THE Catholic Church must create a system of checks and balances for those who hold positions of power, Austria’s top clergyman Christoph Schoenborn said.

He said this ahead of Feb. 21 to Feb. 24, anti-child abuse summit in the Vatican.

“We need reforms towards a separation of powers’’ between bishops and priests on the one hand and those who control them on the other, Cardinal Schoenborn told Austrian press agency APA in an interview published on Monday.

Existing structures at the levels of bishops and parishes do not provide adequate checks and balances, according to Schoenborn, who also questioned the Church’s male-dominated hierarchy.

“There is an imbalance of authority in the Church between men and women,’’ he said, calling for reforms in this regard.

Schoenborn’s proposals are similar to the demands of the progressive Catholic movement We Are Church that is especially active in German-speaking countries.

Between Thursday and Sunday, Pope Francis will convene more than 100 head bishops from national Catholic organisations for a crisis meeting on child abuse within the Church that will include testimonies from survivors.

The close-knit structures of the Church create the risk that abuse is swept under the carpet, Schoenborn said, but he stressed that the Catholic Church has finally opted for truthfulness.

“The victims expect to be taken seriously, and this can only work if we accept the truth,’’ he said. (dpa/NAN)

– Feb. 18, 2019 @ 14:25 GMT |