FOR JUSTICE SAKE, WILL POPE LEO XIV SACRIFICE A BISHOP FOR A PAWN?
Unjustly canceled clergy praying that Pope Leo XIV will not be a Pope Francis II
Just as people are talking about how the media and the White House staff for years hid President Joe Biden’s cognitive problems from the public, so too are we now learning how, according to child advocate attorney, Elizabeth Yore, “For a dozen miserable years, they all kept their mouths shut about Bergoglio….They breathed not a word about the man who subjected the Church to 12 years of brutal tyranny, blatant material heresy, vindictive psychotherapy, and rampant predator protection….all while on psychotropic drugs even before he became pope.”
Hoping that the cardinals did not choose a candidate they thought would amount to nothing more than a Francis II, Catholics are now debating what kind of pope, Leo XIV, may turn out to be. It is still be too early to know how he will handle the ongoing sex abuse crisis that his predecessor botched; how accommodating he will be with those who are inspired by and participate in the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM); or what he will do to bring back the millions of Catholics who have left the Faith for a variety of reasons.
One group of individuals who are particularly anxious to know how he will deal with problems involving the clergy are cancelled priests, bishops, and seminarians. Neither laicized nor excommunicated like Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò who confronted Pope Francis for covering up abuse and preying on Jesuit novices, canceled clerics were often removed from ministry for speaking out against sexual predation and homosexual misconduct. Even former Tyler Bishop Joseph Strickland who addressed this problem at the November 2018 USCCB meeting, and Arecibo Bishop Fernández Torres who opposed transgender ideology and refused to send his seminarians to a gay-infested interdiocesan seminary, are wondering if they may be restored to ministry.
If Pope Leo XIV is going to restore a priest to ministry, he may not be able to do so without exposing and disciplining a bishop for wrongdoing. For example, Washington Father Michael Briese was suspended for over three years after confronting Cardinal Wilton Gregory for allowing accused sexual predator Father Adam Park to remain in ministry, and for also questioning Gregory if it was true that he was nicknamed the “African Queen” stemming from rumors that he engaged in homosexual behavior when he was the Archbishop of Atlanta. Before coming to Washington, Gregory was also accused of keeping abuse records secret and of failing to inform the public about credibly accused priests while he was the Bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, IL. It was only a few months after Gregory’s arrival in Washington in 2019 that he was accused by a priest of putting “his hand on his crotch” during a round of golf.
Even though a Vos estis lux mundi investigation “exonerated” Gregory of having committed a “canonical crime,” most people fail to realize that consensual sexual acts by a cleric do not constitute a “canonical crime,” and being “exonerated” does not equate to being declared “innocent.” In this case, however, there is no indication that the groping was “consensual” or that Gregory was found “innocent” of the accusations. Why would the alleged victim risk losing his priesthood for reporting his bishop for a crime that never happened? Bishops routinely gaslight victims into believing that they somehow “consented” to the abuse, a move that allows Church leaders to cover up abusive behavior as “consensual” encounters which do not constitute a “canonical crime.”
Most abuse advocates believe that Vos Estis, a procedure involving bishops “investigating” other bishops, is “a joke.” When a Vos Estis complaint was filed against Omaha Archbishop George Lucas for covering up the reported satanic ritual abuse of Lisa Roers by a priest currently on staff at Boys Town; for engaging in anal sex with Father Peter Harman (the former rector of the North American College); for abusing a high school seminarian at St. Louis Preparatory Seminary; and for covering up the sexual abuse of Cynthia Yesko by two of his Springfield diocesan priests,” the Apostolic Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and an unnamed Vatican dicastery claimed that the accusations were “examined” and “archived.” Of course, neither the Nuncio nor anonymous Vatican officials ever reached out to victims or witnesses who could corroborate the victims’ accusations.
Now that Cardinal Gregory has been replaced by Cardinal Robert McElroy, Father Briese has little hope of being restored to ministry based on McElroy’s previous performance in San Diego. If McElroy allowed Father Jacob Bertrand to remain in ministry after satanically sexually assaulting Rachel Mastrogiacomo, why would he remove Father Adam Park who was accused in New York Supreme Court documents of preying on seminarians at the North American College (NAC) and engaging in homosexual conduct in Washington, D.C.? The only way Briese who was unjustly suspended by Gregory might be restored to ministry is if Pope Leo XIV were to remove McElroy for his documented history of covering up and not reporting the abuse of vulnerable adults (like Mastrogiacomo) and seminarians (like those abused by the late ex-Cardinal McCarrick who were reported to him by the late Richard Sipe).
Many canceled priests question whether Leo will sacrifice a bishop for a pawn no matter how much evidence they may have to support their unjust suspensions. Deacon Wiesław Walawender who was unjustly dismissed from the Baltimore Archdiocese for reporting being drugged and sodomized at St. John the Evangelist Church in Severna Park, Maryland by Monsignor Edward Staub, has little hope that Pope Leo will discipline Archbishop William Lori who to this day continues to cover up Walawender’s sexual assault despite irrefutable evidence. Former New York Archdiocese seminarian Anthony Gorgia also doubts that Pope Leo will discipline Cardinal Timothy Dolan for destroying his vocation and protecting Fathers Peter Harman and Adam Park whose guilt in engaging in sexual predation and homosexual misconduct is extensively documented in court affidavits and the very compelling documentary, “Illinois Orgy: The Rome Connection.”
Considering how 40 U.S. dioceses and religious orders have filed for bankruptcy as a result of bishops’ abuse cover-ups, instead of journalists reporting on how the Pope offered a blessing in Latin instead of Italian, they may wish to ask the Pope some intelligent, tough questions like:
If the Church truly professes the sanctity of life, will you excommunicate prelates like New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan or Ukrainian Eparchy of Stamford Bishop Paul Chomnycky for being accessories to victims’ attempted or actual suicides as a result of the prelates’ cover-ups?
Will you laicize Cardinals who have been reported for sexual predation or homosexual misconduct like Timothy Dolan, Edwin O’Brien, Wilton Gregory, Joseph Tobin, and Roger Mahony, even if it means going against Cardinals who may have helped elect you?
Instead of convening “Study Commissions” on elevating women to ordained roles, will you truly protect the dignity of women in the Church by showing nuns that they are not the sex slaves of priests like Father Marko Rupnik who is accused of raping 20 nuns and forcing them to drink his semen out of a chalice?
Given how 64% of Catholics interviewed in a May 2025 survey said that they feel the Church is “out of touch with their needs” because of Church leaders’ mishandling of clergy abuse reports, the salvation of souls seems to rest upon these kinds of questions now more than ever.
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Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan Respect Life Director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Email him at msgr.investigations@gmail.com.
I do not have a problem with restoring previously improperly cancelled priests. In fact I consider it a duty of simple justice. I do question the imposition of penalties on higher clerics who escaped accountability by their superiors. It is not that they don't merit judgement but rather gives rise to questions of whose authority is to be respected and whose not and winds up part of an endless chain that resolves little. Historically, monasteries located in areas suitable for contemplation for an extended period have served that purpose.
Let us pray that Leo XIV will seek to bring unity and the adherence to the faith back. May God and His Will be at the center of everything. May Leo XIV change the focus back on to God, His Will, His laws, His Justice and His Mercy. This means reaching out and placing the canceled priests back into public service. Asking (demanding) that those bishops, cardinal, priest, and religious who either do not believe and/or will not adhere to the teachings of the Church and Her magisterium, resign or be thrown out. This is not about vengeance, but justice and then mercy. To allow these corrupt men to continue on their bent and deviant ways, is neither just nor merciful. You are allowing them to dig themselves an ever greater deeper dark hole in Hell. This is both unjust and lacks mercy. Tot allow them to lead others to ruin is a grave injustice.
The Pope has a terribly difficult job. Many forces are in play against him. He has many cardinals and bishops who know well the teachings and laws, so they can bend, break and pervert them to promote themselves. I am hopeful and praying that Leo XIV will, with God's Grace, call for first the repentance and conversion of this evil men, and then if not, their resignations. For is also responsible now for their souls.
I am hopeful Leo XIV will appeal directly to the good, holy and devote religious and faithful and asking them to address their corrupt bishops and account for all the mismanagement, harm, evil and perversion of the faith. If he does that I believe many will come back. He must make it clear the Catholic Church IS Christ's Church. It is His Bride. It belongs to no bishop, no cardinal no Pope. In the end the goal is the salvation of souls. It is not making money, buying building, hiding the corrupt, public relations, popularity, awards etc. in fact is the world is not complaining about the Church, as it is properly taught, then something is wrong. From the inception, the greater world rejected the Church.
Perhaps we have to return to eleven faithful bishops and start again. We know we will not be abandoned. We know if we willfully and with charity do God’s Will great graces will be given us. Grace comes through the Catholic Church, if we want an increase in graces, we need to make and form the Church again into the beautiful, immaculate Bride of Christ.
Pray for these bent and broken bishops. Their eternity looks bleak. Pray they stop living in and for this world alone. Pray for their victims, many are martyrs, bloodless and with spilled blood. From them, and their suffering and sacrifices, the Church will be renewed.