexual sins, and be tireless and unrelenting in the pursuit of justice for the victims”
Ghsilaine Maxwell and Allison Mack would like a word with you.
Oh my dear, I agree with this a 10000%z these things are happening but yet I was condemmned as sinful for being gay? NO THX
A lot of children abused by their mothers’ boyfriends would argue with you. Even when the mothers call themselves feminists.
Right, its all the fault of those “diocesan schools” and “diocesan charities”. And by suggesting people stay home from mass you should understand what spirit you are being inspired by.
You advocate boycotting mass, starting with Christmas? Putting ourselves in mortal sin, deserting Christ on his birthday, of all days? Shame on you!
That is exactly what Satin wants.
He infiltrates the Church with some bad Priests. Why? to get Catholics to blame the whole Church for their actions, and leave. DO NOT do what the Devil calls you to do!!
You are going to Mass for God, not for a priest, bishop or anyone else. You go there to worship God and receive his Strengthening Presence.
Amen!
That might be the only viable option at this point. Vote with your feet and your wallet.
Dear Athanasius:
Christmas blessings.
We fight for the church because God wants us there and to give our good witness. We help one another because it lifts us up. Our presence is needed and our responsibility is to support the church financially and to pray for one another. The Catholic Church is too important not to fight for. Bad people come and go, let the faithful stand strong.
In Jesus name,
Brian
That is already happening in fact. One need only look at the average (Novus Ordo) parish and see that it is overwhelmingly grey-haired. Marriages, childbearing, and baptisms are way down. Vocations to the priesthood are down. So are weekly collections.
.
Catholic School enrollment has increased in recent years, but there are often charges that they are simply schools for the wealthy who can afford to escape the public school system.
.
Catholic charities often get large sums from “public-private” partnerships and tend to behave in a more secular fashion.
.
Tridentine Rite communities and religious orders have seen growth, but they must be very careful not to allow the, um, corrupt types back into their ranks.
Robert, how can you suggest this action? In the swirling lies of today in civil and church(Pachamama) government, the only refuge I have is the Eucharist (Mass) and the Rosary. As far as the funds, there are smaller local charities like pregnancy life centers and soup kitchens that directly honor the Corporal Works of Mercy. I’ve witnessed two healthy church communities lately. One in PA and one in TX. Both led by pastors with diametrically different backgrounds. One led by a man in his 80’s and the other by a man in his late thirties. One who had a very typical Archdiocese of Philadelphia upbringing (I know this, me too.) The other priesthood born of incredible hardship for him and his entire family as a Catholic at the hands of the Communist Viet Cong. There are miracles happening in the church too. Not always reported or too visible. Watch how the communities hold each other up. Stand by with your lamp post watching, waiting, listening and don’t miss Mass!
One wonders what the mystic Adrienne von Speyr and the Rev. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., would have to say about the repulsively stupid, evil, and self-serving interpretation espoused by Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik, S.J. of the relationships that exist within the Trinity.
Charles, I know! I was stunned by the Trinity comment. I often wonder where the church will go with the Holy Family as an image for marriage. (It isn’t Joseph, Joseph and Jesus or Mary, Mary and Jesus after all.) It all seems in line with “Don’t believe your lying eyes” we’ve all been subjugated to lately.
Isn’t this what we’ve come to expect from those in positions of authority in the Catholic Church?
And not one other bishop among the thousands there are raises his voice to decry the scandals among the hierarchy… NOT ONE! Not one bishop calls on these others to resign their office…NOT ONE. That, too, is a scandal.
Lord have mercy.
The picture speaks a thousand words, a famous Jesuit, and known sex-abuser, previously excommunicated for criminal sexual abuse of nuns, is restored and invited to meet face-to-face with the Pontiff Francis.
That says it all about such men.
Weak indecisive leadership emboldens the degenerate to do his part to destroy the Church. Let Rupnik face criminal charges. Where is the protection for sisters in the Lord? Some will say that Papa has lost control.
I agree, Brian. He should face criminal charges. Harvey Weinstein deserved his criminal prosecution, as does this priest for his more grievous offenses.
And moreover, his vaunted art is creepy and repulsive.
Indeed. Seminarians I know ridicule Rupnik’s “Year of Mercy” theme piece as The Three-Eyed Mercy Monster. The overlapping third eye appears elsewhere in Rupnik’s portfolio of repulsive, disturbing mosaics and one wonders if there is an occult demonic inspiration behind it.
Indeed. A critic’s report is at:
onepeterfive.com/year-mercy-logo-merge-god-man-rupnik/
For anyone who’s read Michael D. O’Brien’s *Voyage to Alpha Centauri: A Novel* (2013, Ignatius Press), this is just too bizarre. In the novel, the Luciferian god to which a lost civilization made human sacrifices was depicted as having three eyes.
His art appears to be inspired by Japanese cartoons.
Hard to disagree with Sandra. I suggest that we use Rupnik’s art as a new Rorschach projective test for seminary admissions. The rule is this: if the seminary applicant admires that art, he should be denied entry; if he finds it “creepy” or “repulsive”, he gets admitted. ; > )
I hesitate to call it “art.”
Christopher Altieri wrote: “(If you are doing a double take right now, wondering how it is that there should be no independent investigative arm or judicial tribunal for these sorts of matters even this late in the day, well, you are not alone.)” Let’s not ignore that this is part of a pattern under Bergoglio. In Pope Francis’ name, Cardinal Cupich sabotaged the USCCB’s rational proposed plan in November 2018 to institute bishop accountability in the wake of the McCarrick scandal. Not only was the USCCB forced to wait until the February 2019 summit on clerical abuse in Rome when it was already ahead of the other bishops’ conferences in grasping the gravity and nature of the problem, but even worse, afterwards Cdl. Cupich was able to force the inferior “Metropolitan Plan” on the U.S. With Bergoglio’s blessing, the investigation of sexual misconduct by a suffragan bishop would be headed by his metropolitan and any such investigation of an archbishop would be overseen by one of his suffragan bishops. Partiality is guaranteed and the corruption will continue!!!
It was a pattern under the other two also. Cardinal Ratzinger would school you on it. It’s church teaching: bishops are not accountable to underlings. They missed it in the US in 2001.
Any immoral act makes anyone, no matter what his status, accountable to his victims, which whould include any and everyone involved institutionally, and to God. Joseph Ratzinger would school you on it.
Except that he was a bit slow on institutional accountability. Though he did take action against Maciel once his boss moved along into eternity.
My observation of the pattern isn’t an endorsement of clericalism. I just recognize that the previous two popes weren’t that far ahead of Pope Francis, and the years 1978-2005 weren’t shining moments for bishops and their (in)ability to side with survivors and help heal the Church.
It seems the Jesuits need to do some serious soul searching…
Et tu Francis?
This papacy along with the Biden admin is tiring & destructive. I will not give a cent to any papel or bishop appeal. I go to mass tobe with Jesus and to recieve him and I’m starting to ignore anything that comes out of the Vatican I can hardly wait till this self destruct
Thank you for this thought provoking article, God will judge this dreadful sinful man. God Bless You All
Mr. Altieri has written a grimly satisfying column. “Francis with all his coterie of implausible goons” is particularly good. Having read his work here for years now, I get the impression of a very decent man whose seemingly unlimited reservoir of patience has been just about exhausted.
The Bergoglian rule for the Church is simple: If Bergoglio sees that you are one of the beautiful people, you can do no wrong; if he sees you as an untouchable, you can do no right. It is futile to look beyond Bergoglio for any other rule, as long as Bergoglio is Pope.
Alexis de Tocqueville said that in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.
As part of the prophesied chastisement, God Himself has given us – the worldly, the lukewarm, the apostate, the sinner – the Church leadership we now deserve. It isn’t just the other person’s fault. Each of us, in our own unique way, is also culpable.
We Seminarists from the Eastern Catholic Churches back in the 90’s were obliged by the Congregation for the Eastern Churches to follow upon our arrival in Rome a preparatory course of one month, plus a Supplementary Year between Philosophy and Theology, organized by the Centro Aletti, headed by Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. He was teaching us for the discernment of the heart and was responsible to report to the Congregation who was worthy to be ordained and who’s not. I remember in 1996 a Woman who was preparing her doctoral thesis at the above mentioned institute accused Fr. Marko Ivan Rupnik that he proposed to her having sex in exchange of good grades. Everyone knew about this in the Institute and the Pontifical Congregation and all covered father Rupnik. Nothing has been done. Everyone knew about him, in the Vatican and the community he was directing and all covered him, Cardinal Spidlik included, according to my opinion.The Centro Aletti he was directing was also ironically called Centro A Letto.
A long and unrelenting pattern indeed from the Pontiff Francis, which, as noted by Chris Altieri, was signaled with his personal “rehabilitation” of the repulsive sex abuse coverup Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, a bishop publicly retired in 2010 in utter disgrace, having been caught in the act of trying to protect and coverup for his friend and fellow Bishop Roger Vanguelhue, the homosexual predator who chose as his victim his own nephew. And while the entire nation of Belgium knew the story, and the entire Church hierarchy and Church establishment, the Pontiff Francis brazenly signaled his tyranny, and apparently his complete disregard for the victims of sex abuse everywhere, by rehabilitating the fraudulent coverup Cardinal Danneels, and placing him on Francis’ committee steering “The Family Synod of Pontiff Francis.”
This pontificate is, as St. Paul warned against, the preaching of “a different gospel.”
“This pontificate is, as St. Paul warned against, the preaching of ‘a different gospel.’”
Mmm. Not unlike the previous two. All those JP2 bishops. Promoted, still under B16. And priests like Maciel. A lot of Catholics have blind spots, especially to the figures they support.
It rings hollow that you attempt to defend Bergoglio by pointing to two previous Popes. It falls into the category of hearing someone say, “Biden socks as a president” and the responder commenting, “But, but, but…Trump.”
I’ll say it again, along with the groundswell of faithful Catholics who think similarly, “Bergoglio is one lousy Pope.”
I’m hardly defending Pope Francis. In fact, I associated him with two other popes who were often painted as ditherers in confronting scandal. I’m merely pointing out the great momentum of the institution, and perhaps how powerless even sainted popes are from its shadows, and how similar the stories of the past three papacies seem to be.
Perhaps it’s not about the popes, but about the human indulgence for the cult of celebrity. Perhaps we do best to focus on Jesus and to commend all others to prayer, be they heroes or goats.
Dear Mr. Flowerday:
The Pontiff Francis has distinguished himself from this predecessors by his unfailing preference and restoration of sex abusers and coverup artists.
There can be no doubt that observers, regardless of their preference or not for the Pontiff Francis, know that the Pontiff Francis and his entourage reject and live for dismantling the teaching of JP2 and B16.
And as candid observers can all recall, or make recourse to, years ago in First Things, both Jody Bottum as editor and Cardinal Avery Dulles as contributor, attested that indeed, JP2 was certainly enchanted with Maciel, and it was B16 who was facing the reality of mounting evidence. Dulles chalked to up to JP2 not admitting the Augustinian candor about the power of sinfulness.
When B16 became Pope, Maciel was taken down. And many other predator priests and coverup Bishops were likewise removed.
We can all recall that the “trusted voices” of the McCarrick Establishment didn’t like the fact that even bishops we’re getting taken to task, so the serpents led by Danneels and McCarrick (as they themselves have publicly attested), worked harder in 2013 to finally get their candidate Jorge Bergoglio elected Pontiff (after failing at it in 2005).
They all knew that the Pontiff Francis would protect and promote Bishops and celebrity priests of their “value system,” and the Pontiff Francis has done what they elected him to do: restore sex abusers and sex abuse coverup artists.
So while humming around at this inflection point, some might ponder whether there was just too much neglect of governance by JP2, and to a degree B16 himself, as Father Gerald Murray has stated.
On the other hand, no one can deny that the distinction between JP2/B16 and the Pontiff Francis is this: for the former, sex abuse is a grave problem mishandled, for the latter, it is apparently a preferred feature.
That preference is quite apparent, as we can be sure the photo is intended to convey.
And I’m sure other readers, like myself, appreciate your concern for the all of the blind.
And three cheers for clear-sightedness…
And as the topic is about the Pontiff Francis, it seems off topic (though understandable) that any reader might prefer to divert one’s attention to other matters.
I think the topic is “these people,” according to the headline. And “these people,” being plural, part of an institution, part of ordained ministry, are very definitely part of the problem.
“What is wrong” didn’t start in 2013. My criticism of Pope Francis is very much like my criticism of his two predecessors and many of the bishops of the past forty years. Those prelates qualify as “these people.” Including a sainted pope and his top theologian.
Perhaps Mr Altieri would like to change the title of his opinion piece.
The people in question are clearly identified in Mr. Altieri’s essay. All one has to do is read and comprehend.
I think we can expand the list of people and ask the same question. As I said, it didn’t start in 2013. A blessed Christmas to all in the CWR fold.
Sorry, but your argument of equivalence falls flat and is, as most progressive arguments, short on facts. JPII and BXVI, on their worst days, were nothing like Francis. Neither of them met to support and encourage the homosexualist priest James Martin, SCH or his ilk, for example. Francis did it twice. Francis has had many opportunities to exercise firm leadership and deal decisively with these predators but has dropped the ball more times than I can count. Once again, you are defending the indefensible.
Well Said. Thank you and God bless.
And this kind of thing shocks anyone anymore?
.
That is what is really surprising.
I’d suggest Rupnik be made a Cardinal ASAP, along with James Martin. Then, include them among the inner circle of advisors to St. Pope Francis I of Argentina & Italy. These two would round out the current group of Cupich, McElroy, Tobin and Gregory. What a Church we have!
God has sent men such as you mention as a scourge and wake up call to the church. Good men and women must repudiate heresy and protect the church thru their witness. Some denominations have let the gates down and it has made for chaos.
God bless you in your desire to proclaim Christ crucified and stand for godliness.
I’d suggest all readers for Christmas to reread Philothea’s chapter 28, and in particular the final words,”it’s the occupation of an idle person to be busy with scrutinizing the life of another. I make an exception of those who have charge of others whether in the family or in the state. For a great part of their responsibility consists in looking into and watching over the functions of others. Let them accomplish their duty with love. Beyond this, let them abide in themselves for their own improvement.”
The church has become the church of “situational ethics”. Church leaders for years have downplayed all violations of the 6th Commandment. It’s not a big sin for them. Does anyone really believe they take the abuse crisis seriously? They don’t think God punishes forever. There is no Hell for them. Fornication, adultery, masturbation, pornography, sodomy, homosexuality, are all downplayed by leaders in the highest position. These are small sins for them. Little imperfections. They are children of the 60’s sexual revolution. Don’t expect these leaders to fix this crisis. They are part of the crisis. They caused the problem. The younger clergy, who have seen the destruction of the church and society by this sexual license will have to fix it. That is if God doesn’t intervene first. Our Lady of Fatima, who taught us Hell exists, and many are the damned due to sexual sins, Pray for us!
Canon Lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray expressed being troubled by the fact that dismissal from the clerical state goes far beyond what Canon Law prescribes for those offenses. But I am very troubled by another factor. This dismissal came just months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs Case overturning Roe v. Wade. This created great political turmoil in the U.S. as you know. There are some who interpret the Father Pavone decision as political payback. He has alluded to evidence that some progressive bishops may have lobbied his bishop to push for this outcome. If there is any truth to that, it would be a scandal of immense proportions for the pro-life community and the Church. This is my primary concern. What a terrible thing to be debating at Christmas.
Putting this all on Francis is disingenuous, when you too easily skip over the period of time in which action should have been taken and instead accusations were covered up – the 1990s. The failures of John Paul II on similar cases are well known, it would hardly stretch the imagination to acknowledge this crisis, too, is a result of his negligence at least. It was under Wojtyla, after all, that Rupnik came to fame, and even decorated a Vatican chapel. The criticism of the Jesuit superiors of Rupnik are valid, but that does not include the current pope. It seems that an opportunity for transparency and accountability is missed in the reporting here, not only in the hierarchy.
This is exactly right. There is a certain misconception that as long as one “side” rails against sexual sins they and their heroes are somehow more virtuous than their opposites. This is hardly the case.
Pope Francis and his two predecessors are all men formed by the same system. Different flavors, perhaps, coming from a religious order or a diocesan priesthood. But all three are men of the institution. They each nurtured blind spots and were betrayed by people they favored.
There are certainly good aspects of the clerical subculture in Roman Catholicism. But it is having a very difficult time pulling itself into a modern accountability to the laity. As long as it misdiagnoses the problem, it will continue to flail when its members fail and give scandal. Likewise, as long as ideological elements get the root problem wrong, they will continue to be on the sidelines. Irrelevant at best. Unhelpful at worst.
I can think of a certain homosexualist, also a Jesuit, who should be laicized. I mentioned his name in a previous comment that was omitted.