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	Full Disclosure The Times March 20, 2010 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article7069181.ece The Roman Catholic Church must confront its failings with contrition For Roman Catholics across the world, the Pope’s pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland, published today, will make painful reading. The pontiff is expected to acknowledge, with shame and contrition, the paedophile scandals that caused such consternation in Ireland and have now spread to Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the Pope’s native Germany. Though addressed to Ireland, the letter will be seen as the Vatican’s response to the most serious challenge to the Church’s global authority and moral standing for generations. Unless the Pope can convince believers and critics that he is ready to uncover the shameful secrets, dismiss all those tainted by the scandals and take effective steps to guard against future child abuse within the Church, his pontificate may be fatally compromised. The Pope’s own revulsion at what has been going on for decades is not in doubt. In 2001, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he ordered bishops to report abuse cases to the Vatican and remove abusers from contact with youth. As Pope, he has repeatedly apologised for the “heinous crime” of child abuse in the United States, where the scandal has forced the Church to pay millions of dollars in compensation. He has met some of the victims, as well as the leadership of the Irish Catholic Church, rebuking them and urging them to restore the Church’s moral credibility. His pastoral letter is expected to go farther than any other pronouncement in denouncing the “hateful behaviour” of some priests and urging repentance, healing and renewal. But it will take more than a letter to halt the damage inflicted by the wave of accusations of past abuses. With its hierarchical structure, obedience to priestly authority and faith — too often blind faith — in the probity of its institutions, the Church regrettably has seen its own independence and reputation as more important than the need to expose wrongdoing. The Vatican must now insist on full disclosure of all the allegations and acknowledgment of the past failure of its own leadership, including that of the Pope himself, as Archbishop of Munich, to report abuses to the police or dismiss suspected paedophiles. Pope Benedict should ensure that Cardinal Sean Brady, the head of the Irish Church who has refused to resign over the mishandling of a serial abuser and his attempt to enforce a secrecy agreement on child victims, should leave his post forthwith. He should also demand that Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Archbishop of Boston, quit his haven in the Vatican and return to the United States to face legal proceedings. The perception of ecclesiastical impunity, the drip-drip of revelations and the clumsy attempts at cover-ups are inflicting as much damage on Catholicism as the sale of indulgences and venal pursuits of the clergy in the 15th century. It must stop now. The pontiff would strengthen, rather than weaken, his authority if he acceded to the demand from the Archbishop of Austria for an open discussion of celibacy. There is no proven link between such a rule and the incidence of child abuse; but neither is it clear that celibacy is the only way for a priest to move closer to God. Moral questions have too often been quashed by insistence on traditional doctrine. That doctrine has left the Church adrift in the current storm. Repentance and renewal, at all levels, are essential if the Church is to regain respect.
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