Prominent German magazine Der Spiegel has published a 19 page report criticising Pope Francis’s leadership of the Catholic Church and accusing him of ignoring abuse survivors in Argentina.

Their cover story, titled “Thou shalt not lie” and subtitled “The silence of the shepherds,” attacks the Pope’s handling of the abuse crisis and his attempted Church reforms.

“Pope Francis promised when he took office a renewed, cosmo- politan Catholicism,” the maga- zine says. “Five-and-a-half years and many abuse cases later, the Universal Church is divided as never before.”

The magazine, which is generally regarded as left-liberal, is considered one of the most influential in Europe.

According to LifeSiteNews, its report covers cases such as that of Fr Inzoli, a convicted abuser laicised by Benedict XVI but restored to the priestly state by Pope Francis. Francis later laicised him again. It also exami-

nes the ongoing McCarrick scan- dal, and the members of the C9 council of cardinals who have faced allegations of covering up abuse.

On his handling of issues such as Communion for Protestant spouses and Communion for the divorced and remarried, Der Spiegel notes that the Pope has been quoted as saying privately: “I may go down in history as the one who split the Church.”

The report most notably includes an interview with an abuse survivor from Argentina who says she was one of a group of victims who wrote to Francis shortly after his election, but never received a reply.