The Vatican Disrupts U.S. Bishops’ Vote on Proposals for Sex Abuse

Pope Francis called a special meeting for February 2019.

The Vatican has apparently cancelled a vote by U.S. bishops with regards to proposals that would serve as a response to the sexual abuse crisis[/tweeit] that has gripped the Church. Apparently, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, revealed the information on the outset of the fall general assembly in Baltimore on November 12-14.

The Vatican Disrupts U.S. Bishops’ Vote on Proposals for Sex Abuse[/tweetthis]

The members of the conference expressed a variety of different responses to the news, but the victims and advocates believed this was a deliberate attempt by the church to inhibit reforms. This comes on the heels of a massive sex abuse scandal in the United States where thousands of offenses are alleged to have occurred.

The two proposals that were supposed to be considered during this time were in regards to a new code of conduct that was supposed to be put into place for the bishops. The second proposal was going to create a body within the church that is designed to investigate misconduct within the church. Although there are many people about the issues that have now occurred within the church, the fact of the matter is the Vatican is not shelving the concept altogether.

The Holy See insisted that any new measures should not be put into place before the new meeting that was scheduled by Pope Francis in February. This special meeting is going to address the ongoing sexual abuse crisis the church is facing and will feature prominent members of the church. However, the exact itinerary of the meeting has not been disclosed, nor have the steps that are going to be taken by the church in the near future.

Although the Church still has a plan to take steps towards approaching the problems of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, the fact is a lot of faithful are disappointed. To them, it seems as though their religious leaders are taking too long to approach a problem that has festered behind closed doors for too long a time. Now, it seems as though the Catholics around the world will be forced to wait even longer to see how the church is going to deal with the problems, something they have not done satisfactorily in the past. For now, the church leaders and members in the United States will be forced to wait.

Resources

• The Washington Post
• Catholic News Agency

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