On Thursday, for the first time since his election, Pope Francis addressed the sexual abuse crisis:

Vatican City, 5 April 2013 (VIS) – This morning the Holy Father received in audience Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. A communique released by that dicastery reads that, during the course of the audience, various issues pertaining to the Congregation were discussed. In particular, the Holy Father recommended that the Congregation, continuing along the lines set by Benedict XVI, act decisively with regard to cases of sexual abuse, first of all by promoting measures for the protection of minors, as well as in offering assistance to those who have suffered abuse, carrying out due proceedings against the guilty, and in the commitment of bishops’ conferences to formulate and implement the necessary directives in this area that is so important for the Church’s witness and credibility. The Holy Father assured that victims of abuse are present in a particular way in his prayers for those who are suffering.

These words are consistent with his earlier outright dismissal of the US hierarchy’s approach, which sought to avoid scandal by shuffling priests from parish to parish.  Pope Francis was direct in his criticism as he stated, “this is stupid, because in this way, the priest just carries the problem with him in his backpack” (Sobre el Cielo y la Tierra, my translation.) It is good that this problem is being discussed so quickly, but as St. Ignatius reminds us, “love ought to be expressed more in actions than in words.”

I am hopeful that this represents his commitment to side with the victims. We now wait to see what concrete steps will be taken. While the victims must be the center of the Church’s concern, that can only authentically be the case if the Pope, Cardinals, and Bishops demonstrate absolute courage in tackling this problem at all levels. All can agree that the priests who actually committed these crimes have betrayed their vocations, but those who have covered up these crimes have likewise betrayed their vocations. A “no tolerance” policy must extend beyond the priests who abuse the victims and encompass bishops and cardinals who have looked the other way.

Cardinal Bergoglio criticized the “corporative spirit” that led to this crisis. I hope that he now, as Pope Francis, has the courage and strength and ability to command a new “corporative spirit” that always focuses on the victims, on this cross. This will mean a great loss of power for the complicit cardinals and bishops and other authorities, and it will not make the past suffering disappear. But it will mean a return to a Church that has its eyes centered on the Crucified and Resurrected One.

I pray that members of the hierarchy who have participated in the cover-up will find themselves converted by Jesus’ earliest apostles, the women who, when all had abandoned him at the cross, stayed with him, like Mary Magdalene, the Apostle to the Apostles. These same women, at the tomb because of their love and grief, were the first witnesses of the Resurrection. Addressing the sexual abuse crisis as it needs to be addressed will turn the Church upside down, but ultimately it will emerge better able to serve the God of life who chose to resurrect the Crucified One.