Pope Ends Visit In Oceania Without Apology To His Victims

Pope Francis has ended his visit to Oceania and Southeast Asia today.

In Timor-Leste, the Pope called on the country's leaders to protect young people from abuse. But he did not apologise for the child sexual abuse perpetrated by his clergy in Timor-Leste.

Neither has he held accountable his bishops and congregational leaders who enabled that abuse.

In an Open Letter to the Pope while he was in Papua New Guinea, the Oceania arm of the victim support network SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) said it would be better if the Pope showed justice to the people of Oceania rather than preach to them about social justice.

“You will be aware that your church's leaders … moved child sexual predators from within your church into poor and vulnerable countries in Oceania where they continued to abuse helpless and innocent children,” the network stated in its letter.

Investigations found the scale of this expedition involved coordinated efforts among Catholic bishops and congregational leaders across Australia, Britain, New Zealand, and the USA.

US State of Pennsylvania’s Grand Jury Inquiry into Catholic Church child sexual abuse identified how the church leaders operated: “If a predator’s conduct becomes known to the community, don’t remove him [from ministry] to ensure that no more children will be victimised. Instead, transfer him to a new location where no one will know he is a child abuser.”

New Zealand’s Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry “Stolen Lives, Marked Souls” found that regularly relocating priests and religious brothers, “whether because of abuse or for other reasons, contributed to much higher levels of offending than would otherwise have been the case.”

SNAP in Oceania is aware that Catholic organisations found responsible for horrendous abuses against children are still working with children in countries across Oceania.

Survivor advocates have suggested state leaders investigate the churches operating on their shores and the Vatican help pay for the investigations.

Meanwhile, in New Zealand, survivors are aware that Catholic priests accused of child sexual offending remain in ministry while investigations take place. Survivor advocates have claimed that at least one New Zealand Catholic bishop has misled the New Zealand people by publicly claiming to remove accused clergy from ministry when this is not the case.

New Zealand survivors also believe—as also reported by the Royal Commission's interim report Tāwharautia: Pūrongo o te Wā—that the New Zealand Catholic Church’s complaint process is not independent but a continuation of abuse as it is being used to silence complainants and foil church investigations into their complaints.

Despite church claims about safeguarding and a safer church, according to Australian Catholic priest Kevin Dillon, “The future of the Catholic Church will never be promising until church leaders prioritise healing their victims and survivors."

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