The Council of Cardinal Advisors issued a statement on Sept. 10 expressing their “full solidarity with Pope Francis in the face of what has happened in these last weeks”—namely the attack against him by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former nuncio to the United States. They added that they were aware that the Holy See is preparing “the eventual and necessary clarifications” in response to the grave allegations Archbishop Viganò made in August.
Archbishop Viganò had accused the pope of covering up the abuses committed by Archbishop Theodore McCarrick and of lifting the sanctions he believes Pope Benedict XVI imposed on the former Washington cardinal. He also accused many Vatican officials during the previous two pontificates of the same cover-up. The archbishop stunned the Catholic world by calling for Francis’ resignation.
The cardinal council members said in their statement that they were aware that “in the present discussion” the Holy See “is formulating the eventual and necessary clarifications” to these events. In this way, they confirmed the news that had circulated in the Italian media in recent days that the Vatican is preparing a response to what Archbishop Viganò stated in his letter, the contents of which has become a source of scandal and division in the church, particularly in the United States, and a direct attack on the pope and his moral authority.
The cardinal council members said that they were aware that the Holy See “is formulating the eventual and necessary clarifications” to the Viganò documents among other recent events.
In another part of the statement, the cardinals expressed “satisfaction” for “the good outcome” of the World Meeting of Families that was held in Dublin at the end of August. It had been organized by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin.
They also revealed that at their meeting, which began on Sept. 10 and concludes on Sept. 13, they presented Pope Francis with “the proposal for the reform of the Roman Curia” that has been under development over the past five years.
Pope Francis established the Council of Cardinal Advisors, informally known as C9, soon after his election. He tasked it with advising him on the governance of the universal church and the reform of the Roman Curia.
The council has devoted much of its time over the past five years to drafting a reform project for the Roman Curia. That work is almost finished, but there are many other things to be addressed, particularly in relation to the universal church.
The September session of the council was the first since news broke in late June about an investigation finding credible sexual abuse allegations against then-Cardinal McCarrick, since the release in mid-August of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on how six dioceses handled abuse allegations and since the publication in late August of a document by Archbishop Viganò, former nuncio to the United States, alleging that Pope Francis knew of Cardinal McCarrick’s sexual misconduct yet allowed him to continue in active ministry.
The nine cardinal advisors appointed by the pope come from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the United States, Africa, Asia and Oceania, but there were only six present at today's meeting: Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state; Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Seán P. O’Malley of Boston; Oswald Gracias of Mumbai, India; Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany; and Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State.
The three absentees were: 85-year-old Cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa, retired archbishop of Santiago, Chile, who is facing judicial questioning over his handling of abuse allegations; Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa, Congo, who turns 79 in early October and is in a country marked by political crisis and armed conflict; and the 77-year-old Australian Cardinal George Pell, who currently is facing two trials by jury in Australia on sex abuse charges.
In their statement today, the six cardinals asked Pope Francis to provide “a reflection on the work, the structure and the composition” of the Council of Cardinal Advisors, “taking into account the advanced age of some of the members.”
This last remark appears to confirm what has been rumored in Rome for some time, namely that Pope Francis intends to change the membership of the council and replace some of its members—including Cardinal Errázuriz Ossa, Cardinal Pell and Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya. Pope Francis is expected to make the changes before the end of this year.
The Pope is wise and being led by the Holy Spirit as to this man-made, Satanic assault on the Church, coming from the United States. The US Church has been in chaos and restless for decades. The country with the most wealth has the most rot in the people. The Pope has much more important issues to govern than engaging Americans, people with ill-will who are so caught up in their own pathology and dysfunction, while gleefully throwing stones at others never mind pausing to strike their breasts to see their own sins. This is a man-made crisis largely in the USA.
The recent statement by Dr. Thomas Plante on priests abusing children can just as easily be applied to people with personality disorders, many of whom are found as internet trolls who meet diagnostic criteria for Axis II mental disorders, delighting in sadistic behaviors
"Clergy sex abuse not about gay priests, top psychologist says"
"Generalists do not have a specific sexual preference for youth, but instead “turn to children as a sort of substitute” due to psychological and emotional difficulties in bonding with peers, Plante observed. Such individuals - who often exhibit issues with substance abuse and impulse control - “can’t develop successful, negotiated, intimate relationships with adults,” said Plante, who recently served as vice chair of the USCCB’s National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Youth."
https://cruxnow.com/church-in-the-usa/2018/09/10/clergy-sex-abuse-not-about-gay-priests-top-psychologist-says/
"Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists: Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-online-secrets/201409/internet-trolls-are-narcissists-psychopaths-and-sadists
"the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists." "Trolls truly enjoy making you feel bad. To quote the authors once more (because this is a truly quotable article): "Both trolls and sadists feel sadistic glee at the distress of others. Sadists just want to have fun ... and the Internet is their playground!"
"The next time you encounter a troll online, remember:
1. These trolls are some truly difficult people.
2. It is your suffering that brings them pleasure, so the best thing you can do is ignore them.
References
Buckels, Erin E., Paul D. Trapnell, and Delroy L. Paulhus. "Trolls just want to have fun." Personality and Individual Differences 67 (2014): 97-102."
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886914000324
It looks like You are the Biggest Internet Troll of All...
"people with ill-will who are so caught up in their own pathology and dysfunction, while gleefully throwing stones at others never mind pausing to strike their breasts to see their own sins" - But George, do your hear yourself? Your whole comment is throwing stones at others you believe are greater sinners than yourself.
Tim Oleery. whose posts are rather dreary , whose tradition is that of Calvin, Luther and Knox, seems to think with a protestant box, He no longer is aligned with Rome, but like John Calvin calls Geneva his home. Latae sententiae for Oleery and his kind, stop your schismatic posts or your teeth you will eternally grind! Matthew 13:42
Eddy Le Rogue- are you Catholic or Protestant or something else? I am a life-long Roman Catholic, a lover of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church he founded, united with the Pope in Rome, His vicar on earth. I believe and profess all that the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God. More specifically, I accept all the teachings in the Catechism and bind myself to the Holy Scriptures, the inspired word of God, as understood by the Catholic faith. Can you say the same? Can you bind yourself to something greater than you? Even for an afternoon?
yes Odreary, of you I am leery. you bind your self to scripture, sola scriptura. I. me I me. Holiness is proportioned to obedience. You are a schismatic. Henry Tudor considered himself a loyal catholic too. The sin of Pride pops out from your post. Can you consider someone greater than you? Don't tell me you love God whom you cannot see when you do not love your neighbor whom you can see. Luke 10:25-37 I will not boast of my perfections but of my weakness, Because Christ Grace is sufficient. 2 Corinthians 12:9 I still think you are Ignatius Reilly
Eddy LeRogue - Can't be the sin of pride at least. I have never marched in a Sin of Pride parade. My greatest weakness in relation to blogging is hoping against hope some reader will come back to the Church.
yes Odreary, of you I am leery. you bind your self to scripture, sola scriptura. I. me I me. Holiness is proportioned to obedience. You are a schismatic. Henry Tudor considered himself a loyal catholic too. The sin of Pride pops out from your post. Can you consider someone greater than you? Don't tell me you love God whom you cannot see when you do not love your neighbor whom you can see. Luke 10:25-37 I will not boast of my perfections but of my weakness, Because Christ Grace is sufficient. 2 Corinthians 12:9 I still think you are Ignatius Reilly
Welcome to the insane asylum, Eddy. Make sure to wash in the shower with Betadine after visitng these forums because the toxins Tim “physician in his own mind” ODreary flings are Shigella-like. Ask him to define that for you. ha
Please be reminded that that this is not only a U.S. problem--it really isn't ALL about us. Per capita, the situation is far worse in Ireland, Argentina, etc. Additionally, I'm not sure how a homilette on sociological minutiae is relevant to this article.
hey GC, next time they let you out for exercise, ponder what you have just said about "the country with the most rot in the people" and worry that one of those rotten folks might just take just vengeance by forcing you into McCarrick's bed (if there's room!)
Nope. The Holy Spirit is not a moral relativist, and the Holy Spirit is not a process theologian who believes in an imperfect God, as Francis does, Who is learning how to be a "good God" over time and needs the help of smart theologians to help Him understand the modern world.
Let us all pray the response is measured, reasoned, and offers factual responses, as well as a path forward. The silence from the top levels on the this matter have been discouraging, as well as harmful to the Church.
Its coming, and there should be enough ground in Vigano's gay bashing "testimony" for us to know about what he and his ilk care about - and its neither abuse survivors, the church moving forward, or more importantly, curia and broader church reform.
Vigano and his ilk are clericalists, want to bring back the good old days of dishing out fire and brimstone on homosexuals.
Vigano was stepping on toes, and he got cut. Enter the sour grapes of wrath
Karl - I hope so too. Nature abhors a vacuum, and silence in the face of the detailed and specific charges from Vigano is like a vacuum. I see even Steve Bannon, while correctly rejecting the idea of Pope Francis being forced to resign, has told Reuters "he was working on setting up an independent, non-partisan tribunal to investigate decades of scandals within the U.S. Church, warning that dioceses across the country faced financial ruin because of the wrongdoing."
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-bannon-interview/pope-should-not-resign-but-church-abuse-tribunal-needed-bannon-idUSKCN1LP0AT
Tragic as this is, it is nonetheless just the tip of the iceberg. Here in my own diocese (Louisville), we recently had a priest administrator who engaged in a sexual relationship with a younger adult and then at some point broke the illicit affair off.
When the priest notified the Archbishop, the diocese spent months developing a damage control strategy and then had the Vicar of Priests announce the situation to the parish (without the offending priest even bothering to be present). Two weeks before the scandal was announced publicly, and with the Archbishop’s full knowledge and consent, the priest announced that the Archbishop had officially appointed him Pastor of the parish. After the public announcement of the scandal, the priest took (what amounted to) a two-week vacation and was then right back in the parish as if nothing had happened.
The most shameful part of this travesty is that at no point was there a single note of concern for the jilted lover. Not from the offending priest, not from the parish staff or parish leadership, and absolutely nothing from the Archdiocese. They simply closed ranks and all sang from the “poor Father so-and-so” hymnal. Until there are real consequences for the clergy and hierarchs who wantonly and repeatedly violate sacramental promises and every standard of pastoral and/or professional conduct, the McCarrick scandal will just keep repeating itself.
Hello Randell...I'm here in a small Town in Southern Missouri, I so sorry to have heard of what happened at Your Parish...Have You read Archbishop Vigano's Letter?...You must Read it to get some idea what the Gay Lobby in the Church Has done (And is doing) to the Body of Christ. Here are some comments and Recommendations of Bishop Athanasius Schneider >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>From the document of Archbishop Viganò one can draw the following conclusions:
That the Holy See and the Pope himself will start to cleanse uncompromisingly the Roman Curia and the episcopate from homosexual cliques and networks.
That the Pope will proclaim unambiguously the Divine doctrine about the grievously sinful character of homosexual acts.
That there will be issued peremptory and detailed norms, which will prevent the ordination of men with a homosexual tendency.
That the Pope restores the purity and unambiguity of the entire Catholic doctrine in teaching and preaching.
That there will be restored in the Church through papal and episcopal teaching and through practical norms the ever valid Christian ascesis: the exercises of fasting, of corporal penitence, of abnegations.
That there will be restored in the Church the spirit and the praxis of reparation and expiation for sins committed.
That there will start in the Church a securely guaranteed selection process of candidates to the episcopacy, who are demonstrably true men of God; and that it would be better to leave the dioceses several years without a bishop rather than to appoint a candidate who is not a true man of God in prayer, in doctrine and in moral life.
That there will start in the Church a movement especially among cardinals, bishops and priests to renounce any compromise and any flirt with the world.
I am a child sexual and emotional abuse survivor. Moreover, I'm bisexual. I know more about abuse and sexuality than you do - and the two are not connected in any way, shape of form (power, control, and supply, mate)
Youre a homophobe, and like Vigano and his ilk youre blaming gays for the clericalist, pastoral superiority that makes this crisis what it is. Only youve been led astray from survivors and the real reason for Vigano's sour grapes of wrath - curia and wider church reform
This is the actual story. Vigano and his ilk are against reforms, because they see their chance at power and the silverware slipping further from their fingertips - hence the noise
I cannot stress enough, and you'll probably ignore me and call me a part of the supposed "gay mafia" that the scandal revolves around PAST abuses (between the 40s and 90s), not gay priests and survivors lost from God's love and church life in todays church - who youre hurriedly stepping on in your rush to cast stones, without once seeing your division and separation from God
"Get away from me, Satan" [Jesus] said. "Your thoughts don't come from God but from human nature!"
- Mk 8.33
I have a pile of stones here, if you need to throw one. We are a church of sinners called to turn away from our sins with humble and contrite hearts. Who wants past sins to be dredged up?
The church sins need to be revealed, by the church itself rather than waiting for AGs to come calling
not for us to cast stones, but to stand with survivors, to bring the church forward, cleansed, reformed, whatever is necessary to proceed rather than flounder
Dont dredge through those sins, and nothing changes. We need changes, and need to see them happening. Yes they are happening and have happened, but we cant wait to go through the church door to discover it
Its time for the shepards to come find their flock
This is hopeful. Delighted to see the Vigano letter will be addressed, rather than ignored as so many secular partisans hoped for. The statement regarding the composition of the Council “taking into account the advanced age of some of the members.” makes me think there will be several resignations. Given Maradiaga's problem in Honduras, O'Malley's office returning a letter on McCarrick, Pell's fight in Australia, Parolin's problems re the Vatican, and Marx on everything bad in Germany, this should be a good thing.
I admit that I am behind the times.
But why is a new Bishop taking photographs of the Pope ?
I will ask again:
How is it that McCarrick, when known to have coerced Seminarians,
to have his many "nephews" how is that he ever became a Bishop and
a Cardinal, We have proof that the Vatican knew in 2000 what McCarrick was up to ?
I can accept that the Pope does not have the time to read every letter and report that is
sent officially and un-officially to the Vatican, but nothing will change unless the bureaucrats
make sure the Pope knows about these cases.
When I read that two of the Cardinals on the "C-9" commission are themselves
unders suspicion of inappropriate behaviour and/or cover-up - I don't know what to say.
So I will say this:
Every Bishop needs to resign, every Cardinal needs to resign, Pope Francis needs to resign,
Pople Benedict needs to resign, if it can be shown conclusively that John Paul II knew about
Bishops and others who did these things, then strike him from the Sainthood. Every Rector that approved a Seminarian for the Priesthood who offended the least in the Kingdom of
Heaven needs to resign. Fr. Martin, S.J. and any other priest who says they knew of rumours or facts about McCarrick needs to step aside.
No one has a right to be Pope, Cardinal, Bishop, Rector or work for America - No one,
least of all those who knew and did nothing.
Yes, we are all sinners and all subject to temptation and God help us when we fall,
but this is organised cover-up and the paying of "Hush-Money" goes beyond any
simple falling to temptation, it was well organised and well planned and used money
that the Poor should have received to deceive the laity and protect those who should have been laicised.
It has to stop.
If the whole governance of the Church has to be replaced, let it be done as soon as possible.
The council of 9 cardinals, one of whom, Pell, is himself about to stand trial in Australia for sex abuse.
"The council has devoted much of its time over the past five years to drafting a reform project for the Roman Curia. That work is almost finished, but there are many other things to be addressed, particularly in relation to the universal church."
And there it is, kids. Reform. What Vigano and his ilk fear the most, and so turn to the homosexual bogeyman to derail the narrative, steal the attention from survivors and abuse reporting/response changes to the church moving forward
In short, clericalists on the outer who hate Francis' merciful message and want to bring down fire and brimstone on gays in the church
Like child abuse and prideful, divisive hatred aren't horribly egregious sins...
Reading these comments makes it very clear that the Church, as indicated by the sentiments expressed herein, is infected with serious mental illness
It seems that the $64,000 question is: Did Pope Francis know about McCarrick's abuses and did he (Francis) take any action. Or did he act like he did with the Chileans, and initiailly accept the word of the bishops vs. the voices of the abused?
The way the pope is running and ducking for cover, flitting around delivering tepid homilies and warmed-over platitudes, holding forth on everything BUT the baby-raping pedophile priests, there is NO DOUBT in my mind that he certainly knows more than he's letting on.As far as I'm concerned, he's lost all so-called "moral authority ", if he ever had any to begin with. By the way, exactly what IS the purpose of the so-called Papacy anyway? ANYBODY?? 😎😎😎
“By the way, exactly what IS the purpose of the so-called Papacy anyway? ANYBODY??”
To give internet trolls something to kvetch, jeer, annihilate and otherwise demean. What else would you and Tim do if not for these forums? Dont forget to send money to America Magazine for giving you a platform to look like malcontents.
You are welcome. 😘😉👍🏽
He should release the documents Vigano referred to in his letter. Only the truth matters.
It appears that McCarrick and Pope Francis were good friends years before he became pope, and also that McCarrick was put out to pasture during B16's tenure but that he was brought back into the limelight when Francis became pope ... https://religionnews.com/2014/06/16/globe-trotting-cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-almost-84-working-harder-ever/
It IS a man-made, Satanic assault, Cassel, but it's certainly not limited to the U.S. Apparently it's a world-wide phenomenon, an infestation of vicious, ravaging, wolves raping the bodies and murdering the souls of countless Roman Catholic children, your pedophile priests of which your pope has no answers for; he's running and ducking for cover just like his hierarchy is doing!! So...WHAT'S YOUR POINT?? 🤨🤨🤨
“…the Vatican is preparing a response to what Archbishop Viganò stated in his letter, the contents of which has become a source of scandal and division in the church, particularly in the United States…”
The author of this article has put the cart before the horse! It was not the Vigano letter that caused the scandal and division. It was the homosexual predators and their bishop enablers causing the scandal and division in the Church!
Reading these comments reminded me not to ever read comments.
While we wait for the Holy Father to “strengthen the brethren” (Luke 22:32), this is the best response I have seen to date, for balance, hope and seriousness at addressing the crisis. From Bishop Egan of Portsmouth, England, who has asked Pope Francis for an Extraordinary Synod of Bishops (and a congress of lay experts) to address the life of the clergy, in light of the crisis. He divides the crisis into three:
1) Sins and crimes against minors by members of the clergy;
2) The homosexual circles centered around Archbishop McCarrick, and others;
3) The mishandling and cover-up of all this by the hierarchy up to the highest circles.
"We know that all these issues affect many sectors of modern society, and we know that in many parts of the Church, such as here in the U.K., there have been robust safeguarding protocols in place for some years. Yet scandal impacts the very sacramentality of the Church and damages our evangelizing mission. Of course, we must also remember that evangelization is always two-way, like breathing in and breathing out. We cannot give what we have not got."
"The origins of the difficulties come from the coincidence of Vatican II with the social, sexual and family revolutions of the late 20th century. Where before religious men and women lived in strictly determined ecclesial structures, the Church was now inviting them to “update” the way they lived, thought and spoke. The good intention was to engage with the modern world."
"The structures of the Church are there, but have some of the home fires gone out? Many Catholics, including members of the clergy, no longer believe the Church’s teaching, especially on matters of personal morality. There is confusion over conscience, sin, grace and the mechanism of confession. Many seem to have lost a sense of heaven, the angels and saints and the transcendent, and are thus not strongly evangelized, catechized and converted to Christ. Secular attitudes and affluent lifestyles seem to have infiltrated. Most baptized Catholics do not practice."
"Keep your nerve and draw closer to the Person of Jesus. Try to reach a deeper personal relationship with Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Study the Gospels. Say the Rosary. Be totally dependent on prayer. Be committed to serving the poor and needy."
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/uk-bishop-there-is-a-three-level-crisis-in-the-church
"responding to questions about whether there was a "gay lobby" in the Vatican Pope Francis said "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?", nothing more,nothing less. He avoided answering the question directly or indirectly with a question. He said later that "prayer and silence" was his answer to a question on the Vigano letter.
There is a saying which a priest used on Sunday in his homily that "Silence signifies assent" and continued on by stating that he has no confidence that the Pope Francis is the man to clean house of the McCarrick defenders/supporters.
I think one needs to hear everything that the Holy Father says on an important topic, not just one. Here are other things he has said:
"You have to distinguish between the fact of a person being gay, and the fact of a lobby. The problem isn't the orientation. The problem is making a lobby."
Most recently (Aug-26), Francis was asked Sunday what he would tell a father whose child comes out as gay. Francis said he would counsel prayer, dialogue and space, but that it depended on the child’s age when this “turmoil” manifested itself. He said: “Because it means something if it shows when you are still a child, when there are a lot of things to be done, either with psychiatric help, or to see how things are. While it is something else when it shows 20 years later.”
He has been harshest on gay marriage and gender ideology:
• "Today there is a global war out to destroy marriage. Not with weapons but with ideas…we have to defend ourselves from ideological colonization." "The crisis of the family is a social reality. Then there are ideological colonizations of the family, modes and proposals from Europe and also from overseas. The error of the human mind that is gender theory creates a lot of confusion."
• "Let us not be naive: this is not simply a political struggle, but it is an attempt to destroy God's plan. It is not just a bill (a mere instrument) but a 'move' of the Father of Lies [the Devil] who seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God." "At stake is the identity and survival of the family: father, mother, and children." "At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our hearts."
• "Marriage between people of the same sex? 'Marriage' is a historical word. Always in humanity, and not only within the Church, it's between a man and a woman… we cannot change that. This is the nature of things. This is how they are. Let's call them 'civil unions.' Let's not play with the truth. It's true that behind it there is a gender ideology. In books also, children are learning that they can choose their own sex. Why is sex, being a woman or a man, a choice and not a fact of nature? This favors this mistake. But let's say things as they are: Marriage is between a man and a woman. This is the precise term. Let's call unions between the same sex 'civil unions'."
• Pope Francis said only heterosexuals can form a family. "It is painful to say this today: People speak of varied families, of various kinds of family," but "the family [as] man and woman in the image of God is the only one." "Complementarity will take many forms as each man and woman brings his or her distinctive contributions to their marriage and to the formation of their children—his or her personal richness, personal charisma." "Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child's development and emotional maturity."
• "Gender ideology is demonic!" Gender theory represents a "global war against the family." Gender theory has caused a "world war against marriage," an example of "ideological colonization." There is a "nasty" tendency in schools to "indoctrinate" children, teaching that gender can be chosen and changed.” "It is one thing if a person has this tendency and also changes his sex. It's another thing to teach this in school to change mentalities. This is what I call 'ideological colonization.'" Teaching gender theory is "the great enemy of marriage." Teaching gender theory "is against natural things." "I ask myself, if the so-called gender theory is not, at the same time, an expression of frustration and resignation, which seeks to cancel out sexual difference because it no longer knows how to confront it. Yes, we risk taking a step backwards."
Let's hope that Pope Francis' response to the Vigano letter will clear things up as much as possible regarding the McCarrick scandal and the involvement of the past 3 popes or at least Pope Francis himself. This entire scandal is sickening and it sticks to high heaven and we need responsible leadership by Pope Francis.
Frankly, unless all the evidence and accusations in the Grand Jury Report, the McCarrick scandal et al, and the Vigano letter, and those implicated, are thoroughly investigated by a lay-lead impartial committee we will not know the complete truth or be able to institute the appropriate reforms. On the other hand, there is legitimate evidence at this stage that points to real systemic problems and moral corruption.
Before jumping to conclusions, I hope and pray that "all" homosexual priests and bishops do not become the scapegoat for the clergy sexual scandal. The problem is not homosexuality. The problem is moral corruption, gross negligence, immoral inaction and actions and the turning of a blind eye to illicit behavior and coverup from homosexual and heterosexual priests to those in hierarchy including the possibility of the past 3 popes "found guilty of such things". It should be made clear that the majority of homosexual and heterosexual priests abide by their vows of celibacy and chastity, are good priests and do the Lord's work.
The solution, IMO, is to defrock all homosexual and heterosexual priests, bishops and cardinals who are found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors and/or immoral consensual sex with adults. Appropriate and suitable sanctions and justice must be brought to all those found guilty of crimes, gross negligence, et al.
We need to put the culture of clericalism and moral corruption behind us and move forward with effective, responsible and significant reforms as soon as reasonably possible.
I guess the fix is in. The Pope's Council of Advisers praises child molester McCarrick's room-mate for 6 years, Cardinal Farrell. McCarrick's serial molestation and harassment was an open secret. Everybody knew about it, from seminary rectors to the Cardinal Tobin and others who dealt with the victims and even paid out settlements/hush money. If they are going to praise the long time room-mate of McCarrick, who had to have known, how likely is it that they are going to be honest in their investigation?
Any investigation must be led by the laity and include people like Frank Keating, who saw the bishops covering for themselves and stonewalling back in 2003.
''To resist grand jury subpoenas, to suppress the names of offending clerics, to deny, to obfuscate, to explain away; that is the model of a criminal organization, not my church.''
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/17/us/refusing-to-recant-keating-resigns-as-church-panel-chief.html
"In another part of the statement, the cardinals expressed “satisfaction” for “the good outcome” of the World Meeting of Families that was held in Dublin at the end of August. It had been organized by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, head of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin."
https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2018/09/10/vatican-preparing-response-viganos-accusations
Pope Francis at Mass: Bishops must pray to overcome 'Great Accuser’ headline from the Vatican News today.So the the great cover-up begins.