The pope wants to continue to play the card of transparency on issues related to pedophilia. “We are working as best we can” to fight against child crime in the Church, Francis assured Sunday, while deploring that some “do not yet see clearly” within the institution.
“For a priest, (sexual) abuse is like going against his priestly nature and against his social nature. That is why it is a tragic thing and we must not stop” fighting this scourge, the pope declared during a press conference on the plane bringing him back from Bahrain. “It is an ongoing process that we are carrying out with courage and not everyone has this courage,” he added.
Avoid “the temptation to compromise”
“Some things were hidden, before the Boston scandal we changed people (we moved priests). Now everything is clear and we are moving forward on this subject, ”he added, referring to the series of revelations in the early 2000s in the United States.
Despite “the temptation to compromise”, “the will of the Church is to clarify everything”, he further assured, believing that “the Church must be ashamed of the bad things, while thanking God for the good things that ‘she did’. The pope was asked about the possibility of making the canonical sanctions public for greater transparency.