Survivors of clergy sex abuse say Pope Francis' response to crisis was insufficient

FILE - Demonstrators with the Coalition of Catholics and Survivors hold posters of children who have allegedly been sexually abused by Catholic priests, across the street from where the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are meeting in Dallas, Friday, June 14. 2002. Charlie Riedel AP

That’s why SNAP launched “Conclave Watch,” a database tracking the records of Catholic Cardinals in handling abuse cases, he said.

“We don’t need another pope that’s covered up sex crimes,” he said. “I don’t know how morally the church can survive really if we drag a fourth papacy into this.”

The crisis came to light nationally in 2002, thanks to abuse survivors in the Boston area who shared their stories with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team.

“It was because the force of what came out in Boston that made the American bishops make a change in church law, which made it prohibited that any priest or cleric that has been known at any time to have sexually abused a child had to be permanently removed from ministry and could never function or practice or present himself as a priest again,” Isely said.

But as pope, Francis never enacted a global change in canon law that prohibits priests from serving in ministry when it’s been proven they are guilty of sexual abuse.

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