Why more and more priests can’t stand Pope
Francis
He has been pigeonholed as fearless reformer,
but questions are arising about his judgment
By Damian Thompson
On 2 January, the Vatican published a letter
from Pope Francis to the world’s bishops in which he reminded them that they
must show ‘zero tolerance’ towards child abuse. The next day, the American Week
magazine published an article that told the story of ‘Don Mercedes’ — Fr Mauro
Inzoli, an Italian priest with a passion for expensive cars and underage boys.
In 2012, Pope Benedict stripped Inzoli of his
priestly faculties, effectively defrocking him. In 2014, however, they were
restored to him — by Pope Francis, who warned him to stay away from minors.
Then, finally, the Italian civil authorities
caught up with this serial groper of teenagers in the confessional. Last summer
Inzoli was sentenced to four years and nine months in jail for paedophile
offences. The Vatican, under ‘zero-tolerance’ Francis, refused to supply
evidence that prosecutors wanted.
If Pope Benedict XVI had displayed such a
hypocritical attitude towards a clerical child abuser, the roof would have
fallen in on him: he’d have been driven out of office instead of resigning.
...
...
He is not, however, their instrument. In the
words of a Vatican observer who held an important position in Rome for many
years, ‘He hasn’t taken on the old progressive mantle so much as created his
own personality cult.’ Theological niceties bore him. Personal loyalty obsesses
him — ‘and if the cardinal electors had done due diligence they would have
discovered that he was an extraordinarily divisive figure among the Argentinian
Jesuits’.
...
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