Do Not Hold Your Breath for Change Within the Vatican

Telegraph
February 5, 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/10620067/Do-not-hold-your-breath-for-change-within-the-Vatican.html

Despite the Vatican’s assurances that it is doing all it can to crack down on predatory priests, there is a grudging realisation that the issue remains a public relations disaster

The Vatican may have come in for an unprecedented roasting by the UN committee in Geneva, but don’t hold your breath for concrete action to be taken any time soon, writes Nick Squires

That is not only because the Holy See moves with glacial slowness but because Vatican officials continue to believe that they have already taken adequate measures to address the scourge of child sex abuse by clergy.

They point out that Pope Francis announced in December that he would form a special commission to address the issue, although victims’ groups quickly described the initiative as “meaningless” and “like offering a Band Aid to a cancer patient.”

Vatican officials also insist that the Catholic Church has been unfairly singled out for criticism on the issue.

“Things have changed drastically and most dioceses now have new rules” for dealing with priests suspected of molesting children, a Vatican insider said.

“There are priests who have been thrown out just for sending an SMS to a girl. The progress made has been enormous.”

The UN report was full of “spite” and an ideologically-driven attempt to “bash the Church”, he said.

Despite the Vatican’s assurances that it is doing all it can to crack down on predatory priests, there is a grudging realisation that the issue remains a public relations disaster and that Pope Francis will be judged for his ability to deal with it.

The honeymoon period that he has enjoyed since he was elected in a secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel last March shows no signs of abating.

He has appeared on the cover of Time and Rolling Stone magazines, received a rapturous reception from millions of young Catholics on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro during his visit to Brazil last year, and received plaudits for a no-nonsense, down-to-earth approach.

But for many critics, the sex abuse scandals and the Church’s dogged attempts to protect priests remain a cancer at the heart of the Church which must be addressed if the South American Pope is to maintain his popularity and credibility.

“He's getting a wonderful press at the moment, but the reality is that we haven't seen anything that is any change from the previous regime, apart from the smiling face," Keith Porteous-Wood, the executive director of the National Secular Society, said last month when Vatican officials were grilled by the UN panel.

As scathing as it was, the UN committee’s recommendations are not binding and it has no ability to sanction the Vatican, although it said it would review its progress when the Holy See submits its next report, in Sept 2017.

The best that campaigners can hope for is that the report shames the Vatican into action.

But the prospect of the secretive Congregation for the Doctine of the Faith, the department responsible for investigating these crimes, opening up its files on abusive priests remains extremely remote.

“We’re not going to go on a fishing expedition,” said the insider. “The documents will not be handed over.”