Vatican Is Always Right -- or Wrong -- on Sex Abuse, by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA Today, January 19, 2011

Vatican Is Always Right -- or Wrong -- on Sex Abuse

By Cathy Lynn Grossman
USA Today
January 19, 2011

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/01/sex-abuse-vatican-pope-irish/1

On matters of dealing with the sexual abuse crisis, the Vatican is always right -- or always wrong.

Either Cardinals in Rome, the Vatican curia that assists and advises the pope in governing the worldwide Church, worked within the walls of faith and canon law to discipline abusive priests -- or the Vatican hid pedophiles and reinforced the idea that their rights superseded those of victims.

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Nearly 14 years before the corrosive extent of abuse of thousands of children in Irish Catholic institutions came to light, there was a Vatican letter to the Irish bishops telling them, in Vatican-canonical-speak to do... what?

Victims of abuse and Vatican critics, say the letter is a smoking gun, that it proves the Church schooled bishops not to report abuse to the police, leaving the vile practice inside the confines of canonical legalities.

Defenders of the Vatican curia say no, no. The letter was intended to tell bishops to be exacting in their dealings with abusive priests so they did not escape church punishment.

John Allen, blogging at National Catholic Reporter, lays out the history and the arguments.

Vatican spokesperson, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, said the letter correctly insists on the importance that canonical legislation be respected, precisely so that guilty parties not have a basis to appeal...

Except, of course, there was little to no church punishment. The Vatican office in charge of deal with abuse charges in 1997 was headed by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who once applauded a French prelate for refusing to cooperate in the legal prosecution of an abusive priest.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now known as Pope Benedict XVI, did not take over these dealings until 2001. Indeed, it was when Ratzinger took over the issuethat anything constructive began to happen to quell the crisis, argue his defenders.

Greg Erlandson, publisher of Our Sunday Visitor and co-author of a book on Benedict and the crisis, blogs that,

... Pope Benedict XVI himself has made clear, this protective response when confronted with allegations is untenable, and has indeed brought great disgrace on the Church. The Vatican's currently stated policy, which specifies that "civil law concerning reporting of crimes to the appropriate authorities should always be followed."