Vaccine scandals add to political tensions in Latin America
- Feb 23, 2021
After a 5-month investigation into the Maltese Community of Jesus the Savior, the archdiocese has issued a decree forbidding participation in the group after finding what it described as abusive tendencies causing harm to members.
Some 2,000 people joined a video conference on preventing sexual abuse in the Church in Latin America organized by the Center for Child Protection of Mexico’s Catholic University (CEPROME) and the Vatican Safeguarding Taskforce.
A little over two years after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a controversial Chilean bishop accused of covering up sexual abuse by his mentor, a local network of clerical abuse survivors are alleging that neither civil nor Church authorities are making allegations public.
One of the leaders of a controversial lay movement in Malta has said the group was shocked to find out second-hand that the archdiocese had told priests to steer clear of the group, insisting that they have never been contacted about potential problems.
The Archdiocese of Malta has disassociated itself from the Community of Jesus the Savior, which has been accused of espousing cult-like practices, and priests are forbidden to hold any association with it.
A leading expert in the field of child protection has said that the Catholic Church still has a long way to go in terms of acknowledgment and awareness of the issue, noting that the pope’s environmental encyclical Laudato Si in many areas of the world is more visible than safeguarding efforts.