It can be difficult to have confidence about the Church being able to change its tune on abuse and especially its cover up. But grace is possible, as is the human intention to reform. The post-synod document goes with grace:
102. In the midst of this tragedy, which rightly pains us, “the Lord Jesus, who never abandons his Church, offers her the strength and the means to set out on a new path”.[FD 31]
Like an addict hitting bottom, tragedy can inspire the will for change:
This dark moment, “not without the valuable help of the young, can truly be an opportunity for a reform of epoch-making significance”,[Ibid] opening us to a new Pentecost and inaugurating a new stage of purification and change capable of renewing the Church’s youth. Young people will be all the more helpful if they feel fully a part of the “holy and patient, faithful People of God, borne up and enlivened by the Holy Spirit”, for “it will be precisely this holy People of God to liberate us from the plague of clericalism, which is the fertile ground for all these disgraces”.[Address at the Conclusion of the Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church (24 February 2019): L’Osservatore Romano, 25-26 February 2019, 11]
You can access the full document on this link at the Vatican site.
The text in color is © Copyright – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Catholic Sensibility 