Yesterday Pope Francis apologized for upsetting child sex abuse survivors, with his defense of Bishop Juan Barras in Chile, a man accused of covering up the child sex crimes of Rev. Fernando Karadima. “The day they bring me proof against Bishop Barros, I’ll speak,” Francis told Chilean journalists last week. “There is not one shred of proof against him. It’s all calumny. Is that clear?” He also accused Santiago abuse victims of slander against Barras. Despite his apology, the Pope did not back down from defending the Bishop.
In 2011, inquiries into institutional and "historic" child sex abuse (CSA) garnered public attention in Great Britain. This included several investigations into an elite network of alleged abuse and the beginning of investigations into an untold number of institutions: churches, hospitals, children’s homes, schools.
In 2015, I protested outside Parliament, with a few hundred people. Survivors told their stories, rarely heard or listened to, often discredited by the institutions they accuse. With protest signs we stopped traffic, and passengers in cars and on buses looked stunned by what was being shown to them. Most seemed content to wait for the protestors to clear, without being enraged by our obstruction. There was a noticeable moment of pause, as the message digested. Have people in Parliament and power really been abusing children?
But then the road was cleared by police, and the traffic and tourists were back to where they had been, before the pause. It had been a strong moment of people power, a growing collective vibration that can only be delayed for so long.
Since 2015, several things have happened to significantly divert public attention away from the topic of institutional child abuse. The Establishment is masterful at steering attention away from it’s own wrong doings, and human nature apparently allows us to be led astray.
Jimmy Savile revelations shocked the nation, and beyond. But even as those investigations remain ongoing as if to be endless, for most it has become background news. I understand why. We become numb and indifferent if something isn’t in the news everyday, if we wrongfully believe it doesn't affect us. The controlled media reduces its coverage of such controversy and plies the public with other news. In Britain specifically, investigative news sites like Exaro, committed to “holding power to account” are shut down without satisfactory explanation, state controlled D notices are served to prevent stories being told by good journalists (Cyril Smith example) and then there's the Official Secrets Act that conveniently makes it impossible for detectives to speak of specific cases, without facing prosecution. And to further deflect public attention away from current abuse issues, authorities and media consistently term almost all CSA investigations as historic. And the Pope it seems, can accuse victims of slander.
So we have an Establishment that appears to protect the people in power, perverts in the church masquerading as men of God, and in education, and in all lines of authority we have historic child sex abuse cover ups. We are a modern society, so where did we go wrong in allowing this to happen?
An African proverb says “It takes a village to raise a child”, a Native American proverb says "Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children." Don't we have a duty to protect all of the children, not just our own? Continuing to turn a blind eye is not an option if we want a better future. And we do. A saying I love is, the power of the people is stronger than the people in power and not one part of my soul doubts this. It is only a matter of time before the collective consciousness says no more. I think Pope Francis misjudged the climate of public opinion in Chile last week, and I'm glad he did. Not because of the pain he caused the victims he insulted, but because seeing the true colors of this eminent figure will be what brings an avalanche of change.
There is always an action and reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking; manifested in all of the airs and phenomena of the Universe. Suns, worlds, men, animals, plants, minerals, forces, energy, mind and matter, yes, even Spirit, manifests this Principle. The Principle manifests in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life history of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man. The Kybalion
To end this post, I’d like to bring attention to the aforementioned investigative news site Exaro. With Mark Watts as editor in chief, this publication was actually doing what it claimed to be doing, holding power to account - at a very critical time. In 2016, Exaro closed suddenly. Much of the explosive online content has since disappeared, but some of the archives can still be found here. Political journalist and Exaro contributor David Hencke said in a Exaro related post, “Conspiracy theorists please note, the site has not been closed down because of its coverage of the child sex abuse allegations and by hints from dark forces. It is purely the result of a wider financial decision”. But I think it is up to the reader to decide how accurate that statement might be, and why Exaro, an investigating news source was suddenly shut down when investigations into institutional child abuse were getting the public's attention.
Mark Watts continues to cover the CSA investigations and you can follow his work on Twitter here.