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Vatican office struggles to keep up with clergy abuse cases

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The
Vatican office responsi-
ble for processing clergy
sex abuse complaints has
seen a record 1,000 cases
reported from around the
world this year, including
from countries it had not
heard from before — sug-
gesting that the worst may
be yet to come in a crisis
that has plagued the Ro-
man Catholic Church.
Nearly two decades after
the Vatican assumed re-
sponsibility for reviewing all
cases of abuse, the Con-
gregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith is today over-
whelmed, struggling with
a skeleton staff that hasn't
grown at pace to meet the
four-fold increase in the
number of cases arriving in
2019 compared to a dec-
ade ago."I know cloning is
against Catholic teaching,
but if I could actually clone In this Monday, Dec. 9, 2019 photo, Monsignor John Kennedy, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith discipline
my officials and have them section, speaks during an interview on the terrace of the section’s offices at the Vatican.
work three shifts a day or Associated Press
work seven days a week,"
they might make the nec- er heard from (before)," known as the CDF. cretive institution now feels toward showing greater
essary headway, said Kennedy said, referring to Kennedy spoke to The As- the need to show some transparency with his deci-
Monsignor John Kennedy, allegations of abuse that sociated Press and allowed transparency as the church sion this week to abolish the
the head of the congre- occurred for the most part an AP photographer and hierarchy seeks to rebuild so-called "pontifical secret"
gation's discipline section, years or decades ago. Ar- video journalists into the trust with rank-and-file that governs the processing
which processes the cases. gentina, Mexico, Chile, Ita- CDF's inner chambers -- the Catholics who have grown of abuse cases to increase
"We're effectively seeing ly and Poland have joined first time in the tribunal's his- disillusioned with decades cooperation with civil law
a tsunami of cases at the the U.S. among the coun- tory that visual news media of clergy abuse and cover- enforcement.
moment, particularly from tries with the most cases ar- have been given access. up.
countries where we nev- riving at the congregation, Even the Vatican's most se- Pope Francis took a step Continued on Page 2