A few weeks ago, Pope Francis made a statement that shook the Catholic Church to its core — he acknowledged the long-standing issue of the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and bishops. This acknowledgment exposed a heinous secret that the Catholic Church has been hiding for too many years. These women came to convents for the purpose of expressing their love for God and devoting themselves to their faith, but instead, they found themselves experiencing some of the worst trauma imaginable, left alone to suffer the aftermath.
Since the Pope's statement, many nuns or former nuns have stepped forward to tell their stories without fear of ridicule or criticism now that they knew they had the support of their gracious leader. Some women have even shared that after they were impregnated by their male counterparts, they were cast out from the church or convent and left to raise the child without any help from the father. They were ostracized, shamed, and left with physical evidence of the trauma they endured.
In perhaps one of the worst cases, a top official in the Vatican office that handles sexual abuse allegations has now resigned after one woman declared that he made sexual advances towards her during confession. This brave woman wanted someone to confide in, but instead, he took advantage of her vulnerability in a theoretically safe place of non-judgemental sharing.
The existence of rape and sexual assault emphasizes the unequal distribution of power between men and women in the Catholic Church that has been ignored for far too long. Sister Catherine Aubin, a French Dominican nun who teaches at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome, declared, "The Vatican is a world of men; some truly are men of God. Others have been ruined by power. The key to these secrets and silence is an abuse of power. They climb up a career staircase toward evil."
Pope Francis' simple acknowledgment has done incredible things for the women who have suffered in silence for years and serves as evidence of how far-reaching, impactful, and effective the #MeToo movement has been. #MeToo has enabled society to more vocally denounce horrible events that have permeated institutions as old and prevalent as the Catholic Church. Additionally, Pope Francis has shown us that one person in a position of power can be the voice to create systemic change. Pope Francis stated, "Should more be done? Yes. Do we have the will? Yes. But it is a path that we have already begun."
It is my most sincere hope that this problem can begin to be solved so that no future potential nuns have to deny themselves the opportunity to devote their lives to their faith out of the fear of being abused. Additionally, I hope that this acknowledgment and discussion can set an example for other societal institutions and have far-reaching effects toward changing the lives of women everywhere for the better. Hopefully, in my lifetime, sexual assault can finally become a problem of the past.
