More on the Pope
It's been a few days now since the former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, made accusations in an eleven page open letter that Pope Francis knew of and covered up the sexual misconduct of Cardinal McCarrick .
As I wrote in my previous post on this, the issue is not just about what the pope knew and when he knew it, it's as much about politics as any Republican v Democrat issue that crops up ... Vigano is part of the super conservative traditionalist block of the church that is characterized by anti-LGBT bias, rigid devotion to doctrine, and a longing for the pre-Vatican II days of yore. On the other side we have the Pope and what passes for a liberal faction.
This is where the analogy breaks down, though, because there is no liberal faction in the church hierarchy anymore. Pope Francis and his "liberals" are the guys (and yes they are of course all guys) who will not let women be priests or even deacons in their church (Pope Francis says women will never be Roman Catholic priests). They are the guys who say friendly things about celibate gay people, but who say awful things about gay people getting married (If the pope loves gay people, he has a strange way of showing it).
And, it seems like it is this liberal faction in the church that often makes excuses for the clergy sex abuse scandal. It is Pope Francis who raised Cardinal Pell, now on trial for sex abuse in Australia, to high place in the Vatican. It is Pope Francis who blew up his own commission on sex abuse, causing sex abuse survivor Marie Collins to quit. It's Pope Francis who whisked sexual predator Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski back to the Vatican instead of extraditing him for trial in Poland. It's the Pope who installed a bishop in Chile who had covered up abuse, causing riots. It's Pope Francis who just months ago refused to allow a Vatican diplomat stand trial in Washington DC for child pornography but instead called him back to the church's loving bosom. There's more, but don't take my word for the terrible job the Pope has done on clergy sex abuse - here's article on the subject in The Boston Globe from a few years ago: Pope Francis has done nothing to prevent sex abuse, and this from The New York Times - Vatican Sex Abuse Scandal Reveals Blind Spot for Francis.
So, here I am, a liberal Democrat, and I'm expected to be on the pope's side in this because those making allegations against him are conservatives. Tribalism reigns in religion as much as in secular politics ... America Magazine, Commonweal, The Tablet, etc. will likely take the Pope's side because they are liberal-ish sites in this church, just as the secular press is taking sides, with CNN and The Guardian with Francis.
This is depressing. Sides on the issue of clergy sex abuse should not be chosen based on politics. Everyone should be against sex abuse. I don't know if the Pope did what he's accused of, and I'm not going to take his side, especially given his track record on abuse, without more info.
As I wrote in my previous post on this, the issue is not just about what the pope knew and when he knew it, it's as much about politics as any Republican v Democrat issue that crops up ... Vigano is part of the super conservative traditionalist block of the church that is characterized by anti-LGBT bias, rigid devotion to doctrine, and a longing for the pre-Vatican II days of yore. On the other side we have the Pope and what passes for a liberal faction.
This is where the analogy breaks down, though, because there is no liberal faction in the church hierarchy anymore. Pope Francis and his "liberals" are the guys (and yes they are of course all guys) who will not let women be priests or even deacons in their church (Pope Francis says women will never be Roman Catholic priests). They are the guys who say friendly things about celibate gay people, but who say awful things about gay people getting married (If the pope loves gay people, he has a strange way of showing it).
And, it seems like it is this liberal faction in the church that often makes excuses for the clergy sex abuse scandal. It is Pope Francis who raised Cardinal Pell, now on trial for sex abuse in Australia, to high place in the Vatican. It is Pope Francis who blew up his own commission on sex abuse, causing sex abuse survivor Marie Collins to quit. It's Pope Francis who whisked sexual predator Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski back to the Vatican instead of extraditing him for trial in Poland. It's the Pope who installed a bishop in Chile who had covered up abuse, causing riots. It's Pope Francis who just months ago refused to allow a Vatican diplomat stand trial in Washington DC for child pornography but instead called him back to the church's loving bosom. There's more, but don't take my word for the terrible job the Pope has done on clergy sex abuse - here's article on the subject in The Boston Globe from a few years ago: Pope Francis has done nothing to prevent sex abuse, and this from The New York Times - Vatican Sex Abuse Scandal Reveals Blind Spot for Francis.
So, here I am, a liberal Democrat, and I'm expected to be on the pope's side in this because those making allegations against him are conservatives. Tribalism reigns in religion as much as in secular politics ... America Magazine, Commonweal, The Tablet, etc. will likely take the Pope's side because they are liberal-ish sites in this church, just as the secular press is taking sides, with CNN and The Guardian with Francis.
This is depressing. Sides on the issue of clergy sex abuse should not be chosen based on politics. Everyone should be against sex abuse. I don't know if the Pope did what he's accused of, and I'm not going to take his side, especially given his track record on abuse, without more info.
posted by crystal | 4:01 AM
5 Comments:
Hi Crys,
This was sort of the clumsy point I was trying to make the other day. It has more to do with factionalism between the closeted and the less closeted than between left and right.
Nevertheless, I think Jim Martin did a good job in his article about the Vigano letter today. Let me see if I have this straight...
We are supposed to believe that when Pope Benedict heard about McCarrick's abusive behavior, he put some kind of privately communicated sanctions on him, but he can't exactly remember the details were. Benedict couldn't make the sanctions stick, and McCarrick flouted them.
When Pope Francis heard about McCarrick's abusive behavior, he took the unprecedented step of removing his Cardinal's title, and publicly banished him to a life of prayer and penance.
But somehow this is Francis's fault?
Well, I do agree with you that Francis has not been as good on this issue as we all hoped he would be. This issue will never get fixed as long as the Catholi Church has an all male, celibate priesthood. The priesthood needs to be open to anyone who has a true
vocation to it - male, female, single, married, gay, straight. Until then, it will remain a dysfunctional, closeted gay club, and it won't change from the inside.
How are you, by the way?
Hi Jeff :) I wasn't sure if that was you commenting on the other post.
Yeah, it's unfortunate that the traditionalists are using this opportunity to get at Francis, but I think he's let himself in for it by his pretty bad handling of sex abuse so far.
Fr. Martin is openly gay? I knew he was gay friendly but didn't realize he was gay himself. Our church is so messed up about this, not just with the traditionalists being anti-gay but with there being so many closeted self-hating gay men in positions of power. But even the gay friendly clergy are still what I would think of as anti-gay because they only seem to accept LGBT people who do not have relationships or marry. I think you're right - if they would let clergy be married and women too, this problem would eventually sort itself out.
I'm mostly the same as before, except too many cats ;) Health issues too like bad knees. My sister helps me a lot. How are you and the family?
We have two cats ourselves. Never thought I'd say that! Doing fine. Buried in work, it's never been harder, but I'm hanging in there. Doing well overall, the kids are getting grown up. Sorry to hear about the knees. Hope you'll feel better.
Thanks :)
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