The same old Francis: Neither Cuba’s repressed nor victims of sexual abuse receive Pope’s support

The Pope left Mexico without meeting with any of the victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic clergy. Relatives of nearly fifty indigenous children in Oaxaca, whose sexual assaults by a priest were documented by the Oaxacan Forum on Children, had asked to be received. A group of victims of similar events in San Luis Potosí also asked to meet with him. All to no avail.

In October of last year the Pope granted a plenary indulgence to the Congregation of the Legionnaires of Christ, founded by the Mexican priest Marcial Maciel, a notorious pederast. The congregation had been through internal investigations and asked victims for forgiveness, but few expected the Pope to be so indulgent.

The visits to Mexico by his predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict, were organized by the Congregation of the Legionnaires of Christ, one of the Church’s richest and most powerful organisations. Even before the Pope undertook his trip, with a stopover in Havana, the Vatican had ruled out any meetings with victims of sexual predators donning the clerical robe. In his speeches he condemned trafficking in drugs and people, and corruption and violence, but did not say a word about these victims and incidents.

Cubans recognise this Pope perfectly: he is the same man who refused to receive the “Ladies in White” and who failed to condemn the circumstances under which people languish on the island. He is the same Francis who forgets about these victims, but is quick to pardon those who wronged them.