34 Chilean bishops offer resignation to Pope over abuse scandal

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All 34 Chilean bishops who attended a crisis meeting this week with Pope Francis about the cover-up of sexual abuse in their country have offered their resignation, the bishops said in a statement released on Friday.
It was not immediately clear if the pope had accepted their resignation.

“We have put our positions in the hands of the Holy Father and will leave it to him to decide freely for each of us,” the bishops said in their statement, in which they also apologized to Chile, the victims of abuse and the pope for the scandal.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/18/34-chilean-bishops-offer-resignation-to-pope-over-abuse-scandal.html
 
Whenever stuff like this surfaces, whether it’s in a religious institution or another kind, it’s usually indicative that the policies that led to these problems weren’t formed in isolation; in this case, in Chile. The case in Chile seems extreme, but shifting accused priests around has been standard practice for at least decades if not longer.

The 2300 page report must be extremely bad for the Pope to say these things because the stuff that is mentioned in the NCR article just seem like more of the same to me, not that shocking. We’re aware that the actions described in this article have happened all over the world. That indicates a problem at the top.

It is refreshing to hear Pope Francis mention that the problem has “roots”. And that those roots go to the Vatican.
He said the problem is not isolated, but everyone is responsible, “I being the first,” and that no one can be exempted by “moving the problem onto the backs of others.”

“We need a change, we know it, we need it and we desire it,” he said, and encouraged bishops to put Christ at the center. He said in recent history, the Chilean Church has lost this focus, putting itself at the center instead of the Lord.
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The problems the Church in Chile faces are wider, he said, and because of this “it would be irresponsible on our part not to delve into the roots and structures that allowed these specific events to happen and to be perpetuated.”

“It would be a serious omission on our part not to know the roots,” he said, and “to believe that only the removal of people, without anything more, would generate the health of the body,” calling that “a great fallacy.
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I don’t understand why bishops around the world repeated the mistakes that were brought to light first in the US nearly two decades ago now. It seems the height of stupidity and incompetence not to have come clean ages ago…

Let’s forget that these actions were objectively evil. These men strike me as very stupid. They see figures like Cardinal Law humiliated on the global stage and think to themselves “I’ll get away with the exact same thing.” Very very very stupid men.
 
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JimG said:
From the Catholic Herald:

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/com...ave-offered-to-resign-thats-still-not-enough/
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I saw that article earlier and it makes a good case. Just saw this one from NCR:

www.ncregister.com

Pope Francis Flexes Papal Power With Chile

COMMENTARY: While the bishops did not clarify whether Pope Francis asked them to submit their resignations, or whether it was their idea, it must certainly be the former.
www.ncregister.com www.ncregister.com

I think it’s unlikely that all or even most of the bishops will be removed, but if he does do so, Pope Francis is taking a great risk that could pay off big time, or crash and burn worse than his recent visit to Chile. On one hand, if Pope Francis removes all of the bishops, personally appoints all new ones to Chile, and takes direct charge of the cleanup there, and the reforms are a success, he will be a hero. If he does this and the reform fails, he will have to accept not just some of the blame this time, but all of it, which will likely tarnish his reputation beyond repair, even with the mainstream media which adores him so much.

I think it remains to be seen how successful he can be - maybe a strong hand is exactly what Chile (and other countries) need to get this problem under control. I think that something positive can be said about this strategy. Then again, Pope Francis contributed heavily to this mess by appointing the main offending bishop in the first place, and then refusing to remove him for years, while ignoring or discounting the letter he personally received from Cardinal O’Malley from the victims. His disastrous trip to Chile was just the tip of the iceberg but I think brought him back down to earth to realize that he couldn’t continue the status quo.

The key will probably be who he chooses to advise him and implement the reforms in the country. Hopefully Pope Francis will make better choices in this regard when choosing who he wants to take charge of the situation there. If he continues to rely on his usual cronies and chooses new bishops based on their ideology rather than on their character and administrative skills, then it could be a disaster. If he makes wise choices in who to handle the situation for him then it could go a long way to helping to resolve the crisis.
 
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tseleehw said:
Then again, Pope Francis contributed heavily to this mess by appointing the main offending bishop in the first place, and then refusing to remove him for years, while ignoring or discounting the letter he personally received from Cardinal O’Malley from the victims.
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Yes, that seemed so uncharacteristic of Pope Francis. This will probably consume a lot of Cardinal Sean’s time and he’s already away much too often. However, I am looking forward to seeing him ordain 7 new priests tomorrow!
 
twf said:
What does this have to do with Cardinal Sarah?
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Nothing. I was referring to Cardinal Sèan O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston. He’s a Capuchin and prefers to be addressed as Cardinal Sèan.

He also has a lot of experience dealing with the sex abuse crisis and earned a great deal of respect cleaning up the mess Cardinal Law left in Boston.
 
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I have to admit that I, too, was really stunned by his remarks defending Bishop Barcillo (sp?) And that Pope Francis had appointed him in the first place with such massive protest against him. And to attack the victims so strongly! That too seemed very odd, however you look at it.
 
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