The Pope: Loves Children
The new pope, Jorge
Mario Bergoglio (pronounced Ber-GOAL-io), will be called Francis, the 266th
pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European leader
of the church in more than 1,200 years.
The Catholic sex
abuse cases are a series of convictions, trials and investigations into
allegations of child sexual abuse crimes committed by Catholic priests and
members of Roman Catholic orders against children as young as 3 years old with
the majority between the ages of 11 and 14.[1][2][3] These cases included anal
sex, and oral penetration, and there have been criminal prosecutions of the
abusers and civil lawsuits against the church's dioceses and parishes. Many of
the cases span several decades and are brought forward years after the abuse
occurred. Cases have also been brought against members of the Catholic
hierarchy who did not report sex abuse allegations to the legal authorities. It
has been shown they deliberately moved sexually abusive priests to other
parishes where the abuse sometimes continued.[4] This has led to a number of
fraud cases where the Church has been accused of misleading victims by
deliberately relocating priests accused of abuse instead of removing them from
their positions.[5]
In the 1950s, Gerald
Fitzgerald, the founder of a religious order that treats Roman Catholic priests
who molest children, concluded "(such) offenders were unlikely to change
and should not be returned to ministry," and this was discussed with Pope
Paul VI (1897 – 1978) and "in correspondence with several
bishops."[6] In 2001, sex abuse cases were first required to be reported
to Rome.[7] The Dallas Morning News did a year-long investigation, after the
2002 revelation that cases of abuse were widespread in the Church.[1] The
results made public in 2004 showed that even after the public outcry, priests
were moved out of the countries where they had been accused and were still in
"settings that bring them into contact with children, despite church
claims to the contrary."[1] Among the investigation's findings is that
nearly half of 200 cases "involved clergy who tried to elude law
enforcement."[1] In July 2010, the Vatican doubled the length of time
after the 18th birthday of the victim that clergymen can be tried in a church
court and streamlined the processes for removing "pedophile
priests."[8][9][10]
The cases received
significant media and public attention in Canada, Ireland, and the United
States, and throughout the world.[7] In response to the attention, members of
the church hierarchy have argued that media coverage has been excessive and
disproportionate.[11] According to a Pew Research Center study, media coverage
mostly emanated from the United States in 2002, when a Boston Globe series
began a critical mass of news reports; by contrast, in 2010 much of the
reporting focused on child abuse in Europe.[12][13] From 2001-2010 the Holy
See, the central governing body of the Catholic Church, has "considered
sex abuse allegations concerning about 3,000 priests dating back up to 50
years" according to the Vatican's Promoter of Justice.[14] Cases worldwide
reflect patterns of long-term abuse and covering up reports.[note 1] Church
officials and academics knowledgeable about the Third World Roman Catholic
Church, say that sexual abuse by clergy is generally not discussed, and thus is
difficult to measure.[15][7] In the Philippines where as of 2002 at least 85%
of the population is Catholic, the revelations of child sexual abuse by priests
followed the United States' reporting in 2002.[16]
In the United
States, which has been the lead focus of much of the scandals and subsequent
reforms,[17] BishopAccountability.org, an "online archive established by
lay Catholics," reports that over 3,000 civil lawsuits have been filed
against the church,[18] some of these cases have resulted in multi-million
dollar settlements with many claimants. In 1998 the Roman Catholic Diocese of
Dallas paid $30.9 million to twelve victims of one priest ($44.1 million in
present-day terms).[19][20] From 2003 to 2009 nine other major settlements
involving over 375 cases with 1551 claimants/victims, resulted in payments of
over $1.1 billion USD.[note 2] The Associated Press estimated the settlements
of sex abuse cases from 1950 to 2007 totaled more than $2 billion.[21]
Bishop Accountability puts the figure at more than $3 billion in 2012.[6][18]
Addressing "a flood of abuse claims" five dioceses (Tucson, Arizona;
Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Davenport, Iowa, and San Diego) got
bankruptcy protection.[21] Eight Catholic dioceses have declared bankruptcy due
to sex abuse cases from 2004-2011. -Wikipedia
