If it is not a failure, it's very close. The strict zero tolerance towards sexual abuse does not seem to work everywhere: there is not only the opaque and shocking management of the case of Father Marko Rupnik (the Jesuit expelled by the Jesuits for sexual abuse on several nuns but still a priest and never punished by the Vatican). Five years after the famous summit of all the episcopates of the world wanted by the Pope to give a definitive turn to an omertà attitude, aimed at covering up and little attentive to the victims, two other emblematic cases seem to make understand how far away a new mentality based on responsibility, justice and transparency contained in the principles of many documents is.
Abuse in the Church, the Cei report: in 2022 two children raped by priests
The words of Valentina Alazraki, the famous Mexican journalist invited to the summit in 2019 in the Vatican to speak in front of 114 episcopal conferences, still resonate: «How many times have I had to hear that the scandal of abuse is the fault of the press, that it is a plot by certain mass media to discredit the Church, that behind it there are hidden powers, to put an end to this institution. We have chosen which side to be on. You, have you really done it, or just in words? If you are against those who commit abuses or cover them up, then we are on the same side. We will help you find the rotten apples and overcome the resistances to remove them from those healthy. But if you do not decide radically to be on the side of children, mothers, families, civil society, you are right to be afraid of us, because we journalists, who want the common good, will be your worst enemies».
Abuse, the bishops of Switzerland have opened the archives, 1000 cases covered up in 70 years
In the meantime two singular and important cases make it clear that the mentality of the past aimed at covering up, minimizing and hiding in many areas still prevails. The first case happened in Europe (in Poland), the other in Africa (Ivory Coast): a geographical extension that confirms a widespread attitude that is not transparent and respectful of public opinion, of the victims, undermining the credibility of the Church.
In Poland, the way in which Archbishop Andrzej Dziega of Szczecin left the diocese, resigning "for health reasons", is being discussed. In a letter to the priests of his diocese, the 71-year-old prelate explained that his health had deteriorated to the point of forcing him to step back: "That's why I realized in the fall that it was time for me to resign". The truth, however, was another. Some Polish bishops scandalized had expressed their dismay. Auxiliary Bishop Artur Wazny of Tarnow, for example, wrote on Facebook: "I am speechless. An embarrassment from a mix of anger, annoyance and shame". Prompted by several newspapers, the nunciature in Warsaw had merely explained that Dziega had left after an internal investigation based on the document Vos estis lux mundi, the motu proprio of 2019 containing the procedures to be implemented in case of abuse. Obviously failures had emerged in dealing with cases of sexual abuse towards children and young people but the message, however, was as usual cryptic, not explanatory, without giving reasons. The Polish newspapers have branded him with the so-called "Dziega mentality" still evident in the actions of many bishops and priests, according to Nosowski. Since the end of 2020, the accusations of cover-ups against the bishops in Poland have been several. In 2021, the Vatican imposed disciplinary sanctions on more bishops and the Church had to pay significant sums to a foundation that supports abused minors. But everything proceeds slowly. For example, the story of a Polish priest from the diocese of Szczecin-Cammin who in the '90s would have abused four boys from an orphanage. According to the accusation, the Church knew about it since 1995 but did nothing about it and the defendant died at the beginning of 2021 without ever being punished.
Abuse, the Spanish bishops (who today saw the Pope) are studying a compensation plan for the victims
If things still don't work well in Europe, not even in Africa. These days the news that Cardinal Jean Pierre Kutwa of the Ivory Coast has suspended the founder of a lay group after he admitted to committing abuses, extortion of funds and psychological manipulation of several followers. The cardinal, however, after some time, reinstated this charismatic lay founder following three years of suspension.
"With this I revoke, here and now, the suspension of all activities undertaken against this son of the Church, Mr. Do Oulaï Franklin Delaneaux, called Abraham Marie Pio, founder of the Catholic Apostolate of the Royal Priesthood," the 78-year-old cardinal declared in a decree dated February 9, but not made public until February 22, which is making the rounds of the world.
In the decree, the cardinal also designates two priests to assist the layman and offer him "guidance in order to preserve the integrity of faith and morality in the exercise of his ministry". To those who asked the cardinal why this reinstatement, he replied seraphically: "He recognized and repented of the facts," adding that "he has committed to serve the Church in the future with more caution".
This article is automatically translated