National Catholic Reporter urges the Vatican to investigate the US bishops' conference

KANSAS CITY, Mo., Jan. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Catholic Reporter (NCR), an independent Catholic news source, published an editorial Wednesday urging the Vatican to investigate the leadership of the more than 400 Catholic bishops in the United States.   

NCR said such action is warranted because of the bishops' failure to mount sufficient challenges to former President Donald Trump's policies in such areas as immigration, the death penalty and police violence against people of color. NCR also criticized a statement the bishops issued following President Biden's inauguration that was focused on abortion and various issues of gender and sexuality.

"It's time for Pope Francis to order an apostolic visitation to investigate what has gone wrong with an organization that began during World War I as a model of cooperation and national audacity and is now a symbol of division and national embarrassment," the editorial maintained.

NCR referenced a 2009 "apostolic visitation" by the Vatican aimed at Catholic sisters in the U.S., an inquiry the news organization characterized as misguided and never fully explained. The newspaper maintained that problems with the bishops' leadership should be of far more concern to the Vatican. 

The editorial listed a series of actions by the president of the bishops' conference, Archbishop José Gomez, including his failure to condemn white supremacy and his reluctance to single out former President Donald Trump by name.

"The four years of the Trump administration revealed much about many people," NCR's editors wrote. "About the U.S. bishops' conference, they revealed a group unable to represent the full range of Catholic teaching and unfit to act in the name of American Catholics." 

The editorial concluded: "If the (bishops') conference leadership finds itself struggling with how best to welcome the visitation, perhaps they can ask a few sisters for advice."

Throughout January, NCR is publishing a series of commentary articles challenging the Biden administration to pursue policies in concert with Catholic Social Teaching. The topics include abortion, the death penalty, gun control, LGBQT issues, health care, COVID-19, foreign policy, and the environment. Guest contributors include Sr. Simone Campbell, Sen. Tim Kaine, Tia Noelle Pratt, Rep. Linda Sánchez, Richard Trumka, and others. The articles are available at https://www.ncronline.org/feature-series/building-a-common-future/stories.

The editorial calling for a Vatican investigation of the bishops' conference is posted here: http://ncronline.org/VaticanEditorial.

About the National Catholic Reporter:
The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) is an independent Catholic news organization founded in 1964. NCR publishes 26 issues a year in print and online daily at ncronline.org.   

CONTACTS:
For information or interviews about Wednesday's editorial, contact NCR Executive Editor Heidi Schlumpf at [email protected] or International News Editor Joshua J. McElwee at [email protected].

SOURCE The National Catholic Reporter Publishing