Abuse exists in various forms: abuse of power, abuse of conscience, sexual or financial abuse. Clearly, the ways of exercising authority that make all this possible have to be eradicated and the irresponsibility and lack of transparency with which so many cases have been handled have to be challenged.The desire to dominate, the lack of dialogue and transparency, forms of double life, spiritual emptiness, as well as psychological weaknesses are the ground on which corruption thrives. Clericalism, in particular, “arises from an elitist and exclusivist vision of vocation, that interprets the ministry received as a power to be exercised rather than as a free and generous service to be given. This leads us to believe that we belong to a group that has all the answers and no longer needs to listen or learn anything, or that pretends to listen” (Francis, Address to the 1st General Congregation of the XV General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 3 October 2018).
TheoFonsAt the sources of the faith