Cardinals under fire: Victims of abuse indicate Papabili!

Cardinals under fire: Victims of abuse indicate Papabili!

Köln, Deutschland - The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priest (Snap) recently displayed six cardinals for being covered up because of sexual abuse. The cardinals mentioned by name, which are also considered potential Papst candidates, are Péter Erdö, Kevin Farrell, Víctor Fernández, Mario Grech, Robert Prevost and Luis Tagle. The advertisements were submitted in accordance with the church law and the "Vos Estis Lux Mundi" paper passage of March 25, 2023. This was done on March 25, 2025, the second anniversary of the decree of the decree, which aims to treat abuse cases within the Catholic Church and to be held accountable.

snap, founded in 1989 in the USA, is a network that deals with the matters of victims of abuse worldwide. In the new advertisement, reference is made to media reports that show that the cardinals mentioned as diocesanists have not sufficiently responded to allegations of sexual abuse or that alleged perpetrators have not been punished hard. According to church law, anyone who has information about such crimes can submit an advertisement in the Vatican. It is noteworthy that for the first time the attempt to influence this prosecution is punished in canon law.

systematic abuse of power in the church structure

The Catholic Church has been exposed to massive abuse scandals and the criticism of its reappraisal for years. Reports have repeatedly shown that there is systematic abuse of power in the institution. In many cases, the processing of abuse cases was treated as an internal matter for the church, with the result that only sporadically judicial consequences follow. Critics demand to put the processing of cases into independent hands to ensure an objective and transparent examination.

In the church, there are structures for alleged victims, but the Church often weighs whether information is forwarded to state law enforcement authorities, while many victims of threats and hott money are deterred. One example is the raid in Cologne of June 27, 2023, which was carried out against Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki for suspected mone. These initiatives show that the pressure on the church leadership increases, but many questions remain unanswered.

reactions and further developments

In order to improve the handling of abuse cases, the German Bishops' Conference and the independent representative of the federal government have agreed on the establishment of independent refurbishment commissions and concerns, which have not yet been established in all dioceses. The topic is becoming increasingly important, since it is also emphasized at the legal level that no special right applies to the churches. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann has supported this claim and underlined that church institutions are also subject to the laws of secular judiciary.