The Vatican admits that it will not solve all cases of pedophilia, and many will go unpunished

2023-05-13 03:43:50

Pope Francis greeting his parishioners in Saint Peter’s Square, in the Vatican.

The Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, acknowledged in a press conference held at the sanctuary of Fatima, Portugal, that the Catholic Church still faces cases of pedophilia that “will not be possible to resolve, and cases in the future that will not be possible either. resolve,” according to local media.

Parolin, who is in Portugal for the massive pilgrimage scheduled for this weekend, stressed that he has been a daily witness to the work of Pope Francis to ensure greater transparency in cases. He also pointed out that the Holy See has been aware of the study released in February about pedophilia in the Portuguese Catholic Church, which estimates more than 4,800 victims of crimes that have occurred in the last 70 years.

“It is a path that must be marked by truth and transparency. The Holy See received this information, it knows what happened, but the decisions are made by the local church,” the cardinal said.

In this sense, the position of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference has been widely criticized in the country, including by the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, since it has left the decision to remove or not the priests indicated in that decision to each bishop. study, carried out by experts after a year of work.

Francisco and his possible meeting with Zelensky

The issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church has been a recurring problem that has generated great controversy worldwide. Despite the fact that the institution has worked on prevention to avoid future abuses, society demands greater clarity and forcefulness in the fight against this problem.

As for other issues discussed at the press conference, Parolin did not confirm whether or not there will be a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Pope Francis this Saturday, taking advantage of the fact that both will meet in Rome.

“Until this morning there was nothing. There may have been some progress in between, but nothing confirmed,” Parolin replied.