BishopAccountability.org
	Now That Winter Is Approaching By Fr. Joe Borg Times of Malta March 17, 2010 http://www.timesofmalta.com/blogs/view/20100317/fr-joe-borg/now-that-winter-is-approaching Some media pundits want to go for the jugular. They want to link the Pope with the child abuse scandals being revealed in Germany. The London Times headlined its story: "Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry." When referring to the case of Fr Hullerman, the New York Times reported that: "The future pope approved his transfer to Munich." That sentence is grossly misleading; the Times neglects to add the crucial fact that Cardinal Ratzinger approved the accused priest's entry into a counselling programme in Munich; he did not approve him for a parish assignment. Father Hullerman was given a parish assignment in September 1982-- 7 months after Cardinal Ratzinger resigned his post as Archbishop of Munich, having taken up his new responsibilities as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Such an attitude by section of the media is unfair, unjust and shows a lack of respect for the truth. However, this attitude does not diminish one iota from the gravity of the situation. Up until now the child abuse scandals were mainly reported in the Anglo Saxon world. Some church people found comfort in the conspiracy theory that this happened because of the presence of Free Masonry in this part of the world. This could have been the case, though it had never been proven. Now similar cases of child sexual abuse are being prominently reported in Germany (there were over 300 reports of alleged abuse), Austria, Holland (over 350 complaints were made in the last few days) and Spain. What will the conspiracy theorists now say? The situation is serious enough to predict a metaphorically cold winter for the Catholic Church in Europe. The Malta connection The attitude that the Church officially takes on the most grave issue was very well explained by our Maltese compatriot, Mgr Charles J Scicluna, a prominent official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which, among other things, deals with such matters. I will quote extensively from an interview Mgr Scicluna gave the Catholic Italian newspaper "Avvenire". Question: Monsignor, you have the reputation of being "tough", yet the Catholic Church is systematically accused of being accommodating towards "paedophile priests". Answer: It may be that in the past - perhaps also out of a misdirected desire to protect the good name of the institution - some bishops were, in practice, too indulgent towards this sad phenomenon. And I say in practice because, in principle, the condemnation of this kind of crime has always been firm and unequivocal. Q: Norms which, however, recommended secrecy... (The paper refers to the 1962 norms). A: A poor English translation of that text has led people to think that the Holy See imposed secrecy in order to hide the facts. But this was not so. Secrecy during the investigative phase served to protect the good name of all the people involved; first and foremost, the victims themselves, then the accused priests who have the right - as everyone does - to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The Church does not like showcase justice. Norms on sexual abuse have never been understood as a ban on denouncing the crimes to the civil authorities. Q: How many have you dealt with so far? A: Overall in the last nine years (2001-2010) we have considered accusations concerning around three thousand cases of diocesan and religious priests, which refer to crimes committed over the last fifty years. Q: That is, then, three thousand cases of paedophile priests? A: No, it is not correct to say that. We can say that about sixty percent of the cases chiefly involved sexual attraction towards adolescents of the same sex, another thirty percent involved heterosexual relations, and the remaining ten percent were cases of paedophilia in the true sense of the term; that is, based on sexual attraction towards prepubescent children. The cases of priests accused of paedophilia in the true sense have been about three hundred in nine years. Please don't misunderstand me, these are of course too many, but it must be recognised that the phenomenon is not as widespread as has been believed. Q: The accused, then, are three thousand. How many have been tried and condemned? A: Currently we can say that a full trial, penal or administrative, has taken place in twenty percent of cases, normally celebrated in the diocese of origin - always under our supervision - and only very rarely here in Rome. We do this also in order to speed up the process. In sixty percent of cases there has been no trial, above all because of the advanced age of the accused, but administrative and disciplinary provisions have been issued against them, such as the obligation not to celebrate Mass with the faithful, not to hear confession, and to live a retired life of prayer. It must be made absolutely clear that in these cases, some of which are particularly sensational and have caught the attention of the media, no absolution has taken place. It's true that there has been no formal condemnation, but if a person is obliged to a life of silence and prayer, then there must be a reason... Q: That still leaves twenty percent of cases... A: We can say that in ten percent of cases, the particularly serious ones in which the proof is overwhelming, the Holy Father has assumed the painful responsibility of authorising a decree of dismissal from the clerical state. This is a very serious but inevitable provision, taken though administrative channels. In the remaining ten percent of cases, it was the accused priests themselves who requested dispensation from the obligations deriving from the priesthood, requests which were promptly accepted. Those involved in these latter cases were priests found in possession of paedophile pornographic material and, for this reason, condemned by the civil authorities. Q: Where do these three thousand cases come from? A: Mostly from the United States which, in the years 2003-2004, represented around eighty percent of total cases. In 2009 the United States "share" had dropped to around twenty-five percent of the 223 cases reported from all over the world. Over recent years (2007-2009), the annual average of cases reported to the Congregation from around the world has been two hundred and fifty. Many countries report only one or two cases. There is, then, a growing diversity and number of countries of origin of cases, but the phenomenon itself is much reduced. It must, in fact, be borne in mind that the overall number of diocesan and religious priests in the world is four hundred thousand, although this statistic does not correspond to the perception that is created when these sad cases occupy the front pages of the newspapers. Q: A recurring accusation made against the ecclesiastical hierarchy is that of not reporting to the civil authorities when crimes of paedophilia come to their attention. A: In some English-speaking countries, but also in France, if bishops become aware of crimes committed by their priests outside the sacramental seal of Confession, they are obliged to report them to the judicial authorities. This is an onerous duty because the bishops are forced to make a gesture comparable to that of a father denouncing his own son. Nonetheless, our guidance in these cases is to respect the law. Q: And what about countries where bishops do not have this legal obligation? A: In these cases we do not force bishops to denounce their own priests, but encourage them to contact the victims and invite them to denounce the priests by whom they have been abused. Furthermore, we invite the bishops to give all spiritual - and not only spiritual - assistance to those victims. In a recent case concerning a priest condemned by a civil tribunal in Italy, it was precisely this Congregation that suggested to the plaintiffs, who had turned to us for a canonical trial, that they involve the civil authorities in the interests of victims and to avoid other crimes. Q: A final question: is there any statue of limitation for "delicta graviora"? A: Here you touch upon what, in my view, is a sensitive point. In the past, that is before 1889, the statue of limitations was something unknown in canon law. For the most serious crimes, it was only with the 2001 "Motu Proprio" that a statute of limitations of ten years was introduced. In accordance with these norms in cases of sexual abuse, the ten years begin from the day on which the minor reaches the age of eighteen. Q: Is that enough? A: Practice has shown that the limit of ten years is not enough in this kind of case, in which it would be better to return to the earlier system of "delicta graviora" not being subject to the statue of limitations. On 7 November 2002, Venerable Servant of God John Paul II granted this dicastery the power to revoke that statue of limitations, case by case following a reasoned request from individual bishops. And this revocation is normally granted.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.