The New York Times - Pope Francis Admits ‘Grave Errors’ in Chile Sex Abuse Cases (extracts):
ROME — Pope Francis has apologized for “grave errors” in the handling of sexual abuse cases in Chile, where he had adamantly defended a bishop accused of covering up abuse by the country’s most notorious pedophile priest.
In an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Chile, published on Wednesday, a remorseful pope then invited representatives of the abuse victims to Rome so that he could personally apologize. Francis has endured intense criticism over accusations that he had a blind spot on the issue of sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
A spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference said that some of the victims would go in the coming weeks, and that the pope would individually ask for their forgiveness. Francis in the letter also summoned the country’s 32 bishops to meet at the Vatican in May — an exceptionally large gathering of bishops — to discuss clerical sex abuse.
In an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Chile, published on Wednesday, a remorseful pope then invited representatives of the abuse victims to Rome so that he could personally apologize. Francis has endured intense criticism over accusations that he had a blind spot on the issue of sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church.
A spokesman for the Chilean bishops’ conference said that some of the victims would go in the coming weeks, and that the pope would individually ask for their forgiveness. Francis in the letter also summoned the country’s 32 bishops to meet at the Vatican in May — an exceptionally large gathering of bishops — to discuss clerical sex abuse.
In the pope’s letter, which he signed on Sunday, he said that a delegation led by Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna, a Maltese prelate who has been called the Vatican’s Eliot Ness in fighting clerical sex abuse, had taken the testimony of 64 people in Santiago and New York and produced more than 2,300 pages. The result, Francis wrote, was his being “moved to write this letter.”
“As far as my role, I acknowledge, and ask you to convey faithfully, that I have made grave errors in assessment and perception of the situation, especially as a result of lack of information that was truthful and balanced,” wrote Francis, 81. “From this time I ask forgiveness to all those that I offended and I hope to do so personally, in the following weeks, in meetings that I will hold with representatives of the people who were interviewed.”
Priests are men which in many, not just some, have a weakness, namely, to fulfil their physiological (physical) need for women.
“As far as my role, I acknowledge, and ask you to convey faithfully, that I have made grave errors in assessment and perception of the situation, especially as a result of lack of information that was truthful and balanced,” wrote Francis, 81. “From this time I ask forgiveness to all those that I offended and I hope to do so personally, in the following weeks, in meetings that I will hold with representatives of the people who were interviewed.”
While many people admire the Pope for taking responsibility for the conduct of his priests, they ask: What should be done now?
We should address this specific aspect of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.
Now, based on the fact that Ecumenical meetings of the Catholic Church at the First and Second Lateran councils in 1123 and 1139 explicitly forbid priests from marrying, we should re-examine what and why it happened.
Then, there was a sinister objective by the Church, to ensure priests did not have children or wives who could make claims on property acquired throughout a priest’s life. And on the priests' demises, the Church inherited those properties. So it was all a case of greed.
Alas, that celibacy rule spread until eventually it became the norm in the Western Roman Catholic Church.
Thus, the solution is to NOW allow the RC priests the right to marry as their original predecessors prior to 1123 did, and indeed in the way priests of the Eastern Orthodox Churches today still do.
Protestant preachers and Jewish rabbis have long been encouraged to have wives though in modern times, only one at any one time, please, wakakaka.
