Dozens of people in New York state who were sexually abused as children sued institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church, on Wednesday, the first day a new law temporarily enabled them to file lawsuits over decades-old crimes.
About 85 people had filed lawsuits against the Church in New York by late morning, according to New York County Supreme Court records. Most of them accuse priests of sexually abusing them as children and Church leaders of covering up the priests’ crimes.
The state’s landmark Child Victims Act includes a provision that lifts for one year a statute of limitations that had barred older complaints and which critics said was too restrictive. The law is expected to lead to hundreds of lawsuits against churches, schools and youth groups, as well as individuals.
Previously, most victims of childhood sexual abuse only had until the age of 23 to bring criminal charges or to seek damages in civil lawsuits.
James Grein, now in his early 60s, was among those who sued the Church on Wednesday morning. He said that he was sexually abused as a child for years in New York and elsewhere by the priest who had baptized him, Theodore McCarrick, and sued the church for negligence. McCarrick would go on to become one of the most powerful figures in the church, serving as archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006.
The Vatican defrocked McCarrick in February after finding him guilty of sexually abusing children and adults, making him one of the most high-profile Church figures to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.
In a news conference outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, Grein told reporters he was both joyful and “shaking like a leaf.”
“It’s our historical gift from God that we can possibly go forward today and get this done,” he said. “I’ve been waiting years. I’ve suffered many, many years.”
His lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who has represented victims of clergy sex abuse for over a decade, said they would use the expected jury trials to learn more about what Vatican officials knew at the time the abuse was happening.
“The cover-up has ended, and now we’re going right to the top,” Garabedian said. “Take away their robes, take away their religion, and they’re just criminals.”
CHURCHASKSFORPRAYERS
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York said in a statement on Wednesday that it had anticipated facing new lawsuits with the change in the law.
It said it would continue to “invite people to consider” a compensation program created in 2016 for people sexually abused by its clergy, including those previously excluded from suing by the statute of limitations.
So far, the archdiocese has paid more than $66 million in compensation to 335 victims, as determined by a board of arbitrators and funded by a loan secured against its valuable real estate portfolio. In accepting the compensation, those victims have waived their right to sue in court, the archdiocese said.
“While we carefully review the claims made in these suits, we ask that people pray for peace and healing for all those who have suffered from the sin and crime of the sexual abuse of minors, wherever it occurred,” the archdiocese’s statement said.
A lawsuit was also filed against the Boy Scouts of America, accusing the national organization of knowingly employing thousands of leaders who were suspected of molesting children.
The group did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday but earlier this year said it encouraged victims to come forward as the law changed.
At least one woman who said she was sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein as a child sued the disgraced financier’s estate early on Wednesday, and more were expected to follow.
One law firm, Weitz &amp; Luxenberg, said it would sue on behalf of 400 people under the Child Victims Act just in New York City, with plaintiffs ranging from teenagers to people in their 90s. Statewide, the firm said it was representing more than 1,200 people who were victims of sexual abuse as children.
A separate group of law firms, including Seeger Weiss, said it would be representing at least 170 plaintiffs across the state, many with complaints against the Roman Catholic Church.
After the one-year period expires, victims will have until the age of 55 to sue alleged abusers.

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Child sex abuse victims sue Catholic Church, other groups in New York after change in law

A Chilean appeals court ruled Wednesday that the Catholic Church should pay compensation to three victims in a sex abuse case involving former Santiago parish priest Fernando Karadima, a decision that could open the floodgates to similar lawsuits, VOA news <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/chile-court-orders-catholic-church-to-compensate-victims-in-sex-abuse-case/4850837.html">reports</a>.
The unanimous decision requires the Church pay 100 million pesos ($146,000) each for &#8220;moral damages&#8221; to Juan Carlos Cruz, Jose Andres Murillo and James Hamilton. The men accuse Karadima of having sexually abused them decades ago, and the Church of having covered up that abuse.
The office of the Archbishop of Santiago said in a statement that the Church would not appeal the court&#8217;s decision, acknowledging its &#8220;errors&#8221; and saying it had failed to &#8220;accompany the victims&#8221; in their time of need.
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&#8220;(We) trust that this ruling will contribute to healing the suffering of Fernando Karadima&#8217;s victims,&#8221; the statement said.
The appeals court&#8217;s decision is the first to require Chile&#8217;s powerful Roman Catholic Church to pay damages related to an ongoing sex abuse scandal that last year prompted Pope Francis to apologize to the church&#8217;s community worldwide.
The case could pave the way for a flood of civil lawsuits seeking monetary damages from the Latin American country&#8217;s Catholic Church, and beyond.
Chilean investigators have looked into about 120 allegations of sexual abuse or cover-ups involving 167 Church officials or workers.
The scandal last week prompted Pope Francis to accept the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago and the highest-ranking member of the Catholic Church in Chile.
Karadima, now 88 and living in a nursing home in the capital, has long denied accusations that he sexually abused the claimants. He was never charged by civilian authorities because the statute of limitations had expired.
He was, however, found guilty of sexual abuse in a Vatican investigation in 2011, and was defrocked by the Pope last year.

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Chile Court Orders Catholic Church to Compensate Victims in Sex Abuse Case

It has been a wrenching season for three of America&#8217;s largest religious denominations, as sex-abuse scandals and a schism over LGBT inclusion fuel anguish and anger within the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches. There&#8217;s rising concern that the crises will boost the ranks of young people disillusioned by organized religion, VOA News <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/big-us-churches-in-turmoil-over-sex-abuse-lgbt-policy/4811132.html">reports</a>.
&#8220;Every denomination is tremendously worried about retaining or attracting young people,&#8221; said Stephen Schneck, a political science professor at Catholic University. &#8220;The sex-abuse scandals will have a spillover effect on attitudes toward religion in general. I don&#8217;t think any denomination is going to not take a hit.&#8221;
For the U.S. Catholic church, the clergy sex-abuse scandal that has unfolded over two decades expanded dramatically in recent months. Many dioceses have become targets of investigations since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August detailed hundreds of cases of alleged abuse. In mid-February, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was expelled from the priesthood for sexually abusing minors and seminarians.
The Southern Baptist Convention, America&#8217;s largest Protestant denomination, confronted its own sex-abuse crisis three weeks ago in the form of an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. The newspapers reported that hundreds of Southern Baptist clergy and staff had been accused of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, including dozens who returned to church duties, while leaving more than 700 victims with little in the way of justice or apologies.
Cover-ups, reactions
For both denominations, allegations of cover-ups and insufficient sympathy for victims have been perhaps as damaging in the public eye as the abuse itself.
The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination, ended a pivotal conference Tuesday in a seemingly irreconcilable split over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy. About 53 percent of the delegates voted to maintain bans on those practices and strengthen enforcement, dismaying centrists and liberals who favored LGBT inclusion and now are faced with the choice of leaving the UMC or considering acts of defiance from within.
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</div><figcaption>FILE &#8211; Ed Rowe, left, Rebecca Wilson, Robin Hager and Jill Zundel react to the defeat of a proposal that would allow LGBT clergy and same-sex marriage within the United Methodist Church at the denomination&#8217;s 2019 Special Session of the General Conference in St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 26, 2019.</figcaption></figure>
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The Rev. Adam Hamilton, whose Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kan., is the nation&#8217;s largest UMC congregation, said the outcome would push youthful pastors and other young adults away.
&#8220;Three out of four of millennials who live in the U.S. support same-sex marriage and do not want to be a part of a church that makes their friends feel like second-class Christians,&#8221; he told the conference. &#8220;Many of you have children and grandchildren who cannot imagine that we&#8217;re voting this way today. They wonder: Have these people lost their minds?&#8221;
Since long before the current crises, most Christian denominations in the U.S. have been losing members. The most recent survey of the religious landscape by the Pew Research Center found that the biggest growth was in &#8220;unaffiliated&#8221; — people who described themselves as atheists, agnostics or &#8220;nothing in particular.&#8221;
That latter group is known among contemporary religious leaders as the &#8220;nones.&#8221; Their ranks include many young people who want spirituality in their lives but are disenchanted with institutionalized religion.
&#8220;The `nones&#8217; want their lives to make a difference, and they&#8217;re trying to figure out how,&#8221; said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Christian social justice organization Sojourners. &#8220;They&#8217;re not going to join a religion that&#8217;s not making a difference or, worse yet, is full of hypocrisy.&#8221;
Membership, attendance
There have yet to be comprehensive surveys gauging how the latest crises have affected church membership and attendance. Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University&#8217;s School of Theology, suggests the impact will be significant.
&#8220;We see young adults who are overwhelmingly on the progressive side of sexuality issues and overwhelmingly not sitting still for sexual abuse of all kinds,&#8221; she said. &#8220;When they see religious leaders who aren&#8217;t on the right side of that, they&#8217;re more likely to say, `I&#8217;m done.&#8217; &#8221;
Any such developments will reinforce existing trends, Ammerman said. &#8220;If you&#8217;re already only going to church three or four times a year, if you&#8217;re moving from one place to another, your ties [with a church] have already gotten weak.&#8221;
While the three ongoing crises vary in key respects, there is important common ground: the increased outspokenness, organizing skills and social-media prowess of Catholic and Southern Baptist sex-abuse survivors and LGBT United Methodists.
&#8220;We&#8217;re in a historical moment where the marginalized voices will not be silenced,&#8221; said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a religious studies professor at Manhattan College in New York. &#8220;Victims of sex abuse and LGBT communities have reached the breaking point.&#8221;
In the case of the Catholic and Southern Baptist churches, there&#8217;s been extra motivation for some critics because of those churches&#8217; insistence on a male-only clergy.
&#8220;You have very top-down, patriarchal institutions representing a kind of power that civil society has left behind,&#8221; Imperatori-Lee said.
The months ahead will be challenging for the three denominations, notably for liberal United Methodists who must decide if they can abide under the LGBT bans they opposed.
Bishops to meet
U.S. Catholic bishops hold a national meeting in June. They will be weighing the exhortations of Pope Francis at the Vatican&#8217;s recent summit on sex-abuse prevention.
David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame political science professor who studies religion&#8217;s role in U.S. civic life, believes the exodus of white Catholics from the pews will be offset by an increase of Latinos even as the abuse crisis persists. But he predicts the church will suffer a significant drop in donations.
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</div><figcaption>FILE &#8211; Claire Summers, 16, gets a high five as she and her sister Ella Summers, 10, right, protest the Southern Baptist Convention&#8217;s treatment of women outside the convention&#8217;s annual meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, June 12, 2018.</figcaption></figure>
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As for the Southern Baptist Convention, it formed a sexual-abuse study group last year that has not yet announced recommendations. Advocates for victims are watching closely to see if substantive steps are taken.
The Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, takes heart from record-high enrollment at SBC seminaries. 
&#8220;I do not believe the students on our campus represent a majority of their generation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But they are the minority that is committed to the church.&#8221;
Yet Mohler says the SBC shouldn&#8217;t take these young people&#8217;s commitment for granted.
&#8216;We must do the right thing&#8217;
&#8220;They will be and should be offended if we do not handle the challenge of sexual abuse well,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We must do the right thing and do it without delay.&#8221;
At Howard University&#8217;s School of Divinity, Christian ethics professor Cheryl Sanders tells students aspiring to the ministry that they will be held more accountable than their predecessors. But she exhorts them to believe, despite the challenges, that their work will be essential.
&#8220;The fact is that people turn to the church when they have needs,&#8221; she said. &#8220;The church has a role even in spite of itself.&#8221;

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3 Big US Churches in Turmoil Over Sex Abuse, LGBT Policy

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An American missionary who was a hero in East Timor for founding children&#8217;s shelters that have operated for more than two decades has been expelled from his Catholic congregation after admitting to sexual abuse of minors, a church official and a family member said, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/american-priest-in-east-timor-embroiled-in-abuse-scandal/4781651.html">VOA</a> reports.
Media reports about the allegations have stunned East Timor, one of two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia along with the Philippines. The bishop of Dili, Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, told reporters on Sunday that Richard Daschbach was expelled from the church last year and was no longer a priest.
Daschbach was born in Pennsylvania and first came to East Timor in 1966 when it was a Portuguese colony. He founded the Topu Honis or Guide To Life children&#8217;s homes in Oe-Kusi Ambeno, an East Timorese enclave in the Indonesian-controlled western half of Timor, in 1992, and was also feted for saving children during East Timor&#8217;s war for independence from Indonesia.
A family member in the U.S. who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said Daschbach left Oe-Kusi Ambeno but later returned. East Timorese media reported he has been performing Masses in the area.
He admitted that the allegations against him are true, the family member told The Associated Press. The priests took him away because of allegations of child abuse. He admitted that it was true. He has returned against their will.
The public defenders&#8217; office in Oe-Kusi Ambeno said it was aware of the scandal but there was no criminal case registered against him.
Daschbach has not responded to requests for comment.
The two shelters cared for orphans and children and youth aged 3 to 18 from impoverished families, disabled people and women who have fled domestic violence. Some of the hundreds of children who lived in the shelters went on to study at universities in Australia, the U.S. and Indonesia.
Catholic News Service, citing Jovito Rego de Jesus Araujo, episcopal vicar for pastoral care in Dili, said it was the first time sexual abuse of minors by a Catholic priest in East Timor had come to light.
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American Priest in East Timor Embroiled in Abuse Scandal

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Guam&#8217;s Catholic Church filed for bankruptcy Wednesday, a move that will allow the archdiocese to avoid trial in dozens of child sexual abuse lawsuits and enter settlement negotiations, VOA news <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/guam-catholic-church-enters-bankruptcy-amid-sex-abuse-claims/4744939.html">reports</a>.
Ford Elsaesser, an attorney representing the church, said the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition was filed with federal court in Guam. The church faces multimillion-dollar lawsuits for sexual abuse from about 190 accusers.
Last November, Archbishop Michael Byrnes announced the church&#8217;s decision to file for bankruptcy after mediation efforts to try to settle claims failed.
&#8220;This path will bring the greatest measure of justice to the greatest number of victims,&#8221; Byrnes said last year. &#8220;That&#8217;s the heart of what we&#8217;re doing.&#8221;
Byrnes said the bankruptcy will provide finality for victim survivors.
When the announcement was made in November, attorney Leander James, who is working with alleged victims in Guam, welcomed the move.
&#8220;We welcome the announcement,&#8221; James said in a statement. &#8220;Bankruptcy provides the only realistic path to settlement of pending and future claims.&#8221;
This bankruptcy filing will halt current lawsuits and create a deadline for abuse victims to file new claims before the church settles with accusers.
Archbishop Anthony Apuron
Pope Francis named a temporary administrator for Guam in 2016 after Archbishop Anthony Apuron was accused by former altar boys of sexually abusing them when he was a priest. Dozens of cases involving other priests on the island have since come to light.
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Earlier last year, the Vatican removed the suspended Apuron from office and ordered him not to return to the Pacific island after convicting him of some charges in a Vatican sex abuse trial.
The Vatican didn&#8217;t say what exactly Apuron had been convicted of, and the sentence was far lighter than those given to high-profile elderly prelates found guilty of molesting minors.
Apuron, 73, has denied the allegations and has not been criminally charged.
Many other churches around the nation have filed for bankruptcy as a means to reaching settlements for sexual abuse lawsuits.
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Guam Catholic Church Enters Bankruptcy Amid Sex Abuse Claims

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Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her office has gotten at least 500 allegations of sex abuse by Catholic priests that dioceses across the state failed to publicly name, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/illinois-sex-abuse/4708715.html">reports</a> VOA News.
In a new report Wednesday, Madigan excoriates church officials for failing to thoroughly investigate many of the allegations.
&#8220;The Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners, and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois,&#8221; Madigan said.
She accuses the church of failing to determine if the conduct by the accused priests was ignored or covered up by their superiors.
Madigan&#8217;s report says in some cases, Illinois dioceses tried to discredit victims by turning the spotlight on their personal lives.
Church leaders, including Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Blase Cupich, say they regret any failures to address what he calls &#8220;the scourge of clerical sexual abuse&#8221; — and say some of the dioceses have long since instituted policies requiring the church to report such allegations to civil authorities, even if the accused priest is dead.
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Illinois AG: Catholic Church Failed to Report Hundreds of Sex Abuse Cases

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Porn star Stormy Daniels must pay President Donald Trump nearly $293,000 for his attorneys&#8217; fees and another $1,000 in sanctions after her defamation suit against him was dismissed, a federal judge in Los Angeles ordered Tuesday<a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/california-judge-orders-porn-star-to-pay-trump-legal-fees/4697014.html">, reports VOA News.</a>
Trump&#8217;s attorney, Charles Harder, had requested nearly $390,000 in fees and equal amount in sanctions as a deterrent against a &#8220;repeat filer of frivolous defamation cases.&#8221;
Judge S. James Otero cut the requested legal fees by 25 percent and awarded just $1,000 in sanctions.
Otero previously noted that fees by Harder&#8217;s firm — as high as $840 an hour — were reasonable but the 580 hours spent on the case appeared excessive.
Daniels alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $130,000 as part of a nondisclosure agreement days before the 2016 presidential election. She sued him for defamation after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to keep quiet about the tryst as a &#8220;total con job.&#8221; The judge threw out the case in October.
Daniels&#8217; attorney, Michael Avenatti, tweeted Tuesday&#8217;s order &#8220;will never hold up on appeal.&#8221;
In a statement he predicted Daniels &#8220;will never have to pay a dime&#8221; because she will receive far more — $1 million — from Trump for attorneys&#8217; fees and other costs related to a separate lawsuit Daniels brought in Los Angeles over the non-disclosure agreement.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, is challenging the agreement she signed with Trump&#8217;s then-lawyer Michael Cohen to prevent her from discussing the alleged affair. The agreement was signed days before the 2016 election as part of a $130,000 hush-money settlement.
Daniels also has alleged that her former lawyer, Keith Davidson, colluded with Cohen to have her publicly deny the affair with Trump.
Cohen has pleaded guilty to several felonies and admitted funneling money to Daniels to keep her quiet about the affair. Trump has denied the affair, but essentially acknowledged the payment to Daniels.
Despite the deal to stay quiet, Daniels spoke out publicly and alleged that five years after the affair she was threatened to keep quiet by a man she did not recognize in a Las Vegas parking lot. She also released a composite sketch of the mystery man.
She sued Trump for defamation after he responded to her allegation by tweeting: &#8220;A sketch years later about a nonexistent man. A total con job, playing the Fake News Media for Fools (but they know it)!&#8221;
Otero ruled in October that Trump&#8217;s statement was &#8220;rhetorical hyperbole&#8221; against a political adversary and was protected speech under the First Amendment.
Trump&#8217;s lead attorney previously said the fees and unspecified monetary sanctions were earned because of the extraordinary nature of the defamation case and because of Avenatti&#8217;s gamesmanship.
&#8220;This action is virtually unprecedented in American legal history,&#8221; Harder wrote in court papers. Daniels &#8220;not only brought a meritless claim for defamation against the sitting president of the United States, but she also has engaged, along with her attorney, in massive national publicity.&#8221;
The Cohen and Davidson lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court is on hold until May.
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California Judge Orders Porn Star to Pay Trump Legal Fees

The Catholic Church&#8217;s global organization of nuns has denounced the &#8220;culture of silence and secrecy&#8221; surrounding sexual abuse in the church and is urging sisters who have been abused to report the crimes to police and their superiors, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/global-catholic-nuns-urge-reporting-of-sex-abuse-to-police/4672813.html">VOA news</a> reports.
The International Union of Superiors General, which represents more than 500,000 sisters worldwide, vowed to help nuns who have been abused to find the courage to report it, and pledged to help victims heal and seek justice.
The statement, issued on the eve of the U.N.-designated International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, was the first from the Rome-based UISG since the abuse scandal erupted anew this year and as the sexual abuse of adult nuns by clergymen has also come to light. The Associated Press reported earlier this year that the Vatican has known for decades about the problem of priests and bishops preying on nuns but has done next to nothing to stop it.
In the statement Friday, the UISG didn&#8217;t specify clergy as the aggressors. While such abuse is well known in parts of Africa, and an Indian case of the alleged rape of a nun by a bishop is currently making headlines, there have also been cases of sexual abuse committed by women against other women within congregations.
Festering mistreatment
The UISG statement was broad, condemning what it called the &#8220;pattern of abuse that is prevalent within the church and society today,&#8221; citing sexual, verbal and emotional abuse as types of mistreatment that festers in unequal power relations and demeans the dignity of its victims.
&#8220;We condemn those who support the culture of silence and secrecy, often under the guise of ‘protection&#8217; of an institution&#8217;s reputation or naming it ‘part of one&#8217;s culture,&#8217; &#8221; the group said.
&#8220;We advocate for transparent civil and criminal reporting of abuse whether within religious congregations, at the parish or diocesan levels, or in any public arena,&#8221; the statement said.
To mark the U.N. day calling for an end to violence against women, the head of the Italian bishops conference, Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, issued a video message on the subject — but didn&#8217;t mention sexual violence against sisters by fellow clergymen, evidence of how taboo the subject is within the church hierarchy.
An AP investigation found that cases of priests abusing nuns have emerged in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, underscoring how sisters&#8217; second-class status in the church has contributed to a power imbalance where women can be mistreated by men with near impunity.
Reluctance to talk
While some nuns are finding their voices, buoyed by the #MeToo movement, many victims remain reluctant to come forward. Experts told AP sisters have a well-founded fear they won&#8217;t be believed and will instead be painted as the seducer who corrupted the priest. Often the sister who denounces abuse by a priest is punished, including with expulsion from her congregation, while the priest&#8217;s vocation is preserved at all cost.
The Vatican has known for years about the problem in Africa after a series of major studies were commissioned in the 1990s. Religious sisters reported that African nuns were being particularly targeted by priests seeking to avoid HIV transmission from prostitutes or other women.
In the wake of the AP report, the umbrella organization of U.S. sisters, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, urged sisters who had been abused to report to both civil and church authorities. Many of the LCWR&#8217;s members also belong to the global UISG, which can provide a point of contact with the Vatican.

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Global Catholic Nuns Urge Reporting of Sex Abuse to Police

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Pope Francis named the Vatican&#8217;s top sex abuse investigator and a close U.S. ally to an organizing committee for a February abuse prevention summit whose stakes have grown after the Holy See blocked U.S. bishops from taking action to address the scandal, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/pope-taps-experts-us-cardinal-to-help-prep-for-abuse-summit/4671140.html">VOA news</a> reports.
Abuse survivors and women working at the Vatican will also contribute to the preparatory committee. Notably absent from the lineup announced Friday was Boston Cardinal Sean O&#8217;Malley, who heads the pope&#8217;s sex abuse advisory commission, though one of his members, the Rev. Hans Zollner, is the point-person for the group.
In addition to Zollner, the committee includes Maltese Archbishop Charles Scicluna, for a decade the Vatican&#8217;s sex crimes prosecutor, Francis appointee Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich and Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, a member of Francis&#8217; key cardinal adviser group.
Francis summoned leaders of the world&#8217;s bishops&#8217; conferences to the Vatican February 21-24 after the abuse scandal erupted in his native South America and again in the U.S. and he botched the case of a Chilean bishop implicated in cover-up.
The stakes of the meeting grew exponentially after the Vatican told U.S. bishops earlier this month not to vote on proposed new measures to investigate sexual misconduct or cover-up within their ranks.
The Vatican still hasn&#8217;t explained why it blocked the vote on a U.S. code of conduct for bishops and a lay-led board to investigate them, though the proposals were only given to the Vatican at the last minute and were said to contain legal problems. The head of the U.S. bishops conference, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, said the Holy See wanted to delay any vote until after the February global summit.
However, it is unlikely that such a diverse group of churchmen, some representing national churches that continue to deny or downplay the scandal, will over the course of four days come up with any universal proposals that come close to the accountability norms that U.S. bishops were seeking.
Cupich has said he was disappointed by the Vatican&#8217;s decision, but at the time of the U.S. bishops&#8217; meeting, he proposed they go ahead and debate the measures and even came up with a revised proposal himself.
His inclusion as a member of the Vatican organizing committee is significant, since he is not himself the head of a bishops&#8217; conference — as are Scicluna and Gracias — and would otherwise have no reason to attend the February summit. That Francis chose him over DiNardo is perhaps understood by the obvious tensions between DiNardo and the Vatican over the rejected U.S. accountability proposals and DiNardo&#8217;s public call this summer for a Vatican investigation into the U.S. scandal, which Rome refused.
Cupich, on the other hand, is far more of a defender of the embattled pope, whose popularity in the U.S. has tumbled over his uneven handling of the abuse crisis.
&#8220;Pope Francis is calling for radical reform in the life of the church, for he understands that this crisis is about the abuse of power and a culture of protection and privilege, which have created a climate of secrecy, without accountability for misdeeds,&#8221; Cupich wrote in a blog post Thursday. &#8220;All of that has to end.&#8221;
Zollner, who heads a safeguarding institute of study at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, acknowledged that the expectations were high going into the meeting.
&#8220;And it&#8217;s understandable that they are high, given the gravity of the scandal that has shocked and hurt so many people, believers and not, in so many countries,&#8221; he told Vatican Media.
Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said Francis&#8217; decision to host the meeting showed he considered protection of minors a &#8220;fundamental priority for the church.&#8221;
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Pope Taps Experts, US Cardinal to Help Prep for Abuse Summit

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As U.S. Catholic bishops gather for their national assembly next week, the clergy sex abuse crisis dominates their agenda amid calls from critics that church leaders finally bring about meaningful reforms to root out misbehaving priests, <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/clergy-sex-abuse/4653174.html">VOA news</a> reports.
The three-day assembly that starts Monday in Baltimore comes after a series of abuse scandals this year that have been stunning in their magnitude and number.
Bishops have several reforms under consideration to craft a stronger response to the scandals, but some Catholic activists are demanding further steps, including releasing the names of all clergy accused of abuse and giving a greater voice to abuse victims. One activist coalition plans to post its demands on church doors in Baltimore and elsewhere on Sunday.
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Sex Abuse Crisis Tops Agenda as US Catholic Bishops Convene