By Sophia Rijo
Staff Writer
It should come as no surprise that the Roman Catholic Church has always had rumors about them relating to the sexual abuse of children, specifically young boys. On Feb. 24, a top Cardinal of the Catholic Church admits that the Church has been destroying files related to the sexual abuse of children.
This news was first revealed on Feb. 23 during Pope Francis’ clergy abuse summit. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx stated that there were many documents that were filed by survivors but Church officials have been keeping them a secret.
Religion has always been a sensitive topic to speak about, since there are many variations of religion across the entire world. Children who come from religious families are immediately taught that they have to believe what the Priest says because they are the ones who send out God’s message. It has been that way for many centuries, back in medieval times, the Church was seen as the overall power – not even the Kings and Queens could disobey the word of God.
But as it has been proven before and it is proven now, no one, not even Priests, are exempt from corruption and lies. As the Cardinal continues, he said, “Instead of the perpetrators, the victims were regulated and silence imposed on them.”
It is ironic, once someone has done something wrong, they are immediately labeled as an outsider to separate them from the original source. The ones who abused those children while they are predators and offenders, they were first priests. This issue of priests preying on the children – who place their trust in them because they speak the word of God – had been going on for long enough and it is apparent that the Church has done little to ward off those types of people from entering their midsts.
One woman, Veronica Openibo, the first African elected to lead the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, openly criticized the priests who “supported accused brethren over victims” and even questioned Pope Francis on his record on abuse.
Issues like these are not openly covered by mainstream media, and only those who dig and search will find stories like this one. Issues of abuse, corruption and cover ups by the Church only drive people away from believing in the Church again. There are many things that are written in the books of multiple religions that say that people must follow certain rules described, but people seem to forget that those rules applied back centuries ago and should be reviewed and updated to fit the current times.
To be fair, there are some in the Church who are trying to advocate for change. For example, the names mentioned above. Cardinal Marx describes that the management of the Church should be one where people feel “accepted in administrative procedures, that they can feel appreciated…that they can trust the system.” He also said that, “If the Church claims to act in the name of Jesus, yet I am treated so badly by the Church or its administration, then I would also like to have nothing to do with Jesus.”
In medieval times, the Church was valued in the highest regard. As time continued to pass, that high belief in the Church dwindled, and currently people in this day and age no longer find it necessary to be devoted to a certain religion. But that doesn’t mean that this issue should not be taken more seriously.
If a person who doesn’t believe in God or a higher being, gets into an accident that might kill them – in times of fear and hopelessness they will eventually turn to a higher being and pray for their safety as a last result, because people need to believe in something greater than themselves when they are at their lowest point and have nothing else.
Personally, I believe in the idea that love is the highest power anyone can believe in, but I don’t personally believe in the idea of a supernatural being named God by people. I believe that human beings should believe in their own will to get through tough times. By having religion and rules, we offer a way for people who do bad things in the name of their religion.
Ultimately, the Church needs to go through an extreme makeover and stop the series of abuse done by their own against those who willingly place their faith and trust in them. No kind of abuse, no matter who it is from, is acceptable in any kind of way.
It’s time for the Church to be harsh on those who have abused others and send them to face the justice system that was put in place to judge those who commit these crimes.
