The Vatican abuse summit only took place in February and yet it seems a long time ago, buried under new stories and new developments in old cases. Nobody thought that the summit would resolve the crisis, but it is legitimate to ask whether the meeting was effective and what is still pending.
I believe that the summit was indeed effective. I was there, doing some work for the Vatican press office, and a change was clearly visible. A combination of the continuous presence of the Pope, the excruciating testimonies of victims and nine keynote speeches detailing what the Church expects of bishops had a real impact on participants.
Pope Francis was right: the priority was (and still is) a change in the prevailing culture that tells Church authorities they are accountable only to God. The participants came to Rome from 110 countries as individuals, but left as a body – a collegium – with a mission.
At the same time, the bishops left a lot of homework to the Holy See. They were saying: “This is a very complex matter, a topic where we do not want to make mistakes. We need clarity.” We are not talking about Africa here: the three biggest European episcopates – Italy, Poland and Spain – are still hesitant about how to proceed.
Is everything clear? Not really, I’m afraid. Many aspects need clarification in order for the bishops to tackle the problem.
Bishops are obviously responsible for taking care of victims, investigating all accusations, reporting credible ones to the Vatican and overseeing clerics who could be a threat to minors.
Still, there is a lot of uncertainty. What is the real meaning of terms such as “zero tolerance”, “abuse of power” and “credible accusations”? In what ways should the Church take care of victims? Some US dioceses have a standard policy of out-of-court settlements for a million dollars for each case, while in most of the world that is simply impossible: many dioceses would have to close churches, schools and hospitals to afford such payments.
The same vagueness remains about accountability. A few of the speakers, and the Pope himself, described abuse as an issue that has to be solved by the whole community, including lay people. But this requires significant changes in canon law.
The fact that the presidents of all the world’s bishops’ conferences were summoned to Rome suggests that episcopal conferences have a role to play. Some of the examples mentioned as best practices – such as national commissions and tribunals, centres for the protection of minors or third-party investigations of past cases – seem to foster that idea. Yet, the actual norms do not say that. Bishops can agree to work together, but if they don’t want to they are not breaking any written rules.
Regarding negligent bishops, there was a proposal at the summit for metropolitan archbishops to be given responsibility for investigating fellow bishops. The idea did not receive a warm welcome. If there are theological and canonical obstacles to creating a court to assess bishops at the Vatican, under the Pope’s supervision, then delegating this responsibility to ecclesiastical provinces is unimaginable.
Finally, there needs to be more progress on transparency. How to balance the victim’s right to privacy with the need to tell the community about the risks and the right of the accused to the presumption of innocence? The danger of public condemnation based on a mere accusation is not remote.
Some might argue that today’s norms and guidelines cover most of what a bishop needs to know, so bishops can advance on their own, with the Vatican filling in where necessary. Unfortunately, leaving such crucial matters up to the interpretation of individual bishops is not a good policy either.
The Catholic Church needs consistency because it is just one Church. Look at the recent stories from Australia, France, Chile and Poland, or even inside the Vatican. People do not care whether those crimes happened five miles from home or in another continent. Wherever scandal occurs, we will always relate it to our own parish priest. We will look at him suspiciously and his pastoral work will be impeded. In my parish, for instance, the number of families signing their children up for First Communion catechesis went down 30 per cent this year. It’s similar with donations.
The only way to be consistent is to be systematic. Someone has to take the lead and overcome the obvious resistance to change. Modifying canon law is not enough, especially if you want to attack the roots of the problem: crime prevention, priestly formation and spiritual renewal.
Far too many Vatican dicasteries are currently involved: doctrine, consecrated life, laity and family, evangelisation of peoples, Oriental churches, clergy and interpretation of legal texts. A tsar is needed, a conductor to orchestrate the Church’s response. Otherwise, the dicasteries’ urgent daily business will block this important issue, and the summit will lose most of its value.
Of course, there is already such an institution in the Vatican: the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Yet, it was notably absent from the recent summit, which means that either it does not have the power to set policy or those in charge do not have the Pope’s trust. Either way, something has to be changed.
Having a to-go office at the Vatican in charge of promoting this cultural change, with all its peripheral consequences, is vital. It could be an effective service offered by the Roman Curia to the universal Church – and in these times of synodality, the bishops are entitled to demand this from the Holy See.
Yago de la Cierva is a professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome
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