He's pretty good on a lot of things but he just doesn't get sexual abuse. He still hasn't created a transparent process that satisfies both the church and the public.

He has charged the latest victims of sexual abuse with "calumny" for accusing a bishop in Chile that the bishop covered up abuse by a priest in that diocese. The pope demanded they produce evidence. As the rest of the world knows, it's not easy to produce "evidence" in situations like these. The pope says he believes the bishop (whom he appointed).

It's fine for the pope to believe one side, but it is not fine to accuse the other side of calumny. In fact, calumny is precisely what the pope is doing by his accusations.

This is now the third pope in a row who has his head buried in the sand when it comes to sexual abuse by the clergy. Like his predecessors, he pays lip service to the problem but doesn't follow up with effective action.

I don't think they'll ever find a pope that will openly accuse any member of the church of a sexual transgression. It makes the church look bad, it makes Christianity and especially catholicism look bad. It's swept under the rug because of how it makes the church look.

In other words I'm not so sure the pope has his head buried in the sand in the way you think. I think that the sand and the hole to bury your head in, come with the package deal of being the pope. It's part of the job. You just don't talk about it, you definitely don't publicize it, and you do your best to keep up the appearances that everything is great, no scandals in their organization, just pretend it doesn't happen, deny deny deny.

Its Popes like Francis who are among the reasons I'm a Protestant. That and a lot of the other Policies the Catholic Church in America abide by (can't Comment on Canada), Which are not completely in line with those in Europe (Italy Specifically).

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Originally Posted by Alty

In other words I'm not so sure the pope has his head buried in the sand in the way you think. I think that the sand and the hole to bury your head in, come with the package deal of being the pope. It's part of the job. You just don't talk about it, you definitely don't publicize it, and you do your best to keep up the appearances that everything is great, no scandals in their organization, just pretend it doesn't happen, deny deny deny.

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No. The pope has never been guilty of "deny, deny, deny", nor has he "swept the matter under the rug". Far from it. He has been most outspoken about the scandal. My objection as posted is that there is still not a viable process to deal with the scandal that is sufficiently transparent enough for both the Church authorities and the civil authorities.

Not only that, but the politics of the Vatican are unbelievable. There's only a certain amount he can do without rivals undercutting him and all the rest. He's been focusing on things like social justice, and that's getting him in a lot of trouble with some people back home. He has addressed the scandals and denounced the actions, but at the moment that's about as much as he's able to do.

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

Not only that, but the politics of the Vatican are unbelievable. There's only a certain amount he can do without rivals undercutting him and all the rest. He's been focusing on things like social justice, and that's getting him in a lot of trouble with some people back home. He has addressed the scandals and denounced the actions, but at the moment that's about as much as he's able to do.

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Good point - greenie-worthy.