Questions remain after Vatican summit

The Vatican summit on clergy sex abuse repeatedly has been called a turning point. But taking that assessment as a statement of fact, it’s reasonable to ask: turning to what?

In his talk after the gathering’s closing , said the summit made it clear beyond a shadow of doubt that the sexual abuse of children is “a universal problem, present almost everywhere and affecting everyone,” and it’s “all the more grave and scandalous in the Church.”

Undoubtedly the high-level gathering did serve the purpose of heightening awareness among a select group of Church leaders from around the world that the abuse of children by Catholic priests in particular is a heinous crime and motivating them to deal with it if they are not already doing so. But some critics complained the summit came up short on identifying concrete steps to take, although the Vatican said more would be coming later.

At the same time, the discussion left unanswered the fundamental question of what causes some priests to abuse — and what role, if any, homosexuality plays in it. The days immediately before the Feb. 21-24 summit saw several well- publicized developments that unavoidably focused attention on this matter.

These included the Vatican’s removal of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick from the priesthood for sexual misconduct, the disclosure that the papal nuncio to France was under investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a young man, and the international publication of a scandal-mongering book by a homosexual French journalist claiming that a large percentage of Vatican clerics are gay. But even as sex abuse survivors demonstrated and gave media interviews outside the Vatican, the summit went on as scheduled.

21-point checklist

Pope Francis reviews papers during the third day of a meeting on the protection of minors in the Church at the Vatican on Feb. 23. CNS photo via Vatican Media

With Francis present at all sessions, the gathering was attended by 190 prominent churchmen, including the presidents of 114 national bishops’ conferences, the heads of the Eastern Catholic churches, top Vatican officials, representatives of the international organizations of men’s and women’s religious orders, and others. Several sex abuse survivors presented testimonies to the assembled via prerecorded messages.

Present from the were Cardinals Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Blase Cupich of Chicago, one of the assembly’s planners, Sean O’Malley of Boston, head the Vatican commission on child protection, and , of the Vatican office on marriage and family, as well as Ruthenian Metropolitan Archbishop William Skurla of .

Pope Francis in his opening remarks called on the assembled cardinals and bishops to “be concrete” and gave them a 21- point checklist for dealing with the problem. Even so, the meeting’s principal aim was not to produce a detailed action plan for local churches but to provide leading churchmen from many countries and cultures with an overview of clergy abuse as background for steps in their own locales.

Unfinished business

In the United States, the bishops have been wrestling at the national level with this issue for well over two decades. Since 2002 the Church in the U.S. has had in place a comprehensive program including mandatory child protection measures in dioceses, parishes and Catholic schools, as well as compensation and pastoral care for survivors.

An important element of this system is the “zero tolerance” policy under which priests credibly accused of abuse are removed fr