The Portuguese church tried to clean house on abuse before the pope's arrival. Its record got murkier.
Critics say that commitment was mostly for show. As the pope prepares to address Catholic youth in Lisbon, the church is under fire from those who say that despite a cornerstone pledge from Francis and highly publicized reforms, abuse claims are too often handled with the same resistance and obfuscation of the past.Portuguese commission members who spoke with The Washington Post described how church officials sought to thwart their work.
In response to public uproar, Clemente suspended four active priests. Three returned to ministry after three months — internal investigations could not substantiate the allegations against them. “The culture of the church must change,” said Nunes de Almeida. “The victims must be at the forefront, and they aren’t.”The head of the bishops’ conference here, José Ornelas, disputed portrayals of the church as uncooperative, while conceding that public communication, including his own, had not always been ideal. “I understand that some words which were used were not appropriate for the case, even [from] me,” he said.
“This is a fundamental question for the future, which the presence of the pope [in Portugal] will not fail to reinforce: the Catholic Church cannot organize itself in a divided way in relation to this matter,” he said in a statement to The Post. “On this, there remains only one inevitable solution: that is to follow the unequivocal voice of its highest representative, Francis.
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