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	The Vatican Have Supported 3,000 Claims from Victims of Paedophilia in the Last Decade Barcelona Reporter March 15, 2010 http://www.barcelonareporter.com/index.php?/news/comments/the_vatican_have_supported_3000_claims_from_victims_of_paedophilia_in_the_l/1503100611am EUROPE -- These cases amounted to 10 percent of the 3,000 complaints processed by the Vatican, which Scicluna has described as a small fraction of the 400,000 priests all over the world, covering crimes committed in the past 50 years. The Vatican have supported 3,000 claims from victims of paedophilia in the last decade The promoter of justice of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Charles J. Scicluna, said in an interview that allegations against priests involved in sexual abuse cases amounted to 3,000 in the last 10 years. The Maltese archbishop said the pope had taken the "painful responsibility" to personally decide the expulsion of these priests engaged in "particularly serious cases, with substantial evidence". These cases amounted to 10 percent of the 3,000 complaints processed by the Vatican, which Scicluna has described as a small fraction of the 400,000 priests all over the world, covering crimes committed in the past 50 years. The Maltese archbishop explained that if a priest is accused of a "delictum gravius" the Bishop of the diocese is required to investigate and then refer it to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which in 2003 and 2004 received a "avalanche of cases". Many were from the U.S. and referred to the past. In recent years, thank God, the phenomenon has been greatly reduced, said Scicluna. According to Scicluna, 60% of cases between 2001 and 2010 are "acts of 'ephebophilia', i.e. due to sexual attraction to adolescents of the same sex, the other 30% are heterosexual and the remaining 10 percent, paedophile acts true and proper, as defined by sexual attraction to prepubescent children. "The cases of priests accused of paedophilia are true and proper, then, about 300 in nine years. They are always too many, but we must recognize that the phenomenon is not as widespread as alleged," he said. Among these 3,000 cases of impeachment, 20% resulted in the development of a criminal or administrative process, while in 60%, especially "given the advanced age of the accused," said Scicluna, disciplinary rulest were applied. These statements to the newspaper 'Avvenire' are part of the campaign launched by the Vatican on Saturday in defence of Pope Benedict XVI, in dismissing suggestions that the pope had tried to cover up child sex abuse by priests in Germany. "It's pretty clear that in the last few days have been people who have been investigated with remarkable tenacity in Regensburg and Munich in search of elements to engage the Holy Father on the subject of abuse," said Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi on Vatican Radio. "To any objective observer, it is clear that such attempts have failed," he said. The former diocese of the Pope in Bavaria said Friday he was involved in a decision in 1980 to remove a priest who was suspected of child abuse. The pope-then Joseph Ratzinger, agreed jointly with the priest to come to therapy in a rectory in the diocese of Munich and Freising, where he was archbishop from 1977 to 1981. But instead of sending the priest to therapy as agreed, the then vicar general of the diocese, Gerhard Gruber, was assigned to a parish in Munich without any restrictions. Gruber took full responsibility for the decision, said the diocese. On Friday, the head of the German Catholic church briefed the press on the situation in Germany where there have been over 100 reports of abuse in Catholic institutions, including one that was tied the prestigious choir of Regensburg, led by the brother of the pope from 1964 to 1994. When Benedict was criticized for not having done more during his career to stop the abuses, the Irish bookmaker Paddy Power on Friday increased the chances of a waiver of Benedict XVI to 3 to 1 from 12 to 1, after a "cascade of bets". The Vatican has vigorously defended the Pope on Saturday with Lombardi's words accompanying a separate interview to the fiscal officer of the Holy See, or "promoter of justice." Monsignor Charles. J. Scicluna said the Italian bishops' newspaper Avvenire that accusations that the Pope had helped cover up abuse were "false and defamatory".
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