Monsters and Critics
April 11, 2008
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/features/article_1399441.php/PREVIEW_Ethical_human_rights_issues_to_dominate_Popes_US_trip
Rome - The week before Pope Benedict XVI is to head to the United States, questions remain about how he will address the priest abuse scandal that has shaken the world's third-largest Catholic community.
Reporters have pressed the Vatican's spokesman on whether Cardinal Bernard Law, who has resided in Rome since resigning as Archbishop of Boston in the wake of the scandal, would accompany the pontiff on the trip.
During his pastoral visit, Benedict is to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of five US dioceses including Boston, where Law's tenure as archbishop lasted for 18 years.
 |
| Pope Benedict XVI prays in San Bartolemeo Basilica during his visits at the Memorial place of witnesses to faith in the XX century, and the Community of Sant Egidio on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, at tiberine island in Rome, Italy on 07 April 2008. EPA Photo by Alberto Pizzoli |
Father Federico Lombardi confirmed that several Rome-based American cardinals would travel with the pope. He had 'no information' on whether Law would be one of them.
Law stepped down in 2002 in the wake of a sexual abuse scandal that shook the US Roman Catholic Church. Since then it has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars to the victims who were children when the violations occurred.
The former Boston archbishop has been accused of, at best inaction, at worst covering up for several known offenders in the clergy, and his inclusion on the pope's April 15-20 visit could prove embarassing.
Still, Benedict, who has denounced the 'dirt' within the church, apparently has no intention of sweeping the scandal under a carpet.
According to Lombardi, the pontiff is likely to broach the issue when he addresses US bishops in Washington on April 16, and during two April 19 engagements in New York: a Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral for nuns and priests and a meeting with students at St Joseph's Seminary.
Wider ethical and spiritual issues are destined to dominate other aspects of Benedict's visit to the United States, where Roman Catholics number around 70 million - the third largest concentration in the world after Brazil and Mexico.
'A survey shows that most Americans expect to hear the pope speak on religion and morality,' Lombardi said. He said they are 'less interested' to know what the pontiff thinks about the war in Iraq. The Vatican opposed the US-led invasion in 2003.
But when Benedict meets President George W Bush at the White House on April 16, his message may not be what proponents of an early US withdrawal from Iraq want to hear.
'The pope won't call for the troops to leave. He wants them to stay on a 'peace mission' - also to defend Iraq's Christian minority,' said Sandro Magister, a Vatican expert for the weekly magazine L'Espresso.
Meetings are also planned between the pontiff and leaders of other religious faiths - Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism - on April 17 in Washington and with leaders of several other Christian denominations the next day in New York.
The talks offer the pope an opportunity to continue a sometimes tense dialogue.
Recent controversies include Benedict's baptizing of Italy's most prominent Muslim critic at a Easter Vigil ceremony and protests over a revised Catholic prayer for the conversion of Jews.
The Vatican has also drawn criticism from Protestants in the United States and elsewhere for describing their groups as Christian communities, instead of churches.
Human rights concerns, including religious freedom and Catholic opposition to abortion and capital punishment, promise to feature prominently in what the Vatican has described as the 'highlight' of the trip: Benedict's speech before the United Nations General Assembly in New York on April 18.
A non-binding moratorium on the death sentence on an Italian initiative was approved by the General Assembly in December 2007 and received strong Vatican support, overcoming opposition from the United States.
In New York, Benedict is likely to appeal for more nations to endorse the initiative during 2008, which marks the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
But the visit to the world body also comes just five months after the pontiff said 'moral relativism' - an aspect of the modern world he considers evil and under which he has categorized abortion, embryonic stem cell research and euthanasia - dominates debate at international organizations.
While Benedict's trip takes place ahead of US presidential elections later this year, he is unlikely to express a preference for any individual candidate.
Asked if the pontiff intended to meet Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama or Republican candidate John McCain, Lombardi replied: 'I'd be surprised'.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.