I take this opportunity to address you today with the conviction that you are as shocked as I am by the revelations about the overwhelming number of particularly horrendous cases of sexual abuse that have been committed by a considerable number of clergymen around the world.
If there is one thing I find appalling in this world, it is pedophilia. And when the predators are men of the Church, my indignation reaches its peak.
Even though it was already marred by numerous cases of hidden abuses, the credibility of the Catholic Church was once again severely damaged in 2018 following the exposure of serious scandals in Chile, the United States and Germany. It was recently reported in the press that the Apostolic Nuncio (ambassador of the Pope) in France, Luigi Ventura, was being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Paris on 24 January for sexual abuse of minors.
According to me, the recent remarks made by Pope Francis at the four-day summit in the Vatican on the subject were not very reassuring. Instead of taking the bull by the horns, the head of the Catholic Church did not announce anything tangible. All he did was to call for tightening of the regulations to be implemented by the World Bishops’ Conferences. Instead of taking the expected tangible steps, the Pope confined himself to making declarations of intent that were not even included in a final document.
Being the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope has a duty to ensure that those who are hierarchically subordinate to him respect not only the spirit of the Gospels they preach, but also the law and morals that are applicable in the community. It is therefore up to the Pope to take the necessary radical measures to rectify the bad state of affairs in which the Vatican has found itself in.
I believe that one of the measures that Pope Francis ought to urgently take is the excommunication and permanent exclusion from the Church, which is the subject of a petition that I have just written to him and initiated on the social networks. I would like to present this petition to you hoping that you will feel compelled to support it by signing it and inviting your relatives to do the same (we can also help spread the petition by sharing it on Facebook, Tweeter, etc).
To read the full text of the petition, please click here.
Mario Jelmini, Lawyer
CH-1345 Le Lieu VD
