A founding member of the advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse, Peter Isely, contended Sunday that Pope Francis is “facing resistance” from top Vatican officials as he prepares to convene bishops from around the world. The Vatican announced Saturday that Francis approved the expulsion from the priesthood for a former American cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, for sexual abuse of minors and adults. But survivor advocates also have demanded that Francis say what he and other top Vatican officials knew about the prelate’s sexual wrongdoing, which spanned decades. “You abuse a child, you have to be removed from the priesthood,” Isely said. Francis has tried to temper expectations for the summit, saying in January the “problem of abuse will continue” because “it’s a human problem.” Isely of Ending Clergy Abuse said the bar should be high and the participants “have to deliver for survivors.”

Source: National Post February 17, 2019 11:28 UTC