Pope Francis has told the American bishops they are not to vote on a policy to address sex abuse.
The plenary meeting of the Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops opened with a bombshell. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the conference, announced that the Holy See had insisted the U.S. bishops not vote on any concrete action items regarding the clergy sex abuse crisis, pending the February meeting of the presidents of all episcopal conferences that Pope Francis has announced. DiNardo said he only learned last night of the Vatican’s decision.
What is going on? People were whispering that the pope should not have intervened, certainly not at such a late date. Is this a case of Rome not grasping the situation in the U.S. or, more worrisome, that Rome still doesn’t grasp the enormity of the sex abuse mess?
It is at least possible, I suppose, that Francis wants to institute a uniform global policy, and doesn’t want the American church freelancing — but I doubt that. The abuse problem has had huge financial consequences over the past few decades, and is surely a worrisome specter hanging over the future of the church; almost certainly, Francis is looking for an approach that at least appears forthcoming while minimizing the likely hits.