by Stephen Wynne • ChurchMilitant.com • September 26, 2018
Disgust spreading among ideological Left and Right
You are not signed in as a Premium user; we rely on Premium users to support our news reporting. Sign in or Sign up today!
DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) - Catholics at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum are uniting in condemnation of Pope Francis' refusal to answer Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò's allegations that he lifted sanctions on then-Cdl. Theodore McCarrick, despite knowing the former Washington, D.C. archbishop was a serial sexual predator of young men.
In a CNN article published Sunday, faithful Jesuit Fr. Joseph Fessio, editor-in-chief of Ignatius Press, slammed the Pontiff for demonizing those calling him to respond to Abp. Viganò's accusations.
"He's attacking Viganò and everyone who is asking for answers," Fr. Fessio lamented. "I just find that deplorable. Be a man. Stand up and answer the questions."
In later comments to LifeSiteNews, Fessio added that transparency is essential to preserving Francis' moral authority; the Pope's "appearance of criticizing anyone" who questions him "is not good," he said.
Francis was asked about Abp. Viganò's letter alleging corruption and cover-up at the highest levels of the Vatican while returning to Rome from the World Meeting of Families in Dublin last month.
Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J. of Ignatius Press
But he refused to answer the allegations. "I will not say a single word about this," he said. "I believe the statement speaks for itself. And you have the journalistic capacity to draw your own conclusions. It's an act of faith. When some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, I may speak."
One month later, the Pontiff remains silent, angering Catholics everywhere.
On Tuesday, during a Georgetown University panel discussion on the Church crisis, Catholic leader John Carr, a liberal, told a crowd of hundreds that "Pope Francis has been too slow to understand and act on the moral and spiritual consequences of abuse."
I don't think they understand in Rome that this is not just a continuation of the sexual abuse crisis in the United States. This is a whole different chapter.
Carr, director of Georgetown's Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, continued: "I have learned silence in the face of attacks may be spiritually defensible but is pastorally harmful," he said. "The 'People of God' deserve leadership that listens, responds and acts decisively, openly and quickly to bring about genuine accountability, reform and renewal."
John Carr, Georgetown University
"The lesson here," he noted, "is that silence makes things worse, and is not an option for any of us."
Father Fessio and Carr are the latest in a line of Catholic leaders faulting Pope Francis for his opaque approach amid what some are calling the worst crisis for the Church since the Reformation.
Reflecting on the Vatican's silence in the wake of the release of the Aug. 14 Pennsylvania grand jury report, Matthew Schmitz, an editor at conservative Catholic journal First Things, said last month that Francis' "response has been disappointing."
"I hope that enough pressure can be created that he does act to investigate these issues," he added, shortly after joining dozens of other young Catholics in penning an open letter to the Pope expressing anger at the hierarchy's cover-up of McCarrick's crimes.
Schmitz's concerns were echoed by Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Pennsylvania's Villanova University.
"The silence from the Vatican is disturbing ... someone from the Vatican should say something," he said after the grand jury report was made public.
"I don't think they understand in Rome that this is not just a continuation of the sexual abuse crisis in the United States. This is a whole different chapter," Faggioli warned.
Not In A Million Billion Years :: By Dave Hubley Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles (There is a special message at the end of this article for those who might happen to read this and do not have Jesus in their life and are looking for peace and a way to better understand the present-day insanity and confusion.) Several years ago, I had a conversation with a guy in a waiting room while getting an oil change (in the car, not me). I don’t recall exactly how the conversation originated or how it progressed, but I have never forgotten it. As I recall, it had something to do with evolution and an article that was contained in a “waiting room magazine” that was available there. He made the observation that God was “something that man had made up.” I can’t recall the exact reason he used to justify his opinion, but it had something to do with the usual reasons people give: Weak-willed people needing a crutch, and blah, blah, blah. I engaged him in a “witness,
Santa Staleness :: By Edwin Tan Published on: December 24, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles My one and only trip to Israel had more than a profound effect on my present-day psyche. It might have been three decades ago, but there is more than a lingering aftertaste. It happened smack in the last fortnight of the year. Surprisingly absent were the familiar sights and sounds of the Christmas most people are accustomed to. Hardly any Christmas decorations in downtown Tel Aviv, if not any of the shopping thoroughfares across the Holy Land. Hanukah was a breath of fresh air – not anything resembling a Christmas carol most people grew up with did surface. The Christmas Eve service in a small Protestant church not far away from Jerusalem’s Old City was awesome; songs that truly celebrated the virgin birth of our Lord, which though seemingly unheard of, were a welcome inspiration to many a soul. There was even one sung in Arabic! So it began, my overt disdain for the secular Christmas t
Miracles 2 :: By Jim Towers Published on: December 21, 2022 by RR10 Category:General Articles This story is a continuation of the exciting things God continues doing in my life. I was supposed to have died a while back, and sometimes I feel as though I may do so soon. But since I’m ready to meet my maker, I have no fear of death. In fact, my evangelistic zeal has only increased, especially as I see the fast approaching of the “Tribulation period” mentioned in the book of Revelation. Insofar as my acting career is concerned, I just finished filming a soliloquy featuring Melchior, one of the three Magi who followed the star to Christ lying in the manger, and am preparing to portray a Jewish Priest on stage. Like I said, God is working overtime in my life, and I will be appearing on stage singing Broadway show tunes sometime in March, so I have a lot of rehearsing to do. In the meantime, I will be signing Christmas carols acapella at a park here in Naples. Since it is a spontaneous th
Comments