CATHOLIC Church sex abuse survivors have no hope in whoever is nominated to lead the Vatican following the death of Pope Francis.
Many Catholics around the world grieved the loss of the pope. He passed away on April 21, a day after appearing to bless a large crowd in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Sunday.
At the age of 88, the pope suffered a stroke and cardiac arrest due to his declining health, including a recent battle with double pneumonia that required hospitalization for five weeks.
For 12 years, the pope, originally from Argentina, served as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, overseeing its 1.3 billion followers as the first Jesuit and Latin American to hold the position.
His liberal views and his advocacy for the Catholic Church to be more inclusive of homosexuality and diversity often led to clashes with traditionalists, including those on the College of Cardinals.
Francis took steps to place a spotlight on clergy child sex abuse cases that have been a stain on the Catholic Church for decades.
However, even for Francis and the power he wielded, the bureaucracy was too much for him to overcome, Boston-based attorney Mitchell Garabedian told The U.S. Sun.
Garabedian, who represented sex abuse victims in the Boston area during the Catholic priest sexual abuse scandal in 2002, said many survivors have lost hope in the church, regardless of who assumes the role.
“The Catholic Church has not changed its ways in preventing child abuse or helping survivors trying to heal, Survivors do not have much faith in the Catholic Church all of a sudden changing,” Garabedian said.
“Pope Francis said the right things, but the bureaucracy was just too much for him.
“For instance, when he created a committee in order to protect children against religious sexual abuse, and in that committee he appointed two lay people, but both lay people quit because there was no change coming.
“I think many survivors feel as though the church never cared about survivors and never will.”
Robert Hoatson – founder of Road to Recover, a non-profit dedicated to assisting sexual abuse victims, and an alleged survivor of clergy sex abuse – told The U.S. Sun that Francis tried to resolve the scandal but was ultimately unsuccessful.
“When he was elected, I was hopeful, not very hopeful because I had just run into constant walls whenever we tried to get anything done, you know, justice for victims, etc. But Francis really didn’t do much of anything for us,” Hoatson, who was also a Catholic priest for 12 years, said.
Pope Francis said the right things but the bureaucracy was just too much for him.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian
“He kind of folded. and I know he was not a healthy man, so, I don’t know whether it was his lack of ability to sustain, but he really wasn’t helpful to the victims.
“And I’ve been spending the last two days on the phone, constantly trying to talk victims down. In other words, they’re being triggered by all this.
“He didn’t do anything for us, the millions of victims waiting for justice.”
Francis’ death has set in motion a centuries-old tradition involving cardinals from around the world who will gather in the Vatican to form the papal conclave and select a successor.
But no matter who succeeds Francis, Hoatson has “little to no hope” that the next pontiff will take transformative steps to give justice to sex abuse survivors.
“The other scary thing is Francis appointed cardinals from all over the world from very, heretofore, unknown countries, so to speak, in the church terms,” he added.
“I went to Africa for a few weeks to talk about the sexual abuse of children, and I told them about my abuse, and they said, well, it was my fault because I was a gay man.
“Therefore, I was immediately gay because I was abused by priests, and in some countries like Uganda, they have regulations that homosexuals ought to be killed.
“So, I just hope that none of these people who are from these countries that treat people strenuously or seriously are going to be elected.”
‘TRANSPARENCY’
Throughout his papacy, Francis named more cardinals than his two predecessors, Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II, including from outside of Europe.
Garabedian called on the next pontiff to be more transparent and do more for survivors of clergy sex abuse.
“Pope Francis was a ray of hope for survivors, but not many survivors even thought that Pope Francis would change the ways of the church with regards to pedophilia,” he told The U.S. Sun.
Garabedian also urged the next pope to release the secret Canon 489 files, which under the church’s direction orders every bishop of a diocese and archbishop of an archdiocese to maintain and keep confidential documents involving criminal matters like clergy sex abuse under seal.
“There needs to be transparency within the church,” he added
“The Pope should be auditing all bishops and archbishops to release worldwide the Canon Law 489 files, which are the secret archives, written documents, describing how priests sexually abused children and how the abuse was covered up.
“The scandalous documents that are kept under the lock and key by the bishop or archbishop.”
The files are kept sealed and are destroyed after a certain period, typically when the parties involved have died or 10 years have passed from a condemnatory sentence.
Hoatson, founder of the Road to Recover non-profit helping sex abuse survivors, said Francis had the potential to make sweeping changes but failed to do so.
“Pope Francis had the power and authority to effectuate the firing and removal of any bishop or priest who abused or covered up the abuse, but his firings were few and far between,” he said.
“He did not act effectively, and the scandal and crisis has never abated to this day.
“No doubt, millions of members of the ‘flock’ continue to be denied justice and healing.
“The healing of these innocent members deserved and deserves better by the Vatican, and we fear that a retaliatory cabal of Bishops and Cardinals will resume the tactics that placed the crisis under cover for centuries.”
The conclave is expected to gather between May 6 and May 11 to select the new pope.
Of the 252 cardinals, only 135, or those under the age of 80, will be eligible to vote for the next pontiff.
