Abuse survivors demand next pope enact zero-tolerance policy, identify cardinals with poor records

By NICOLE WINFIELD Associated Press VATICAN CITY AP A coalition of survivors of clergy sexual abuse demanded Wednesday that cardinals entering the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis pick a pope who will adopt a universal zero-tolerance approach for abuse and himself has a clean record handling cases The group End Clergy Abuse issued an open letter to the cardinals who are meeting informally this week before the start of the May conclave SNAP the main U S -based survivor group also identified cardinals who themselves have problematic records in a new database highlighting a new level of scrutiny of all feasible contenders for the papacy People and the St Peter s Basilica are reflected in a puddle during the fourth of nine days of mourning for late Pope Francis at the Vatican Tuesday April AP Photo Francisco Seco The developments come amid real questions about how prominent the abuse controversy is featuring in the discussions about finding a new pope After two decades of unrelenting revelations about abuse and cover-up that have discredited the Catholic hierarchy countless church leaders would like to think the issue is in the past the survivors explained The sexual abuse emergency is not a matter of the past It is present And nowhere is its devastation more visible than in the Global South the survivors mentioned in the open letter ECA and SNAP have called for the Catholic Church to adopt a zero-tolerance program that a priest will be permanently removed from church ministry based on even a single act of sexual abuse that is either admitted to or established according to church law That is the initiative in the U S church adopted at the height of the U S disgrace in but it is by no means embraced elsewhere The issue is playing out in real time in Rome as the cardinals gather Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne has been seen in full cardinal garb entering and exiting Vatican City despite being under Vatican sanction for allegedly abusing a minor Cipriani is not allowed in the conclave itself because he is over but he has been participating in the pre-conclave meetings this week The Vatican in January verified that disciplinary sanctions were in effect against Cipriani the first-ever cardinal from Opus Dei following accusations of sexual abuse The sanctions included requiring him to leave Peru and included restrictions on his populace activity and use of insignia The Vatican announced he was allowed to deviate from them on specific occasions Solicited why Cipriani was presenting himself as a cardinal and participating Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declared the Vatican regulations concerning the pre-conclave meetings are clear The rules he stated all cardinals must participate unless they have legitimate impediments which involve personal or physical questions Cipriani who lives in Madrid and Rome has called the charges thoroughly false Bruni explained the issue of abuse was discussed this week by cardinals in the pre-conclave discussions among other challenges facing the church SNAP earlier this year launched an online initiative Conclave Watch to provide information about individual cardinals and their records The group says since the launch survivors from Fiji Tonga Belgium France South Africa Malawi France Italy Canada and the U S have gotten in touch with additional information The initiative vets cardinals who are considered contenders for the papacy on their records handling sexual abuse cases including whether they were involved in covering up cases as well as their acceptance of a zero-tolerance law that SNAP and ECA have proposed Abuse survivors do not want to see another conclave that elects a pope who has shielded and covered up for clergy offenders reported Sarah Pearson a SNAP spokesperson Associated Press religion coverage receives backing through the AP s collaboration with The Conversation US with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc The AP is solely responsible for this content