The Catholic Church has protected pedophiles among their ranks for as long as the Catholic Church has been around.
It is documented and undeniable that there have been such figures in the church, but it is my opinion that this specific pope has been trying to bring the church in a different direction, both on this specific issue, but also generally more progressive, if you want.
Yeah, a real leader among leaders.
Thanks for sharing this article, I've read it and tried to do more reaserch on the topic (turns out the wikipedia page on the matter is pretty dense and source-full, while the NYT wrote just has a couple lines written quickly). I will answer with this article from the guardian
"Despite recent measures to root out abuse by priests and increase transparency, some victims say the Vatican still has not gone far enough to protect children even in the West, where intense media coverage of paedophile priests has led to greater scrutiny of church practices."
Francis has been in power for over a decade now, and that quote (from your link) was written years ago. Nothing has really changed.