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Wednesday, Jul 17,2019
Pope wants bishops conferences to take responsibility for sexual abuse issue
During the Vatican summit from Feb. 21-24, Francis is looking for 'a meeting of pastors, not a study congress'
Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner
(For more than one recipient, type addresses separated by commas)
Pope Francis in Panama on Jan. 27. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)
The presidents of the world's episcopal conferences as well as the primates of the Eastern Catholic churches in communion with Rome will take part in the Vatican summit from Feb. 21-24.
On Sept. 12, the Holy See announced that the pope had decided to call the summit, which will have an unprecedented format, "to discuss the prevention of abuse of minors and vulnerable adults."
Pope Francis will take part as will representatives of victims and religious communities, several members of relevant congregations of the Rome Curia and finally "men and women lay experts in the field of abuse."
However, the pope's prime aim is to sensitize and mobilize episcopal conference presidents on the issue. Why this priority?
A former director of Holy See Press Office offered this reason in November, 2018: The meeting "primarily concerns the bishops" because "they are largely responsible for this serious problem."
Concern to avoid scandal
"For a long time, we believed that the problem was simply that of 'bad priests' who abuse," said Father Stéphane Joulain, a White Father specializing in working with persons who have committed sexual assault.
"It is now clear that the pope regards the problem as systemic," he said. "The crisis is also a result of the failure of the bishops to deal with these affairs and their concern to avoid scandal."
The program for the three day conference confirms this analysis.
The responsibility of bishops, the procedures by which they will be held accountable and finally their obligations of transparency will be analyzed in succession.
The first day will address the issues "from a personal view point," explained Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, spokesperson for the Organizing Committee in an interview with Vatican News.
The second will tackle the issues in relation to "the community of bishops" while the third day will do so in relation to "the whole ecclesial community as People of God."
Church hierarchy
In a sense, the unprecedented summit will need "to focus attention a little bit more on (the bishops') role in the crisis," said Oratorian Father Luc Forestier, director of the Department of Dogmatic and Fundamental Theology at the Catholic Institute of Paris.
"It may not be totally fair but it reflects the strengthening of their role in the ecclesial hierarchy since Vatican II, which to some extent isolated them from priests from their diocese turning them into a kind of 'chief'," he said.
The second reason for the pope's decision to gather all the presidents of the episcopal conferences and not just the bishops who have had to deal with abuse in their diocese is to highlight the fact that the problem is global in nature.
The necessary increase in awareness will therefore also need to involve the whole Church, including in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.
To some extent, albeit in a much shortened format, the summit is similar to that of a synod of bishops in extraordinary form, which brings together the presidents of episcopal conferences and oriental patriarchs as well as cardinals of the Curia, religious and other participants appointed by the pope.
An 'operational' summit
The reduced number of participants should enable a "more operational" summit, Father Forestier said. "More than the members of the Roman Curia, the pope wants to address diocesan bishops, i.e. those who know what it involves to manage a priest."
The Vatican expressed it well, noting that Pope Francis is looking for "a meeting of pastors, not a study congress."
Lastly, Pope Francis' decision is undoubtedly characteristic of his Latin American origins.
"He comes from a universe where bishops conferences want to have something to say," said Father Joulain, referring to the regular meetings of Episcopal Council of Latin America (CELAM), which has played a decisive role in the Church's positioning on social and political issues in South America.
Since the apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium issued at the end of 2013, Pope Francis has continued to repeat his desire to strengthen "synodality" in the Church, in particular by emphasizing the importance of episcopal conferences with respect to the Roman Curia and bishops.
"A Synodal Church is a listening Church," he said in his opening speech for the 50th anniversary of the Synod of Bishops.
"A faithful people, an episcopal college, bishop of Rome, all listening to each other and to the Holy Spirit," Father Joulain said.
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