Poll: just 3 in 10 Catholics approve of Pope Francis’s handling of the clerical sex abuse crisis

Tara Isabella Burton — Wed, 03 Oct 2018 02:51:04 +0000

A new Pew poll suggests trust in the embattled pontiff is plummeting.

Pope Francis holds his General Weekly Audience in St. Peter’s Square on August 29, 2018, in Vatican City. Giulio Origlia/Getty Images

Catholics’ confidence in Pope Francis has plummeted. According to a Pew study released on Tuesday, just three in 10 American Catholics say they approve of Francis’s handling of the Catholic clerical sex abuse crisis, following a summer of abuse revelations that have rocked the Catholic Church.

In 2015, 54 percent of Catholics reported having a generally favorable view of Francis’s handling of clerical sex abuse, telling Pew they thought he was doing either an “excellent” or “good” job on the issue. In January of this year, shortly after Francis came under fire for dismissing accusations of a clerical cover-up of child sex abuse in Chile as mere “calumny,” that number dropped to 45 percent.

Then came a stream of new revelations concerning the church’s problems with historical sexual abuse. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington, DC, resigned from his cardinalship in disgrace in July after revelations emerged that he had allegedly sexually abused a number of adult seminarians under his authority, as well as two minors, over several decades. Then, in August, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report implicating 300 priests in that state in the abuse of over 1,000 minors, mostly in the 1970s and ’80s, and countless others in participating in the cover-up. At least eight other states are now in the process of launching similar investigations.

While Pope Francis released a nearly 2,000-word apology, his critics have accused him of ignoring abuse in the church. A longtime conservative rival of Francis, ex-Vatican official Carlo Maria Viganò, publicly alleged that Francis knew about McCarrick’s alleged abuse of seminarians (though not of adults) but still chose to overturn sanctions against McCarrick imposed by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Francis has consistently refused to comment on those allegations.

Pope Francis’s overall favorability has also decreased. While seven in 10 American Catholics still report having an overall “favorable” view of the pontiff, he’s down 12 points from January. And many Catholics who once described their views towards Francis as “very favorable” are now amending their position: Just 30 percent of American Catholics now describe their opinion of Francis that way, down from a high of 52 percent in 2015.

It remains to be seen whether Francis will be able to turn around public perception of his handling of the sex abuse crisis. He’s called for a major global summit next February to combat the issue, something that may revive many Catholics’ trust in his handling of the issue.

But for many Catholics, it may be too late for Francis to restore trust in the church.

Source: https://www.vox.com/2018/10/3/17933268/pew-pope-francis-catholic-clerical-sex-abuse-poll

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The post Poll: just 3 in 10 Catholics approve of Pope Francis’s handling of the clerical sex abuse crisis first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Ex-Vatican diplomat calls on ‘sinful’ Pope Francis to resign over sex abuse scandal

John Bacon - USA Today — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 09:45:15 +0000

A protester holds up a sign in reference to the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church as Pope Francis travels through the city in the Popemobile on Aug. 25, 2018, in Dublin, Ireland.
(Photo: Charles McQuillan, Getty Images)

Pope Francis should resign for his “sinful conduct” in covering up sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a retired Vatican diplomat says.

Francis had recently become pope in 2013 when he asked Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò his thoughts on McCarrick, Viganò says in a damning, 11-page open letter published Sunday.

“I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but there is a dossier this thick about him,” Viganò said he told the pope in 2013. “He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests.”

Viganò, who was serving as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., told Francis that his predecessor, Pope Benedict, had ordered McCarrick to leave the seminary where he was living and withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.

Viganò, 77, was a hard-line conservative pillar at the Vatican before retiring in 2016. He said Francis dropped the sanctions against McCarrick, a well-known liberal by church standards, and “continued to cover for him.” McCarrick resigned last month amid claims of sexual abuse of an altar boy and seminarians.

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The Vatican had no immediate comment on Viganò’s claims but has said the pope acted quickly once he learned that McCarrick was facing credible claims. Francis addressed the global sexual abuse scandal Saturday in a speech in Ireland, where outrage over abuses there have overwhelmed coverage of the pope’s visit.

“The failure of … bishops, religious superiors, priests and others to adequately address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community,” the pope said. “I myself share these sentiments.”

John Thavis, a former Catholic News Service reporter and author of The Vatican Diaries, says Viganò’s letter doesn’t explain how McCarrick was able to continue his high-profile work in the church at the end of Benedict’s reign if he had truly been admonished by the former pope. He noted that Viganò’s source on Benedict’s actions against McCarrick were based on second-hand information.

Thavis also noted that Viganò “blindsided” Francis two years ago when, during the pope’s U.S. visit, Viganò set up a controversial meeting between the pope and a court clerk in Kentucky who had refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

“The tone of the letter and its content resemble a political hit piece on the pope,” Thavis said. “Sadly, the sex abuse crisis is being used as political leverage by some factions in the church.”

Father Jame Bretzke, a theology professor at Marquette University, noted that conservatives such as Viganò found their influence diminished when Francis became pope.

“While Viganò was not explicitly fired, he very clearly was ‘replaced’ and he has long been known as a fierce opponent of Pope Francis,” Bretzke said.

That said, the letter calls for a detailed response from the pope, Thavis said.

“I know of no other instance in modern times where a (former) high-ranking church officials has publicly called on the pope to resign,” Thavis said.

Viganò wrote that too many people have been “deeply scandalized by the abominable and sacrilegious behavior of the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick; by the grave, disconcerting and sinful conduct of Pope Francis” and by many pastors who remained silent.

“Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example to cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them,” Viganò wrote.

Source: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2018/08/26/pope-francis-ex-vatican-ambassador-sinful-pope-should-resugn/1103407002/

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The post Ex-Vatican diplomat calls on ‘sinful’ Pope Francis to resign over sex abuse scandal first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick - Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association

Poll: just 3 in 10 Catholics approve of Pope Francis’s handling of the clerical sex abuse crisis

Ex-Vatican diplomat calls on ‘sinful’ Pope Francis to resign over sex abuse scandal