By Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican Insider
December 14, 2011
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/inquiries-and-interviews/detail/articolo/belgio-belgium-belgica-pedofilia-pedophilia-10776/
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| SNAP accuses the Church of offering |
In Belgium, the association of victims of clergy sexual abuse (SNAP) denounces the attempts made by the Catholic Church to conduct confidential negotiations to keep the paedophile priest scandal under wraps
“Money in exchange for silence.” In Belgium, the association of victims of clergy sexual abuse (SNAP) denounces “an attempt by the Catholic Church to hide its crimes through private negotiations.” In the 90s and in the following decade, the ecclesiastical hierarchy “conducted secret negotiations to pay for silencing the scandal of pedophile priests.”
As trials continue at the court of Ghent and “class action” is taken against the Holy See and the Church by a group of victims of paedophile priests in the form of a collective complaint, Catholic dioceses in the Country is running for cover and focusing on prevention: the seminarians will have to undergo psychological and behavioural tests and attend meetings with psychologists to reveal any paedophilic tendencies. The decision was taken by the Belgium episcopate to prevent the ordination of paedophiles.
Last June, the victims of paedophile priests in Belgium (the first case in Europe) took the Vatican to court. The petition also asked that the court call the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the country, from bishops to religious superiors, who six months ago admitted their “moral” responsibility and said they were ready to “compensate” the victims. The Pope, “appoints the bishops and has authority over them and this makes him responsible for their mistakes,” said Walter Van Steenbrugge, one of the lawyers of the almost eighty victims who decided to take legal action before the court of Ghent.
The scandal broke out after the former bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, admitted before the cameras that he had abused two of his grandchildren for years and had even played down the impact. His admission came months after he had resigned. The Belgian prosecutors are investigating hundreds of priests accused of sexual abuse on minors, for crimes which were often committed several years ago. The list has been rebuilt thanks to the information obtained from searches carried out in the Episcopal building of Malines and other offices in June 2010. Most of the clergy involved, live in the north, particularly in Flanders. Throughout Belgium there were nearly six hundred victims of paedophile priests, many of whom are already dead.
Recently, a special parliamentary investigative commission recommended finding a solution to compensate those victims whose cases have fallen under the statute of limitations. Civil justice is called upon to determine the type of compensation that can be recognized based on the damage suffered by the victims. “We are positive, but vigilant – explained the lawyer Christine Mousse, another lawyer of the victims - because the past teaches that the Church has used sabotage tactics. Every legal means will be used to prosecute the violation of human rights and the rights of children. After requests that came also from the parliamentary investigative commission, the bishops public stated their commitment to ensuring “that the victims are compensated and remedial measures taken for the suffering caused to them.”
The Belgian bishops also said they were “determined to restore dignity to the victims and provide financial compensation for their needs.” Two years ago during the investigation initiated by the magistracy, following the presentation of several alleged cases sexual abuse, the prosecutor in Brussels ordered a search of the archbishopric of Malines-Brussels, whose headquarters are located about twenty miles north of the capital. Archbishop Leonard, who is also Primate of Belgium, raised no objection, pointing out that the house of his predecessor, Cardinal Danneels, had also been searched and his computer taken. Immediately after, the Vatican summoned the Ambassador of Belgium to the Holy See requesting clarification for the search, especially for the inspection of the tombs of two deceased cardinals. And the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, caused an uproar by saying "there is no precedent of this kind even under the old communist regimes.”
Lieve Pellens, spokeswoman for the prosecutor, during a Chamber hearing before the Justice Committee, revealed that a hundred men with an average age of 49 years old reported abuse by priests. The youngest is 23 years old and the oldest 82. They decided to report abuse not for a desire for revenge, but to be recognized as victims, reported the spokesman. The Belgian Church had decided not to establish a commission to deal with cases of child abuse, after the resignation of President Adriaenssens. Following the searches in the archbishopric of Brussels, many of the nearly five hundred files kept by the committee established by the Church were made public, with the consent of the victims. Thirteen of them have committed suicide.
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