Pope Francis had a learning curve on clergy sexual abuse, with the turning point coming in 2018. Few people could have predicted that a comment he made then, dismissing victims of Chile’s most notorious pedophile, would blow up into the biggest crisis of his papacy. But it was one that eventually set the Catholic Church on a new path of accountability for clergy sexual abuse. Years later, Francis recognized that the Chile trip was his “conversion” moment, when he came to realize he had been misled about just how bad the problem was. (AP Production by Trisha Thomas)
Pope Francis had a troubled course on dealing with clergy sexual abuse
Pope Francis had a learning curve on clergy sexual abuse, with the turning point coming in 2018. Few people could have predicted that a comment he made then, dismissing victims of Chile’s most notorious pedophile, would blow up into the biggest crisis of his papacy. But it was one that eventually set the Catholic Church on a new path of accountability for clergy sexual abuse. Years later, Francis recognized that the Chile trip was his “conversion” moment, when he came to realize he had been misled about just how bad the problem was. (AP Production by Trisha Thomas)