On Monday Out-FM's John Riley spoke with a member of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP. SNAP was established in 1989, and is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization and support group of survivors of clergy sexual abuse and their supporters. It was founded in the United States and now has a worldwide presence. John interviewed Sarah Pearson from SNAP Communications and Media, who joined us from Rome, Italy. She is bisexual, with preferred pronouns she/her.

SNAP has announced that key members of its leadership team are in Rome to launch a rigorous review of the cardinals considered contenders for the papacy. While in Rome, SNAP officials, alongside international coalition partners, researchers, and other experts, will focus on each candidate’s record in handling clergy sexual abuse cases—both in their home countries and within the Vatican hierarchy.  The results, including the accusations and photographs of these cardinals, are being posted at https://www.conclavewatch.org/cardinals .

SNAP’s co-founder Peter Isely recently said, “For too long, the Catholic Church has prioritized secrecy and protection of its own over justice for survivors and the safety of children. As discussions about the next pope persist, we are making it clear that survivors and advocates will not accept a leader who has enabled abuse or shielded perpetrators. Any candidate for the papacy must demonstrate a commitment to a universal zero tolerance law for abuse.”

SNAP’s groundbreaking work, in collaboration with the Center for Constitutional Rights, successfully brought the Vatican before international legal bodies like the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the 2010s and resulted in the first-ever case against the pope and the Vatican for crimes against children. The ICC declined to bring charges, but said it would reconsider if new evidence was presented.

In the interview, Out-FM's John Riley asked, "In the mass media, Pope Francis was often portrayed as a reformer on a panoply of church issues. How do you rate his policies against sex abuse?" Sarah Pearson responded, "The way that we've characterized his papacy, our group SNAP has called it a tragedy for survivors."

John asked, "There are 17 cardinals in the United States. But because the eligibility to vote stops at age 80, only 10 are eligible to vote. How many of those 10 have problematic histories regarding the cover-up of sexual abuse?" Sarah Pearson responded, "Well, all 10 of them."

John asked, "So would you say that these cardinals should not even vote for the next pope." Sarah: "I think if there were a bar on cardinals voting in the conclave if they had covered up abuse, it would be a very empty conclave, sadly."

Sarah discussed the record of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan. "I am pretty familiar with Cardinal Dolan's record because I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Before he was promoted to be the Cardinal of New York, he was the Archbishop of Milwaukee. The transfer of funds is a technique that the church often employs to limit their liability. So sometimes, as in the case of Milwaukee, it involved moving funds around, so there is a smaller amount of funds in the central diocean pile of money that is available. He transferred $57 million and put it in the cemetery fund. That's the money that should have gone to survivors' claims and he prevented it.

As a result, Milwaukee has been known as one of the most difficult, prolonged, and hardest bankruptcies in the country. And the result was survivors got some of the lowest payouts on average in the entire country. I think the only ones lower were in Fairbanks, Alaska. There were survivors who got nothing. We know survivors who got $2,000. So imagine going through years of litigation in this bankruptcy court, back and forth with one of the world's wealthiest organizations [and certainly] one of the wealthiest organizations in your city. And the result of it is $2,000. That doesn't even cover a year's worth of copayment for therapy for most people. To say it's tragic is an understatement. It was incredibly demoralizing to survivors in that city. But that's not all that Dolan is responsible for throughout his career.

Sarah further discussed the other nine cardinals from the U.S. and their misdeeds, as well as the worldwide movement to stop this kind of abuse.