In light of recent events concerning the Catholic Church, many people have called the integrity of the church into question, and rightly so. A select group of Church clergy have been covering up the abuse of minors and miscellaneous homosexual acts for the last 70 years. While there are many more priests who are good people and willfully serve the hand of God, the amount of widespread corruption cannot be ignored.

This corruption runs all the way to the top. While numerous priests have been accused of vile actions, higher levels of the church have also been called into question, most notably Cardinal McCarrik, who was abusing children, and Cardinal Whurel, the current head of the Arch-Diocese of Washington, who participated in the cover up of the scandal during his time in Pennsylvania, according to the grand jury. On top of all of this, the pope’s lackluster and scripted responses leave much to be desired.

The issue is not with the Church’s teachings, nor with its beliefs. It is instead with the clergy and how they conduct themselves. Not all of them, not even 5% of them, but still a significant enough number to cause concern. As a faithful Catholic who goes to Church every Sunday in a time where 80% of Catholics identify as non-practicing, I feel that the people of the Church should be entitled to know the truth, and they deserve more than an apology. They deserve action.

I believe that the pope should resign his position immediately, due to his lack of response to these accusations. When he apologize, you could tell that he was less sorry about what happened and sorrier about being caught. It is despicable that he continues to let corrupt clergy serve, and I suspect it is because he is one of them. It is not out of the question, there have been corrupt popes before. His fake humility and his lust for power will keep him in his place until he dies. If he truly cared about the well-being of the church, he would resign and expose all of the clergy who have done wrongdoings that he has been covering up, or maybe he would be at least half as vocal about this issue as he is on issues of American politics, which he knows nothing about, considering he is an Argentinian man who now lives in Rome. I know that many Catholics, myself included, no longer wish to endure the lies and deceits of the Church hierarchy.

So can we still trust the Church? I think we can trust and have faith in its teachings, and we can feel comfortable in trusting the priests that we’ve known, such as the great ones who continue to serve DeMatha. But when it comes to the powerful leaders of the Church, I think we must be weary of their true motives, and what goes on behind the scenes.