Letter from St.Peter’s Square

Mary Dispenza, a victim of clergy sexual abuse and other survivors holding up banner with photos of victims of abuse. Photo by Trisha Thomas. February 22, 2019

CLERICAL SEXUAL ABUSE REACHES THE TOP

BOOKENDS

McCarrick and Pell – two Cardinals who climbed to the peak of power within the Catholic Church are now reaping the results of sexual abuse of minors and will live for the rest of their days in shame and humility.  

The 89-year-old McCarrick is in a friary in Kansas.  Pell, 77, is incarcerated in Melbourne, Australia. 

These two powerful men – both of whom I have interviewed and seen on many occasions as I covered the Vatican in the past – are the bookends on a heartbreaking couple of weeks covering the Vatican Sexual Abuse of Minors summit of Bishops at the Vatican. 

Pope Francis speaks to 190 bishops gathered in Rome for a summit on sexual abuse of minors. February 24, 2019. Freeze frame of video by Vatican TV.

Pope Francis called 190 bishops to Rome last week for a four-day summit to discuss the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy as he struggles to defend his papacy and the credibility of the Catholic Church around the globe under the steady drip of reports of abuse.

Days before the summit was to open, a short Vatican bulletin announced what journalists in Rome had been waiting for all week, the defrocking of the once powerful Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington for “solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.”

For decades McCarrick was a dominant figure in the Catholic Church in the United States where he was Archbishop of Washington, rubbing elbows with Presidents and Popes.  I had interviewed him several times on his visits to Rome and was struck by his apparent decency and sincerity.  He was the leader on the “zero-tolerance” front at the time.  Appearances can be deceiving, and I was not the only one to be fooled. 

This week we have the news the Cardinal Pell of Australia has been convicted of molesting two choirboys in Australia in the 1990s.  Pope Francis asked the apparently confident and capable Australian to head the Vatican’s Financial office and to clean it up after years of corruption and mismanagement, now he is in prison.

Bishops listening to speech at summit on sexual abuse of minors. February 21, 2019. Freeze frame of video by Vatican TV.

Summit organizers promised that listening to the victims of clerical abuse would be central to the summit and several were invited to tell their stories to the bishops gathered inside the Vatican.

Outside the Vatican walls there were hundreds of journalists and dozens of survivors who descended on Rome to protest, demand answers from the Church and to share their stories. I will begin with some of those.

Signs held by victims of clergy sexual abuse at a protest in Piazza del Popolo, Rome. February 23, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by Chris Warde-Jones

SURVIVORS

The survivors of clergy sexual abuse are young and old, male and female.  Dozens of them came to Rome this during the summit in the hopes that by repeating again their painful stories to journalists, to bishops, to anyone who would listen, that somehow they could change the church and save other children from going through similar pain and anguish.  

“…when I was 11 years old, a priest from my parish destroyed my life.  Since then I, who loved coloring books and doing somersaults on the grass, have not existed.  Instead, engraved in my eyes, ears, nose, body and soul, are all the times he immobilized me, the child, with superhuman strength: I desensitized myself, I held my breath, I came out of my body, I searched desperately for a window to look out of, waiting for it all to end.  I thought: “If I don’t move, maybe I won’t feel anything: if I don’t breathe, maybe I could die.”

When it did end, I would take back what was my wounded and humiliated body, and I would leave, even believing I had imagined it all.  But how could I, a child, understand what had happened?  I thought: “It must have been my fault!” or “Maybe I deserved this bad thing?”  These thoughts are worse wounds than the abuse, and the abuse, insinuates into your heart, more than the wounds that lacerate your body.  I felt I wasn’t worth anything anymore.  I felt I didn’t even exist.  I just wanted to die:  I tried to…but I couldn’t.  The abuse went on for five years.  No one noticed.”

While this story was being told to bishops inside the Vatican, outside in the square, I was speaking to Denise Buchanan, a victim and founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse.  She told me that she was born in Jamaica and when she was 17, she was raped and assaulted by a priest and it resulted in a pregnancy.  The priest arranged for her abortion.

Alessandro Battaglia, a victim of sexual abuse by clergy speaks near St. Peter’s Square as survivor Denise Buchanan looks on. February 24, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by Valerio Nicolosi for AP Television.

I listened to the painful story of Mary Dispenza who was repeatedly sexually abused by her parish priest as a little girl.

At a press conference I covered at the Italian parliament, Pennsylvania State representative Mark Rozzi told us he could not take a shower without remembering how he was raped by a priest in the rectory shower.  Rozzi’s friend who suffered similar abuse killed himself. 

I interviewed Chilean abuse victim Juan Carlos Cruz at an Airbnb apartment in the Borgo, the small Roman neighborhood next to the Vatican.  Cruz was among those victims who forced the Pope into an about-face on abuse by church leaders in Chile and he has become a leader among abuse victims.  After at first refusing to accept all the allegations surrounding the abuse in Chile, Pope Francis invited Cruz to the Vatican and spent time listening to him and seeking his advice. 

Cruz, like many of the victims I spoke to, had a fragility about him and at several points seemed on the point of tears and then pulled back.  

One morning a group of victims gathered in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo, among them survivors of abuse from the Antonio Provolo Institute in Verona.

Victims of clergy sexual abuse from the Antonio Provolo Institute in Verona, where priests sexually abused deaf and mute students for decades, protest in Rome’s Piazza del Popolo. February 23, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by Chris Warde-Jones

From 1954 to 1984 about 60 children living in the Provolo Institute for the deaf in Verona were sexually abused in horrific ways by 25 priests who were convinced the children’s disability would prevent them from being reported. An investigative journalist from the Italian magazine “Espresso” eventually revealed all and the Institute was closed down with only two priests being reprimanded for their behavior. One of them was sent to Argentina where he founded an institute of the same name and where he continued to abuse the deaf children who attended the school.

A HISTORY OF SECRECY,  COVER-UP AND RESISTANCE AT THE VATICAN

The Church has for decades made its priority protecting the image of the institution by covering up abusers, moving them from one place to another and maintaining a code of silence. 

The most notorious case in recent memory was that of Marcial Marciel, the Mexican founder of the Legion of Christ, a Catholic religious institute with hundreds of priests and seminarians around the world.  Starting in 1941, Marciel, a magnetic leader with a talent for fund-raising, built it into a cult-like order with seminaries in 21 countries and hundreds of young men training to become priests.  Among the order’s vows included one that would not allow legionaries to comment or criticize the behavior of their superiors. 

This came in handy for Marciel who sexually abused seminarians, and fathered children from several different women.

Marcel flourished under the papacy of John Paul II.

In 2004, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was running the office of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, began an investigation into the Legion and then in 2006 Pope Benedict XVI forced him to retire to a “life of prayer and repentance.”

Mexican journalist Valentina Alazraki, who has covered the Vatican since the 1970s, from the end of the Papacy of Pope Paul VI to today, was invited to speak at the Vatican abuse summit about transparency. During her speech she reminded the bishops of the Marcel case.

Mexican Journalist Valentina Alazraki speaks to the summit of bishops about communication and transparency in dealing with sexual abuse of minors. February 23, 2019. Freeze frame of video from Vatican TV.

Here is what she said:

 “I witnessed this grim case from beginning to end. Aside from the moral justice over the crimes committed by that man, who according to some was mentally ill and to others an evil genius, I assure you that at the basis of that scandal, which did so much harm to thousands of people, to the point of tarnishing the memory of one who is now a saint, there was unhealthy communication. 

One need not forget that in the Legion there was a fourth vow according to which if a Legionaire saw something he was uncertain of regarding a superior, he could neither criticize much less comment about it. 

Without this censure, without this total concealment, had there been transparency, Marcial Maciel would not have been able, for decades, to abuse seminarians and to have three or four lives, wives and children, who came to accuse him of having abused his own children. 

For me this is the most emblematic case of unhealthy, corrupt communication, from which various lessons can and must be learned. 

Pope Francis told the Curia that in other eras, in addressing these subjects, there was ignorance, lack of preparation, and disbelief. I dare say that there was also corruption. 

Behind the silence, the lack of healthy, transparent communication, quite often there is not only the fear of scandal, concern for the institution’s good name, but also money, compensation, gifts, construction permits for schools and universities perhaps in areas where construction was not permitted. I am speaking of what I have seen and thoroughly investigated. 

Pope Francis always reminds us that the devil enters through the pockets, and he is absolutely right. Transparency will help you to fight economic corruption.”

The Church has not just been protecting its reputation, it’s protecting its purse.  

In Boston we first got a glimpse at the Church’s code of silence in 2002 with “The Boston Globe” investigation that showed Cardinal Bernard Law quietly covering up the abuses and moving pedophile priests to new parishes. 

When asked about the “code of silence” at a press conference just days before the summit, Archbishop Charles Scicluna, one of the summit organizers and the Vatican’s main investigator of abuses, insisted that those days are gone….“we have to face the facts because only truth, the truth of the matter and confronting the facts will make us free.”

Valentina Alazraki warned the bishops that it is useless trying to remain silent and to attempt to cover a scandal saying: “it is like covering the sky with a finger.”

The faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear the Pope deliver his weekly angelus prayer from the window of the Papal apartment. February 24, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by Valerio Nicolosi for AP Television.

Pope Francis has vowed that this will now change.  He is demanding transparency that the church turns over abusers to civil authorities to pursue justice.  No more covering up.  It isn’t exactly clear though how the Pope and the Vatican intends to enforce this around the globe.  Last week they said the right things, but everyone is still waiting for precise rules. 

But what we journalists were hearing from the summit organizers and the press office is not the whole picture.  There is a lot of resistance within the Vatican.   I met a couple times during the summit with Marco Politi, a senior Vatican analyst and most recently author of “Francis Among the Wolves.”  He said there is a strong opposition to Francis’ efforts within the Vatican with both “sabotage” and “passivity” from bishops and clergy who do not want transparency.

Peter Iseley from Ending Clergy Abuse during out interview at the edge of St. Peter’s Square February 17, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television Cameraman Paolo Lucariello.

I asked Peter Isely, a victim and Board Member of “Ending Clergy Abuse” what he thought about resistance to the Pope’s efforts as we stood near St. Peter’s.  “He is facing resistance?  Let me tell you what is was like to try and have to resist that priest when I was a boy who was sexually assaulting me,” Peter snapped, then turning to point to the basilica behind him he added, “So whatever difficulty for him or discomfort this is for anybody in the papal palace, it is nothing compared to what survivors have had to undergo.”

HOMOSEXUALITY

Over and over again the question of homosexuality in the Church came up this week.  Across the board, survivors and Vatican officials agreed there is no link between homosexuality and pedophilia despite the insistent claims by Francis’ conservative critics, led by the retired Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’, the Vatican’s retired ambassador to Washington.  Vigano’, the most vocal enemy of Pope Francis, and a strident homophobe has been crystal clear on the topic (the letter he released last August while the Pope was visiting Ireland makes some interesting reading.)

But last week it was Federic Martel, a gay rights activist and author, who dragged the issue again into the limelight with the release of his new book “In the Closet of the Vatican: Power Homosexuality, Hypocrisy.”  Martel then showed up in Rome for a packed press conference to promote it.

Martel spent four years researching his book and proudly said he collaborated with 27 gay priests who live and work in the Vatican.  He said he spent extensive time inside the Vatican even spending weeks sleeping inside the walls as he interviewed dozens of cardinals, bishops, monsignors, ambassadors and 11 Swiss Guards, eight retired, three in service. 

In a packed and testy press conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome, Martel, oozing confidence and charisma, repeatedly fended off attacks from Vatican correspondents who questioned his accuracy.  At one point a Vatican correspondent insisted that Martel could not have spoken with an on duty Swiss Guards, that he had invented the contact.  Martel coolly picked up his phone and held up a number.  “Here is his cell, want to call him?”

Author Federic Martel holds up his phone to show his contact for a Swiss Guard from the Vatican during a testy press conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome. February 20, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television Cameraman Gianfranco Stara.

Another questioned his claim to have been in the apartment of Cardinal Raymond Burke.  Martel reeled off the address and described the apartment.

Martel explained that as a gay man and a non-Italian, a journalist who does not normally cover the Vatican, he was the only one who could write this book, “as a homosexual, I know the codes,” adding that he used “flirtation” and “seduction,” without actually sleeping with anyone.

Martel made the link between sexual abuse of minors and homosexuality explaining:

“The link is about the coverup and we cannot discuss sexual abuse if we are not discussing the cover-up….since Paul VI, the Church has created an extremely strong culture of secrecy to protect the homosexuality of a large, extremely large number of Cardinals, Bishops and priests within the Vatican.  This secret is extremely protected, extremely deep…. It is a closet, but not a big closet, hundreds of little closets with everybody in his own closet. The problem is that some abusers that commit crimes within the church were protected by this culture of secrecy that was mainly to protect homosexuality and it was used to protect them even though the culture was not created to protect abuse. And the two things are intrinsically mixed up. And this is why it is extremely difficult to find a solution and to go out of this confusion.” 

That there are a lot of homosexuals in the closet in the Vatican is no secret to anyone, that this is a reason to cover up abuse is an interesting theory to think about.

NUNS

There was a lot of discussion in the weeks prior to the summit about the abuse of nuns by priests and bishops partly thanks to reporting by AP’s Nicole Winfield.  The Pope himself acknowledged to the press on his return flight from Abu Dhabi that is it a huge problem that needs to be addressed.  There is even a new hashtag for it: #nunstoo

Interestingly, I remember being sent out with a cameraman to run after any African nuns I could find around St. Peter’s Square back in 2001 when a scathing report came out about Cardinals, Bishops and priests in abusing nuns, taking them as lovers and forcing them to have abortions.  But somehow that report was ignored by the Vatican and then we all forgot about it.  

Sister Bernadine Pemii during our interview at the Gregorian University in Rome. February 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television Cameraman Gianfranco Stara.

I interviewed a nun named Sister Bernadine Pemii a few days before the summit.  She had just finished a training course on how to handle cases of sexual abuse at the Gregorian University in Rome.  She told me how she had to talk her bishop back in Ghana through one case, telling him that he must meet with and listen to the person who had been abused.  She said without her guidance from Rome “It would have been covered.  There would have been complete silence.” She also told me about a woman who wanted to become a nun but then was harassed by a priest.  She said she was going to go back and change things but she had already received text messages from priests in her diocese saying “some of us don’t want to see you come back.”

It is certainly an uphill battle, but nuns are next.

Alazraki, in concluding her remarks to the bishops warned them about the abuse of nuns telling them that they are on the “threshold of another scandal” and suggested the “Church play offense and not defense” and “take the initiative and be on the forefront of denouncing these abuses, which are not only sexual but also abuses of power.” 

DIVERSITY OF OUTLOOKS

The problem with the issue of sexual abuse or abuse of power whether it is minors, nuns or seminarians who are the victims, is that it is seen very differently depending on whether you are in Ghana, India, France, the US, Ireland or somewhere else on the globe.  And that is what is complicated about the Catholic Church where you have 1.3 billion Catholics in the world in nearly 3,000 dioceses (Vatican statistics).

Bishop Samuel Kleda from Cameroon speaking after a morning session of the abuse summit. February 23, 2019. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television Cameraman Gianfranco Stara.

I stopped Bishop Samuel Kleda from Cameroon as he was coming out of the summit meetings one day, his black robes with fuchsia piping blowing about in the wind.  Tall and with a commanding presence, he spoke at length about how these problems are different in Cameroon, that problems like this are discussed in the community and, if necessary, a chief can help resolve them.  He seemed slightly perplexed by the need in western nations for seeking justice through civil authorities.

Moments later Bishop Eamon Martin from Armagh, Ireland came out trailed by his press aide and was surrounded by a group of reporters near the Colonnade.  Martin also pointed out the differences, “ Some cultures have not yet experienced the amount of revelations that we have say in Ireland and in other parts of the West. But we have been trying to communicate to them: listen, just because it hasn’t come forward doesn’t mean it is not there and, therefore, we need to be working on prevention, on education and we need to have very clear guidelines.” 

The last evening of the conference, I covered a briefing by French Bishop Georges Pointier, Archbishop of Marseille.  He explained that after the speeches, the bishops broke up into working groups based on language.  The French-language group had a lot of French speaking countries from West Africa and Vietnam.  Pontier noted that the bishops from those countries seemed to feel sincerely uncomfortable discussing questions of sexuality and abuse so openly. 

On several occasions during the conference individuals mentioned the context. If a priest is working in a war zone, or an area of extreme poverty where there is lack of sufficient food, or running water addressing questions of abuse slide down the priority list. 

Italians certainly have no problem talking about sexual abuse, but this week I learned that there is a huge problem when it comes to investigations of sexual abuse by clergy in Italy.  In a press conference with Francesco Zanardi, a survivor of sexual abuse and head of the Italian Abuse Network, I learned that the Lateran Pacts, an agreement made between Benito Mussolini and the Vatican in 1929 separating the Italian State from the Vatican State, includes a requirement from an investigating magistrate to notify a bishop of any priest being investigated by Italian authorities.  Zanardi said this law has allowed bishops to transfer problem priests, and give hush money to victims and witnesses.

All this to say that even if Pope Francis makes all the right moves regarding sexual abuse, he still has a huge challenge trying to impose rules in far-flung dioceses with different cultures, customs and priorities and even close at home in Italy where a decades-old treaty impairs justice.

CELIBACY AND WOMEN’S ORDINATION

Celibacy is one of the issues that many believe is linked to the problem of clerical sexual abuse.  In my humble opinion, it seems obvious that repressed sexuality can create some depraved behavior, particularly in lonely or unstable individuals.   But the topic was not on the table at this summit.  Vatican officials deny that celibacy has anything to do with pedophilia saying that there is ample evidence of pedophile behavior among people who are not celibate.

Another issue that did not make it to the conference table was women’s ordination. The Vatican is not going to even think about that, but some bishops are willing to accept that more women in positions of power in the church would help.

Penitential Mass in the Sala Regia at the Vatican at the end of the four-day summit on clerical abuse of minor. The bishops wear green vestments during Mass in this period as a symbol of hope for Christ’s resurrection. Freeze-frame of video by Vatican TV, February 24, 2019

POPE FRANCIS WEIGHS IN 

The extraordinary summit ended with a penitential mass in the magnificent Sala Regia at the Vatican.  After days of speeches and group discussions, the bishops, dressed in green cloaks, finally got to hear the Pope’s closing speech.

Vatican correspondents receive the Pope’s embargoed speeches shortly before delivery and I quickly printed out the speech so I could scan it for soundbites.  I was surprised to see the entire first page was dedicated to the wider issue of sexual abuse in our society.   He spoke about sexual tourism, sex trafficking, abusers who are “parents, relatives, husbands of child brides, coaches and teachers.”  

He should not go there, I thought.  That is a no-go.  He needs to stay on point: Clerical Sexual Abuse.  

We all know boy scout leaders, gymnastic coaches and uncles can be pedophiles, but that is not what the conference was about.  It always looks bad when Vatican officials defend themselves saying others are worse.

The rest of his speech was hard-hitting.

“The brutality of this worldwide phenomenon becomes all the more grave and scandalous in the Church, for it is utterly incompatible with her moral authority and ethical credibility. Consecrated persons, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, let themselves be dominated by their human frailty or sickness and thus become tools of Satan.  In abuse we see the hand of the evil that does not spare even the innocence of children,”

…the Church has now become increasingly aware of the need not only to curb the gravest cases of abuse by disciplinary measure and civil and canonical processes, but also to decisively confront the phenomenon both inside and outside the Church.  She feels called to combat this evil that strikes at the very heart of her mission, which is to preach the Gospel to the little ones and to protect them from ravenous wolves.”

And that was that until the next day when Cardinal Pell was sent to prison in Australia.

While McCarrick and Pell are my bookends on this period of intense media attention to the Vatican handling and involvement in sexual abuse by minors, sadly the book shelf is already weighed down with stories of abuse and is sure to be filled up with more.  

A final quote from one of the more powerful speakers at the summit, Sister Veronica Openibo, the Superior General of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, was compelling.  She told the gathering of 190 men before her “Too often we want to keep silent until the storm has passed.  This storm will not pass.  Our credibility is at stake.”

She is right.

10 thoughts on “Letter from St.Peter’s Square”

  1. I am delighted to receive your blogs but have never commented before. Just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated this particularly fair, honest and sad recounting of the Vatican meeting. As a member of the Catholic Church I’m often frustrated by the reporting but more importantly the silence & obfuscation by our church leaders. Keep up your good work.

    All the best,
    Judy Morton ( friend of your Mom’s, member of “the” book club and old West Newton Group).

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you so much for commenting Judy. It is such a complicated topic and I am feeling so overwhelmed by it all. I had my mother read a draft of it and she suggested I break it down into three posts separating some of the topics like NUNS and HOMOSEXUALITY and expanding on them separately. But I was too exhausted by it all and just wanted to get the post done.

  2. Joan Schmelzle

    Hi Trisha,
    So much here and again great to read your personal take on so many issues and ideas. I have read quite a bit on these areas mostly in NCR online and some in the paper edition though the one to cover the summit has not arrived yet. I also have read some from Washington Post (I subscribe online so get what they send) and also some from Chicago Tribune. I’m not going to try to comment much. I liked reading your quote from the journalist and also know I have read more of what the last nun you mention said and thought it was excellent.
    I have a more specific comment on the French author’s book though I can’t remember his exact title. I did read an excerpt in the paper edition of NCR. I have also read two reviews one by a priest who was mostly pro except for missing an index and maybe something else at end. (Unfortunately deleted both reviews so couldn’t go back to check. This a nd the anti column by Sean Michael Winters (?) were both from NCR online. I sent the excerpt and both reviews to a friend who is homosexual and Catholic. He liked the pro review and will buy the book.
    I, on the other hand, have no desire to read the book. I tend to agree with the anti column (he’d does not call it a review). I did not know the author was gay when I read the excerpt, but knowing that more recently does not change the way I felt when I read last sentence of excerpt. Can’t remember exact words but it turned me off completely. Went something like: some say Francis is surrounded by wolves; instead he is surrounded by queens. I know he used wolves and queens. I also read some comments by NYT columnist Bruni who didnt seem impressed.
    Sorry, I really got carried away and long here, but as always I’m glad to receive and read your blog.
    A Presto, Joan

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Hi Joan — thanks for your comment. The French author’s book has gotten a lot of people riled up. The name in English is “In the Closet at the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy.” I have not read it yet but I will before making a final judgement call. I also saw the line about the “wolves and queens” which was a bit provocative. He was definitely rather arrogant and narcissistic in the press conference, but I also felt like he had done a lot of research and was correct in a lot of the things he was saying. I must look up Frank Bruni’s editorial. He is always good.

  3. A riveting post, Trisha, thank you so very much for these stories, personal, very informative, and global in perspective. I am astonished at some of them, and I think I keep up with the news on this issue, but you have reported on things we have never been told about here. Please, please do keep on reporting about all of this.
    The implications, the betrayals, the ways in which these corrupt cardinals were trusted by Pope Francis, and then in revelation have hurt and betrayed him, are unspeakably awful. I am boggled as to how Pope Francis proceeds now, how can he know whom to trust and how does he prevent further abuses? Truth is indeed the thing, as it is said, sunlight is the best disinfectant. And the nuns now need your ear and your pen. there is so much more story to tell.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Nancy. It is all so complicated and disturbing. All of us who were covering the events over the past few weeks became very discouraged. It is hard to see a clear way out and I am sure Pope Francis is really struggling. Yes, the nuns question needs press coverage, and the abuse of minors is still a huge issue. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg.

  4. Too bad when you made mention of Bernard Law you didn’t mention that for his atrocities he was rewarded with a post at the Vatican. He should have gone to jail.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Millie, you are right. He was awarded by Pope John Paul II with an important position in Rome Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. I should have mentioned that and continued to enjoy all the benefits of being a prominent, powerful Cardinal in Rome.

  5. Thank goodness Pell is in prison, but why isn’t McCarrick behind bars too? This whole issue is just depressingly and maddeningly disgusting. I understand that different countries have different procedures for punishing these crimes, but how the church can continue to shelter these abusers is unfathomable. How much more suffering, how many more ruined lives, suicides need to occur before the Vatican sweeps out all the dirt? It’s a wonder that anyone shows up at Sunday mass these days. Thank you Trisha, for your continued hard work in reporting on these troubling issues.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Linda. It is so hard to think about all these problems and report on them. I actually have done relatively little but the past few weeks were very intense. The topic deserves more attention.

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