CBCP backs accountability, urges reporting of clergy abuse

January 31, 2025 - 3:39 PM
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Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, CBCP president, delivers his homily during Mass at the National Shrine of St. Padre Pio in Sto. Tomas, Batangas on Jan. 23, 2025. (Roy Lagarde via CBCP News)

The Catholic hierarchy has reiterated its support for efforts to hold Church authorities accountable, including for cases of clergy abuse.

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of Kalookan, president of the bishops’ conference, emphasized that accountability is crucial to Pope Francis’ vision for a more synodal Church.

“The Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin and corruption,” David said in a statement. “Admittedly, lack of accountability compromises our moral and spiritual authority.”

He stressed that following abuse scandals in Europe and the US, the global Church has taken proactive steps to address the issue, establishing structures to safeguard minors and vulnerable adults.

The cardinal called on individuals to report abuse by clergy to both civil authorities and ecclesiastical forums.

He also underscored the pope’s firm stance on accountability, particularly for bishops who fail to discipline offending priests.

“He (pope) has been insistent on putting up structures of check and balance and accountability to prevent past mistakes from happening again,” David said.

While acknowledging that the Church’s efforts are not always flawless, he called for continued support from laypeople and journalists in the fight for transparency and accountability.

“We need the help and participation of our laypeople, including professional journalists, who are our allies in the quest for truth, fact-checking, and the battle against disinformation,” he said.

The CBCP president’s comments follow a report from US-based watchdog BishopAccountability.org, which called for “heightened awareness” of clergy abuses allegations in the Philippines.

The report released Wednesday, identified at least 82 priests and religious brothers associated with the country have been publicly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The database includes Filipino priests accused of abuse both in the Philippines and abroad, as well as foreign clergy who served in the country.

Some of the accused priests are deceased.

The release of the list comes two days before a three-day “Zero Tolerance” summit in Manila from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2, organized by a global justice alliance called ECA or Ending Clergy Abuse.

Among the speakers will be Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, Suzy Nauman, senior researcher and database manager, and Prof. Gabriel Dy-Liacco, a Filipino psychotherapist and member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

Full text of Cardinal David’s statement:Accountability is a big aspect of Pope Francis’s call for greater Synodality in the Church. He expects Bishops to make sure all our Church institutions are safe spaces, especially for minors and vulnerable adults. If a bishop cannot discipline his erring priests or hold them accountable, he may end up getting disciplined himself by the Pope upon the recommendation of the Dicastery for Bishops. After the series of abuse scandals that have negatively impacted the Church in Europe and America for the past several decades now, Pope Francis has been more resolute in coming up with stricter policies that would make sure that all our Church institutions are guaranteed to be safe spaces, especially for minors and vulnerable adults.

It may indeed happen in some instances that a Filipino priest accused of sexual abuse in the US, comes back to the Philippines to run away from his case. That is why we are now stricter about asking Filipino priests incardinated outside the country to make sure they are properly endorsed by their bishops in the States if they come home to the Philippines for vacation and intend to celebrate Mass in any diocese in the Philippines. Bishops also have to make sure that those among their priests whom they send for mission or ministry work in any diocese abroad do not have any record of sexual abuse in the Philippines.

We welcome initiatives intended to hold people in whatever form of authority accountable, including the Church. This is part of the Pope’s call for a more synodal Church. The Church, being a human institution, is not exempt from sin and corruption. Admittedly, lack of accountability compromises our moral and spiritual authority. After the Church-related abuse scandals that happened in Europe and America the universal Church has proactively made efforts to address the issue squarely in the Church and create structures that will guarantee that our institutions are kept as safe spaces for minors and vulnerable adults. Please don’t hesitate to file complaints against abusive clerics whether in the civil or church forums. Pope Francis has been more decisive in his moves to impose disciplinary action on us bishops if he finds evidence that we’re not even lifting a finger to discipline our erring priests. He has been insistent on putting up structures of check and balance and accountability to prevent past mistakes from happening again. Of course we’re not always successful in this regard and we need the help and participation of our lay people, including our professional journalists who are our allies in the quest for truth and fact-checking and the battle against disinformation. Let’s keep the bridges open among ourselves.

It is in a way true that we’re at a loss how to deal with clerics facing criminal charges in the States who might be hiding in the Philippines. It’s important that the local bishops to whom they are incardinated in the States should inform us bishops in the Philippines about such cases so that we can take appropriate action if they hide in our dioceses or even attempt to engage in ministry in the Philippines even if they are suspended in the US.