AUSTRALIA
Canberra Times
September 30, 2013
Terry Fewtrell
It’s a simple proposition. There is no place in the list of Catholic saints for someone who gave succour to paedophiles. But that is what the Catholic Church seems determined to do with the mooted canonisation of former pope John Paul II.
It is not suggested that John Paul was a paedophile. Sadly, though, there is evidence that he harboured and effectively protected a serial offender. There is also good reason to claim that it was during his time as pontiff that paedophilia prospered, with accountability and management structures not only failing to act, but seemingly putting their main energies into protecting the institution and covering up the problems.
For a pope these amounted to monumental failures of duty, the cost of which is directly borne by the victims. They resulted in a perversion of the church’s role, a total negation of its mission and message. Apart from direct involvement in child abuse, which has not and is not here suggested, it is difficult to imagine a more grievous distortion or failure. On a purely organisational level it is likely that the church will struggle for generations to gain the faith and confidence of what is otherwise known as ”the faithful”.
The accusations against John Paul fall into two categories. The first relates to the notorious case of Father Marcial Maciel, the founder and promoter of a traditionalist order known as the Legionaries of Christ. For many years John Paul refused to listen to, or accept as worthy of investigation, repeated accusations against Maciel that he molested young men at his seminaries. John Paul not only turned his back on these allegations, but he also made Maciel an honoured person in the Vatican. He was a sort of protected species, untouchable.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.