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Letter from Rome

How the pope can include women in solving the sexual abuse crisis
Letter from Rome

Pope Francis addresses the crowd from the window of the apostolic palace overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during his Sunday Angelus prayer on Dec. 9. (Photo by Alberto Pizzoli/AFP)

Published: December 10, 2018 02:55 AM GMT
Updated: December 10, 2018 02:56 AM GMT

A common refrain that was repeated in a variety of ways during a recent conference in Rome on women and sexual abuse was that church authorities continue not to listen.

The authorities, of course, are almost all men. And for far too long they have not been good at listening — really listening — to abuse victims. But they have been even worse at listening to women, including those who have been abused.

"I helped the victims write out their accusations and I said, 'Let’s send them to all the offices of the Vatican' ... So we sent them to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State, all of them," said Rocio Figueroa, who told people attending the event sponsored by Voices of Faith how she and many other women were abused by the top leaders in a conservative lay movement (Solidacio), including by its now disgraced Peruvian founder.

What was the Vatican's response to Figueroa’s letters reporting the abuse? "Not one answer," she said.

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