By Riazat Butt
Guardian
March 17, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/17/catholic-sex-abuse-benedict-vatican
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| Before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger issued an order to keep child abuse investigations secret. Photo by Vincenzo Pinto/AFP |
Irish apology is the latest development in a scandal that has ensnared the Vatican and Pope Benedict
Where did this start?
The latest chapter of Catholicism's long saga of abuse by priests began in Ireland last May when a 2,600-page report detailed misdeeds in hundreds of church-run institutions. The Ryan report, the result of a nine-year investigation, found that priests and nuns had terrorised children for decades.
It was followed by the 720-page Murphy report, from the Archdiocese of Dublin, examining allegations of child sex abuse. It concluded that the archdiocese and other church authorities had engaged in "the maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets".
What happened next?
Four out of the five bishops named in the Murphy report resigned. A few months later the pope summoned the remaining bishops to a crisis meeting at the Vatican, where he called child abuse a "heinous crime" and a "grave sin", and scolded them for failing to act effectively.
He asked them to describe how they had handled priestly abuse and demanded to know why they had covered it up. At the close of the summit, in a public statement, the pope said he shared the "betrayal, shame and outrage" of the Irish people, and that he would write a pastoral letter about sexual abuse and the Vatican response to it.
Which other countries are affected by clerical sexual abuse?
Since the publication of the Irish reports – and the unprecedented papal reaction to them – instances of paedophilia and collusion have come to light in other parts of the continent. Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Austria announced last week they would launch investigations into hundreds of allegations of improper acts said to have taken place in Catholic churches and schools.
Senior figures publicly apologised to victims and their families. The pope was said to be "distraught" about developments in his native Germany, according to Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, who is president of the conference of German bishops. Zollitsch travelled to the Vatican to discuss the scandal with the pope this month.
Where does this leave the pope?
This controversy is the latest challenge facing Benedict's papacy. His first five years in office have garnered plenty of attention for controversial remarks, but this crisis centres more on Benedict's judgment and legacy from a former role. For 24 years he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the Vatican's oldest department, and some say its most powerful. It is charged with enforcing doctrine and suppressing heresy.
In 2001 his predecessor, John Paul II, instructed the CDF to take on the role of investigating sexual abuse of minors. As part of this duty, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger issued an order ensuring that such investigations were carried out in secret.
The order was made in a confidential letter and was sent to every Catholic bishop. Among other things it asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. Existence of the letter was made public in 2005, a week after he was named pope.
How serious is this current scandal?
The new millennium saw the US Catholic church implode over allegations, lawsuits and bankruptcies. This eroded public confidence in the church, which struggled to position itself as a moral authority and source of leadership.
The current abuse cases threaten to do the same in Europe. The Catholic hierarchy is coming to terms with increased secularisation in the west and is instead looking to Africa and China for renewal.
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