Francis’ Baffling Chilean Appointment

Last updated on: April 8, 2015 at 12:04 am by Mark Shea

Francis’ Baffling Chilean Appointment 2015-04-06T12:14:24-07:00 Mark Shea

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Bill Doino, Jr. writes:

Pope Francis has done many admirable things during his pontificate, not least taking numerous initiatives against the evil of sexual abuse in the Church. He has spoken about the victims’ pain, promised zero tolerance for such crimes, and supported transparency and full accountability for anyone involved. He has followed those strong words up with impressive actions, including punishing, defrocking and removing guilty clergymen.

For all those reasons, I cannot understand–and neither can many others–why Francis, who has been so strong on this issue, has made an incomprehensible decision for Chile–and the entire Church- appointing a bishop in Osorno who has a terrible track record on this issue, for all the reasons I lay out in my new First Things column.

This is without doubt Francis’s most serious crisis yet. Whether it was because he misjudged the evidence, was relying on very unsound advice, or because the chain of diplomatic communication and Vatican bureaucracy has broken down–yet again– this is a serious prudential error, and, in my judgment, the Pope needs to correct it right away. If he does not–if he allows this scandal to fester and grow–I believe it will overshadow all the great good he has done, and undermine his pontificate.

The Holy See needs to lead a Church of truth and justice for the victims of abuse, not one of broken promises. For that reason, I wrote this column, and add my voice to the many others who have appealed to Pope Francis to reverse his decision.

It’s my hope too. However, my track record in influencing papal decisions is not 100%. Hopefully, the vociferous reaction of the Chilean flock will get his attention though. I think this appointment is an expression of the shadow side of the Petrine office: Peter’s mercurial ability to go from “You are the Christ” to earning the rebuke “Get behind me, Satan”; to pass from promulgating the dogma of salvation by grace apart from works of the law to chickening out at Antioch and getting chewed out by Paul.

I sometimes wonder if there is a horse race in Francis’ makeup between a genuine sympathy for the poor and a Jesuit habit of expecting military obedience to the orders of a superior. My prayers are with this good man as he struggles to do the right thing.

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