Rome--Pope spends WAY more time on bureaucracy than safety

For immediate release: Wednesday, Feb. 11

Statement by Mary Caplan of New York City, SNAP Leader, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (917 439 4187, [email protected])

This week, “hundreds of the church prelates gather in Rome to discuss reform of the church's central bureaucracy,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Last week, 17 people, mostly volunteers, gathered in Rome to discuss reform of the church's abuse procedures.

Interesting disparity.  

And there’s a timing disparity too.

In April of 2013, the "fix our bureaucracy" initiative started when the Pope named eight cardinals to help him govern and study an overall reform of the Vatican bureaucracy. http://www.independent.ie/world-news/pope-sets-up-vatican-finances-probe-29433099.html

Almost a year later, March 2014, the "fix our abuse policies" initiative started when Francis appointed the first members of yet another church abuse panel.

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-03-22-pope-francis-appoints-first-anti-child-abuse-panel-members

These disparities strongly suggest that top Catholic officials care more about internal efficiency than children’s safety.

They claim, over and over again (as Francis did last week) that the church is “making every effort to protect their children … priority must not be given to any other kind of concern. ...”

But actions speak louder than words. And no one can deny that the pope and his key aides expends far more time, energy and political capital on improving church finances, governance and morale than on improving church abuse practices.

For a third example, consider this: The Pope created a second commission to investigate the scandal-plagued Vatican bank, whose top two managers resigned amid a widening money-laundering probe by Italian magistrates. And in July 2013 the Pope named an eight-member committee to recommend ways to fix the Holy See's economic and administrative shortcomings. It is the third such commission Francis has created since being named pope.

Three bodies to deal with bureaucracy. One to deal with abuse.

(For a different, if somewhat snarky perspective on this, see:

http://wonkette.com/575584/vatican-very-serious-about-punishing-bishops-who-protect-pedophiles-one-day )

(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)

Contact - David Clohessy +1 314-566-9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris +1 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine +1 312-399-4747, [email protected]