Honeymoon over ? Pope Ok’s Breast Feeding; but Bishop Child Abuse?

By Jerry Slevin
Christian Catholicism
January 13, 2014

http://christiancatholicism.com/honeymoon-over-pope-oks-breast-feeding-but-bishop-child-abuse/

Pope Francis may be spinning around St. Peter’s in his old Ford sedan, but the wheels seem to be coming off the Vatican’s media spin machine. Informed Vatican journalists seem to be signaling that Francis’ media honeymoon may be ending. The focus has been until now often on engineered photo ops and slick sound bites orchestrated by the papal media handlers. More frequent substantive reporting may be returning, it appears.

A major current challenge for the Vatican appears to be to advance favorably the April canonization of the Polish Pope, John Paul II, while containing two significant controversies relevant to the Polish Pope. One involves the unresolved scandals of John Paul’s protected contributor, Fr. Maciel, and Maciel’s yet unreformed, and perhaps unreformable, money machine, the Legion of Christ; and the other involves two Polish clerics accused of child abuse in the Dominican Republic .

Francis’ approach to these scandals is quite important because they cannot be handled merely by spin tactics and pious platitudes. They require Francis to show his hand, especially on clerical child abuse, which he has seemingly endeavored mostly to sidestep so far.

The papal spin machine is, of course, still trying to focus more on diversionary and ”children friendly” stories like Francis’ recent endorsement of breast feeding in the Sistine Chapel. This likely would have shocked Michelangelo, but would have been well appreciated by his politically more informed contemporary, Machiavelli. The almost always supportive Catholic News Service carried the mothers’ milk story, unadulterated; see:

[National Catholic Reporter]

The generally more substantive AP reporters, including Rome based Nicole Winfield, have instead honed in more on the apparent efforts of the Vatican to try to avoid stories that may cast a shadow over the soon to be canonized John Paul II, namely, the Maciel scandal and the alleged Polish clerical child abusers.

One of the two accused Polish clerics had been ordained as a priest and bishop by John Paul. He is Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, the former papal ambassador to the Dominican Republic removed suddenly by the Vatican in August in the wake of child sex abuse allegations. He is apparently being kept out of sight in Rome . Weslowski has served as a Vatican diplomat for over a decade, initially under then Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano, another apparent protector of Fr. Maciel.

The AP’s recent update on the Maciel scandal is at:

[link]

The AP’s recent update on the alleged Polish clerical child abusers is at:

[link]

Recent news reports indicated that the Vatican had refused a Polish request to extradite the Polish Archbishop. A Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, recently noted that there has been no extradition request and that the Vatican is ready to “collaborate” with investigations both in Poland and in the Dominican Republic. Almost six months after Wesolowski fled to Rome, collaboration appears to have been thin so far, if any has even occurred.

Lombardi added that Wesolowski is facing a canonical investigation by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which could lead to his laicization as a priest and bishop, and possibly to a criminal investigation by the Vatican’s own criminal court. Back in July, perhaps with Wesolowski in view, Francis issued a ruling that extended the jurisdiction of the Vatican’s limited criminal court in sex abuses cases to papal diplomats.

John Allen, a prominent Vatican commentator for CNN, current Vatican reporter for the independent National Catholic Reporter and soon to be Boston Globe associate editor, favorably and surprisingly observed recently about this seeming Vatican evasionary cover-up, “While it’s too early to say how this process may play out, should it end in Francis putting an archbishop behind bars, it would be seen by most observers as a clear signal that this pope means business on the sex abuse front”. Given Francis prior record in Argentina, there appears to be little or no prospect the Polish Archbishop will end up behind bars.

John Allen. of course, is not a lawyer. His seeming acceptance of purported Vatican efforts to self-police accused bishops borders on the ridiculous, especially given the Vatican’s failures to date. The Vatican has neither the resources nor the expertise to investigate multiple child abuse allegations in a foreign country. It is also clearly conflicted, if not patently biased. It is investigating itself, with Pope Francis as judge, jury and lawmaker. Laicization is an inadequate penalty for child abuse.

Francis fails to appreciate, it appears, that the rest of the world’s judicial systems have long since mostly rejected as woefully inadequate such an absolute monarchy approach to law enforcement.

The subtle influence of Cardinal Sodano may be operative here. Investigative reporter, Jason Berry, following his thorough and reliable reporting on Fr. Maciel’s ties to Vatican officials, especially Sodano, had argued strongly when the ex-Pope resigned last year, that Sodano be replaced. Obviously, Sodano was retained and oversaw the election of Francis. For Berry’s statement. please see:

[link]

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Moreover, Francis’s curial cardinal appointments suggest Cardinal Sodano’s and the ex-Pope’s continuing strong influence. Three long time Sodano proteges ( Archbishops Parolin, Baldisseri and Stella) and the ex-Pope’s long time protege, Archbishop Muller, head of the fundamentally flawed child protection department, the CDF. Add this to Francis’ decision to protect the Polish Archbishop, another Sodano protege, from answering for alleged crimes against children as Papal Nuncio in the Dominican Republic. The continuation of Cardinal Levada, another protege of the ex-Pope and Muller’s predecessor as purported “child protector”, on the key Commission on Bishops is just more of the same.

It is becoming clearer that Sodano’s 2010 “petty gossip” approach to minimizing the sexual abuse of children, even by Vatican officials like a Nuncio, is guiding Francis. This is even worse than the two prior popes’ protection of Cardinal Law was, since Law had not been accused of abusing children personally.

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This stonewalling strategy cannot and will not work. It suggests Francis is just a “subject changer” who will not fundamentally reform the Vatican. Meanwhile, Francis slips past key challenges like women’s equality, divorced Catholics’ treatment and contraception by carefully scripted metaphors, photo ops and sound bites with the help of his Opus Dei ex-FOX TV News’ spinner.

Pope Francis is following the failed path of the ex-Pope who had been warned in 2010 not to follow the “petty gossip” approach. See the still relevant and unheeded 2010 Washington Post advice to the ex-Pope based on a suggestion of another experienced Jesuit, “Pope Should Endorse Independent Investigation”, at:

[link]

Catholics have watched too many papal evasions over the last half century. Now Catholics must consider using their democratic power to get their governments to compel the Vatican to obey child protection laws, as these governments are already compelling the Vatican to obey financial transparency laws. Australia has already begun and the USA may not be far behind.

Since the Fourth Century, external political pressure was usually the main force behind Vatican reform. That will soon happen again.

Child protection is the top priority for Catholics. If Catholics cannot trust their hierarchy to protect children from some in the hierarchy and their agents, how can they trust them on any other matter? And why should they?

The legal investigations into priest child abuse and bishops’ cover-ups are gathering steam worldwide, e.g., in the UK/Northern Ireland, Australia, Minnesota, St. Louis, Chicago, et al. Moreover, Minneapolis’ Archbishop Nienstedt and former vicar general, Fr. Kevin McDonough, are scheduled to be deposed under oath later this month by the key abuse survivors’ lawyer, Jeff Anderson. As a lawyer myself, it is almost incredible that Francis appears still to think he can try to curtail this scandal by attempting to bring prosecutions in house. If anything, such efforts just fuel the suspicions of many that the Vatican’s long standing cover-up is continuing.

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As the People of God, it is the world’s Catholics’ Church as well. It is not merely the private property of a a group of aged celibate men focused too often on protecting their power and wealth, without accountability to any independent oversight, even for unspeakable violations of defenseless children.