{"id":12904,"date":"2018-09-14T16:39:09","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T20:39:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=12904"},"modified":"2018-09-14T16:39:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T20:39:09","slug":"pope-francis-says-silence-prayer-answer-seeking-scandal-amid-troubling-church-allegations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/09\/pope-francis-says-silence-prayer-answer-seeking-scandal-amid-troubling-church-allegations","title":{"rendered":"Pope Francis Says \u2018Silence and Prayer\u2019 is Answer For Those \u2018Seeking Scandal\u2019 Amid Troubling Church Allegations"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pope Francis said \u201csilence and prayer\u201d were the answer to those \u201cseeking scandal\u201d as the Catholic Church faces countless attacks from ultra-conservative Catholics.<\/p>\n

To many ultra-conservatives, the Pope is viewed as a dangerous progressive who is more interested in social issues than traditional Church matters.<\/p>\n

The Pope so far has not yet responded to allegations made last month that he for years covered up sexual abuse allegations against a prominent US cardinal.<\/p>\n

“With people who lack goodwill, with people who seek only scandal, who seek only division, who seek only destruction, even within the family: (there is nothing but) silence. And prayer,” Francis said during a service at St Martha’s.<\/p>\n

His comments came after Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, a former Vatican envoy to Washington, claimed in August that Francis ignored sexual abuse allegations against US cardinal Theodore McCarrick for five years.<\/p>\n

The latest sex abuse allegations, specifically those raised by Vigano former nuncio to the U.S. have increased public pressure on Francis to resign to save the Church.<\/p>\n

So far, Pope Francis has stayed silent, refusing to address the allegations, only saying that Vigano\u2019s communication \u201cspeaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vigano unleashed a new attack, accusing the Pope of knowing that he was clear he was meeting an arch-conservative opposed to gay marriage during a visit to the U.S. in 2015.<\/p>\n

At the time, the Vatican said that Pope Francis met Kim Davis, a Kentucky clerk who had refused to sign a gay marriage certificates, during a reception along with \u201cdozens of other guests\u201d at the embassy in Washington.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Francis said \u201csilence and prayer\u201d were the answer to those \u201cseeking scandal\u201d as the Catholic Church faces countless attacks from ultra-conservative Catholics. To many ultra-conservatives, the Pope is viewed as a dangerous progressive who is more interested in social issues than traditional Church matters. The Pope so far has not yet responded to allegations…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":565,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[715,2400,2348],"class_list":["post-12904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-catholic-church","tag-catholic-church-abuse-scandal","tag-pope-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nPope Francis Says \u2018Silence and Prayer\u2019 is Answer For Those \u2018Seeking Scandal\u2019 Amid Troubling Church Allegations<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2018\/09\/pope-francis-says-silence-prayer-answer-seeking-scandal-amid-troubling-church-allegations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Francis Says \u2018Silence and Prayer\u2019 is Answer For Those \u2018Seeking Scandal\u2019 Amid Troubling Church Allegations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Francis said \u201csilence and prayer\u201d were the answer to those \u201cseeking scandal\u201d as the Catholic Church faces countless attacks from ultra-conservative Catholics. 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