Pope Francis and practising what one preaches

Pope Francis has called upon Church authorities to cooperate with civil authorities in relation to child sexual abuse by Church personnel. When it comes to the Vatican cooperating, it is a different story.

On 28 September 2024, while in Belgium, Pope Francis is reported to have said:

‘There is no room for abuse in the church. I ask everyone, don’t cover up abuse! Evil must not be hidden, it must be in the open … so that the abuser is judged, whether they be a layman or a laywoman, a priest or a bishop, that they be judged. The word of God is clear.’

If the word of God is clear, Pope Francis is not listening to it. The Holy See only publishes its disciplinary decisions when the allegations are in the public domain.

On 17 December 2017, the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse published its Final Report. Its recommendation 16.10, was that the Holy See should abolish the pontifical secret over clergy sexual abuse. Its recommendation 16.16 was that the Holy See publish in a timely manner its decisions in disciplinary cases and the reasons for them. The Final Report of the 2021 French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church made a similar recommendation. The Australian Royal Commission accepted that it may be appropriate to suppress information leading to the identification of the victim.On 19 December 2019, Pope Francis, to his credit, abolished the pontifical secret, but retained what he called ‘office confidentiality’ for disciplinary proceedings. His Instruction stated that ‘office confidentiality’ did not prevent compliance with civil reporting laws.