“But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:5-6

In the past, thousands of children were pained as various Catholic priests and bishops molested them, taking away their innocence and dignity and leaving behind untold scars.

In the present, hundreds of adults are pained as the Catholic Church closes its doors to justice and integrity. Worldwide, thousands more children and adults alike are pained by the Church’s lack of acceptance of wrongdoing and absence of desire for change.

Pope Francis, can you tell me, what will the future of the Catholic Church be like? You alone have the power to affect the lives of thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics passionate about seeking an end to the clerical sexual abuse issue.

I am not Catholic, and fortunately, I have never been a victim of Catholic Church sex abuse. Yet I care very deeply about this issue because I believe that sex abuse within the Catholic Church should not only be an issue of importance to Catholics and victims affected – it should be a concern for everyone, as it is, essentially, as another petition-writer wrote “about the safety of children”, not one’s religious affiliations.

We know that no matter how much we wish that no child was abused by Catholic priests in the 20th century, this cannot be changed. The issue now is not about changing the past. It is about causing change now, for the future. So that the current generations of adult victims receive the respect and support that they deserve from the Church. So that the structures and conservative laws within the Church that contribute to the cause of Catholic priest paedophilia in the first place are unwritten, so that we know that every Catholic child will be able to enjoy their childhood without the burden of dealing with an abusive priest and recovering from post-abuse symptoms.

And what do I believe the Church should change?

Firstly, the Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination of the largest religion in the world (Christianity), with approximately 1.21 billion people worldwide claiming to be Catholic. Thus the views of Catholics across the globe are affected by the Church’s actions, beliefs and decisions. I believe that if the Catholic Church overturned some of its most harmful ancient traditions, the Catholic people would change too, leading to a more inclusive, accepting Church where the People of God would have a true say in the Church that they follow.

In 2005, there were 3126 priests in Australia and close to 400000 priests worldwide. According to a John Jay study, in America alone, 10667 children were abused by 4392 accused clergymen, the majority of whom were priests. Yet only 3% of all priests who had allegations made against them were convicted, and only 2% were given prison sentences. This demonstrates the need to investigate why so few allegations are successful. In Australia, the recently introduced Royal Commission (Institutional Responses into Child Sexual Abuse) aims to increase the number of adult victims who report being sexually abused as a child; however, on its own, it will not prevent sexual abuse within the Catholic Church from reoccurring.

Currently, there is a great notion within the Church that it is better to “cover-up” all evidence of abuse rather than take responsibility and assist with justice for victims. This unofficial policy of “silence” has meant taken a heavy toll against victims who already have been wronged by the Church. Their desire for apology is wasted in a Church that puts their fear of massive scandals above the need to take responsibility for the crimes of certain Catholic priests. Clerical sexual abuse cases should no longer languish in old Church records but be exposed for the lesson that must be learnt from Church paedophilia cases in the 20th century. It will be painful and difficult for the Catholic Church to do, but a worldwide commitment to exposing the number of incidents and cover-up of abuse cases is necessary for the Church to reconcile with victims and make drastic changes to prevent future abuse incidents.

Working with independent support groups is another vital step that the Catholic Church must take. While some victims achieve success with Church-run support organisations, there is also a growing criticism of the corruptness within these organisations. Many independent groups who do support victims of clerical abuse exist across the world, but the Church must be prepared to work with these groups to assist victims with their claims and any long-term effects of abuse that they suffer.

I believe that this issue will never fully cease to exist if the Church does not identify the cause of abuse cases and make a sizeable effort to eradicate the structures within the Church that help to promote abuse. Firstly, compulsory celibacy for priests is a discipline within the Catholic Church that I believe influences the culture of abuse. While many people recognise chosen celibacy to be a gift, and a representation of one’s desire to give up their life to serve God, many Catholic priests struggle to follow this discipline over their natural sexual desires. Hence the children become a secondary victim of a priest’s desperation to free himself from this burden. Mandatory celibacy can be removed, as it is not a Church law, merely a regulation. Instead, the Catholic Church should promote chosen celibacy, and allow priests to marry, similar to various other Christian denominations. Secondly, papal infallibility is a concept that indirectly refers to the lack of error in all of the teachings, laws and dogmas that the Catholic Church promotes significantly. The notion of “papal infallibility” is strongly linked to papal prestige, which would be destroyed if the Pope accepted that there had been mistakes in either his statements, or previous Pope’s decrees. If the Catholic Church truly wants to end Catholic Church sex abuse, it must admit that it has made mistakes regarding celibacy regulations and sexual abuse cover-ups in the past, and that neither it nor its clergymen are perfect.

Therefore it is imperative that the Catholic Church, headed by Pope Francis, recognises the need for change. Its first priority must be to conduct a global exposure of sex-offending priests and cover-up attempts by the Church, as well as work with existing independent organisations that heal victims to convict abusive priests, help victims receive appropriate compensation payments and finally, encourage them to find support networks and use counselling to manage any long-term effects of abuse that they suffer.

The Church must also be prepared to remove disciplines and beliefs such as celibacy and papal infallibility that both negatively contribute to the frequency of abuse cases and in the latter’s case, the response to abuse cases by Catholic priests who follow the Church.

It will seem an impossibly arduous task to complete. But with the faith and hope of millions of people worldwide, coupled with the burning necessity for large-scale change, the Church can, and will, become an institution that reunites with the Christian values that it preaches and reconnects with the People of God.

We need change, Pope Francis, and we need it now.