The headline was alarming: "Pope Francis quietly trims sanctions for sex abusers seeking mercy."
The reporter, Nicole Winfield of The Associated Press, is one of the
most respected in the religion news business. But is it so?
The clergy sex abuse story is the ugliest in the recent history of the Catholic church. Under St. Pope John Paul II, a serial abuser like Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder and head of the Legionaries of Christ, was not only unpunished, but he continued to receive support and even adulation at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI began a serious crackdown on clergy sex abuse, one of the real achievements of his pontificate.
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/francis-actually-backsliding-punishing-abuse
The clergy sex abuse story is the ugliest in the recent history of the Catholic church. Under St. Pope John Paul II, a serial abuser like Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder and head of the Legionaries of Christ, was not only unpunished, but he continued to receive support and even adulation at the Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI began a serious crackdown on clergy sex abuse, one of the real achievements of his pontificate.
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/francis-actually-backsliding-punishing-abuse