The February issue of Women Church World, a monthly magazine distributed alongside Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, was published on Friday. It cited Pope Francis’s own analysis of abuse by saying clerical power was at the root of the problem.
It said nuns have been silenced for years by fear of retaliation against them or their orders if they report the priests who abused them.
The publication marks a significant public acknowledgment from inside the Vatican of a problem the Holy See has long known about but has done next to nothing to address.
Last year, after the Associated Press and other media reported on the scandal, the international association of women’s religious orders urged sisters to report abuse to police and their superiors, a significant shattering of the silence that has long kept the problem secret.
In the article, editor Lucetta Scaraffia notes that for centuries women in the church have been depicted as “dangerous and temptresses”, which has complicated the acceptance within the Catholic hierarchy that they can be victims of unwanted sexual advances by priests.
“But here Pope Francis’s analysis about abuse can be of some help: If you point to power, to clericalism, the abuse against religious sisters takes on another aspect and can finally be recognised for what it is: that is an act of power in which touch becomes a violation of one’s…
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