Pope Francis has made reporting of sexual abuse “mandatory.” Wasn’t it always mandatory?

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48213135

No, it wasn’t always mandatory.

Even in the secular world, reports of sexual abuse have been (and, in many cases, still are) downplayed, hidden, and dismissed, while the abused were and are bribed, stigmatized, and stereotyped, if not called liars flat out.

The record for religious organizations is much, much worse. The abused are often considered “demon-possessed” or “temptresses” or “sinful children making up stories” while the abusers are shifted around to other congregations or religious schools to repeat the pattern all over again with yet another unsuspecting local laity.

The Catholic Church has a horrible record of sending child-molesting priests to remote outposts where they can continue their assaults until they get reported again. They’ve done everything and anything to avoid law enforcement involvement.

We’ll see how this all pans out. The institutional legacy of Catholicism strongly suggests this is nothing more than a public relations move designed to distract from the rot at the core.