Dont Blame Pope, Vatican Says, Rachel Donadio, Boston Globe, March 27, 2010

Don't Blame Pope, Vatican Says

By Rachel Donadio
Boston Globe
March 27, 2010

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/03/27/legacies_of_two_popes_in_jeopardy/

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany (left), now Pope Benedict XVI, prayed alongside Pope John Paul II during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in 2002.

The Vatican yesterday reaffirmed its position that the future Pope Benedict XVI “had no knowledge’’ of a decision to allow a known pedophile priest to resume pastoral duties when the pope was archbishop in Munich in 1980.

In a statement, the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said that an article that appeared in The New York Times yesterday, which said that the future pope had been sent a memorandum relating to the reassignment of the priest, “contained no new information.’’ The Vatican rejected as “speculation’’ any version of events other than the one it originally put forward to explain what it called the pope’s “nonresponsibility’’ in the matter.

The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising has said that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope, had approved a decision to transfer the troubled priest, the Rev. Peter Hullermann, into his diocese for therapy to overcome pedophilia. But the diocese said that Ratzinger’s deputy at the time, the Rev. Gerhard Gruber, took full responsibility for the decision to reassign the priest to pastoral duties a few days after his therapy began.

Hullermann went on to molest boys in another parish and was later convicted of sexual abuse of children.

The German Archdiocese had not previously mentioned in its statements that Ratzinger was sent a memorandum relating to the reassignment of Hullermann. In his statement yesterday, Lombardi did not comment directly on the memorandum.

A growing sexual abuse scandal in Europe has raised questions about Benedict’s role in handling the sexual abuse case in his diocese in 1980, and in overseeing such cases when he was the Vatican’s chief doctrinal official from 1982 until his election as pope in 2005.

In the statement, Lombardi said, “The then vicar general, [Monsignor] Gerhard Gruber, has assumed full responsibility for his own erroneous decision to reassign’’ Hullermann.

The Times article quoted the Rev. Lorenz Wolf, judicial vicar at the Munich Archdiocese, as saying that the memorandum, which he called routine, was “unlikely to have landed on the archbishop’s desk,’’ but said he could not rule out that Ratzinger had read it.

Wolf spoke with Gruber this week at the request of the Times. He said that Gruber told him he could not remember a detailed conversation with Ratzinger about Hullermann, but that he refused to rule out that “the name had come up.’’

In a blog post last night, Cardinal Sean O’Malley addressed the pope’s recent letter about clergy sexual abuse to the church in Ireland, saying he was surprised by its length and “very moved’’ by its content. O’Malley acknowledged the letter has drawn criticism — many Catholics felt it failed to acknowledge the pope’s role or that of the Vatican in failing to stop abusive priests — but he said it was an important step toward healing.

“As I read the letter,’’ he added, “I couldn’t help but think that I wish we had a similar letter years ago, when this crisis began in the United States.’’

O’Malley did not address the widening global criticism of the pope’s handling of abuse claims during his tenure as archbishop in Munich, or during his time as head of the Vatican office that handled disciplinary action against priests.

In an editorial yesterday, the National Catholic Reporter in the United States called on Benedict to answer questions about his role “in the mismanagement’’ of sex abuse cases, not only in the current crisis but during his tenure in the 1980s as archbishop of Munich and then as head of the Vatican’s doctrinal and disciplinary office.

As Holy Week approaches, the most solemn period on the Christian calendar, victims groups and other critics are demanding Benedict accept personal responsibility. A few say he should resign.

As attention focuses on Benedict, a perhaps thornier question looms over how much his predecessor, John Paul II, beloved worldwide for his inspirational charisma and courageous stand against communism, knew about sex abuse cases and whether he was too tolerant of pedophile priests.

John Paul presided over the church when the sex abuse scandal exploded in the United States in 2002 and the Vatican was swamped with complaints and lawsuits under his leadership. Yet during most of his 26-year papacy, individual dioceses took sole responsibility for investigating misbehavior.

Nick Cafardi, a canon and civil lawyer and former chairman of the US bishops lay review board that monitored abuse, said Benedict was “very courageous’’ to reverse Vatican support for the Legionaries of Christ, a sex scandal-tainted organization staunchly defended by John Paul.

John Paul was already ailing from Parkinson’s disease when the US scandal erupted, a factor supporters say may have kept him from initially realizing its scope. While Cardinal Bernard Law became the most high-profile church figure to fall, resigning as archbishop of Boston over the scandal, John Paul gave him a soft landing, appointing him as head of a Rome basilica and keeping him on various Vatican committees.

The world-traveling John Paul has been put on a fast track for sainthood by Benedict in response to popular demand. Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the emeritus head of the Vatican’s saint-making office, said this week that historians who studied the pope’s life didn’t find anything problematic in John Paul’s handling of abuse scandals.