It is interesting that both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church have one very unfortunate thing in common. The problem of child sex abuse by the clergy
By Mihir Bose
The Roman Catholic Church needs a new Pope, the Anglian Church needs a new Archbishop. It is clear the white smoke from the Vatican will emerge sooner than any signal from Downing Street. Instead of white smoke it more likely a what’s app message from Keir Starmer to the King saying who the new Archbishop will be. We could wait a long time for it as Archbishop Welby resigned in November.
It is interesting that both the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church have one very unfortunate thing in common. The problem of child sex abuse by the clergy. In the Catholic Church there has been a research project, called Boundary Breaking, looking at the ecclesial and cultural implications of the child abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in England and Wales. This four-year study suggested that aspects of the culture and practices of the Catholic Church are implicated in how clerical child sexual abuse has happened.
A report by the Durham University Centre for Catholic Studies found a third of Catholics, who previously went to Mass, have reduced their attendance or stopped going altogether as a result of the child sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. There has also been a fall in the number of financial donations with a third of Catholics who previously donated no longer giving money to the church.
Pope Francis also apologised for the abuses in the Catholic Church.
The report about the Catholic Church came out in October. The next month Archbishop Welby resigned admitting responsibility for not doing anything about the heinous abuses of John Smyth. The Makin Review exposed the long-maintained conspiracy of silence about these abuses. The whole issue raised the question of whether an institution can police itself. The way the John Smyth case was handled suggested it could not.
In the case of the Anglicans there remain problems with homosexuality and women’s ordination with differing viewpoints and practices across its various provinces and countries. In Africa where the church is strong, homosexuality is often a crime, although in this country the church has encouraged dialogue with homosexual individuals. As for women’s ordination some countries allow it, while others oppose it based on theological or biblical interpretations.
For the Catholic Church there is the ongoing issue of abortion. Pope Francis was against it. His great concern was the poor and migrants. At his funeral much was made of the Pope’s concern for the migrants who come to Europe with some interpreting this as a rebuke to President Trump who was at the funeral. The view of many is that a Pope should stick to religious issues and not take up wider political or social issues.
Now I was born a Hindu but educated by Jesuits. We had a school holiday when Pope John died in 1963. He is generally considered a visionary Pope having held the second Vatican Council and opening the Church up to changes. The question is what will the new Pope be like. I have seen the film Conclave based on the Robert Harris film which is about the machinations surrounding the election of a Pope and an Englishman becoming the first Pope. An English Pope is unlikely but we could have an African Pope. He would be the second black Pope since the first and only black Pope in 311.
An African Pope would be what the conservatives are asking for as the Church in Africa is very conservative. We could have an Asian Pope for the first time. The likely candidate, Louis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines, will not go down well with those who do not want the Church to change. In a 2015 speech at Wembley Arena in London he told young Catholics that “severe” and “harsh” stances by the church towards LGBT people, divorcees and single mothers had caused lasting harm. Emphasising “mercy” as a central theme, he later told the Daily Telegraph “many people who belonged to these groups were branded and that led to their isolation from wider society”. There are writers in the Telegraph who will immediately see this as the Pope going well beyond his remit.
There is also concern that a Filipino Pope would antagonise China and create problems for the Church. There has been much comment that of the 135 Cardinals who will vote to choose the new Pope 108 were appointed by Pope Francis so it is likely the new Pope will have his views.
Pope Francis when elected presented himself as a compromise candidate: appealing to conservatives with orthodox views on sexual matters while attracting the reformers with his liberal stance on social justice. The hope was his unorthodox background would help rejuvenate the Vatican and reinvigorate its holy mission. However, within the Vatican bureaucracy some of Francis’s attempts at reform met with resistance and his predecessor, who died in 2022, remained popular among traditionalists.
Pope Francis was the first Jesuit to be elected Pope showing that the Church in Rome no longer had for Jesuits the traditional hostility it had long displayed. The question now is whether the cardinals voting will show similar innovation in selecting a Pope
As for the new Archbishop of Canterbury he will take office being very aware that church going in this country has been going down for many years. This is against a background where the church’s relationship with society is changing. The monarch in this country has always had the traditional title of “Defender of the Faith” which refers to the Church of England. King Charles made it clear that he desired to be a “Defender of faiths,” encompassing all religious traditions. He aimed to be a protector of all faiths, both Christian and non-Christian, and to foster an environment where people of all beliefs can live freely. This was a big change and recognised Britain’s growing multiculturalism and religious pluralism.
Yet this has come at a time when the right in this country is embracing the religious right of America. At a conference in London Nigel Farage said Britons must have more children to save Judeo- Christian values which are under threat. Kemi Badenock, who also spoke at the conference, describes herself as a cultural Christian and went even further. That western civilisation, which had made the world we live in, is in danger.
I must say I find this astonishing. In my Jesuit school we had a crucifix in our class rooms and prayed to Jesus asking for his blessings before class started and his forgiveness when it ended although I don’t know what sins I committed except talk too much. At home my mother was a devout Hindu and I loved Hindu religious functions because you got wonderful prasad, food blessed by the gods to eat. I have a daughter who is not a Christian although she did go to a Catholic primary school. Neither of us are remotely threats to this country.
Society is changing and both the Catholic and Anglican church needs to take heed of these changes. How far the new leaders will do that is important.
Mihir Bose is the author of Thank You Mr Crombie, Lessons in Guilt and Gratitude to the British.
