Pope Francis draws mixed reviews with his warning to abusers within the Catholic Church

As allegations of child sexual abuse by priests and cover-ups by church leaders continued to rock the Catholic Church, Pope Francis on Friday demanded that abusers within the church step forward. The church will no longer tolerate cover-ups, its leader declared.

“Let it be clear that before these abominations the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes,” the pope said. “Convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice.”

Francis’ scathing Christmas message to church bureaucrats in Rome — and by extension to clergy around the world — dealt exclusively with the sexual abuse scandal that some say is the most serious threat to the church since the Reformation.

Abuse survivors and advocates, however, questioned Francis’s commitment to eradicating child sexual abuse among the clergy.

Some hailed Francis’s comments as reflecting a growing awareness of the scope of the scandal that has rocked the church from Pennsylvania to Australia for the last year as thousands of allegations of rape and molestation and subsequent cover-ups emerged. Others said the proof will be in the church’s actions going forward.

James Van Sickle, of Pittsburgh, an abuse survivor and victim advocate testified before the Pennsylvania grand jury that detailed rampant allegations of sexual abuse and cover-ups in Catholic parishes across Pennsylvania. He has mixed feelings.

“That’s as strong as anything I’ve heard. …I am hopeful they’re getting the message, but I don’t like the way they are going about supporting survivors,” said Van Sickle. He said funds dioceses are establishing to compensate abuse survivors fall far short of publicly acknowledging the scope of the problem.

Ryan O’Connor, of Verona, a survivor who came forward during the Pennsylvania investigation, said it appears the pontiff is getting the message and taking steps to heal the wounds in the church he still loves.

“As a survivor, I have to have hope. And I choose to believe that they are starting to take this seriously because they know we’re not going away,” he said.

The issue that has stalked the church for three decades exploded across the globe this year with the August release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report even as church leaders in the U.S., South America and Australia were called to task for their role in the widening scandal.

Francis warned the Vatican leaders who run the church with 1.2 billion members that the issue undermines the credibility of the entire church.

Anne Barrett Doyle is co-director of Bishop Accountability, a nonprofit that tracks reports of clergy sexual abuse. She said Francis still fails to acknowledge the role church leaders have played.

“He minimizes and mischaracterizes the protection of abusers by church leaders, chalking it up to lack of training or awareness, rather than a deliberate choice to conceal and deceive. He implies that the problem lies in the past, ignoring recent revelations that the cover-up persists,” Barrett Doyle said.

David Clohessy, former director of the national survivor’s group SNAP, likewise found the Pope’s assurances less than convincing in the wake of a report by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan that found that bishops in that state refused to give up the names of more than 500 clergy members who faced abuse accusations.

“While refusing to reveal the name of one cleric who committed or concealed child sex crimes, Francis gives yet another promise about ending cover ups. If he’s serious, Francis could show it by suspending all Illinois bishops until they ‘come clean’ or the attorney general’s investigation clears them of wrongdoing,” Clohessy said.

The Illinois investigation was among some three dozen launched by state attorneys general in the wake of the Pennsylvania grand jury report. The U.S. Justice Department also has launched a probe into the issue.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at 724-850-1209, derdley@tribweb.com or via Twitter @deberdley_trib.