What do you think of the Pope's response to the current scandal?

[Roseeurekacross]

You may not realize this, but only the Vatican has the power to apply canonical penalties to bishops.

but guess what, the secular law is quite able to and will apply secular law to crimes that are crimes in the secular world

Did you realise that? Heard of Cardinal Pell?

catch up man, we prosecute through the courts. as it should be and as it is with this issue. And due to this issue, canon law is going to change. so that this is not a moral crime.

 

[lilypadrees]

Yes, prayers and silence are the best approach.

 

[Mboo]

Mistake, Jesus always answered the critics and even the traps of the Pharisees. He kept silent once in front of pilate, and even there …

 

[Ardent_Fire]

I am not privy to the pope’s individual situation as far how he should respond at this point in time, like, right now. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. If he has serious reasons to be silent that I don’t know about, so be it.

“With people who don’t have good will, who seek only scandal, who want only division, who seek only destruction — including within the family: silence, prayer.”

That said, people in power, especially clergy, have used this kind of phrasing to hide scandal for centuries. I am NOT saying the pope is hiding anything, but that is why it is not going to sit well with people, especially with all the fallout we are dealing with right now. I was a little surprised to even see Fr. Thomas Reese be critical of it.

He…concluded with the prayer, “May the Lord give us the grace to discern when we should speak and when we should stay silent.”

But he is absolutely right here, and I will continue to pray for him.

 

[Seagull]

12 When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. 13 Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?” 14 But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor. Matt. 2:12-14

Jesus was the innocent, pure lamb of God - that’s a big difference.

Anyways, I cant tell you how many times
I have heard from people in leadership - ‘we need to pray over this’ - after a scandal…
That’s a given.

 

[Brendan]

I’m fine with the silence. Silence was Jesus’ response to his critics

Would you suggest that all the bishops do the same when someone makes an accusation against a member of the clergy under their jurisdiction?

Is silence and inaction the desired response by a bishop?

I would think that the more Christlike response would be a promise to assure the ones bringing the accusation that it will be investigated thoroughly, completely and transparently, so that the Truth might be revealed. That might be that the accused is exonerated, or that the accused acts are brought to light. Either outcome is good for the Church, more so than silence.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Silence doesn’t mean inaction.

 

[tafan2]

As far as responding publicly to Vigano’s letter, silence is ok. But I am very disappointed that he has not started an independent investigation into the McCarrick affair. It’s been three weeks since the US Bishops requested an investigation. Is he going to ignore soany bishops? It appears so.
What ever happened to collegiality?
Also is obvious we have a major problem with seminaries in several countries. His silence on this topic is heartbreaking. We can all put our heads in the sand and pretend the problem doesn’t exist and is just a scare tactic by homophobes. But it’s not, the evidence is conclusive.

 

[tafan2]

I pray you are right, I think you are wrong.

 

[Genesis315]

Unfortunately, I think it is inadequate. Even if everything in the nuncio’s letter is really lies, the Pope’s relationship with the likes of Danneels, McCarrick, Wuerl, Maradiaga, etc. and his treatment of their protoges (especially compared with his treatment of others), as well as calling Chilean abuse victims calumniators (which he apologized for when the truth came out) makes them very credible. On top of this, in all other matters Pope Francis is known for talking to a fault, so it seems odd that all of a sudden he gets silent–except for his customary vague insults at unnamed parties, which some have interpreted as aimed at those calling for him to address the allegations.

Everything taken as a whole, including the general program of his pontificate and his major supporters toward a looser morality with regard to the sixth commandment, makes the whole thing stink. It really needs to be addressed for the good of the Church.

 

[Katie777]

I believe that this is a spiritual battle as well.

These evils need prayer and to be left at the foot of the cross. The Pope and clergy are under no obligation to give step by step action plans every single day, so armchair critics such as the media and anti Catholics can disseminate and twist thier words, and feed the evil.

The Pope is also relating to God’s words about slander, calumny and detraction. These things are not relative, even in a tragedy like this.

We have enough information, and its time to have faith and pray that the Holy Spirit is guiding the victims and the church towards healing.

 

[Horton]

Silence doesn’t mean inaction.

This ^^^ I don’t get why people assume they need to know every little thing that is going on with this crisis at the higher levels. Just because we are not getting a constant news briefing every hour does not mean Pope Francis is doing nothing.

So many are allowing the media to form their opinions of the scandal and what is or isn’t being done. When has the secular media ever been fair and balanced when reporting about the Catholic Church? Now they only speak truth?

Look at the outrage over the statement Pope Francis made about plastic in the oceans. He makes one statement and suddenly he doesn’t care about the sexual abuse scandal? I guess they’ve never heard of multi tasking?

I think we all need to take a step back, shut up (be silent) and pray for our Church. In no way do we forget about what is going on, nor do we act as though it didn’t happen, but enough vile, bitter, ugly, hateful things have been said by people from outside the Church, we as Catholics need rise, rise above the petty gossipy desire for scandal and not join in. We need to be better than that. We need to demonstrate what it means to truly be Catholic Christians.

 

[philipl]

The church leaders action over the past 70 years and been inadequate. I just read this quote

“The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.”

― Augustine of Hippo

The time has come for church leaders to release the truth.

 

[philipl]

After decades of waitng for church leaders to do something the time has come for the members of the church to demand action.

 

[Gab123]

Jesus was the innocent, pure lamb of God - that’s a big difference.
Anyways, I cant tell you how many times
I have heard from people in leadership - ‘we need to pray over this’ - after a scandal…
That’s a given.

It’s all a media frenzy—and the devil is behind it, with the sole purpose of dividing, splintering and making people hate one another in the Church. All these abuse cases in question were decades ago which led to the 2002 response by the Church. Interestingly, the sexual abuse scandals inside the Public School system dwarfs the scandals of the Church, yet it’s just cricket sounds and yawns from the media; so be careful. This whole thing has become politics and a desire to oust the pope and force him to resign. And then what?

The devil uses scandals to divide the Church, hence the protestant rebellion which led to division upon division and disaster upon disaster. What’s more, those making accusations against the bishops and the pope may have well done the same thing had they been in their same shoes. Everybody always thinks they would have made the right choices. And there is a reason why the word slander and calumny exists in the dictionary, because slander and calumny are real and they always originate with the devil.

There is such a thing as spinning someone’s actions in the worst possible light, and not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt, or the wisdom to realize that you yourself might have made the same exact decisions. Sure, the natural reaction is to storm the building, point fingers and demand answers and set the bishops on fire in the public square, much like the natural reaction toward an enemy is to hate. But realize that the spiritual aim of this media frenzy scandal is to divide the Church, and for brother to hate brother, much like what is happening in politics today, which will only end up in shambles. The devil is always behind division.
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[Katie777]

After decades of waitng for church leaders to do something the time has come for the members of the church to demand action.

Our church leaders have. These occurances were prior to Virtus.
And I have faith that they will continue to impart systems to prevent further occurances.

I also have faith in the power of prayer.

 

[tseleehw]

I don’t like his response of “silence”, but I could accept it if he weren’t throwing shade at Vigano during his homilies this past week. Pope Francis claims his is being “silent” but him making side comments discredits his claim to the moral high ground; he’s trying to have it both ways.

 

[Feanor2]

I feel his silence is appropriate right now.

I support the Pope as I have supported all the popes of my lifetime.

 

[tafan2]

This ^^^ I don’t get why people assume they need to know every little thing that is going on with this crisis at the higher levels

That is valid, to a point. Obviously the US Bishops believed that the laity, in this instance has some right to know what is being done, because they released their request for an investigation to the public. It makes sense we should now be told the result if that request.

Also, it appears that the hierarchy of the church has failed to manage the situation “behind closed doors”. Due to that, transparency becomes important.

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Prayers and silence weren’t Francis’ first move. When he first heard that Vigano was talkin about him, he told Viganò to meet him in St Peter’s Square after Mass. Everyone started talking about it. A bunch of people showed up in St Peter’s Square. But the Swiss Guard found out about it, and made everyone go home. So now Viganò keeps calling Pope Francis and hanging up, and sayin stuff on Facebook. Francis can’t do anything about it or he’ll get in trouble, and the Swiss Guard won’t do anything either.