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  Papal Preacher Suggests Scandal Coverage Is Anti-catholic, Compares It to Anti-semitism

By David Gibson
Politics Daily
April 2, 2010

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/02/papal-preacher-suggests-scandal-coverage-is-anti-catholic-compa/



In a potentially explosive Good Friday sermon to Pope Benedict XVI and Vatican officials, the pontiff's personal preacher compared media coverage of the clergy sexual abuse scandals that have rocked the church to the "collective violence" against the Jews.

The homily was delivered in St. Peter's Basilica by Father Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan tasked with delivering reflections to the pope and his aides during Lent and Advent. It represents a serious escalation in the Vatican's increasingly tough campaign against the media for what it claims are false or exaggerated reports about the church and the track record of the pope himself -- reports many church leaders say are motivated by an animus against Catholicism and Benedict.

But by invoking anti-Semitism as an analogy to the travails of the pope, Cantalamessa also risked angering the world Jewish community, which has already had frequent differences with Benedict XVI.

In his sermon -- which was largely devoted to decrying domestic violence by men against women -- Cantalamessa explained that he thought of the Jewish analogy because the celebrations of Easter and Passover overlap this year.

"They [the Jews] know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," he said.

Cantalamessa then quoted from what he said was a letter from an unnamed Jewish friend:

"I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole word," he quoted the friend as writing. "The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."

Such a comparison, even if prompted by a letter from a Jewish friend, is bound to raise tensions on many fronts.

David Clohessy, spokesman for SNAP, a leading advocacy group for victims of clergy abuse, told The New York Times that comparing criticism of the church to persecution of the Jews was "breathtakingly callous and misguided."

"Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims," he said. "And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be."

Jewish leaders were no more pleased than Clohessy.

"The collective violence against the Jews resulted in the death of 6 million, while the collective violence spoken of here has not led to murder and destruction, but perhaps character assault," Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, U.S. director of interreligious relations for the American Jewish Committee, told The Associated Press. Greenbaum called Cantalamessa's comments "an unfortunate use of language."

Moreover, Good Friday is associated with some the most virulent episodes of Christian anti-Semitism in history. Good Friday recalls the events of Jesus' trial, torture, and death by crucifixion -- a death that Christians blamed on Jews for much of the past 2,000 years. In Europe, Good Friday readings until 1958 were accompanied by prayers referring to the "perfidious Jews" and pleas for their conversion. The liturgy was often the spark for anti-Jewish pogroms and violence.

So for a preacher, especially in St. Peter's Basilica and in front of the pope, and on Good Friday, to compare media reports about child abuse to such a history is a risky proposition at best.

Benedict has already been engulfed in various disputes with the Jewish community. The German-born pope was raised under Nazism and was briefly drafted into the German army as a young teenager at the end of the war, though neither he nor his family held any sympathy for Hitler or the Nazis. But many Jewish leaders have been disappointed by the way Benedict has refused to engage the question of Christian complicity in Nazism and the Holocaust when he has met with Jewish groups. The pope instead has blamed "pagan" forces and "thugs" for imposing Nazism on Germans, and stresses that the church suffered as well as the Jews.

In January 2009, Benedict also rehabilitated several excommunicated bishops from an ultra-right wing schismatic group with a history of anti-Semitic pronouncements. One of the bishops, Richard Williamson, is an outright Holocaust denier.

Benedict has also sought to restore older church traditions that recall a time before the reforms of the 1960s and the church's firm rejection of anti-Semitism and any collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Jesus. One of those traditions was the old Latin liturgy that included problematic prayers about converting Jews; the pope later had the prayers amended somewhat, though many in the Jewish community remain unsatisfied.

It is unclear how much long term fallout will result from Friday's episode.

The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told The Times that Cantalamessa's sermon was not "an official statement" from the Vatican and that Benedict had no input on it. (The homily -- unofficial text here -- was printed in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper.)

Lombardi added that he did not think criticism of the church could be compared to anti-Semitism. "I don't think it's an appropriate comparison," he said. "That's why the letter should be read as a letter of solidarity by a Jew."

"It is not meant as an attack on the Jewish world, anything but," Lombardi added.

Still, it is obvious that Cantalamessa's homily will only fan the flames of the very story that the Vatican dislikes so much.

For some of Benedict's defenders, that may be welcome. Top church leaders in the past week have taken an increasingly sharp tone against the media, especially The New York Times, which has recounted in detail the cases in which Benedict, when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, did not seem to take a strong hand in overseeing or reining in abusive priests when he could have.

At his Palm Sunday sermon in New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan compared the pope to Jesus suffering the torments and tortures of Good Friday, while other prelates around the world have accused the media of having a "vile intent" with their campaign, and worse.

But reports continued to emerge showing Cardinal Ratzinger was not as responsive to abuse claims as his defenders say.

On Friday, The Associated Press reported on a priest from the Tuscon diocese whose case was before Ratzinger for 12 years before the priest was defrocked, despite repeated pleas from the bishop of Tuscon that Ratzinger take action.

 
 

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