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  Editorial: The Scandal Continues

Philadelphia Inquirer
March 27, 2010

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/89317492.html

The pope greeting the crowd at St. Peter's Square on Thursday.
Photo by Gregorio Borgia

The leaders of the Roman Catholic Church still do not seem to get it.

Despite a long and ugly list of sexual-abuse scandals that have cast the church in a harsh light, top officials continue to defend their actions to protect scores of pedophile priests. Two recent cases have made international news because they have raised questions about the role of Pope Benedict XVI.

One case involves a priest in Wisconsin accused of molesting more than 200 deaf boys in confessionals, dormitories, closets, and on field trips.

Before becoming pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for 24 years headed the Vatican office that decides whether accused priests should be given full canonical trials and defrocked.

Two Wisconsin bishops urged Cardinal Ratzinger's office to let them hold a trial of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy for his alleged abuse of the deaf boys. Eight months later, the second in command in Cardinal Ratzinger's office instructed the bishops to begin the secret trial that could lead to Murphy's being defrocked or dismissed.

Murphy then wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger arguing that he should not be put on trial because he had repented and was in poor health, and the church's statute of limitations had expired. Ratzinger's second in command then halted the trial.

Murphy died in 1998 at age 72. He was never punished by the church or prosecuted by legal authorities. Scores of deaf boys who are now grown men are still haunted by his disgusting acts.

Another scandal is unfolding in Germany that dates to when the pope was the archbishop of Munich. In 1980, the future pope led a meeting that approved the transfer of a pedophile priest who was later convicted of molesting boys in another parish.

The Vatican has strongly defended its handling of both cases and denounced the reports of the pope's role as a smear campaign.

Regardless of the extent of the pope's involvement, the latest cases are part of a broad pattern of abuse by priests and cover-ups by top church officials who for decades moved the predator priests from parish to parish.

Sadly, the sexual-abuse cases and cover-ups continue to undermine the good work of the large majority of priests and nuns in the church. The church has paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in legal settlements and taken some steps to resolve the issue and be more forthcoming. Often, those actions have come only as a result of civil lawsuits. For many, the resistance and cover-up by top officials have gutted the church's moral authority.

As in the Wisconsin and Germany cases, similar scandals have erupted in archdioceses throughout the United States, including here in Philadelphia. The same widespread abuse and cover-up recently was exposed in Ireland.

Despite the desire by church leaders and many loyal followers to move on, the problem is not going away until all of the pedophile priests are properly punished and top church officials are held accountable for their unfathomable role in any cover-up.

 
 

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