By Nick Pisa
May 9, 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1275849/Vatican-hit-fresh-sex-scandal-Cardinal-Angelo-Sodano-accused-covering-abuse-case.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
A senior Vatican cardinal has rocked the scandal hit Roman Catholic Church with an unprecedented attack on a fellow cardinal accusing him of "covering up" a sex abuse case.
Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, 65, who is seen as a possible future Pope, slammed his fellow prince of the Church, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 83, for dismissing the paedophile priest crisis as "petty gossip."
Cardinal Schoenborn said that Cardinal Sodano, who is currently Dean of the Vatican's all powerful College of Cardinals, had attempted to cover up of a high profile Austrian sex abuse case.
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| Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn |
Vienna Cardinal Schoenborn, the son of a count and baroness, made his comments to Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress and they were widely picked up by the Italian media and splashed across front pages of today/yesterday's (sun) newspapers.
Cardinal Schoenborn reportedly said:"The days of cover up are over. For a long while the Church's principle of forgiveness was falsely interpreted and was in favour of those responsible and not the victims."
He added that during the 1990's when Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, the leader of Austria's Catholics was accused of sex abuse a "track of Vatican diplomacy" had muddied the investigation and led to a cover up.
Cardinal Schoenborn said Pope Benedict XVI — then Cardinal Josef Ratzinger and head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — had immediately pushed for an investigative commission when abuse allegations against Cardinal Groer emerged.
But Cardinal Schoenborn said that the then Vatican Secretary of State at the time, Cardinal Angelo Sodano indirectly blocked the attempts and Cardinal Groer had simply faded into the background.
The scandal hit Cardinal who was accused of abusing boys, resigned in 1998 without ever admitting his guilt, without any official Church punishment and he died five years later.
Cardinal Schoenborn also accused Cardinal Sodano, of causing "massive harm" to victims when he dismissed claims of priest abuse as "petty gossip" during Easter Sunday Mass at St Peter's.
Two months ago Cardinal Schoenborn acknowledged church guilt during a service for victims in which he openly addressed attempts to cover up abuse.
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| Cardinal Angelo Sodano |
Kathpress said that he had added:"The Church has now changed but not all those within the Curia (Vatican hierarchy) are in favour of the Pope's zero tolerance policy."
Today/yesterday there was no official comment from the Vatican and it's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano carried no coverage of Cardinal Schoenborn's attack.
Corriere Della Sera on its front page said it was an "unprecedented attack" and added that it was a "clash of cardinals" describing the Austrian as "lucid" in his attempt to tackle clergy sex abuse.
La Repubblica on its front page said that Cardinal Schoenborn's comments broke through the "apologetic fog of incense that has clouded the upper tiers of the Church during the sex abuse scandal."
In recent weeks the Vatican has sought to try and deal with the crisis that has rocked it by Pope Benedict issuing a public apology and then last month he met and wept with abuse victims in Malta during a visit there.
Two months ago Cardinal Schoenborn also sparked furious debate when he suggetsed that the Church's key policy of celibacy for priests was a possible cause for the sex abuse crisis.
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