Abuse victims say they saw progress under Pope Francis, just not enough

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN (Reuters) - When Pope Francis sat with his head in his hands and listened to accounts of clerical sexual abuse for an hour longer than scheduled during a trip to Dublin in 2018, many of those present were deeply moved.

But not all were convinced that Francis, who died on Monday, was doing enough with his papacy to heal the damage done by decades of stark failures by the Church.

"I don't think anyone can do enough," said Rev. Paddy McCafferty, who was sexually abused as a young adult in the 1980s by a fellow member of the clergy and was one of eight victims to recount their stories that day.

"I think he did his best," he said.

Francis took over a Church whose authority was shattered in many parts of the world by abuse scandals and he made addressing the issue a priority as further historical revelations from Chile to New Zealand pockmarked his 12-year papacy.

But, while he showed a deeper understanding of the toll decades of clerical sexual abuse took on victims, measures to make the Catholic Church more accountable did not live up to the expectations he set, survivors and advocacy groups said.

"The damage is so extensive and massive that it's going to take a long, long time for the Church to go any way towards repairing the hurt and the harm to the Church's mission," McCafferty said.

Francis created the Vatican's first anti-abuse commission, became the first pope to expel a cardinal from the priesthood for sexual abuse and installed a global system for Catholics to report suspicions of abuse or cover-ups by bishops.

Campaigners said more action was needed, however, on things such as naming offending priests and Church officials who protected them.

"He gave survivors a lot of hope when he came into office, promising transparency and change," said Marie Collins, another of the eight who spoke at the 2018 Dublin meeting and was abused by a priest at the age of 13 in 1960s Ireland. 

"We did get some but I don't think it has gone any way far enough. Things are not as bad as they were, that is for sure but they also are not as good as they could be."

'TREMENDOUS DISAPPOINTMENT'

Collins was one of the original members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors that was founded in 2014.

She quit in frustration in 2017, saying it was hobbled by internal resistance, while another founding member, Rev. Hans Zollner, resigned unexpectedly in 2023, citing concerns over the way it was operating.

For some, the commission stands as a stark illustration of what some campaigners say were the shortcomings of Francis' reforms.

It issued an annual report for the first time last year, with recommendations including advocating for more effective punishment of offending clergy, but also highlighting how it struggled to engage some local Catholic communities in the course of its work.

Some changes won wider approval, including two major pieces of legislation enacted in 2019 following an unprecedented four-day meeting on child sex abuse.

The first instituted new reporting procedures and broadened the definition of sexual crimes to include vulnerable adults. The second removed strict confidentiality rules, known as "pontifical secrecy", which Church officials admitted had hindered sharing of information with police in some countries.

Still, criticism remained over the Church's continued insularity on the issue and lack of external oversight. 

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the Bishop Accountability abuse tracking group, said Francis' inability to deliver on his promises was "a tremendous disappointment" that would forever tarnish the legacy of an otherwise remarkable man.

"He wanted to quell the outrage, and he did make some modest improvements, but kids around the world are still in danger of sexual assault by Catholic clergy because of what Pope Francis failed to do," said Boston native Doyle, who began her work after a succession of devastating stories in 2002 revealed the city's archdiocese had covered up sexual misconduct for decades.

Juan Carlos Cruz was abused as a teenager in his native Chile by a notorious paedophile priest. He was invited to join the commission in 2018 and remains a member.

He also became a close friend of Pope Francis, who after initially dismissing claims of a cover-up of abuse in the Chilean church as "slander", apologised to Cruz in a tearful, three-hour meeting before dismissing all of Chile's bishops.

Cruz said while he understood other victims' decisions to leave the commission, he wanted to fight from inside the tent.

He highlighted the commission's work in creating safe spaces for abuse victims, and broaching the thorny topic of "economic, spiritual and psychological reparations".

"I remain very hopeful," he said. "Whatever the new pope decides to do is fine, but as a human being I'm going to honour the memory of Francis and keep fighting."

'LIFE CHANGING'

For abuse survivors, Francis' legacy on the issue is a mixed one of powerful words and at times underwhelming deeds.

To many, the words did matter. A third member at the Dublin meeting - which was held during the first papal visit in almost four decades to a country rocked by a series of abuse scandals - described the experience as "life-changing".

Clodagh Malone, one of tens of thousands of babies born in Church-run homes for unmarried mothers and their offspring that a 2021 inquiry found had an "appalling" mortality rate, said it allowed her to share for the first time that she had also been abused by a priest when she was younger.

After the Dublin engagement, Francis met similar groups of survivors during trips to Canada, Belgium and Portugal. Some victims expressed frustration on those visits at a lack of concrete actions.

Bishop Accountability chief Doyle said what was required from Francis' successor was action to permanently remove abusers from ministry, decisively punish enablers and follow through on long-promised transparency by releasing names of offending clergy and complicit bishops.

"I'd like to see the next pope institute real policies with real teeth," Collins said.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; additional reporting by Aislinn Laing in Madrid; Editing by Alex Richardson)