By Michael Higgins
National Post
April 10, 2010
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=2785508
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| Pope Benedict XVI is seen on a giant video screen set up at St. Peter's Square during his weekly general audience. |
As the Roman Catholic Church reached out yesterday to regain public trust, the Vatican faced a new allegation that Pope Benedict resisted pleas to defrock a pedophile priest in the 1980s.
The Associated Press reported in 1981 the diocese of Oakland, Calif., wrote to the Vatican asking to defrock Stephen Kiesle, a priest who had been sentenced to three years' probation in 1978 for lewd conduct, a misdemeanour, for tying up and molesting two boys.
During the next four years, Bishop John Cummins wrote several times to the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope, asking for an update on the case.
According to AP, Cardinal Ratzinger eventually responded to the Bishop in November 1985. By this time the priest was volunteering as a youth minister at a church in Pinole, Calif.
The letter, signed by Cardinal Ratzinger and typed in Latin, was translated for AP.
In the letter, he said the arguments for removing the priest were of "grave significance" but such actions required very careful review and more time.
Cardinal Ratzinger added any decision to defrock the priest must also take into account the "good of the universal church" and the "detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke within the community of Christ's faithful, particularly considering the young age" of the priest, who was 38 at the time, said AP.
It added: "Kiesle was ultimately stripped of his priestly powers in 1987, though the documents do not indicate when, how or why. They also don't indicate what role -- if any--Ratzinger had in the decision."
Mr. Kiesle was also arrested and charged in 2002 with 13 counts of child molestation from the 1970s. However, all but two were thrown out on statute of limitations grounds.
In 2004, he pleaded no contest to a felony for molesting a young girl in his home in 1995 and was sentenced to six years in state prison.
Father Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, confirmed to AP the letter bore Cardinal Ratzinger's signature, but added, "The press office doesn't believe it is necessary to respond to every single document taken out of context regarding particular legal situations. It is not strange that there are single documents which have Cardinal Ratzinger's signature."
Pope Benedict has come under intense scrutiny for his role in dealing with cases of pedophile priests, first as an archbishop in Munich, Germany, then as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
He has also been linked to the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, a Wisconsin cleric accused of abusing scores of deaf boys. In the mid-1990s, the Vatican "encouraged" a religious trial be stopped out of compassion for the deteriorating health of the priest, although it is not known if the Pope, as Cardinal Ratzinger, had any hand in that matter.
The Pope himself has hit out at pedophile priests. Shortly before becoming Pope Benedict in 2005, he denounced "filth" in the Church.
And in a letter to the Irish last month, he expressed "shame and remorse" for the sexual abuse of children by priests. He said priests and religious workers guilty of child abuse "must answer" for their crimes "before properly constituted tribunals."
Senior Catholic officials have leapt to the Pope's defence in the past few weeks, criticizing the media for "petty gossip" and "gross propaganda."
They have also claimed he has been the subject of a hate campaign because of his antiabortion and anti-gay marriage positions.
Speaking on Vatican Radio yesterday, Fr. Lombardi said the Church must co-operate with police and the judiciary on child abuse by priests as "the only way to regain trust."
"Apart from the attention we must pay to the victims, we must pursue co-operation with the relevant civil judicial and penal authorities, in line with the legal and other situations in each country," he said.
"This is the only way to restore a climate of justice and full confidence in the institution of the Church."
He also stressed Pope Benedict was prepared to meet again with victims of pedophile priests.
On Monday, the Vatican will publish on its website guidelines for fighting pedophilia within the Church.
Contact: mhiggins@nationalpost.com
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