Poor Pope Francis. Out-polled by an American president, named best-dressed for not wearing martyr’s shoes, and now bypassed for another popularity “honor” by a layperson, at least according to NCR:
NCR has been reporting on the priest sex abuse crisis since 1984. It has been a soul-numbing experience, as we heard again and again of the pain of victims damaged by abuse and then re-victimized by bishops and chancery personnel and their lawyers who covered up abuse, stonewalled investigations and hid criminals “to protect the church,” …
Finally thank God for Jennifer Haselberger. Haselberger, who holds a licentiate in canon law from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, became chancellor of canonical affairs for the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese in 2008. … In St. Paul-Minneapolis, she reviewed the archdiocese’s records and archives and discovered unreported allegations of clergy sex abuse and lapses in investigations (NCR, Oct. 25-Nov. 7.)
From NCR’s 2013 person of the year:
I was not prepared for this disregard for the requirements of canon law, nor for what appeared to be an equal disregard for civil law, especially in regard to the obligation to report to the civil authorities.
The advent of a new calendar year seems proper for predictions. I’ll bite.
I think that in 365 days, John Nienstedt will still be the Archbishop of St Paul-Minneapolis. Jennifer Haselberger could be a cardinal, heading up child protection worldwide from the Vatican, but she won’t be.
Unfortunately your predictions (both of them) are very likely to be true.
I agree, and it makes me sad. I never thought about the Cardinal idea, and while it is a lovely pipe dream, it is unfortunately nothing more than that.