Pope Francis: “This is the hour of shame”

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“This is the hour of shame” – this is how Pope Francis reacted in Rome to the report on child abuse in France. Addressing the more than 300,000 victims in Wednesday’s general audience, he expressed “sorrow and pain” in light of the trauma they have suffered. In addition, he spoke of shame, “vergogna,” the word can also be translated as shame: “my shame, our shame, my shame,” that the Church has been unable for too long to place the victims of abuse at the center of its concerns.

Francis has significantly revised his personal stance on the ongoing abuse scandal in the Catholic Church over the course of his tenure so far. His statements and orders bear witness to a long process of reflection and understanding. At first, it seemed, he kept as far away from the issue as possible, only hesitantly and rather reluctantly taking note of it. He considered it predominantly an institutional problem, for which he sought and found an institutional solution, in 2015 with the creation of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors under Cardinal Sean O’Malley. However, this did not succeed in keeping Francis away from the issue in the long run.

Turnaround in Chile
Francis was forcefully confronted with the problem of abuse during his visit to Chile in early 2018, where he was received and accompanied by demonstrators demanding the removal of the bishop of Osorno, Juan Barros. Francis had installed the latter in the face of strong local opposition, despite indications that Barros was covering for an abuser. Francis then celebrated Mass with the controversial bishop, but he did not meet with abuse victims. Speaking to reporters, he defended Barros, saying, “There is not a single piece of evidence against him, it’s all slander.” As if you could take a selfie when you’re being abused, it sounded back.

That was the turning point. The Argentine pope had turned many Chilean Catholics against him – this wave of outrage could lead to a wave of church departures. On the flight back to Rome, the pope apologized via the media to those affected, saying that of course one could not demand material evidence in cases of abuse. In the weeks and months that followed, he devoted himself to damage control. He ordered a thorough investigation, he received a delegation of Chilean abuse victims at the Vatican, and in mid-2018 Barros resigned from his post.

The case in Chile led Francis to deal personally with the issue of abuse; he could no longer delegate it to others. He began, it seems, a personal learning process, thus his view of the problem changed. More and more, he came to realize that he was dealing not only with an institutional problem, but mainly with a human one. He had to review his own relationship with perpetrators and victims. It was imperative to avoid the impression that the pope was protecting the perpetrators and disregarding or even despising the victims.

Abuse in canon law
The Vatican now dealt intensively with the problem, and concrete steps were taken. Since this summer, sexual abuse is – finally – defined as a criminal offense in canon law, as a “crime against human life, dignity and freedom.” Anyone who fails to report a case of abuse to the appropriate authorities is also liable to prosecution. This is intended to put an end to the culture of turning a blind eye and keeping quiet that has persisted for too long in the Catholic Church.

Critics complain that the new provision does not differentiate between different forms of abuse, from harassment to rape. Also, those affected would not be able to appear as joint plaintiffs, but would remain excluded from the process. Abuse cases are supposed to be handled within the church. But secrecy does not prevent scandals, on the contrary. This has been shown by the major worldwide abuse scandal that has now occupied the Catholic Church incessantly for around three decades. Pope Francis has belatedly realized the importance of the issue. He now recognizes it as a failure of the church and also as a personal failure.