Sexual Abuse Scandal In Catholic Church Ignores Developing Nations

     Institutions and organizations must be held accountable. People operate institutions and organizations, and because they are fallible, so are their institutions and organizations.
     Too many defend any effort to make institutions and organizations accountable as an attack. They forget that institutions and organizations were formed for a purpose, and that purpose, with certain exceptions, is to achieve something good. Good never results from the lack of accountability.
     The harm that certain priests did to children, and the harm that was done by those in the priest hierarchy that protected and shielded them, violates everything good that the Catholic Church stands for.
      Predatory pedophiles can come from all walks of life. The church must expel from its midst all who harm children, and those that protect harmers instead of children. Instead of shielding predatory pedophiles by internal church investigations, allegations must be investigated by law enforcement and civil authorities.
      Most of the scandal about predatory priests and those that protect them are from the developed world. In developing countries, people, especially children, often are extremely vulnerable and at the mercy of those more powerful. Reports that predatory priests were moved from developed countries, when accusations of abuse emerged, to places like the Philippines, where the Catholic Church is very powerful, must raise concern. The President of the Philippines, Duterte, has said that he himself was molested by a Catholic priest. In the effort to come clean and protect present and future generations of children from predator pedophiles hiding in the priesthood and those that shield them, the developing world must not be ignored.
     People with position and title are often given a free hand to do as they wish in impoverished places. Cleaning house means no stones are unturned anywhere in the world. Victims of abuse in developing nations must not be ignored or forgotten. Thus far, civil and criminal actions against predatory priests and their protectors in the developing world are virtually nonexistent. Furthermore, the press, which too often serves the powerful, has not given voice to victims in developing nations.