Cardinal Slip Condemned
By Itumeleng Mafisa
In the wake of the outrage sparked by a BBC interview in which Cardinal Wilfrid Napier reportedly said “paedophilia is an illness and not a criminal condition”, the Catholic Church in South Africa has condemned sexual and all other forms of abuse of children.
And on the day that newly appointed Pope Francis held his first public mass in Rome, the SA Catholic Bishops Conference’s (SACBC) President Stephen Brislin, admitted there were “failures on the part of the Church” in dealing with sexual abuse cases.
Napier who could not be reached for comment yesterday said on his Twitter account that he was quoted out of context.
“Clearly Stephen Nolan had another agenda when asking to talk about papal election,” the South African cardinal who was part of the conclave that elected the new pope, said.
A statement on the SACBC’s website stated: “We have learnt recently of the interview given by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier on BBC Radio 5. Regretfully, we have
not yet had the opportunity to listen to the interview or to read a transcript. We have not been able to contact the cardinal. It is therefore not possible to react to that interview,”
Brislin said the church was “well aware of the devastation caused by sexual and other abuse of minors, both for the victims and their families and condemns all abuse unreservedly”.
He said the SACBC “had a protocol in place in which we outline how any allegation of abuse is to be handled”.
“For centuries there has been a veil of silence in the world surrounding child abuse and it is only in recent years that the matter is receiving the attention itume it deserves,” he said.
Brislin added: “Paedophilia is de facto a criminal offence and we will comply with the legal requirements when such cases come to our attention. Perpetrators must take responsibility for their actions.
“Abuse of children is so widespread that there is an urgent need for a growth in knowledge and understanding of what causes an abuser to harm children, particularly when a perpetrator has himself/herself been a victim of abuse,” Brislin said.
Deborah Bernhardt, a Johannesburg forensic psychologist, said: “There has been little success in curing or dealing with or changing paedophilia.”
She agreed with Napier that most paedophiles were victims of paedophiles themselves but argued that priests with paedophiliac tendencies should be barred from continuing with their clerical duties immediately.
“The mindset of a perpetrator is so abnormal and they are so justified they have such a distorted belief system and they are really not that open to change.”
She said the success rate of rehabilitating paedophiles was “very minimal”.
“They cannot be cured or rehabilitated, they cannot be trusted. They are devious and abuse other innocent people and perpetuate a cycle of abuse,” Bernhardt said.
Sex abuse history
» Colm O’Gorman, 46, was allegedly abused by Father Sean Fortune in Ireland when he was 14. Fortune was charged with 66 counts of assault and rape. He killed himself before his trial in 1999
» In 2010, the Kenya Catholic Church investigated claims that three young men and a boy had been sexually abused by an Italian priest at a children’s home
» In 2002, the Vatican instituted reforms in the US by requiring background checks for all church employees who had contact with children
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