Pope Francis Listened to Victims of Clergy Abuse

by

Special to United Methodist Insight | April 30, 2025

As a survivor of clergy sexual abuse, I am deeply saddened by the passing of Pope Francis. His attitude and actions toward those of us who have been sexually assaulted by church leaders, while far from perfect, was in comparison to many other episcopal leaders, both Catholic and Protestant, greatly encouraging.

Upon his election to the papacy in 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, of Argentina, offered hope with a call for action on clergy abuse in the church. Under his papacy, a Vatican committee was set up to fight sexual abuse and help victims. In a report by Vatican Radio, the Pope asked for forgiveness for the “evil” damage to children caused by sexual abusers in the clergy and said "sanctions" would be imposed.

In May 2024, CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell asked Pope Francis if “the church had done enough to address the sexual abuse scandal.”

"It must continue to do more," replied Francis. "Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous. And against this, an upright conscience and not only to not permit it, but to put in place the conditions so that it does not happen.”

The pope said sexual abuse ‘cannot be tolerated’ under any circumstances in the church, and when there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them. In this there has been a great deal of progress."

It was reported, about six months after that interview, that Pope Francis met with Belgian survivors of clergy sexual abuse in an encounter described by some of the survivors as "intense".

It seemed so easy, so simple, when at last the truth of the horrors was spoken by this "shepherd of shepherds" to the unprotected, neglected, wounded souls who had been left outside the fold of the church. Still, Pope Francis did not always get it right at first. A commentator on PBS News Hour reminded viewers, not long after the Pope’s death was reported on April 21, that the greatest scandal of Francis' papacy “… was when he discredited Chilean sexual abuse victims by siding with a bishop whom they accused of complicity in the abuse. After realizing his error, he invited the victims to the Vatican and apologized in person. He then brought the entire Chilean bishop’s conference to Rome, where he pressed them to resign.”

The PBS commentator added, “In his most significant move, Francis defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he abused minors as well as adults. Francis later passed church laws abolishing the use of pontifical secrecy and establishing procedures to investigate bishops who abuse or cover up for predator priests. But he was dogged by some high-profile cases where he seemed to side with accused priests.”

A major support and advocacy group for survivors of church sexual abuse, the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, “…called for the next pope to have no history of covering up sexual abuse, and the group demanded that he "institute a zero tolerance law for sexual abuse that immediately removes abusive clergy and leaders who have covered up abuse from ministry and mandates independent oversight of bishops.” A SNAP spokesperson said, "He must use his authority to enact fundamental, institutional changes to end the systematic practice of sexual abuse and its concealment."

My own United Methodist denomination began fundamental change last May. It was an action that was too long coming, and it remains to be seen if it will be anything more than an empty gesture, but genuine acknowledgement of harm done is always a good place to start.

On May 3, 2024 the General Conference of the worldwide United Methodist Church meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, passed the following resolution of apology to all survivors and their families:

“The United Methodist Church apologizes for the times we allowed our desire to protect the Church to outweigh our desire to care for victims and survivors of sexual misconduct. We have allowed polity and protection of the institutional Church to prevent us from holding persons accountable, thus perpetuating harm within our local churches and other ministry settings, and damaging the whole United Methodist connection.

We apologize for the times we have not listened to you, doubted your stories, ignored your wounds, and have not tended to your pain. We believe this has contributed to allowing an unsafe culture to exist.

An apology is worthless without a commitment to the challenging work which must follow. The United Methodist Church pledges to:

1. Apologize in every annual conference across the connection.

2. Educate Church leaders regarding sacred trust in ministerial relationships and power imbalance within those relationships.

3. Provide healing resources to all affected in accordance with Complaint Procedures.

4. Develop a trauma-informed response to complaints of sexual misconduct.

This apology alone is insufficient for healing. The United Methodist Church accepts our responsibility and publicly states our commitment to carry out the steps named to do no more harm. May God’s blessing and never-ending love guide our work and see it through.”

Not only was the apology statement read in its entirety during General Conference, but all United Methodist bishops around the world are to read the apology at their own upcoming annual conferences. The apology and resolution also offer resources to help people who are victims/survivors: Information on the reporting process can be found at http://www.umsexualethics.org.

It is my hope that the apology resolution will be published in every United Methodist Church newsletter and read by a District Superintendent from the pulpit of every congregation where sexual assaults have occurred.

The families of the five of us adolescents, who were sexually abused by the pastor of my home church in the late 1960s, deserve to finally hear a word of healing from a bishop or district superintendent standing in our church pulpit. So do the families of the five other victims of this same pastor in three other Wisconsin Conference United Methodist congregations.

So do all the thousands of souls around the world, both children and adults, who have been sexually assaulted by United Methodist Church leaders. 

The Rev. John Sumwalt is a retired Wisconsin Conference United Methodist pastor. He has been speaking out for survivors of clergy sexual abuse for over 30 years.