Pope Francis takes first step in tackling child-abuse crisis

Over the years, we have harsh- ly criticized the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church for their wishy-washy response to the sexual abuse of thousands of children worldwide by priests, which is why we take some solace in this week’s pronouncements by Pope Francis.

To be sure, Francis’ declaration of “zero tolerance” for members of the clergy who would violate man’s law and God’s law will ring hollow unless there’s actual punishment meted out to the pedophiles.

However, it’s premature to dismiss what the pontiff announced on Monday without giving him a chance to prove his sincerity.

Indeed, his revelation that three bishops are currently under investigation provides hope that finally those in positions of power who aided and abetted members of the clergy in their criminality are being called to account.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a dozen times, the child-abuse scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church would never have gone on for so long had there not been bishops and archbishops protecting the pedophiles. There have been many credible news stories of priests caught abusing children and then being reassigned to other parishes and again committing the most grievous of sins.

“We are now considering the penalty to be imposed,” Pope Francis told reporters flying with him to Rome on his return from the Holy Land. “There are no privileges.”

He described the abuse of children by priests as an “ugly” crime that betrays God.

In a gesture that was immediately dismissed by the main U.S. victims’ group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the pope will meet next month with a group of victims at the Vatican.

He plans to celebrate Mass with the eight victims in the small church inside the Vatican guesthouse where he lives, the New York Times reported.

The pope is being advised by members of the commission he created last year to help him formulate a policy on sex abuse. One of the members is Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston.

“On this issue, we must go forward, forward. Zero tolerance,” Francis said. What that means will become clear as the Vatican responds to a report from a United Nations human-rights committee that has accused the church of a “Code of Silence” in dealing with the thousands of incidents of sexual abuse of children by priests.

Blanket protection

The code enabled the abuse worldwide to continue for decades and provided blanket protection to the bishops who aided and abetted in the criminal acts.

The U.N. has called on the Vatican to immediately remove all priests known or suspected to be child molesters, open its archives on abusers and the bishops who covered up for them, and turn abuse cases over to law-enforcement authorities for investigation and prosecution.

The human-rights committee brushed aside the Vatican’s claims that safeguards already have been instituted, and it accused the church of still harboring criminals.

Pope Francis must know that his announcement this week about the investigation of bishops and the invitation to the eight abuse victims are only the first step. As head of the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide, he has the responsibility to set the moral tone for the church.

Francis must show through his actions that he’s prepared to get rid of the priests and bishops who have sinned, thereby permanently tainting the church.