Child Abuse and the Papacy Gerry OShea
The recent 190-page
report commissioned by the Munich archdiocese found Emeritus Pope Benedict
complicit in covering up cases of child abuse where predator priests were
allowed to continue in pastoral work after their corrupt actions were known.
This papal debacle brings to mind the famous
Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson’s story about the Emperor whose arrogance
was revealed when he walked naked in a parade.
The tale began
when two swindlers, posing as weavers, promised to supply the Emperor with
magnificent clothes which, however, would only be visible to those subjects who
were wise and perceptive. They set up looms and finally announced that the
emperor’s suit was ready.
The “tailors” mime that they are dressing him
in gorgeous attire and he struts off proudly to lead a big parade. His subjects
cheer him on because to do otherwise would mark them as stupid, but a child, shocked
at the sight of the naked leader, cries out in amazement that “the Emperor has
no clothes.”
Former Pope Benedict
was a strict captain of the church. He was loyal to the traditional understanding
of controversial moral issues, and he was especially unbending when faced with
requests for tolerance and respect for the gay lifestyle and for divorced
Catholics because he deemed them to be engaging in behavior that is
“essentially evil.”
Commentators note the major difference between
the current pope outreaching to people struggling on the periphery of society,
while Benedict would be happier with a smaller, purer church where age-old doctrines
are enjoined on all members. For him, what was considered objectively wrong in
past centuries cannot be changed today.
Catholic
teaching on divorce provides a good example. Traditional thinkers like Benedict
preach that a divorced person in a second relationship is living in sin and
thus is barred from receiving communion. One man, one woman, one time is the
age-old Catholic mantra.
Francis has
tried to move the church to a more compassionate and magnanimous response to members
whose marriages have broken down and who have found love and companionship in a
new relationship. Barring divorcees from the altar rails excludes them from the
grace of the sacrament and often alienates them from the Christian community.
The damning
report by German investigators concluded that then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
Archbishop of Munich, knew of at least four child-abusing priests and failed to
protect the children in his care from these men. The investigating lawyers
dismissed as not credible Benedict’s claim that he was unaware of these
horrible abuses.
People are
also amazed that in a nearly 72-page submission to the commission the former
pope claimed that a troubled priest who masturbated in front of pre-pubescent
girls did not “act improperly” because he didn’t engage in sexual touching with
the young women.
This report
confirms the shameful conclusions of similar investigations elsewhere, most
recently in New Zealand, that the first response of church dignitaries to abuse
revelations always focuses on protecting the institution and its priests with
the safety of children featuring only as a distant second consideration.
During
Benedict’s papacy two shocking reports were made public in Ireland. The Ryan
report in May 2009 revealed the disreputable treatment of children in Irish
orphanages, reformatories and industrial schools, and, in November of the same
year, the Murphy report dealt in disturbing detail with the widespread sexual
exploitation of minors in the archdiocese of Dublin.
In 2010, Pope
Benedict wrote to the people of Ireland, sharing their “dismay and sense of
betrayal on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way that the
Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them.”
Backed by
the authority of the papal tiara, he excoriated the Irish bishops, reminding them
that in 2006 he gave instructions to establish the truth about all allegations
and take steps to ensure that the abuse of minors would never again be tolerated.
No doubt, he was disappointed with the impact
of the two shocking reports and was clear in pointing the deserved finger of
blame, but, in the light of the recent Munich report, his condemnatory statements
sound very hollow. Reminds us of the sardonic expression – talk louder, your
actions are shouting you down!
Benedict’s
predecessor in the papacy, the charismatic John Paul 11, now canonized, faces
similarly credible accusations, heightening a sense of red-hot anger among
Catholics at ecclesiastical structures and priorities that failed repeatedly to
protect the most vulnerable members of the church. Immense harm has been done
and it is very difficult to see how the church will recover its dignity and
credibility.
In 2020,
instructed by Francis, the Vatican published a 450-page report on how Theodore
McCarrick ended up with a cardinal’s hat, despite repeated reports of his
sexual abuse of boys and young men. Prior to his appointment as cardinal in
Washington, a prized role for ambitious clerics, Pope John Paul 11 received a
letter from Cardinal John O’Connor of New York strongly recommending against
any promotion for McCarrick.
He wrote in
his six-page missive that he had investigated credible allegations of abuse
against McCarrick, including that he had induced several young adult seminarians
to share a bed with him. O’Connor complained that some of these men suffered
severe psychological harm as a result. He concluded with very blunt language:
“I would have to recommend very strongly against his promotion, particularly to
a Cardinatial See.”
John Paul
did have these accusations investigated but deemed the findings inconclusive.
His strong personal relationship with McCarrick weighed heavily with him and he
gave him the benefit of the doubt.
James Grein, who was abused for years by
McCarrick, demanded a meeting with Pope John Paul. This was arranged,
ironically by McCarrick, and he told the pope that McCarrick had abused him
since he was eleven years old. John Paul seemed unimpressed by this serious contention.
Neither this face-to-face allegation by Grein
or O’Connor’s letter deterred John Paul from promoting him to the top
Washington job and awarding him the prized cardinal’s hat.
The Vatican
investigation into the scandal concluded that John Paul knew and overlooked the multiple claims of
abuse. Two decades later McCarrick was dismissed and laicized in disgrace by
Francis, and he is now supposedly doing penance for his sexual transgressions.
The sainted pope’s credibility has suffered
greatly even among his devoted followers. Should a man who, despite clear and compelling
evidence, fails to deal maturely with a child predator functioning in the
highest ranks of the church, be taken seriously in other moral pronouncements?
Benedict is
working on a reply to the Munich document. There is some sympathy for a 94-year
old man having to account for his behavior forty years ago. Indeed, his
situation elicits real human pathos. But what about the children who were
damaged because of his inaction. How are they doing?
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