France shows what genuine accountability looks like when a church decides to stop hiding. Commissioning an independent inquiry, funding reparations, covering up an abuser's artwork and sitting face to face with survivors is real conversion, not theater. A pope who listens carefully and backs concrete proposals from victims deserves credit for pushing that model outward.
Private meetings and warm words heal nothing when bishops who covered up crimes still face no public consequences. Survivors keep describing retaliation, stonewalling and secret files, while talk of protecting accused priests signals the same old instinct to shield the institution. Zero tolerance written into canon law and independent investigations would prove seriousness; anything less is gesture.
© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 7.4.1