Following lukewarm reception to Pope Francis's plan to prevent further sex abuse in the Catholic Church, advocates have released their own 21-point plan with steps to combat sexual abuse, including in Washington, D.C.
"I'm struggling with anything that comes out of the Vatican at this point," Dave Lorenz, a survivor of abuse and SNAP activist said.
He and a group of other SNAP advocates demonstrated outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington on Sunday and distributed yellow sheets with 21 steps they say can help people to prevent sex abuse.
The pope has been criticized for not acting sooner on issues of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, especially in the case of Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta. In that case, the Vatican knew about allegations of abuse against Zanchetta as early as 2015, but the pope gave him a top position in the Vatican in 2017, according to the Associated Press.
The plan created by SNAP, organized by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), involves recommendations such as supporting laws to protect survivors and asking "your bishop/cardinal to release all the files on child sexual cases to local law enforcement."
For now, survivors and advocates with SNAP must make do with what they have from Pope Francis, and continue their efforts to prevent others from suffering the same fate they did.
