New pope, same omissions
Monday, 12 May 2025 9:04 am
I've been as adulating as others on the election of Cardinal Robert Prevost as Leo XIV. Everything this evangelical has read or heard about him has excited me in the new Pope, for the gospel of which he has evidently been a fine and passionate servant.
Everything that is, except this, as reported by the Guardian. And this is a clanger! Prevost's record on managing clergy sexual abuse, as a catholic leader. Yes, another one! All the cover up and evident preferencing of protecting the institution over honouring abuse victims the world watched sadly in Francis (although he did make some inroads) and other catholic prelates the world over. As Provincial of the Augustinian Order, as bishop, archbishop and latterly as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Francis, Prevost has dealt with reports of abuse by clergy in the time-honoured Vatican way of minimal if any clergy discipline or protection of the vulnerable. Indeed in some cases under his responsibilities within the Augustinian order he did less than the order itself finally did in dismissing the accused from its ranks.
All this has been well documented and reported by abuse survivor agencies such as SNAP, who while respecting the papal office and wishing Leo XIV a successful pontificate, are rightly dismayed at the conclave's so speedy choice given these circumstances, including a formal complaint they had lodged with Francis about Prevost’s record.
Given that Prevost quickly emerged as the consensus candidate in the conclave, one can only conclude that few of the church’s cardinals, or the broader Roman Curia, have any great interest in changing the church's pastoral record on clergy abuse in the era of this new pontificate.
At least in the Anglican Communion the last Archbishop of Canterbury fell on his sword over the same failure. Do Popes repent? May we pray this one will.