By Anya Markovitz, Year 10
Recently Pope Francis has for the first time publicly acknowledged the sexual abuse of nuns by bishops and priests in the Roman Catholic Church. While in the Middle East this February, he admitted the Church does face a long-running scandal of “sexual slavery”.
Unsurprisingly, the change generated by the #MeToo movement has brought to light the horrific truth that harassment is everywhere – even in a place that should be safe: the Roman Catholic Church. Some action has been taken with the suspension of several priests accused of sexual abuse.
In November 2018, the Catholic Church’s global organisation for women’s religious orders denounced the “culture of silence and secrecy”, urging women to speak out against any harassment they have faced. Many women have remained silent out of fear.
Some examples of the sexual abuse faced by clergy women can be seen in the cases of Bishop Franco Mulakkal and Reverend Hermann Geissler. Mulakkal was arrested last year after an Indian nun accused him of raping her 13 times between 2014 and 2016. He was then suspended and denied the allegations. Reverend Hermann Geissler, the chief of staff in the Vatican’s doctrinal office, recently resigned when a nun accused him of making sexual advances during confession. As a top official, he handled sexual abuse accusations in the past.
The pope said the Church is aware of the scandal and are working on resolving the issue, following the suspension of several clerics. This comes among the cases of sexual abuse of children and young men by priests, which emerged in the 1990s.
Another issue the Church faces is the abortion of the priests’ children – an unwanted result of the rape and abuse faced by nuns. As abortion is forbidden by Catholicism and nuns are prevented from having children, this presents a cruel paradox forced by bishops and priests harassing women of the clergy.
Although the #MeToo movement has sparked a worldwide discussion and greater move for change, situations involving sexual abuse are present everywhere, even in a place considered so holy and pure. Children, young men, and nuns being harassed by bishops and priests is not something the Church should ignore.
