EDITORIAL: Vatican sex-abuse summit needs serious follow through- By The Manila Times

Pope Francis correctly set the tone for the first-ever Vatican Summit on Clerical sexual abuse by saying that Catholic leaders must go beyond simply condemning instances of abuse. “The holy people of God are watching and waiting not for simple and obvious condemnations but concrete and efficient measures,” the Pope said. “Let us listen to the cry of the young ones who ask us for justice.”

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the archbishop of Manila, was among the first plenary speakers. He said bishops who had covered up sex abuse perpetrated by clergy had “wounded” victims. “Our lack of response to the suffering of victims, even to the point of rejecting them and covering up the scandal to protect perpetrators and the institution, has injured our people, leaving a deep wound in our relationship with those we are sent to serve,” he said.

Tagle teared up at one point during his speech in what seemed to be a genuine display of remorse on behalf of his fellow prelates, and gained the attention of media and the wider public.

At this juncture, however, when the crisis has reared its ugly head anew in the United States and has reopened old wounds in Latin America, Australia, Canada, Ireland and other places, the time for Church leaders to express remorse for their failings, whether by omission and commission, has long passed.

We laud Tagle for being forthright about the faults of the Catholic hierarchy as far as the abuse crisis is concerned. But Tagle should follow through by initiating, at least in the Philippines, a review of Church policies and procedures on cases of abuse of minors.

This is not to say that nothing has been done on the issue. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) issued an Exhortation on the Pastoral Care and Protection of Minors in 2016, stating that “bishops will not pre-empt investigations by declaring innocence or pronouncing exoneration until after a thorough, impartial and credible evaluation of facts as established by competent evidence.”

However, Tagle and the CBCP should expand their guidelines to adequately cover cases of abuse of vulnerable adults. Filipino bishops should learn from the mistakes of their American counterparts, who exempted themselves from internal investigations and fostered a culture of secrecy and institutional rigidity.

As can be learned from the case of Theodore McCarrick, the disgraced former cardinal-archbishop of Washington, the crisis extends to seminarians and young priests preyed upon by lecherous older clerics who have betrayed their religious vows.

Bishops should ensure that victims seeking redress see it done not only to internal mechanisms of accountability but also to external prosecution. To do otherwise is to instigate a cover-up.

The pronouncements of the Pope, Tagle and others at the Vatican summit must be translated to policy and practice, or they risk becoming empty rhetoric good only for publicity and news headlines.

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