A group representing survivors of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in New Zealand has called on Pope Francis to intervene, claiming authorities are mishandling it and retraumatising victims. In a letter sent to the Vatican and seen by Reuters, the New Zealand chapter of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), accused church officials of breaching procedures for managing abuse complaint cases. In the letter, Christopher Longhurst, National Leader for SNAP in New Zealand, said while publicly the leaders of the local Church extend an “open hand to the hope of healing”, behind closed doors they traumatise survivors by violating their own procedures. 

A total of 1,680 reports of alleged abuse by Church entities from 1950 to 2021 met the Royal Commission’s definition of abuse, according to a report prepared for the commission. Speaking with Reuters, Longhurst said there had been a denial of adequate investigative process, denial of fair review of process, stalling and divergence, as well as a lack of compassion. According to the news agency, this comes amid an ongoing public inquiry into physical and sexual abuse at faith-based and state care institutions in New Zealand, which found in 2020 that up to a quarter of a million children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused over the past few decades. 

Maori accounted for a large share of the victims. The situation in New Zealand therefore has echoes of abuse in Canada, which forced the Pope to make his “pilgrimage of penance” in the last few months, with victims in the indigenous community in Canada. Despite this, the Pope has come in for criticism for failing to respond to past abuse allegations with adequate firmness (note the case of Bishop Zanchetta). Cardinal Marc Ouellet – papabile and a noted conservative from Canada – was recently accused of sexual misconduct as part of a class-action lawsuit, yet Pope Francis afterwards decided there was insufficient evidence to open any investigation. 

According to Bishop Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Auckland and Secretary of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference: “The Church leadership is continually updating and improving the complaints and disclosure processes to help survivors of abuse”. But according to Sonja Cooper, Principal Lawyer and Partner Cooper Legal: “The Church seems to be operating from a position of not believing, and the burden is put on the survivor to prove that they are telling the truth. The process is very geared towards protecting the Catholic Church and its clergy.”

The Pope, who has come in for criticism over his insufficient firmness on abuse cases, now has the chance to take a stand. The fact the Pope is still accommodating regimes which commit human rights atrocities, such as the regime in China, may raise concerns when it comes to the Pope being sufficiently firm with what are in effect human rights atrocities committed by Catholic clergy. Meanwhile, whatever is said about abuse occurring among non-celibate individuals within families, a spotlight on such abuse is likely to continue to raise concerns about priestly celibacy, reform of which is championed by progressives and even supported by many conservatives.

Developments in New Zealand are also likely to raise concerns that – given the worldwide nature of such abuse – fresh cases are yet to be discovered in the Global South. Overall, the moral authority of the Church is dragged through the mud not just by the abuse itself but by any insufficient firmness on the part of the Holy See and local Churches. The victims in all of this must never be forgotten and the Church must never fail to ensure justice is done.

The post Will Pope Francis do more for abuse victims? appeared first on Catholic Herald.