Is Bishop Scicluna Really a “hero”, John Allen?

By Jerry Slevin
Christian Catholicism
March 2, 2015

http://christiancatholicism.com/is-bishop-scicluna-really-a-hero-john-allen-2/

A Maltese journalist, seemingly seeking to endear himself to the new Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna, conveniently cites the Boston Globe’s John Allen, observing: “One of journalism’s most prolific of Vatican insiders and the leading American authority on the Holy See, John L. Allen, has dubbed Malta’s new archbishop a Catholic “hero” for his role in successful prosecutions of clerical sex abusers.

The Maltese journalist continues his cite of Allen: “For years serving by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Scicluna, 55, spent 10 years handling accusations of clerical sex abuse, gaining a reputation for treating victims with compassion and respect, and for insisting church officials respond to allegations clearly … His leadership on the church’s effort to recover from its child sexual abuse scandals, especially his role in the prosecution of the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, have made him a hero to reformers everywhere. His appointment will thus be taken not only as an important moment for Malta, but also a sign that good guys don’t always finish last!” . (emphasis mine)

Of course, John Allen has made a nice living, it appears, increasingly as the US “spinmeister of choice” for the Vatican and its wealthy allies. But can Allen be taken seriously here in his “over the top praise” of Scicluna, who perhaps more than any other Vatican bureaucrat appears to have facilitated the Vatican’s evident priest abuse cover-up strategy for years. Scicluna’s rewards for this troubling behavior were promotions to senior episcopal positions from all indications.

Sadly, in a gathering of “moral midgets” that the Vatican’s priest child abuse cover-up team seems to represent, even a short guy like Scicluna may seem a giant. But let’s be honest, please.

Scicluna’s latest promotion appears to be just more of the same decades’ old cover up strategy. Pope Francis, a reportedly very hands on manager, apparently selected recently the members of his advisory sex abuse commission to deal, slowly it seems, with his biggest challenge, the scandal of sexual predatory priests and their unaccountable bishop accomplices.

The pope has been facing for some time building governmental pressure in Australia. He now faces it in the UK as well (as reported here, [Mirror] and here, [BBC News]), and will probably face it in the USA soon enough. Francis selected two well respected priest abuse survivors as commission members. After their initial commission meeting recently, these two survivors both reportedly stated that, in their view, the Vatican has a year or two at most to implement child protection policies with teeth, otherwise they will leave, that is, they would resign from the commission.

Their empty public resignation threats after two years clearly suggest they have seen enough already. They must have serious reservations about the commission, which has done so little now after two years into Pope Francis’ papacy.

Francis and his commission staff have generally stalled for two years until now, intentionally, it seems. They now will have two more years to “study” — likely then a full four years to change nothing of substance. Meanwhile, Pope Francis continues to honor disgraced Cardinals, including Pell, Law, Rigali, Brady, Mahony, and Danneels, who have poor records on dealing with priest sexual abuse.

Pope Francis will probably retire in two years at 80 years old, having by then the all important 2016 US presidential elections behind him. His biggest fear, as best I can tell, has to be if either President Obama or, after 2016, another Democratic US President, Hillary Clinton, were to set up an Australian type institutional child sex abuse commission in the USA. Please see “Catholic Right Still Tied to Big-Money Republicans“, here, [Church and State]. Pope Francis’ new “go slow study commission” now gives him considerable ‘cover’ until after these very important US elections, with his hoped for new “allies”, likely Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz. Please see my “The Vatican’s Financial Reform: The Spin Is Back” here,

[christiancatholicism.com]

The pope’s commission staff, presumably under disgraced Boston Cardinal Law’s former canon lawyer, Fr. Robert Oliver, has reportedly split up the sex abuse commission’s subject matter assignments, which permits the staff to “cherrypick” assignments and assign “study group members”, etc. Incidentally, it is unlikely that the abuse survivor members had any real say on Fr. Oliver’s appointment.

The commission reportedly will now meet as a group only four times in the next two years, it appears. That is clearly inadequate to get real results, sooner rather than later, in my view in light of my extensive professional experience.

I am confident that the very brave survivor members of the pope’s commission are trying their best, but from my professional perspective, they both seem to be being exploited. They would have more impact, it appears to me, if they resigned now.

They are giving the commission by their presence a legitimacy the commission has not earned on its merits, and likely as currently structured never will earn. This can have serious negative repercussions for other abuse survivors worldwide, including quite desperate ones in bankrupt USA dioceses, especially Milwaukee and Minneapolis. Hopefully, other survivors are giving them their input directly. A lot is at stake for all of them with this commission.

Pope Francis has inexcusably to date failed to appoint to the commission respected canon lawyer, Tom Doyle, a Dominican priest in good standing and the world’s top expert on curtailing priest child abuse. Fr. Doyle and the pope both worked, at different times within a few years of each other, under the same Cardinal, Pio Laghi. Why is Tom Doyle being overlooked? What is the pope afraid of ?

If the pope were to appoint Tom Doyle now to the commission, as he easily could, that would make a huge difference, since the abuse survivor members, who reportedly know and respect Tom Doyle, would have the benefit of his unmatched experience and proven independence. Your move, Pope Francis!

And Cardinal O’Malley recently dared even to make some loose talk, likely for reporters’ benefit, about bishop accountabilty, after more than a decade of his secretively dealing with “bad bishops”, including Cardinal Law, Fr. Oliver’s old boss. Really! O’Malley is a master at kicking the can down the road.

And Pope Francis’ illusory sex abuse commission is now, in effect, being exposed as little more than another of the Vatican’s Machiavellian political ploys — a classic stall tactic in the form of an extremely unfocused, open ended, conflicted and understaffed “study commission”.

The Vatican has spent billions in self defense to protect unaccountable bishops, and shifted to other governments the multi-billion dollars costs to care for priest abuse survivors. Now, the Vatican pinches pennies on a study commission that will only meet in person twice a year, it appears. This seems to be a real and evident farce and an insult to hundreds of thousands of priest abuse survivors worldwide and to their loved ones, whose lives and families have often literally been destroyed by priest predators and unaccountable bishops who protected and still protect their clerical pals.

The Vatican appears to be trying instead to exploit courageous, but frustrated, abuse survivor commission members, using them as mere window dressing. This, while millions of cowardly Catholics worldwide shamefully temporize and continue, despite so many contrary facts, to offer excuses for the pope. I

Pre-Constantine (c. 325 A.D.), early Catholics, including laity and some women, oversaw transparently their religious leaders directly for three centuries. Catholics must do so again, soon! Who and/or what follows Pope Francis under his flawed top down all male strategy? Please see The Crisis Pope Francis Faces , “Pope Francis Is Still Failing Too Many Abused & Abandoned Children, No??” and Pope Francis vs. Shadow Pope Benedict — Who is Infallible .