Cracks in the Stone-Walling, Or More of the Same?

The pope and a prominent Australian archbishop recently made unprecedented statements about the clergy abuse issue that appeared to be significant breakthroughs in the church’s wall of denial. It seems, however, that the pope’s words, at least, may have been too promising to be true.

The statements came after the recent spate of revelations about child abuse in Ireland, Germany and Italy and unusually strong criticisms of the pope. A Pew Research study found that this spring’s news volume about the church abuse issue almost matched the 2002 Boston coverage.

While not proclaimed as an official policy, the pope had said that “forgiveness is not a substitute for justice”, thus indicating a break from what has been the church mantra about forgiving the perpetrator but never mentioning justice for the victim. When had any church official, let alone the pope, spoken about justice for victims?

The pope also acknowledged that “the sin is inside the church”, admitting that the problem is real and not just created by accusations from victims or the media. Most Catholic spokespersons are still quick to label any criticism as unfounded and only coming from outsiders wanting to “hurt the church.” The pope even elaborated that “