An independent network of survivors of religious sexual abuse has named Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, and two others as the most promising papal candidates.

Aside from Cardinal Tagle, also in “least worst” papal candidates list of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) are: Christoph Cardinal Schonborn of Vienna, Austria; and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland.

SNAP chose them for their words and actions in regard to the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The network, citing ncronline.org, said Tagle is one of very few prelates who have spoken clearly about the “culture of shame” that surrounds victims of sex abuse. Saying that the church has contributed to this culture, Tagle urged the church to find ways to help heal the victims.

SNAP added that, citing GMA Network, Tagle has noted that “media practitioners observe that when they report on abuses committed by politicians, financiers, etc, the Church appreciates them. But when they expose anomalies within the Church, they are branded as anti-Church and anti-Catholic, even if the information comes from people close to the Church.”

“The Church should also be prepared to be scrutinized by media, provided the norms of fairness and truthfulness are applied to all, especially the victims,” Tagle said.

SNAP also recalled that when Tagle spoke at the Vatican in 2012, the Manila cardinal called on the church to stop “waiting for a bomb” and instead should prevent the scandal from happening, rather than try to “prevent it from exploding.”

In naming Schonborn to the list, SNAP, citing ncronline.org, said he has spoken out several times regarding clergy abuse and cover-ups. He famously and publicly criticized the very powerful and controversial Cardinal Angelo Sodano (now Dean of the College of Cardinals) for allegedly obstructing the investigation of a cardinal accused of abusing children.

Martin, the third in the list, was cited by SNAP for exposing clergy abuse and turning over documents concerning abuses of priests.

As this developed, the Vatican struggled on Thursday to contain leaks from its closed-door preparations for the next papal election, highlighting a gap between the Catholic Church’s traditional secrecy and the 24/7 information age.

Details divulged from the debates appeared in Italian media again despite a Vatican move on Wednesday to influence reporting by ending news conferences by American cardinals that had begun to compete with its own daily briefings.

It was widely assumed that Italian cardinals were tipping off friendly journalists but the Vatican spokesman said it was wrong to point the finger at national groups.

He said all “princes of the Church” should tighten the vow of secrecy they took when the pre-conclave meeting began on Monday.

“If anyone knows who is violating this, they should say so,” Rev. Federico Lombardi told journalists at his briefing. “It is up to the College of Cardinals to assume their responsibility and adapt a code of conduct.”

“We are counting on the morality and responsibility of people,” he added.

The cardinals have been holding preparatory meetings to ponder who among them could succeed Pope Benedict – who stepped down last week – as leader of the 1.2 billion member Church at one of the most crisis-ridden periods in its history.

With its memory stretching back centuries, the Vatican bristles at any attempt to influence the papal vote, something that was once the prerogative of European Catholic powers who could veto candidates not to their liking.

But this culture of secrecy proved fatal in the sexual abuse crises of the past decade as once-cowed victims came forward to denounce predator priests and lawsuits and official probes dug up Church documents proving bishops had covered up for them.

Control The Message

The leaks from the meetings, where the cardinals discuss problems facing the Church, recounted how prelates were pushing for more details on mismanagement in the Vatican bureaucracy, known as the Curia.

Newspapers named several speakers and detailed their remarks, worrying leading Curia cardinals and prompting them to urge the others to stop speaking to the media.

The U.S. cardinals, while informative in their briefings about the general atmosphere in the meetings, did not give away the kind of detailed information being leaked to Italian media.

“The cardinals in the Vatican Curia want to control the message. They’re leaking to the Italian press,” said Rev. Thomas Reese, a US Jesuit scholar and author of “Inside the Vatican.”

The US briefings made clear the American cardinals wanted the new pope to end the infighting in the Roman bureaucracy.

“That’s not the kind of message the folks in the Vatican Curia want out there,” Reese said.

US theologian George Weigel said the tensions over the media were not between the U.S. cardinals and the Curia, but rather a case of “the old Church versus the new Church.”

(snapnetwork.org and Reuters)