By John W. Miller
Wall Street Journal
July 6, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704862404575350973060831524.html
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| Police speak with a church official in Mechelen, Belgium, last month, when authorities raided church offices, investigating sex-abuse claims. |
BRUSSELS—Prosecutors questioned retired cardinal Godfried Danneels for a full day Tuesday about his failure to report to the police cases of sexual abuse involving children, further heightening tension between public authorities and church leaders in Belgium, a traditional Catholic stronghold.
Cardinal Danneels, long a revered figure here and a onetime candidate for the papacy, is now squarely in the spotlight of a case that is creating a growing headache for the Vatican.
There are "at least 50" cases where the cardinal failed to report alleged incidents of sexual abuse to police, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said Tuesday.
Two weeks ago, prosecutors raided the church headquarters once occupied by Cardinal Danneels. They carted off his home computer and even looked at the tombs of deceased bishops.
Belgium has no law mandating that church officials report sexual-abuse crimes to authorities.
Prosecutors said a raid was the only way they could find out for sure what the church knew.
Police seized 475 files compiled by a special commission set up by the church earlier this year to investigate sexual-abuse claims.
The church was apoplectic. Belgian church leaders threatened to sue.
All 10 members of the commission, including its chair, child psychiatrist Peter Adriaenssens, immediately resigned in protest.
"There is no precedent for this, even under the old communist regimes," said Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state.
The Belgian Catholic world was rocked in late April by the resignation of Roger Vangheluwe, the 73-year-old bishop of Bruges.
He confessed to carrying on a sexually abusive relationship for at least 10 years with his nephew.
He can't be charged criminally, as the statute of limitations has run out.
Cardinal Danneels, 77, had counseled separately the victim and the perpetrator in the weeks before, without reporting the crime to police.
That set up the obvious questions: What did the cardinal know, and when did he know it?
Meanwhile, the Belgian newspaper Het Laatse Nieuws reported that investigators had found in church possession secret police files relating to a wave of child kidnappings and murders in the 1990s perpetrated by Marc Dutroux. who is now serving a life sentence in a Belgian prison.
An official with the prosecutor's office refused to comment on the story, which wasn't sourced.
Other Belgian newspapers, some citing Het Laatse Nieuws, also reported the Dutroux news.
"However, I will confirm that we found material that was weird," the official said.
"I don't react to wild rumors," said Rev. Eric de Beukelaer, a spokesman for the Belgian bishops.
"When there are facts I'll be in a position to comment," he added.
Father de Beukelaer said he himself had been questioned by police investigators and wasn't asked about the criminal files mentioned in the Belgian newspaper.
Write to John W. Miller at john.miller@dowjones.com
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