USA Today
March 29, 2010
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/03/pope-benedict-sex-abuse-survey-ratings-fall/1
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| Pope Benedict XVI met adoring crowds during his U.S. visit in April 2008 but now his popularity has dropped sharply in the face of ongoing news about a global sexual abuse scandal. Photo by H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY |
Pope Benedict XVI's ratings with Americans in general and U.S. Catholics in particular have fallen sharply in the wake of daily news stories on the global clerical sexual abuse epidemic.
Those with a favorable view of him fell from 63% of adults -- his personal best in the USA in April 2008, when he visited New York and Washington D.C. -- to 40%, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup survey of 1,033 adults conducted March 26-28. Among Catholics surveyed, the drop was also steep -- from 81% favorable to 61%.
In parallel, his unfavorable ratings climbed from 15% in 2009 to 35% last weekend overall. Catholics in particular also viewed him more critically, with unfavorable rating rising from 12% two years ago to 25% now.
At no time did Benedict reach the heights of popularity of his predecessor, John Paul II. Even during the early days of the sex abuse scandal news in the USA in 2002, more U.S. adults held a favorable view of him (61%) and it climbed to 78% in the month before his death five years ago. Among Catholics, John Paul's favorable ratings dipped to 78% during spring 2002 but rose to 93% by February, 2005.
Commentators are going to town on critical analysis. Everyone has an opinion on how much blame for the handling of the crisis falls on his own management -- first as Archbishop of Munich Joseph Ratzinger, then as a Cardinal and head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and finally as pope since April 2005. Who knew about abusive priests and failed to safeguard children? Should bishops, archbishops, even the pope himself, be held accountable for failing to deal adequately with those involved?
The columns and blog posts I spotted today include:
--Thoughtful support for Benedict, coupled with a strong and sorrowful acknowledgment of the terrible pain of sexual abuse of minors, written by Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
...Society is finally seeing that sexual abuse of a child is a sin, a crime and often a sickness. Now we ask with hindsight why those in authority did not act more quickly in addressing the problem, more stringently in dealing with offenders, and more compassionately when hearing the victims. It is little comfort that many in charge acted with woefully inadequate knowledge, the same inadequate knowledge that has bedeviled psychology, law enforcement, even families for half a century or more. It is not an excuse -- some things, such as not harming the weak, you should know instinctively. However, it is a fact that all of us now know more now than we did 50, 40, 30, 20, and even 10 years ago...
New knowledge means new obligations for church leaders, of course. Not knowing is no longer acceptable. Inaction will no longer be tolerated by law enforcement, fellow clerics and the Catholic community. Signs of such realization have been shown, for example, by Pope John Paul II who declared "there is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young" and Pope Benedict who said bluntly: "I am ashamed and will do everything possible to ensure that this doesn't happen in the future."
-- Ross Douthat's column that deals carefully with the accusations that Ratzinger/Benedict failed to step up but still concludes that Holy Week is a perfect season for contrition. Benedict, he says, has
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| Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the mass in memory of John Paul II on the 5th anniversary of his death in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on March 29, 2010.The Holy father, under increasing fire for the Roman Catholic Church's handling of paedophile priests, urged Christians Sunday not to be intimidated by idle Photo by Filippo Monteforte |
...come to grips with the crisis in ways that his predecessor did not: after years of drift and denial under John Paul II, the Vatican has taken vigorous steps to promote zero tolerance, expedite the dismissal of abusive priests and organize investigations that should have happened long ago. Because of Benedict's recent efforts, and the efforts of clerics and laypeople dating back to the first wave of revelations in the 1980s, Catholics can reasonably hope that the crisis of abuse is a thing of the past.
But the crisis of authority endures. There has been some accountability for the abusers, but not nearly enough for the bishops who enabled them. And now the shadow of past sins threatens to engulf this papacy.
Popes do not resign. But a pope can clean house. And a pope can show contrition, on his own behalf and on behalf of an entire generation of bishops, for what was done and left undone in one of Catholicism's darkest eras.
Finally, there's a Saturday column byMaureen Dowd that takes her snarky style over the top -- and unsupported by facts. Dowd rips into the entire Catholic Church as a failed and possibly irredeemable institution -- unless women take over. She writes:
The completely paternalistic and autocratic culture of Il Papa led to an insular, exclusionary system that failed to police itself, and that became a corrosive shelter for secrets and shame.
If the church could throw open its stained glass windows and let in some air, invite women to be priests, nuns to be more emancipated and priests to marry, if it could banish criminal priests and end the sordid culture of men protecting men who attack children, it might survive. It could be an encouraging sign of humility and repentance, a surrender of arrogance, both moving and meaningful.
Very often people use news to bolster an opinion they already hold. People who disagree with the Catholic Church, for example, use the latest news for more ammunition. Has your opinion of Pope Benedict changed in recent weeks? Or did you always hold a high -- or low -- opinion of him?
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