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  Meanwhile, the Cover-up Goes on at the Vatican

By Sinead O'Connor
The Washington Post
April 8, 2010

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/04/the_problem_with_the_vatican.html

The Vatican persists in treating us all like half-wits. Do we really believe that the senior priest who made the foolish remark about the Jewish people during a Papal mass did so without the sanction of the pope or Vatican hierarchs? The pope sat through the speech and did not stand up to object. The only reason the Vatican/pope distanced themselves from this remark was because it provoked such righteous outrage from the Jewish community.

It also is most sinister that the sacrament of mass is being used as a political platform, all over the world, including Ireland. It is disrespectful to use the mass as a platform for anything other than scriptures.

If the Pope/Vatican had a case to make in their defense, they should discuss all of these matters directly with the world's media and allow themselves to be questioned. Instead they refuse to put themselves in any situation where they can be questioned, and prefer to make statements, then slither back into silence. This craven behavior is because their case is utterly indefensible and they know it.

Their statements display a staggering, arrogant, and uncaring, and cowardly attitude toward the thousands of people who were sexually abused, and who had their abuse systematically covered up all over the world by employees of the pope. In his letter to the Irish church, the pope said the hierarchs had a "well intentioned" desire to protect the church when they covered up abuse and endangered thousands of children.

But there have been five reports published to the contrary: The Boston Report, The Philadelphia Report, The Ferns Report, The Ryan Report, and The Murphy Report. ANYONE, including the Pope/Vatican, who can suggest there is a "vile media campaign" against the Church must not have read those reports. All five reports conclude, independently, that employees of the Vatican acted, without exception, all over the world in the same disgraceful manner when handling complaints of abuse.

They transferred but didn't defrock priests who committed acts of abuse, as in the case of a brutal Irish priest who was sent the U.S, where he violently raped six children, threatening that he would murder them if they told anyone. They lied to psychologists who were trying to determine whether abusive priests were fit to continue ministry. They encouraged parents and victims not to go to the police. It is simply unbelievable that such uniform behavior was not the result of instructions from central command.

The Vatican and pope are relying on the fact that it is not commonly known that there was enough concern about abuse within the church that explicit instructions were issued to every bishop in the world in 1922 and again in 1962 to keep complete secrecy on abuse complaints. In Crimen Sollicitationis or "Crime of Solicitation," all complainants, who were in fact described in the instructions as "penitents", as well as all clergy receiving complaints, were to swear an oath of secrecy and be "restrained by perpetual silence." And having done so, the complainants were to be "dismissed". The text of the oath is as follows...

"I will never, directly or indirectly, by gesture, word, writing, or in any other way and under any pretext, EVEN THAT OF A GREATER GOOD OR OF A HIGHLY SERIOUS REASON, do anything against this fidelity to secrecy, unless special permission or dispensation is expressly granted to me by The Supreme Pontiff".

In 2001, Pope John Paul II placed Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) in charge of all abuse complaints and sent a letter of instructions to all bishops of the world, which confirms that Crimen Sollicitationis was the rule until May 2001. This letter, entitled "De delictis gravioribus," states that matters of abuse are to be dealt with "exclusively" within the church and are subject to "the pontifical secret", which means one can be excommunicated for discussing the matters outside of the church. The letter does say "co-operate with civil authorities," but the language suggests only if they come to you. It categorically does NOT say GO to the police.

In their defense, Church leaders also have argued -- insanely -- that clergy and others didn't know the extent or damage of child sex abuse, in or out of the church, in decades past. They also make the case that they weren't legally obliged to report such abuse back then. Regardless, they were morally obliged to report even just one case of child abuse. Wonder what they would have done if their own nieces and nephews were the ones being abused?

It seems to me, the pope should fire every living cleric who was involved either directly or indirectly in efforts to cover-up abuse. Not doing that send a very bad signal. It suggests that either he approves of what these people did, or that he cares more about the institution than the children, or that he fears what fired clergy might say about his role in all of this.

The Pope/ Vatican could restore his/their reputation by firing those clergy. As long as he doesn't, the cover-up continues. And the house of The Holy Spirit remains a haven for moral criminals.

Sinead O'Connor is a singer, musician and mother of four. She was ordained as a priest by a Catholic splinter group called the Latin Tridentine Church, taking the clerical name Mother Bernadette Maria.

 
 

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