VATICAN CITY
BBC News
Gavin Hewitt
St Peter’s Square has become a kind of Coliseum. On every vantage point are the TV tents waiting for the games to begin.
Even non-Catholic countries cannot resist “lo spettacolo”, the secret ritual of choosing a new Pope. Meanwhile – based on very little – the betting agencies run their books on who will be the winner. …
Leaked dossier
The sex abuse scandal often overshadowed Benedict XVI’s papacy
The abuse scandal remains corrosive. The question is not just: “why were the allegations not investigated more rigorously?” The more disturbing question is: “why was there so much abuse?”
One figure caught my eye. An internal report in Germany implicated over 60 priests in more than 500 cases of sexual abuse. Across the world hundreds of priests must have faced or must be facing allegations. It raises questions of whether celibacy in the priesthood is working.
The chief prosecutor of sex abuse in the Church, Monsignor Charles Sicura, said: “This disease [abuse] affects all places and all society, but unfortunately our sin makes the news. Why does the sin of a priest create more fuss?” The reason is because the priesthood lays claim to trust and to a religious calling.
From leaks and interviews it is clear some cardinals want a more rigorous cleaning up of the abuse scandal.
Some have called for a frank discussion of a dossier which examined the leak of papers by the Pope’s butler.
There are all manner of allegations of improper behaviour by a group of priests within the Curia and of blackmail. There is tension inside the heart of the bureaucracy with some cardinals reportedly questioning how they can chose a new pope without knowing the truth behind the dossier.
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