Before Election of Pope, Catholic Cardinals Want to Stop the Dysfunction Of…leaks

By Ralph De La Cruz
Dallas Morning News
March 5, 2013

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/03/before-election-of-pope-catholic-cardinals-want-to-stop-the-dysfunction-of-leaks.html/

Seeing the headline on the story about Cardinals meeting in preparation for electing a new Pope, I felt heartened:

“U.S.Cardinals seek answers on Vatican dysfunction.”

Seek answers…Vatican dysfunction…

YES!

Are church leaders finally confronting the pedophilia ugliness that has eaten away, like termites gnawing at a wooden floor, at the Roman Catholic Church’s moral authority for almost 30 years?

“…They want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave…”

Oh. They’re freaked about leaks.

Charges of sexually abusive priests go back to 1985. In 2001-2002, there was the ugliness of John J. Geoghan, a Boston priest accused of molesting more than 130 boys over three decades. This newspaper was at the forefront of reporting in 2002 when it published an exhaustive look at sexually abusive priests.

There were Scandals in Philadelphia, Dallas, Santa Fe, Kansas City, Los Angeles. In Germany, Austria, The Netherlands, Ireland, England. At one point, the man that the church assigned to investigate pedophile priests in England was arrested – for child porn.

It wasn’t until May, 2011 – 26 years after sex abuse charges surfaced in Louisiana– that the Vatican directed its bishops to make fighting sexual abuse of minors by clerics a priority.

But the pope’s butler steals some documents about corruption and cronyism in the church and leaks them to the press, and cardinals suddenly want to stop the dysfunction.

It’s like The Church of Richard Nixon.

A date has not been set for the conclave that will elect the new pope. But there are expectations it could begin next week, with the hope of installing a new pope before Easter.

The process, and the cardinals’ choice, will say much about whether the church is truly ready to move in a new direction or stay mired in the muck of indifference.