Spiegel
March 22, 2010
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,685003,00.html
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| In a pastoral letter, the pope expressed shame and remorse, admitted that church leaders had not dealt properly with abusers and called for forgiveness. |
Over the weekend, Pope Benedict XVI finally issued his letter of apology relating to the sexual abuse scandal in Ireland. German commentators welcome the move, but argue it is not enough. The pope, after all, still hasn't commented on the abuse scandal in his homeland.
On Sunday, the waiting for Ireland's Catholics came to an end. In a letter read aloud at weekend masses across the country, and handed out to churchgoers in printed form, Pope Benedict XVI expressed "shame and remorse" for the "sinful and criminal" sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic clergy in Ireland for decades.
Though highly anticipated, the apology was not well received. Many slammed the letter for not including a requirement that Cardinal Sean Brady, head of the Irish church, step down. Requirements that other church leaders be punished were likewise missed by victims groups. "It is one scandal on top of another," Hugh Keogh in Dublin told the New York Times. "I do not think we have seen the last of this."
In Germany, however, expectations that the pope might finally break his silence on the church abuse scandal that has shaken the country in recent weeks remain unfulfilled. Hundreds of people have come forward since the end of January with stories of sexual maltreatment perpetrated by priests and by teachers at Catholic boarding schools.
Of particular concern are allegations that the pope, back when he was the Bishop of Munich in the 1980s, knew of one particular abusive priest from Essen, who had forced a young boy to perform oral sex before being transferred to Munich. According to SPIEGEL information, the pope, then called Joseph Ratzinger, was aware of the church's decision not to turn the priest over to the police. Just weeks later, the abusive priest was once again working with children, a fact which Ratzinger may also have known about.
German commentators on Monday take a look at the pope's weekend letter and at the ongoing abuse scandal in Germany.
Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:
The pope "has done little to indicate the way forward for churches in Ireland or Germany, so that they may atone for past wrongs as well as avoid doing harm in the future. Nonetheless, the experiences of churches in North America and England provide a clear blueprint. It includes lessons regarding the standards for the training of priests; the necessity of breaking with the widespread past practice of showing more concern for the perpetrators than for the victims; and establishment of reporting centers that are institutionally independent of the church."
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