Juan Carlos Cruz sits with Pope Francis on Jan. 22, 2022.
Juan Carlos Cruz
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Juan Carlos Cruz
Juan Carlos Cruz was not at all times a good friend of Pope Francis, however he grew to become one.
Cruz survived abuse in his youth by a infamous Chilean priest. In January 2018, the pope prompted a scandal when, visiting Chile, he defended clergy who have been accused of letting that abuse proceed, saying allegations towards them amounted to slander.
When the Vatican’s intercourse crimes investigator seemed into the allegations, the pope made an about-face later that yr. He apologized and invited Cruz and two different survivors for a go to to the Vatican.
On the time, Cruz mentioned he informed the pope, “I don’t ever want for you to fall into what other bishops have been falling, which is, blame the survivors, destroy the honor of many victims. And he agreed of course.”
That assembly started a detailed friendship that will proceed via the rest of the lifetime of Pope Francis, who died Monday morning in Vatican Metropolis.
In an interview this week with Morning Version, Cruz mentioned at occasions he would fly to Rome each two weeks to go to his good friend, the pope.
“Last Christmas, he invited me to spend it with him, and we spent all our birthdays together, his and mine. So it was a very beautiful friendship,” Cruz informed NPR this week.
Pope Francis and Juan Carlos Cruz celebrating Cruz’s birthday on Aug. 13, 2023
Juan Carlos Cruz
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Juan Carlos Cruz
For Cruz, time with the pontiff meant laughing at his “sometimes Dad jokes” and his teasing concerning the rivalry between their homelands, Chile and Argentina.
“He told me that I only watched soccer World Cups on TV, while they won,” Cruz mentioned, choking up with emotion. “He was so witty and yet so wonderful to everybody. And look, I’m going to miss him.”
Starting in 2021, Cruz served on the Pontifical Fee for the Safety of Minors, a Vatican fee that advises the Catholic Church on little one sexual abuse.
In 2019, the pope issued a decree that requires monks and nuns to report little one sexual abuse and its cover-up to the Church, however to not civil authorities.
“I would say that Pope Francis did what no pope did before, which is call the abuse by its name: sexual abuse, abuse of power, abuse of conscience, cover-up. He fired many bishops,” Cruz mentioned, including that he hopes the following pope follows the lead of Pope Francis.
“There are still victims around the world begging for justice. Until we fix that, we will not be able to move forward,” Cruz mentioned.
For the reason that pope’s demise, advocacy teams have reacted to his legacy on dealing with sexual abuse. The Survivors Community for these Abused by Clergymen, or SNAP, launched an announcement lamenting the “tragedy” of his papacy, calling on the following pope to “institute a zero tolerance law for sexual abuse that immediately removes abusive clergy and leaders who have covered up abuse from ministry.”
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a web site that tracks allegations towards clergy, wrote in an announcement: “We needed Pope Francis to permanently remove abusers from ministry and decisively punish enablers. We needed him to rid canon law of its bias in favor of accused priests. We needed him to follow through on his promises of transparency, by releasing abuse data and the names of offending clergy and complicit bishops. Pope Francis chose to do none of these things.”
Cruz summed it up this manner: “It’s a tragedy that Pope Francis couldn’t do more. I see from inside and from outside, and survivors agree. Other survivors don’t agree. I stand up to cardinals. I stand up to bishops. Even if they kick me out of the Vatican in the next papacy, I’m going to continue doing it because it’s horrific that that abuse is still a thing in the church.”
