Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has no faith in Catholic Church reforms under Pope Francis, she told Billboard in an interview for the August 16 issue.
"I find it quite laughable that they’re talking about revolutionizing the church when, in fact, they’re equating female ordination and pedophilia,“ the singer said. “When you consider that, it shows you how little they think of children and the rape of children."
In July 2010 the Vatican added a provision to what was intended to be a sweeping reform that would once and for all address the ongoing sex abuses in the church. The new rules included procedures for defrocking priests for sex abuses under canon law and extended the period during which trials could take place in a church court from 10 to 20 years after the 18th birthday of his victim.
Much to the dismay of many Catholics, the Vatican added a provision to the document that made the "attempted ordination" of women one of the "gravest offenses a priest can commit" -- essentially putting it on par with sexual abuse.
O'Connor has criticized the Catholic Church over the years for sex abuses and coverups, but she said she doesn't blame the incumbent pope personally.
"[The pope's] not a guy that I would associate with either the abuse or the cover-ups, so I lost interest," she told Billboard.
"While I don’t think [Pope Francis] is an asshole I have to laugh at people’s attempts to say that he’s bringing reform to the church as long as female ordination and the sexual abuse of children are equated."
O'Connor has spoken about her own nonsexual abuse as a teenager in a Magdalene Laundry in Dublin where she said her parents sent her after catching her shoplifting. Her experience there contributed to her resentment toward the Catholic Church and was one of the reasons she ripped up a picture of then-Pope John Paul II on a 1992 Saturday Night Live episode, O'Connor told the Irish Sun.
Despite once calling the Vatican "a nest of devils," O'Connor identifies as Catholic and was in fact ordained Mother Bernadette Mary by the breakaway Catholic Latin Tridentine Church in Dublin in 1999.
In a 2010 op-ed for the Washington Post, O'Connor made her position clear: The Catholic Church must be honest and make amends for the abuses and coverups in order for victims to heal.
"I'm Catholic by birth and culture," O'Connor wrote, "and would be the first at the church door if the Vatican offered sincere reconciliation."
Read the entire Sinead O'Connor interview at Billboard Magazine
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