For the most part, Pope Francis's first visit to North America is
being met with giddy anticipation from the media and public figures. But
one group is not so enthusiastic: survivors of clerical abuse.
Francis gets credit for doing much more than his predecessors to address the crisis. But the bar is low. For example, Pope John Paul II did shockingly little. His defenders asserted that he was unaware of the facts, but he was receiving reports detailing just how grave the situation was as early as 1985.
"Other than making nine recorded public statements, all of which were
sufficiently nuanced to be innocuous, and calling a meeting of the U.S.
cardinals to tell them what everyone already knew, he did nothing
positive," victims' advocate and priest Rev. Thomas Doyle writes.
Pope
Benedict XVI did more, but still left bishops like Kansas City's Robert
Finn, who were known to have covered up abuse, in power.
