Once again, the Catholic Church faces more backlash for sexual abuse perpetrated by priests in Germany, Australia, Chile, France, Ireland, and other countries.
In Germany, the Catholic church destroyed documents providing evidence of sex abuse (including names of perpetrators and victims) in attempts to save the Catholic Church’s name — uhh, it’s a little too late for that. Cardinal Marx also relayed that “the victims were regulated and silence imposed on them,” and that “procedures and processes for the prosecution of offenses were deliberately not complied with, but instead canceled or overridden.”
In Australia, George Pell was sentenced to six years in prison for sexual abuse of children, which many were surprised about as he was a veteran of the Catholic Church and one of the most senior Catholics.
In America, another Catholic priest was found guilty of the appalling sex abuse allegations according to an investigation and was made to leave the Catholic church. However, no actual amendments have been made to prevent sexual abuse within the church, and the church continues to refuse to take legitimate responsibility for the actions of their priests, claiming it’s homosexuality’s fault, not the church’s fault. Cardinal Marx has also stated that the path of “cleansing” is a “continuing path,” not one that can be “finished in three days,” which sounds like a perfectly disgusting excuse.
Pope Francis held a four-day summit to discuss the sexual abuse crimes, which is a step in the right direction. However, it’s crucial that Francis does lay out some concrete ways to fix the problem — otherwise, it’s all talk and no action.
If there’s one thing we know for sure, it’s that the Catholic Church should be very concerned about its future, as Millennials and Gen Z will likely not stand for this; it has been going on for too long and so few actions have been made.
