Pope keeps silent on abuse claim letter at end of Irish visit Published 27 August 2018 image copyright Reuters image caption Pope Francis addressed journalists on his flight back from Dublin to Rome Pope Francis has refused to respond to claims by a former Vatican diplomat who has called on him to resign. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano also accused the Pope of covering up reports of sexual abuse by a US cardinal. The pontiff was asked about the accusations by reporters on his flight back to Rome after this weekend's Papal visit to Ireland. He said he would not say a single word in response to the 11-page letter from Archbishop Vigano. "I will say sincerely that I must say this, to you," he said, when asked by a journalist about the letter, "and all of you who are interested: Read the document carefully and judge it for yourselves. "I will not say one word on this. I think the statement speaks for itself." The timing of the letter, released as the Pope addressed sexual abuse by priests during his visit to Ireland, has raised questions about whether Pope Francis is facing a coordinated attack from traditionalists within the Catholic hierarchy. "You have sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions," Pope Francis told the reporters on board his plane. "When a little time has passed and you have the conclusions, perhaps I will talk," he added. What does Archbishop Vigano allege? He says the pontiff knew about allegations of sex abuse by a prominent US cardinal for five years before accepting his resignation last month. Archbishop Vigano says he told Pope Francis in 2013 that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had faced extensive accusations of sexually abusing lower-ranking seminarians and priests. The Pope "knew from at least June 23 2013 that McCarrick was a serial predator"., wrote Archbishop Vigano, adding that "he knew that he was a corrupt man, he covered for him to the bitter end". image copyright EPA image caption Protesters in Dublin expressed anger at the Pope "Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them," the letter says. However, Archbishop Vigano has not produced any written or other evidence to verify his alleged 2013 conversation with the Pope. He served as the Vatican's envoy in Washington from 2011 until 2016. He also says he wrote a memo to senior figures in the Vatican as early as 2006, warning that Theodore McCarrick was suspected of abusing adults at a seminary while he was a bishop in New Jersey between 1981 and 2001. McCarrick, now 88, resigned in disgrace in July. A public challenge to the Pope By Martin Bashir, BBC Religion editor The timing of Archbishop Vigano's letter has been described by a Vatican source as "suspicious" and may have been part of an orchestrated attack from those within senior levels of the Church who have opposed Pope Francis from the moment he was elected in 2013. The Pope's informal leadership, baptising a baby on the street and even marrying a couple during a flight, has concerned some traditionalists and his document about the family - Amoris Laetitia - provoked four cardinals to release a series of queries that became known as "dubia". Archbishop Vigano is known to be an ally of the so called dubia cardinals, who have publicly challenged Pope Francis to correct his teaching on family life - and have suggested that there may be occasions when a Pope should be challenged and disobeyed. The Pope's decision not to offer any comment about Archbishop Vigano's document is in keeping with his desire to avoid public spats with senior clerics. But his silent treatment of Archbishop Vigano's letter, on the Papal plane, told its own story. How did the Pope address sexual abuse during his visit to Ireland? At a Mass on Sunday in Dublin's Phoenix Park, the culmination of his two-day visit to Ireland, Pope Francis begged forgiveness for the "abuses in Ireland, abuses of power, conscience and sexual abuses" perpetrated by Church leaders. Earlier, he said no-one could fail to be moved by stories of those who "suffered abuse, were robbed of their innocence and left scarred by painful memories", and reiterated his wish to see justice served. I ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for the healing of the survivors of abuse and to confirm every member of our Christian family in the resolve never again to permit these situations to occur. — Pope Francis (@Pontifex) August 26, 2018 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. View original tweet on Twitter Pope Francis used the penitential rite of the Mass to list a litany of different types of abuse and mistreatment inflicted on Irish people by Church figures, and the cover-ups of sex crimes. On each occasion he asked for forgiveness, the congregation - estimated by the Vatican to number 300,000 - applauded. What allegations has the Church in Ireland faced? The Irish Catholic Church has been rocked by revelations of paedophile priests, sexual abuse in Catholic-run orphanages, and the exploitation of women in mother-and-baby homes. During the first day of his trip, Pope Francis met eight survivors of sexual abuse, reportedly telling them he viewed clerical sex abuse as "filth". media caption The Pope must "get his head around" abuse victims' pain, says Father Patrick McCafferty The Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar delivered a strong warning to the Pope to take action against clergy involved in child abuse and in keeping it secret. Meanwhile in Tuam, County Galway, about 1,000 people gathered for a silent vigil to remember the Tuam Babies. The Tuam home was one of 10 institutions to which about 35,000 unmarried pregnant women are thought to have been sent. Large crowds also attended a Stand4Truth event in Dublin to show solidarity with victims of clerical sex abuse. How did the Pope respond to the Irish PM? Returning from Dublin, Pope Francis was asked for his views on what Leo Varadkar, a gay man, had said about modern Ireland recognising that families came in "many forms", including those run by same-sex partners. Ireland voted for constitutional change on same sex-marriage in 2015 and voted overwhelmingly to overturn its strict abortion law in May. The Pope said that fathers who saw that a son or daughter had "homosexual tendencies" should not condemn but give them space and seek dialogue. "There are many things to do with psychiatry, to see how things are," he said, although the age of the child was important.<doc-sep>He said that neither Cardinal Parolin nor a host of other Vatican officials had replied, but that when he had brought up the subject with Cardinal McCarrick’s replacement in Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, “it was immediately clear to me that he was fully aware of it.” Ed McFadden, a spokesman for Cardinal Wuerl, disputed that account on Sunday. “In spite of what Archbishop Viganò’s memo indicates, Cardinal Wuerl did not receive any documentation or information during his time in Washington regarding any actions taken against Archbishop McCarrick,” Mr. McFadden said. Some survivors of clerical abuse called the allegations a distraction. “This is infighting between curia factions that are exploiting the abuse crisis and victims of clergy sexual abuse as leverage in the struggle for church power,” said Peter Isely, a survivor. “The sexual abuse crisis is not about whether a bishop is a liberal or a conservative. It is about protecting children.” The controversy over the allegations is expected to grow in coming days, especially as Francis has declined to deny it. Instead on Sunday’s flight, he blamed the media for promoting an “atmosphere of guilt” around suspected clerics and shared that until his visit he “had never heard” about Ireland’s notorious mother and baby homes, where children were ripped away from unwed mothers. He also sought to strike the same conciliatory tone that hundreds of thousands of faithful heard earlier in the day as he began a Mass at Phoenix Park in Dublin by explicitly asking forgiveness for the church’s sins and abuse. “Some members of the hierarchy didn’t own up to these painful situations,” he said at the Mass. “And kept silent.”<doc-sep>
Even if critics are correct that this letter was colored by vicious hierarchy infighting, it has exposed the extent of the vitriol surrounding the pope’s handling of sexual abuse. It’s not just the pope’s political enemies who have questioned his credibility. Francis is also facing a lack of trust among the faithful in the Church. [Catholics are desperate for tangible reforms on clergy sex Abuse] In recent years, few countries have been hit harder by scandals in the Catholic Church than Ireland. Clergy failed to report allegations of child sexual abuse against dozens of priests over decades, according to an independent audit. Historians and investigators have slowly uncovered years of abuses at so-called mother and baby homes, where unwed pregnant women were often sent against their will. The facts were particularly gruesome in the town of Tuam, where the remains of dead infants and fetuses were found in the sewer system next to a home run by nuns. So perhaps it was inevitable that Francis’s trip to Ireland, which marked a triennial global gathering of families in Dublin, was filled with grave reminders of Ireland’s troubled past. Protesters held vigils throughout the country for victims of clergy sex abuse. The pope met with a number of victims. And in his closing remarks, Francis apologized for “abuses of power, conscience, and sexual abuse,” and begged forgiveness for leaders in the Church who failed to report abuse or show compassion to victims. Significantly, he asked forgiveness from the single mothers who had been sent away to homes, and who were later condemned for wanting to be with their children. But the pope’s conciliatory tone was also mixed with defensiveness, and moments of what might be described as naiveté. According to The New York Times, he told reporters that he had never heard of Ireland’s mother and baby homes before this visit. He also rejected the notion that the Church needs a standing court to handle allegations against priests, and he blamed journalists for promoting an “atmosphere of guilt” towards clergy accused of abuse. He was most defensive about Viganò’s letter, telling reporters to “make your own judgment. … I believe the document speaks for itself.” The 11-page letter, which was published by the conservative outlet National Catholic Register, contains a number shocking allegations. * Viganò claims that a series of Vatican representatives in the U.S. knew about the allegations against McCarrick as early as two decades ago and reported them to the Holy See. He alleges that Pope Benedict XVI sanctioned McCarrick—although no sanctions were ever made public—and that Francis then disregarded those sanctions by making McCarrick his “trusted counselor.” After a series of unsubstantiated allegations against a number of prominent American clerics—some of which are openly speculative and contain conspiratorial language about bishops “[promoting] the LGBT agenda” and supporting pro-abortion politicians—Viganò calls on Francis to resign.