VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — While Pope Francis decried any form of neglect or maltreatment of children on Wednesday, numerous commentators have opined that by appointing Cardinal Robert McElroy to the Archdiocese of Washington, Francis shows he has no regard for the victims of sexual abuse.
“Brothers and sisters, the disciples of Jesus Christ must never allow children to be neglected or mistreated, to be deprived of their rights, not to be loved or protected,” commented Francis, towards the end of his weekly general audience on January 8. “Christians have the duty to earnestly prevent and firmly condemn violence or abuse against children.”
Francis also condemned forced child labor and critiqued a global “economy that does not respect life; an economy that, in so doing, consumes our greatest store of hope and love.”
As so often has happened during the course of Francis’ pontificate, the Pontiff’s words appear in stark contrast to his actions. Take for instance his words and actions on abortion: while making moderately regular condemnations of abortion as being akin to “hiring a hitman,” Francis has simultaneously courted leading lights and activists of the pro-abortion movement without any change in their abortion advocacy, even praising their values. Italy’s Emma Bonino is one such example.
READ: Pope Francis makes personal visit to notorious abortionist Emma Bonino
Thus, while Francis rightly condemned the poor treatment and neglect of children in his speech, once again his recent actions have suggested otherwise.
In appointing Cardinal Robert McElroy as Archbishop of Washington on Monday, Francis may have preemptively demonstrated how hollow his Wednesday address was.
“One could say many things about the McElroy appointment,” commented theologian and author Larry Chapp. “But one thing is now certain. Pope Francis doesn’t care at all about the victims of priestly sexual abuse since he has just promoted a bishop who has covered up sexual abuse. From Rupnik to Zanchetta and now McElroy. Pope Francis does not care about clerical sexual abuse.”
READ: Pope Francis names pro-LGBT Cardinal McElroy to Washington Archdiocese
After McElroy was raised to lead the Diocese of San Diego in 2015 and then named as cardinal in 2022, Rachel Mastrogiacomo, a victim of clerical sexual abuse, said “that McElroy will be setting policy for the Church, and likely be involved in the selection of the next pontiff, fills me with fear.”
Last May, the lead Vatican official overseeing instances of abuse stated that some 77 percent of cases he receives involve child abuse. For anyone truly concerned with eradicating the neglect or maltreatment of children – or souls of any age – promoting clerics who have an exemplary record in this regard should be key.
But McElroy himself is known to have kept priests in ministry after allegations of sexual abuse have been substantiated, and was accused of refusing to cooperate in the investigation of what turned out to be a satanic ritual rape against Mastrogiacomo by a priest of the diocese.
As recently as this past September, Mastrogiacomo and another abuse victim wrote an open letter to the Pope via the U.S. Nuncio imploring them to discipline McElroy for his cover up of abuse.
“How can you and other bishops turn a blind eye to these betrayals?” Mastrogiacomo asked the Pope. “When you refuse to investigate and discipline priests who ritually abuse little girls like Lisa or virgins like me, you send a message that we are not worth protecting. Worst of all, you send a message that Our Eucharistic Lord is not worth protecting.”
Clerical abuse victim Rachel Mastrogiacomo wrote an open letter to Pope Francis in September, asking him to discipline Cardinal McElroy for his cover-up of her abuse.
Clip below, full video here: https://t.co/oOdEgKfhkI
Letter: https://t.co/6TEqPApO6i https://t.co/VPaY3lcPTW pic.twitter.com/hndRXO1tKk
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) January 8, 2025
Following McElroy’s move to Washington, Mastrogiacomo penned an impassioned response:
Every time this man gets promoted to the highest echelons of the Church, victims are raped again and a little stay at home mother who chose to take a brave stand for them experiences the throes of public shame and a private agony that knows no bounds. That woman happens to be me.
Her thoughts were shared by author and theologian Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, who wrote that “McElroy should be rotting in a jail cell, not given a lofty position in the hierarchy. But that’s how criminals reward one another: birds of a feather flock together.”
McElroy is also notorious among U.S. Catholics for his non-action regarding the alleged serial predations of Theodore McCarrick.
READ: Bishop McElroy warned about McCarrick in letter hand-delivered in 2016
The prelate was informed about McCarrick’s actions at least by 2016, when Dr. A.W. Richard Sipe, one of the foremost experts on clerical sex abuse and the prevalence of sexually active clergy, sent a 16-page letter to McElroy detailing McCarrick’s alleged abuse. The letter was then published by Sipe on his website in 2018 for all to read.
In his bombshell 2018 testimony about McCarrick, former U.S. Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò attested that McElroy was aware of McCarrick’s abuses, and that Viganò was instructed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to keep the San Diego episcopate open for McElroy.
“McElroy being made Cardinal was like giving McCarrick his red hat back,” commented Crisis magazine editor Eric Sammons in a 2022 social media post re-shared Monday.
Expanding on this, Sammons opined that “McElroy is far more connected to McCarrick than just ideological agreement. He is, in many ways, a perfect successor to Theodore McCarrick, someone he worked to protect.”
READ: Cdl. McElroy’s diocese faces bankruptcy over more than 400 clerical sexual abuse claims
The amassed testimonies and McElroy’s public record document that McElroy worked to cover-up and protect McCarrick. Indeed, McElroy was one of the U.S. bishops who voted against a USCCB measure which would have pushed the Vatican for more transparency on McCarrick, back in November 2018.
For those who hold fast to the truth behind the phrases “personnel is policy,” McElroy is serving as the living example of this. While Francis may call for better protection of the young and vulnerable, his elevation of McElroy to the D.C. see demonstrates that his actual regard for them is somewhat different to what his words suggest.