ABUSE TRACKER

CLEVELAND (OH)
The Plain Dealer

By Michael O’Malley, The Plain Dealer
on March 06, 2013

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Rev. Robert Marrone, who broke away from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland after Bishop Richard Lennon closed his downtown church in 2010, has been excommunicated, according to a statement issued by the diocese Tuesday.

Lennon said in the statement that Marrone violated terms of a leave of absence he had received from the diocese and that he refused to abandon a worship space he and his followers had set up outside the authority of the diocese.

“Father Marrone’s recent actions have been in direct defiance of the church’s teachings and authority,” Lennon said.

Marrone could not be reached for comment.

Frank Titus of Lyndhurst, a member of Marrone’s breakaway church said, “I’m certainly saddened by the bishop’s actions. But I’m not surprised . . . this is a disappointing and troubling development.”

Maronne and his congregation of more than 300 broke away from the diocese in August 2010, four months after Lennon closed their parish, St. Peter Catholic Church on Superior Avenue at East 17th Street.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Mirror

Alison Philipps

6 Mar 2013

He lost everything and for what? For breaking his vow of celibacy? No, because he was a hypocrite. And a nasty one, too

Keith O’Brien is today hiding in a safe house undoubtedly considering how his life has gone so wrong.

He’s lost his job as Britain’s top Catholic, he’ll soon lose his title of Cardinal, and he has lost the faith and respect of people in parishes all over the world.

And for what? For a drunken fumble with a young priest 30 years ago? For breaking his vow of celibacy?

No, I don’t really think so. He lost ­everything because he was a hypocrite. And a nasty one, too.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Wednesday 6 March 2013

TWO more of Scotland’s ageing bishops are expected to be stood down by the summer, as a leading Catholic voice has predicted the wake of the Cardinal Keith O’Brien scandal will be a priority for the next Pope.

Bishop of Motherwell Joe Devine and his counterpart in the Diocese of Galloway, John Cunningham, have submitted their resignations having both turned 75 in recent months but have been expected to hang on until replacements are found.

In the case of a former Glasgow archbishop this took three years.

However, the crisis following the revelations of Cardinal O’Brien’s “inappropriate behaviour” towards young priests in the 1980s and his subsequent admissions of sexual behaviour, on top of collapsing morale across the Catholic Church, are understood to have accelerated the need for change in Scotland.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

Joan McAlpine

IN a week which saw Cardinal Keith O’Brien apologise for his sexual conduct, Joan McAlpine says he will be suffering too.

LET he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Those were the words of Jesus to a baying crowd ready to execute an unfortunate woman for the “crime” of adultery.

They should be remembered before we hurl verbal rocks at Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

This is an old man who must be suffering.

His humiliation is of his own making. But that’s no excuse for wanton cruelty.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

FATHER John Robinson welcomed the shamed cardinal’s apology but said the Catholic Church should not now brush the scandal under the carpet.

THE first priest to criticise the Catholic Church in the wake of the Keith O’Brien scandal has called for the affair to signal a new beginning.

Father John Robinson welcomed the axed cardinal’s apology for sexual misconduct.

But he said it was wrong for Catholic leaders to now try to draw a line under the scandal.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mitteldeutsche-kirchenzeitungen

Im Gespräch: Ein evangelikaler Theologe und Kenner der römisch-katholischen Kirche zum zurückgetretenen Papst

Der scheidende Papst gilt vielen als rückständig und ­antiökumenisch, sein Jesus-Buch manchem Theologen als »peinliche Entgleisung« (Lüdemann). Im Interview mit dem Medienmagazin »pro« zeichnet der Vorsitzende der Theologischen Kommission der Weltweiten Evangelischen Allianz, Thomas Schirrmacher, ein differenzierteres Bild.

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DEUTSCHLAND
A Thin Red Line

Inzwischen vergeht kaum ein Monat, kaum eine Woche, ohne dass es Neues über den sexuellen Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche zu berichten gibt. Gerade in Deutschland sind derartige Vorfälle seit Jesuit Klaus Mertes, Rektor des Berliner Canisius-Kollegs, sich Anfang 2010 bei Opfern aus den 1970er und 1980er Jahren entschuldigte, ein Dauerthema. Aber auch zuvor bereits, nicht zuletzt durch die Aufdeckung des Boston Globe im Jahr 2002 von sexuellem Missbrauch und systematischer Vertuschung in der katholischen Kirche der USA. Vier Jahre später widmete sich Regisseurin Amy Berg in ihrer Dokumentation Deliver Us from Evil dem Thema anhand der Vorfälle um den katholischen Pater Oliver O’Grady.

Vor zwei Jahren berichtete Claudia Keller auf Zeit Online, dass allein 2006 „in den USA 714 glaubhafte Beschuldigungen gegen 448 Priester erhoben“ wurden [1]. Der in die USA emigrierte Ire Oliver O’Grady dürfte dazugehört haben. Im Jahr 1971 war er in die Vereinigten Staaten gekommen und in Kirchen und Gemeinden in Kalifornien als Priester tätig. 22 Jahre später wurde er in vier Fällen wegen Kindesmissbrauchs verurteilt und gab an, über zwei Dutzend Kinder in seiner Zeit als Priester vergewaltigt zu haben [2]. Ein Trauma, nicht nur für die Kinder, die als Erwachsene weiter von dem Missbrauch gebeutelt sind, sondern auch für ihre Eltern, die in ihrem religiösen Glauben ihre Kinder Pater O’Grady anvertrauten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Heise

Peter Bürger 05.03.2013

Viele Medien verbreiten vor der Papstwahl aberwitzige Personalkarusselle. Sinnvoller wäre es, zum Amtsverzicht von Benedikt XVI. und zum Chaos der Römischen Kirche unbequeme Fragen zu stellen

Die berühmten Bischöfe aus den ersten Jahrhunderten der Kirche, auch die Bischöfe von Rom, wurden von den Gläubigen gewählt. Bis heute ist bei jeder Weihe eines Priesters zwingend die Frage vorgeschrieben, ob denn auch das Volk befragt worden sei. Indessen wird das Volk in der lateinischen Kirche nie befragt, so dass schon die Klerikerweihe mit einer Lüge beginnt. Alle Kandidaten für Bischofsstühle, auch für den von Rom, gehen somit in nachapostolischer Betrachtung aus einer illegalen Hierarchie-Bildung hervor.

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ROME
CNN

By Richard Allen Greene and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
March 6, 2013

Rome (CNN) — A group representing survivors of sexual abuse by priests on Wednesday named a “Dirty Dozen” list of cardinals it said would be the worst candidates for pope based on their handling of child sex abuse claims.

Their presence on the list is based “on their actions and/or public comment about child sex abuse and cover up in the church,” the group said.

The list includes cardinals from several countries.

SNAP, the Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests, said as it released the list Wednesday that its accusations were based on press reports, legal filings and victims’ statements.

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MAINE
WCSH

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Catholic clergy across Maine are saying prayers for victims of past sexual abuse incidents in the church.

Wednesday has been designated as a day of prayer and penance in churches in the Maine Catholic diocese.

During Wednesday Masses, priests are being encouraged to say special prayers calling for the healing of abuse victims and the repentance and justice of abuse perpetrators, as well prayers for families and church clergy and staff. The largest Mass will be held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland.

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UNITED STATES
Religion Dispatches

By T.F. Charlton

I was not surprised when Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), the church group I grew up in as a teen and young adult, was served with a lawsuit this past October, alleging clergy cover-ups of sexual abuse.

Sadly, I was even less surprised when the suit was amended in January to include Covenant Life Church (CLC), the congregation I had attended for nine years, and to add new charges of physical and sexual abuse by pastors, as well as allegations of abuse on church property. From what I’d seen inside Sovereign Grace and Covenant Life from 1996–2005, the alleged abuse seemed almost predictable—the result of the group’s toxic teachings on parenting, gender, and sexuality.

Sovereign Grace is a U.S.-based church-planting network (they say “family”) of predominantly white, suburban, reformed evangelical congregations. C.J. Mahaney, the current president, and Larry Tomczak—today a pastor at Bethel World Outreach Church in Brentwood, Tennessee—co-founded the Gaithersburg, Maryland church that would become Covenant Life in 1977. It was the first in what would become a network of 91 churches across 25 states and 17 countries. And it would launch the careers of several conservative Christian activists, including Lou Engle, whose ministry The Call has played a significant role in exporting American religious homophobia to Uganda, as well as Che Ahn, president of the charismatic Harvest International Ministries. Both men were among Covenant Life’s early leaders.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

The following twelve papal candidates are the ones that we are most worried about becoming the next pope. These twelve were chosen based exclusively on their actions and/or public comments about child sex abuse and cover up in the church. Sources include mainstream media accounts, legal filings and victims’ experiences. The names are in no particular order.

1) Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera, Mexico

–He blamed the media for “attacks on the church,” alleging “over-reporting” of church sex cases.

[National Catholic Reporter]

–He claimed that there are no “documented” cases of abuse against minors in Mexico.

–He also repeatedly minimized and concealed multiple child sex abuse allegations against Fr. Nicholas Aguilar Rivera who traveled between his native Mexico and the Los Angeles archdiocese, molesting kids in both places. Aguilar Rivera’s current whereabouts are unknown.

2) Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Honduras

–He said much of the U.S. media was anti-Catholic and that the major networks and newspapers “made themselves protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution of the church.”

[Catholics News Service]

–He also opposes bishops turning allegations of clerical sexual abuse over to civil authorities for investigation and possible prosecution. “I would be willing to go to jail before harming one of my priests — I am not a policeman,” he said.

[BishopAccountability.org]

3) Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York

–In August of 2011, Dolan took minimal steps against Fr. Jamie Duenas, who repeatedly abused a teenage girl who worked for him and was arrested. Instead of helping the police or the victim, Dolan attacked the victim on his official website for going back to work after the first assault.

[New York archdiocese blog]

–That same year, Dolan kept silent for nine months about the case of Brother Lawrence Gordon, an assistant principal who had child porn on his computer. Such delays and secrecy give predators ample time to potentially destroy evidence, intimidate victims, discredit witnesses, threaten whistleblowers, and fabricate alibis.

[New York Post]

[Wall Street Journal]

–Internal church documents released by a judge last summer show that Dolan devised a secret plan to pay pedophile priests $20,000 each to quietly leave the ministry. Some of the clerics went elsewhere, but Dolan warned no one. At least 12 priests are known to have gotten payouts.

[New York Times]

–In 2007, Dolan publicly and vehemently denied paying off offender priests after it was discovered that one notorious priest child sex offender, Fr Franklyn Becker, was given money.

[NY1]

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WORCESTER (MA)
Republican

By Kevin Koczwara, MassLive.com
on March 05, 2013

WORCESTER — The Vatican has defrocked three priests from the Worcester Diocese who were accused of sexual abuse.

Rev. Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, announced today that David Blizard, Thomas Kane, and Robert Shauris are no longer in the clerical state.. Pope Benedict XVI accepted the voluntary laicizations of Thomas Kane and Robert Shauris prior to his resignation as the Roman Pontiff. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made the decision in the case of David Blizard.

As a result of the laicizations, the three men may no longer function in any capacity as priests.

According to a Diocese of Worcester press release, the decisions were reached by late 2012. Formal announcement waited until the period for any individual appeals was concluded.

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ROME
Big Pond News (Australia)

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Advocates for victims of clerical sex abuse have asked three cardinals withdraw from the papal conclave.

Advocates for victims of clerical sex abuse in Chile, Mexico and Italy have asked for three cardinals to withdraw from the papal conclave, accusing them of covering up crimes.

The victims in Chile say Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz failed to act on accusations that they were abused by the Reverend Fernando Karadima, who was long one of the country’s most popular priests.

They say the cardinal, who will vote for the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, declined to carry out a probe and refused to even meet them.

‘My clients say it’s incongruent and disrespectful to all the victims, not only Karadima’s but those of other priests who abused minors when he was an archbishop,’ Juan Pablo Hermosilla, the victims’ lawyer told The Associated Press.

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WORCESTER (MA)
International Business Times

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | March 6, 2013

A priest blesses the coffin of Honda MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli during his funeral service at a church in Coriano October 27, 2011. Simoncelli, 24, was killed during the Grand Prix race at Sepang on October 23 when he lost control of his bike and was struck by fellow riders Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi.

Mr Kane and Mr Shauris voluntarily offered to “laicize” or defrock themselves, which now retired Pope Benedict XVI accepted and approved before his actual resignation took effect on Feb. 28. The Vatican’s Congregation of the Faith, meanwhile, decided to oust Mr Blizard from the priesthood.

Although all three have been removed from ministry for nearly two decades, it was only late last year that the Diocese of Worcester in Central Massachusetts decided to defrock the priests as the diocese had to entertain individual appeals made against the three in the course of investigation.

Mr Blizard was removed in 1988 from ministry work by Bishop Timothy Harrington when allegations of sexual abuse lodged against him, that occurred during the 1970s and 1980s, seemed credible. Mr Blizard became priest in 1974. He served in the parishes of St. Roch in Oxford, Our Lady Immaculate in Athol, Christ the King in Worcester and Holy Angels in Upton, all located in Central Massachusetts.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

[with photos]

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Vatican has “laicized” or defrocked three Central Massachusetts Roman Catholic priests who had been accused of sexual improprieties.

Bishop Robert J. McManus said that, as a result of the Vatican’s actions, David Blizard, Thomas Kane and Robert A. Shauris “are no longer in the clerical state.”

According to chancery officials, the Vatican’s Congregation of the Faith decided to oust Mr. Blizard from the priesthood. Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI, before stepping down as pontiff last Thursday, accepted the “voluntary laicizations” of Mr. Kane and Mr. Shauris.

Chancery officials said that the three men may no longer function in any capacity as priests.

The Vatican made the decision to strip the three men of the priesthood late last year but held off announcing anything until the period allowing for appeals expired.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 05, 2013

■Victims release “Dirty Dozen” list
■“None of them should be next pope,” they say
■All 12, from 10 nations, are considered ‘papabile’
■ Group blasts prelates “who pretend the worst is over”
■Scandal has yet to surface in most nations, victims contend
■It’s ‘shameless spin’ & ‘deliberate deception’ to claim otherwise,” they say

WHAT
Holding signs and childhood photos, at a news conference, clergy sex abuse victims will release a list of the 12 “worst” prelates who’ve been identified at likely papal candidates, based on their records in dealing with clergy sex crime and cover ups. They will also urge the College of Cardinals to

–elect no one on their list as the next pope, and

–stop pretending the crisis has abated, since it remains deeply hidden in the vast majority of nations (where most Catholics live), and has really only become widely known- and barely addressed – in the US about a decade ago and in a few European countries even more recently.

WHEN
TODAY, Wednesday, March 6 at 10:30 a.m.

WHO
Two leaders of an international support group for clergy sex abuse victims called SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, including the organization’s long-time executive director

WHERE
The Orange Hotel at 86 Via Crescenzio in Rome (+39 06 686 8969)

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WORCESTER (MA)
Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ray Delisle
508-791-5357

March 5, 2013, WORCESTER, MA — Following the Catholic Church’s commitment to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, Bishop of Worcester, has announced that David Blizard, Thomas Kane, and Robert Shauris are no longer in the clerical state. The Holy Father accepted the voluntary laicizations on the part of Thomas Kane and Robert Shauris prior to his resigning as the Roman Pontiff. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made the decision in the case of David Blizard. As a result of the laicizations, the three men may no longer function in any capacity as priests. Although the decisions were reached by late 2012, formal announcement waited until the period for any individual appeals was concluded.

I ask the Catholic community to join with me in prayer for healing for anyone who has been abused by these men or anyone in the Catholic Church,” said Bishop McManus. “Allow me to echo the poignant words of Cardinal Francis George at the meeting of Cardinals in Rome on Monday, that ‘The wound is still deep in their hearts, and as long as it’s with them it will be with us.’ May we never lose sight of this.”

Along with asking for prayers for healing for all those who have been harmed in any way by any member of the clergy, the bishop encourages anyone in need of pastoral assistance as a result of clerical abuse to contact the diocesan Victims Assistance Coordinator in the Office of Healing and Prevention by calling 508-929-4363.

David Blizard was removed from ministry in 1988 by Bishop Timothy Harrington following the determination of credible allegations of abuse having occurred in the 1970s and 80s. Blizard has not had faculties as a priest since 1988. He was ordained in 1974 and served in the following parishes: St. Roch, Oxford; Our Lady Immaculate, Athol; Christ the King, Worcester; Holy Angels, Upton. He was in residence in various parishes while assigned to the Catholic School Department from 1983 – 1988.

Thomas Kane was removed from ministry in 1993 by Bishop Timothy Harrington after learning of credible allegations of abuse which had occurred in the 1970s and he has not had faculties to serve in priestly ministry since 1993. Kane was ordained in 1969 and was resident in various parishes while continuing advance studies in psychology. These included St. Mary, Uxbridge, St Joan of Arc, Worcester followed by assignment to the House of Affirmation in Whitinsville. He was serving as an associate pastor at Sacred Heart in Gardner beginning in 1992 when he was placed on leave.

Robert Shauris was removed from ministry in 1995 by Bishop Daniel Reilly after learning of credible allegations of inappropriate behavior in the 1990s and subsequently learning of credible allegations of abuse dating to the 1970s and 1980s. Shauris has not had faculties to serve in priestly ministry since then. Shauris was ordained in 1974 and served as an associate at St. Mary, Uxbridge and was in residence at Immaculate Conception, Fitchburg, St. Anthony of Padua, Fitchburg, and Our Lady of Fatima, Worcester during teaching assignments at St. Bernard Central Catholic High School (CCHS), St. Peter-Marian CCHS and Anna Maria College.

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ROME
San Angelo Standard-Times

By Nicole Winfield Associated Press
Posted March 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY — The two American cardinals sat on the stage, microphones in hand, fielding questions from the world’s news media on everything from the delayed arrival of some of their colleagues to their own wardrobe choices if elected pope.

Most experts doubt the upcoming conclave will select an American pope, but the U.S. cardinals already are exerting a surprising amount of control over the message — simply by talking. Their lively daily briefings contrast sharply with the sober summaries from the Vatican spokesman and almost nothing from anyone else.

More than 100 journalists and two dozen television crews from the U.S., Britain, France, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Germany and Italy showed up Tuesday, packing an auditorium for what has become the daily “American Show” at the North American College, the U.S. seminary just up the hill from the Vatican.

Cardinals Daniel Di Nardo of Galveston-Houston and Sean O’Malley of Boston held court, gamely trying to answer questions about when the conclave will begin, why five voting-age cardinals still hadn’t shown up and whether they’d all be home in time for Holy Week.

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ROME
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

ERIC REGULY
ROME — The Globe and Mail

Published Tuesday, Mar. 05 2013

Rome is full of unusual sights as the machine to select the next pope rolls forward. Italians and 5,000 members of the media have seen gaggles of cardinals scurrying across St. Peter’s Square en route to pre-conclave meetings. They have seen the next pope’s fresh wardrobe – in three sizes, depending on his dimensions – on full display at an ecclesiastical tailor’s shop.

Perhaps the most unusual sight on Tuesday took place on the auditorium stage of the Pontifical North American College, on the leafy Janiculum Hill overlooking the Vatican. Seated next to one another were two live-wire American cardinals, Sean O’Malley of Boston and Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

Why was the event unusual? Because cardinals almost never talk to the press during the pre-conclave congregation meetings. Traditionally, selecting a pope is a highly secretive process. Details of who says what in the meetings, who is up and who is down, goes to the grave with them. Even talking in general terms about the conclave process is rare, or at least was until now.

Neither man looks remotely like a cardinal. Sporting a brown hooded robe and white rope belt, Cardinal O’Malley was dressed like a Franciscan. Cardinal DiNardo was all in black, like a simple, though elegant, priest. They were taking questions from the mob of reporters about the conclave process (though careful not to break their oaths of secrecy) and having fun.

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SCOTLAND
Scotsman

By STEPHEN MCGINTY
Published on Wednesday 6 March 2013

THE Catholic Church in Scotland arranged for a teenage victim of an abusive priest to be paid £200 and made him sign a legal document promising not to tell anyone.

“Sam Y” told The Scotsman he was made to feel that he was to blame for the assault by Father Desmond Lynagh, who had been moved by the Catholic Church from Blairs Seminary after he abused a 14-year-old to Stirling University, where he served as a chaplain.

Lynagh attempted to kiss and fondle the student while driving him home from a party in October 1983. After complaining to an Edinburgh priest, the 18-year-old student was taken to a meeting in a lawyer’s office in Glasgow, paid £200 for “travel expenses” and ordered by what he believes was a senior figure in the Catholic Church not to tell anyone about the assault.

Sam Y, who came forward after reading about the experiences of “Michael X” in The Scotsman, said he wanted to highlight how the Catholic Church in Scotland lied to him about Lynagh’s abusive past and attempted a cover-up.

He said: “A senior member of the Church told me a story that was utter fiction. The overwhelming thing that has eaten away at me for years and years is that the Church definitely knew about Lynagh at Blairs and, in the full knowledge of that information, they moved him to a university campus.”

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

Over 2,000 Cardinals and Bishops a half century ago decided overwhelmingly at the Second Vatican Council that the Catholic Church’s governance structure desperately needed reform, in particular, power sharing mechanisms. Their will was thwarted by an entrenched Vatican Curia, or papal court, that controlled subsequent Popes and sought to protect their turf against worldwide bishops. This undercutting of the Council’s original decision, which ex-Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, had strongly endorsed in 1965, that was intended to address the desperation of 1965 has directly led to the governance crisis of 2013 that hangs on a seemingly mythical “infallible thread”. By now, Cardinals must in their hearts and heads all know this firsthand, especially if they have become aware of the contents of the secret dossier on current Vatican scandals. What can and must the Cardinals now do?

Fortunately, two brief and pertinent resources are readily available to assist the Cardinals in their current deliberations. The first is a “blueprint” recently prepared by dozens of the world’s leading Catholic scholars and accessible by clicking on at:

[Church Authority]

The second resource is a 2008 column by an informed and dedicated Jesuit, UCBerkeley political scientist and author of the definitive works on current Vatican and episcopal governance, Thomas Reese. Fr. Reese offers some very pertinent proposals to reform Church governance that are accessible by clicking on here:

[Commonweal]

It is now or never, it appears, for the Cardinals. Intentionally or not, ex-Pope, Joseph Ratzinger, who earlier unfairly tried to silence some of the authors of these helpful remarks, has now, by his fateful de facto admission of failure, made their contributions to Church reform that much more relevant and urgent.

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CHILE
WRAL

By EVA VERGARA, Associated Press; LUIS ANDRES HENAO, Associated Press

SANTIAGO, Chile — Advocates for victims of clerical sex abuse in Chile, Mexico and Italy asked Tuesday for three cardinals to withdraw from the papal conclave, accusing them of covering up crimes.

The victims in Chile say Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz failed to act on accusations that they were abused by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was long one of the country’s most popular priests. They say the cardinal, who will vote for the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, declined to carry out a probe and refused to even meet them.

“My clients say it’s incongruent and disrespectful to all the victims, not only Karadima’s but those of other priests who abused minors when he was an archbishop,” Juan Pablo Hermosilla, the victims’ lawyer told The Associated Press.

“It’s evident that he had knowledge of the complaints of abuse, which other priests believed to be true, and he did nothing,” Hermosilla said. “He could have stopped this at the time, but for some reason he didn’t. He looked the other way.”

In Mexico, meanwhile, advocates for victims of the disgraced Rev. Marcial Maciel and other priests said they were presenting a petition demanding that Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera stay away from the conclave.

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CANADA
CJAD

Posted By: Shuyee Leeslee@astral.com·3/5/2013

Updated

While the compensation case in the Holy Cross sexual abuse class-action lawsuit continues at the Montreal courthouse, victims are saying the proceedings are going too slowly for them.

The Holy Cross Congregation says it’s settled half of the 223 claims in a class-action lawsuit as part of compensation for sexual abuse, totalling almost $5 million to date. The congregation has said they’ve set up an $18-million fund for the victims.

But victims say that at the rate they’re going, they fear the dwindling fund will mean diminished compensation cheques that will only go out once all the claims are settled. Victims say they find that unacceptable, nearly two years after an out-of-court settlement was reached.

One of the lawyers, Gilles Gareau said the process is making the victims unnecessarily relive their nightmares.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Dr. Jeff Mirus | March 05, 2013

During the period leading up to Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, I would describe my mood as sadness buoyed by a certain excitement and even optimism. I watched the news closely just to chronicle the Pope’s final days in office. But now that Benedict has stepped down, and we are awaiting the election of his successor, my natural excitement is increasingly on hold. I’m relaxing a bit, and I am watching the news primarily for enjoyment.

Granted, there are certain facts that we do want to know, such as when the conclave will actually begin. But as the journalists and the cardinals get together in Rome before the conclave starts, we are bombarded with procedural trivia, bizarre attempts to get in on the ecclesiastical action, and what we might call electoral gamesmanship on the part of the cardinals. The larger truth is that we will not know anything significant until the white smoke rises upon the election of the next pope. Apart from reminding us of our duty to pray, I think Our Lord really does want us to enjoy it all.

Certainly the more bizarre stories are entertaining, such as the poster campaign in favor of the election of Cardinal Turkson (the Ghanaian head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace) and also the effort of a fraudulent bishop to get into the preliminary meetings among the cardinals. Based on these two stories we know exactly two things: Imposters are unlikely to infiltrate the process; and Cardinal Turkson, whatever his merits, will never be elected pope.

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FIJI
Fiji Times

Felix Chaudhary
Wednesday, March 06, 2013

A CATHOLIC priest who was charged with one count of rape and three counts of indecent assault last Friday appeared before the Tavua Magistrates Court yesterday to answer to a further seven counts of rape and seven of indecent assault.

Father Nemesio Kolikoli appeared under his common name, Nemani Ravouvou. Magistrate Samuela Qica ordered his transfer to the Natabua remand centre in Lautoka until March 19 when the case will be heard in the High Court in Lautoka.

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UNITED STATES
The Dallas Morning News

By Ralph De La Cruz
rdelacruz@dallasnews.com
4:38 pm on March 5, 2013

Seeing the headline on the story about Cardinals meeting in preparation for electing a new Pope, I felt heartened:

“U.S.Cardinals seek answers on Vatican dysfunction.”

Seek answers…Vatican dysfunction…

YES!

Are church leaders finally confronting the pedophilia ugliness that has eaten away, like termites gnawing at a wooden floor, at the Roman Catholic Church’s moral authority for almost 30 years?

“…They want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave…”

Oh. They’re freaked about leaks.

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HAWAII
The Worthy Adversary

Posted by Joelle Casteix on March 5, 2013

Active priest, Diocese of Honolulu accused of child sex crimes
Two ex-Damien students expose him in abuse lawsuit
Bishop Silva has known, done little about allegations
Despite ‘zero tolerance,” bishop refuses to remove, punish predator
Bishop Silva must oust priest, warn parishioners, group says
Predator is “ticking time bomb” for abuse, they claim

What:

Holding signs and/or photos of themselves when they were abused, child sex abuse victims and their supporters will announce that a long-time Catholic priest and the Diocese of Honolulu have been named in a sex abuse and cover-up lawsuit. The lawsuit says that Fr. George DeCosta:
•Sexually abused two boys while at Damien Memorial School, and
•Continues to live and act as a priest on the Big Island.

They will also ask Honolulu Bishop Clarence Silva to:
•Explain why DeCosta still lives and acts as a priest,
•Tell why he has covered up accusations against DeCosta,
•Obey directives from US Cardinals demanding “zero tolerance,”
•Immediately remove DeCosta’s priestly faculties, and
•Personally visit every parish, school and facility where he worked and reach out to others he may have hurt.

Where: Outside of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, 1184 Bishop Street in Honolulu

When: Wednesday, March 6 at 11:30 am

Who: Members and supporters of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, the nation’s largest support group for men and women sexually abused as children in religious and institutional organizations, including a California woman who is the group’s Western Regional Director

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ROME
Boston Herald

By
Matt Stout / Boston Herald

Cardinal Sean O’Malley said he has no plans to ditch his brown habit for grand papal robes, largely for one reason: He’s not banking on being pope.

Joined by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston/Houston during a press conference today in Rome, O’Malley chuckled when a reporter said her daughter was wondering if he’d change out of his recognizable Capuchin robe if he indeed emerged from conclave as Pope Benedict’s XVI successor.

“I have worn this uniform for over 40 years and I presume I will wear it until I die — because I don’t expect to be elected pope,” O’Malley said, according to audio of the briefing provided by the Archdiocese of Boston. “I don’t expect to have a change of wardrobe.”.

O’Malley, like a handful of other cardinals at the Vatican, has been the subject of continuing speculation about his possible papal candidacy. But as they await the arrival of a few remaining cardinals — O’Malley said he’s heard there are two yet to arrive — cardinals have spent the last two days meeting in general congregations and coffee-breaks with the church’s most pressing challenges topping most conversations.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The Republic

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 05, 2013

WORCESTER, Massachusetts — The Vatican has defrocked three priests from the Worcester Diocese who were accused of sexual abuse.

David Blizard, Thomas Kane and Robert Shauris can no longer function as priests in any capacity.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/VBgmPC) that the Vatican stripped the men of the priesthood last year, but just announced it after the period for appeals expired.

Shauris was accused of molesting children during the 1980s. He’s been on leave from the diocese since 1991.

Kane was removed from ministry in the 1990s for alleged sexual abuse in the 1970s.

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CANADA
Metro

By Luke Simcoe
Metro Windsor

When the verdict came down in the trial of a former Windsor priest who abused 19 people dating back to the 1950s, Brenda Brunelle could no longer contain her emotion.

“Mercy for an old man?” she shouted at the departing judge. “What about the young children, what about their mercy?”

Rev. William Hodgson Marshall pleaded guilty Monday to abusing two young boys in Saskatchewan in the 1950s and 60s. He is currently on parole after being convicted of sexually abusing children while teaching at schools in Windsor, Toronto and Sudbury.

The latest charges earned the 90-year-old former priest six months of house arrest followed by a lengthy probation.

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VATICAN CITY
Peoria Journal-Star

By RACHEL ZOLL
The Associated Press

Posted Mar 05, 2013

VATICAN CITY —
Attorneys who have tried unsuccessfully for years to sue the Vatican over failures to stop clergy sex abuse are looking into whether former Pope Benedict XVI is more legally vulnerable in retirement, especially if he travels beyond the Vatican walls.

A U.S. lawyer for the Vatican argues that, like any former head of state, Benedict retains legal immunity regardless of whether he is in or out of office. But advocates for victims say immunity in this case should be tested, since modern-day courts have never before dealt with an emeritus pope.

“So much of this is unprecedented,” said Pamela Spees, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, which is pressing the International Criminal Court to investigate the Vatican’s response to abusive priests as a crime against humanity. “There’s nothing set in stone about it.”

Benedict stepped down last week, becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to do so. Before he became head of the Roman Catholic Church in 2005, he spent more than two decades in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that over the years gained authority to oversee abuse claims against clergy worldwide.

Still, his record on trying to end abuse stands above that of many other church officials.

Benedict spoke openly of ridding the church of “filth” and was the first pontiff to meet directly with victims, during a 2008 visit to the U.S.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The Catholic Free Press

Three men whose faculties to serve as priests had already been removed by Bishops Harrington and Reilly have been laicized, according to a statement from Bishop McManus.

Bishop McManus announced that David Blizard, Thomas Kane, and Robert Shauris are no longer in the clerical state.

Pope Benedict XVI accepted the voluntary laicizations of Thomas Kane and Robert Shauris prior to resigning.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made the decision in the case of David Blizard.

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WORCESTER (MA)
Telegram & Gazette

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
bkush@telegram.com

WORCESTER — The Vatican has “laicized,” or defrocked, three Central Massachusetts Roman Catholic priests, who had been accused of sexual improprieties.

Bishop Robert J. McManus said that, as a result of the Vatican’s actions, David Blizard, Thomas Kane, and Robert A. Shauris “are no longer in the clerical state.”

According to chancery officials, the Vatican’s Congregation of the Faith decided to oust Mr. Blizard from the priesthood. Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI, before stepping down as pontiff last Thursday, accepted the “voluntary laicizations” of Mr. Kane and Mr. Shauris.

Chancery officials said that the three men may no longer function in any capacity as priests.

The Vatican made the decision to strip the three men of the priesthood late last year but held off announcing anything until the period allowing for any appeals expired.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Barbara Dorris on March 05, 2013

The top Catholic prelates of Boston and Chicago apparently disagree on whether or not “zero tolerance” for predators is or is not the world-wide policy of the church.

Cardinal Francis George claims it is. Yesterday, he told reporters in Rome that zero tolerance is now “the universal law of the church.”

But hours later, Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston told The Wall Street Journal that “making sure that measures aimed at combating sexual abuse by clerics get enforced across Catholicism’s global sprawl will be a “monumental task” for the next pope.

“The Holy See is going to have to mandate these into polices, “ O’Malley said, and “would be reviewing the thicket of guidelines developed by national bishops conferences around the world.”

The Journal also noted that “In recent years, these conferences have scrambled to get guidelines in place. Bishops in Italy and Germany created their own policies only after hundreds of people had come already forward across Europe to report allegations of sex abuse.”

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 05, 2013 ·

We are disappointed that Cardinal Angelo Sodano is leading prayer todmorrow. Given how integral he has been to the cover-up of crimes against children, especially those of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, we feel that he should step aside and let another prelate take his place.

Sodano’s horrific record on child abuse is a stain on the church, and such a public role for him only reminds us – and Catholics across the globe – how clergy sex crimes have been woefully mishandled clergy sex crimes by church officials at all levels.

Imagine the hope many Catholics would feel if other church officials found the strength to challenge Sodano and persuaded him to step aside. We hope at least a handful of prelates will make an effort to do this.

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OSTERREICH
Humanist News

Ein Gastartikel von Christian Fiala

Eigentlich sollte die “Klasnic Kommission” ja die Missbräuche durch die Kirche aufklären. De facto war die Kommission aber ausschließlich mit der Analyse der Betroffenen beschäftigt. Über die Hintergründe der Taten, insbesondere strukturelle Bedingungen der kath. Kirche gab es fast gar nichts. Bei der Tagung hat ein Redner ganz vorsichtig ein paar Vorschläge gemacht. Das wars. Also da passiert ein systematischer Missbrauch in der kath. Kirche unvorstellbaren Ausmasses und die Kommission, die das untersucht hat zwar jede Menge gute Ratschläge für die Betroffenen parat, macht aber nur ein paar vorsichtige Bemerkungen über strukturelle Probleme der Kirche.

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OSTERREICH
Stift Kremsmunster

Missbrauch: Rückschau und Ausblick
Kategorie: stift

Eine Zwischenbilanz zur Aufarbeitung der Fälle des sexuellen Missbrauchs in unserem Konvikt. Stellungnahme von Abt Ambros vom 11. Februar 2013.

Vor beinahe drei Jahren sah sich das Stift Kremsmünster mit zahlreichen Missbrauchsvorwürfen konfrontiert. Es wurden unverzüglich Konsequenzen gezogen, vorbehaltlos mit kirchlichen und staatlichen Stellen zusammengearbeitet und zahlreiche Maßnahmen gesetzt. In zwei Pressekonferenzen (März 2010 und März 2011) und weiteren öffentlichen Erklärungen hat das Stift Kremsmünster Stellung genommen und über den aktuellen Stand informiert. In dieser Pressekonferenz möchte das Stift über Maßnahmen, bisher geleistete Entschädigungszahlungen sowie über die in Auftrag gegebene wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung informieren.

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OSTERRIECH
Stift Kremsmunster

Wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung
Kategorie: stift

durch das Institut für Praxisforschung und Projektberatung München zum Thema “Sexueller Missbrauch, psychische und körperliche Gewalt im Internat des Stifts Kremsmünster. Individuelle Folgen und organisatorisch-strukturelle Hintergründe.”

1. Ausgangspunkt
Im Jahr 2010 wurden auch[1]in Bezug auf die Benediktinerabtei Kremsmünster Missbrauchsvorwürfe erhoben. Diese Vorwürfe beziehen sich auf sexuellen Missbrauch, psychische wie körperliche Gewalt und betreffen die Zeit nach 1945. Der Großteil der bislang bekannt gewordenen Fälle betrifft die Zeit zwischen 1970 bis 1990. Mittlerweile haben sich ca. 50 Opfer gemeldet, deren Vorwürfe sich gegen bislang 13 Personen aus dem Kloster richten. Im Mittelpunkt steht vor allem ein Pater, dem massive Misshandlungen vorgeworfen werden.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Register

JUDY ROBERTS

VATICAN CITY — In a media narrative that was largely predictable, news of Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation was quickly followed by a flood of headlines linking him to the clergy sexual-abuse scandal.

“Legacy Marred by Sex-Abuse Scandal,” read a headline on the ABC News website. “Complicit in Child Sex-Abuse Scandals,” said another from The Guardian, which quoted victims’ groups.

Amid the fray, however, other voices have taken a singularly opposite view, instead crediting the Holy Father with aggressively and decisively addressing a problem that came to light well before he was elected to the papacy.

In part because of high-profile cases like those in Ireland and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in the United States, and the one involving Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion of Christ, Benedict’s pontificate could not escape association with the stigma of clergy sexual abuse. However, his supporters insist that the way in which he dealt with the crisis was both exemplary and exceptional and that history will be much kinder to him than his critics have been.

Those who defend Pope Benedict’s treatment of the Church’s sexual-abuse scandal cite his multiple meetings with victims, the first by a pope; his strongly worded statements and apologies, in particular his eight-page “Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland” in which he criticized not just the perpetrators, but bishops who had mishandled the situation; his work as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and, later, as pope in improving the way sexual-abuse cases were handled by the Vatican and his swift, direct action in the case of Father Maciel.

“Pope Benedict XVI will certainly be remembered for his extraordinary reply and response to the very sad phenomenon of sexual abuse of minors by the clergy,” auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, former promoter of justice for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told Vatican Radio Feb. 18.

The promoter of justice is responsible for investigating more serious crimes, including claims of clergy sexual abuse of minors. After Bishop Scicluna was elevated last year to the episcopate and returned to his native Malta, he was succeeded as promoter of justice by Father Robert Oliver, a canon-law expert from the Archdiocese of Boston.

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UNITED STATES
CBS News

An American priest and Catholic Church historian said Tuesday the 115 cardinals tasked with picking the next pope want a man who has both keen evangelical and managerial skills. In short, Father Thomas Reese said, they need “Jesus Christ with an MBA.”

Reese managed in those five words to sum up the challenge facing the so-called princes of the Catholic Church, the cardinals, who have already begun wrestling with the various, and widely disparate, qualifications required in a pontiff to replace Pope Benedict XVI.

In spite of the Church’s best efforts to move past the child sex abuse scandal, victims of that abuse are still demanding justice. The next pope will need to be someone who can shift the presiding narrative of the Church away from apologies (without appearing insensitive to the victims) and back to the preferred topic and goal of growing congregations.

“What we really need is somebody who can communicate the gospel in a way that is understandable and attractive to people in the 21st century,” said Reese. “That is what we are supposed to be about, the message of Jesus and that is an attractive message but it can get all buried in our churchiness.”

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UNITED STATES
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual

March 4 Catholic Patriarchy: What the Papal Transition Means and What Feminists Can Do About It by Mary E. Hunt

The obvious question is why any self-respecting feminist would worry about the Pope, the Roman Catholic Church, and its machinations. My simple answer is POWER. Religion is one of the many sources that shape how power is shared (or not) in this world. Feminists need to pay attention to the sharing of power if we think we are going to reshape the world in a more just and egalitarian way. As someone who speaks “Catholic,” indeed as a theologian rooted in the tradition, I think there is a lot of power in the balance at the moment, and I want to see it shared.

The papal transition underway in Rome is a classic example of patriarchy prancing for the world to see live and in color. It is without a doubt the biggest religious news story thus far in the 21st century, and there is not a woman in sight. Think about that in light of the media coverage. Apart from the many women reporters now in Rome, the players in this story are all men, all the time.

Of course women are seen in the vast crowds that flock to St. Peter’s Square or greeting the helicopter bearing the out-going pope at his new digs at Castel Gandolfo. But there are virtually no women in the big news of the papal transfer save the nuns who were relocated from their convent so that the Pope Emeritus will have a new place to live in his old neighborhood. They are symbolic of the problem I am underscoring, as I doubt they were consulted. Even the Virgin Mary was consulted!

Likewise, the story of the implosion of the patriarchal church (what Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza has better called “kyriarchy”[1]) is utterly devoid of women. Whether the Vatican banking scandal, sexual abuse, or episcopal cover-up, this has been a men’s show from the beginning, and they have done a royal job of making a mess.

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ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, March 5 – Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said in Rome Tuesday he expected that some portions from the Vatican leaks dossier would be shared with cardinals before electing a new pope. “I assume that important information will be shared that will help us make our decisions,” said the Boston archbishop speaking at the Pontifical North American College outside the Vatican. O’Malley, who some have tipped as a candidate for pope, is in Rome ahead of the upcoming conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who stepped down on February 28. Some have speculated that one of Benedict’s motives for abdicating may have been the so-called Vatileaks scandal that erupted last year when his butler was arrested then eventually pardoned for leaking secret Church documents that spoke of corruption and intrigue within the Holy See. The documents included letters to the pope and Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone from the Holy See’s ambassador in Washington, Carlo Maria Vigano’, who was the deputy governor of Vatican City when they were written. In one instance, the letters accused members of the Vatican’s Finance and Management Committee of improperly processing $2.5 million. E-mails and other documents from Vatican officials followed, including a report accusing the Church of not cooperating with investigators in the 1982 fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano.

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VATICAN CITY
Inquirer (Philippines)

By Ella Ide

Agence France-Presse Wednesday, March 6th, 2013

VATICAN CITY—The next pope’s ideal profile began to take shape on Tuesday as cardinals held a second day of pre-conclave talks—a man with pastoral experience, missionary energy and few ties to the Vatican’s unruly government.

Cardinals waved cheerfully to journalists at the gates of the Vatican but declined to divulge details of the closed-door debate on who among them could be the best candidate for the papacy following Benedict XVI’s sudden resignation.

Vatican experts say one of the hot-button issues now uniting many of the cardinals is the need to choose a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics capable of putting his stamp on the Roman Curia, the central government of the Church.

“There is definitely a lot of reflection going on in the Catholic world on the governance of the Catholic Church and how to improve it,” said US Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

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VATICAN CITY
Independent Catholic News (UK)

The date for the Conclave to elect the new Pope has still not been set. In his daily press conference this morning, (Tuesday) Vatican press chief Fr Lombardi explained is was not possible to fix a date until all voting cardinals have arrived in Rome. He said the cardinals were in “no rush”.

The cardinals yet to arrive at that time, were Cardinals Naguib, Pham, Nycz, Lehmann and Tong. Fr Lombardi said that tomorrow, (Wednesday) at 5pm Rome time, the Universal Church will be called to prayer for the cardinal electors as they approach this monumental task.

Fr Lombardi said interventions made by 33 cardinals so far focused on Holy See activities, different dicasteries and their relations with local bishops around the world, the renewal of the Church in light of Vatican II, the New Evangelization, the Church and new cultures.

Fr. Lombardi noted that another issue under discussion was the Constitution governing the Vacant See and papal transition and how it was modified by the Motu Proprio. Fr Lombardi said note no 37 was discussed and the issue of bringing forward the date of the start of Conclave remains ‘open’, no proposal has been made.

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SCOTLAND
STV

By Gary Cruden
5 March 2013

A letter to police from controversial lawyer Nick Freeman regarding cardinal Keith O’Brien is not being treated as a formal complain.

It has been reported that Mr Freeman had written to Lothian and Borders Police making a formal complaint.

The contents of the letter do not however allege any criminal activity and Mr Freeman does not state he has been the victim of a crime, STV understands.

A spokesman for the force said it had not received a “formal complaint”.

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ITALY
International Business Times

By Umberto Bacchi
March 5, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has been accused of inaction over allegations of child sex abuse against an Italian priest.

Former priest Nello Giraudo, allegedly committed numerous sexual abuses on minors in the diocese of Savona, near Genoa, from 1980 to 2005, of which then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was made aware of in 2003 but failed to take action.

Former Savona bishop Domenico Calcagno, who was reportedly told of the abuses by his predecessors and by at least one of the victims, sent a letter to Ratzinger asking how to deal with Giraudo.

“I ask your advice on how to deal [with Giraudo], as the priest intends to continue in his pastoral duties,” Calcagno wrote to Ratzinger.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

One of Scotland’s leading scholars and ethicists has said she feels “compassion” for Cardinal Keith O’Brien following his resignation.

At the launch of Catholic Scholars Declaration on Authority in the Church, Baroness Helena Kennedy said she felt “sad for him and for his victims”.

The group is lobbying for more openness in the Roman Catholic Church.

Cardinal O’Brien resigned as an archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh amid claims of inappropriate conduct.

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MEXICO
Independent European Daily Express

Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Inter Press Service

MEXICO CITY, Mar 05 (IPS) – As the Roman Catholic Church gets ready for the conclave that will select a new pope, activists and victims worldwide are stepping up their efforts to keep cardinals directly or indirectly involved in cases of paedophilia from participating in the papal election process.

Pressure has been brought to bear on at least five cardinals who protected priests accused of sexual abuse, including Norberto Rivera of Mexico, one of the 117 cardinals under the age of 80 set to choose the successor to Benedict XVI, who stepped down on Feb. 28.

“In order for the Church to recover its moral stature and to go back to what it was before, the next pope must be chosen by people who are moral,” Mexican activist Joaquín Aguilar told IPS.

“In order for the Church to pull out of the terrible crisis into which it has fallen because of the concealment of sexual abuse, those who have been accused must withdraw from the conclave,” said Aguilar, Mexico director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).

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VATICAN CITY
CBS News

(CBS News) By late Tuesday all but one of the 115 voting cardinals are expected to be in Vatican City, but there are already signs that the process of electing a new pope may take longer than it has in the recent past.

The cardinals have taken an oath of secrecy, but CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports that sex abuse, claims of corruption, and the future of the Church are high on the agenda. Job number one, however, is electing a new leader.

Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet says the search for a new pontiff has already widened.

“There was a focus on Europe obviously for centuries and centuries, and that someday, I think, someday it is to be expected that a pope would come from Asia, would come from Africa, would come from America,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a surprise. Nowadays it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

The Sistine Chapel was formally closed to tourists Tuesday to prepare it for the secret vote. Special urns for the electoral cardinals’ ballots were put on display.

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CALIFORNIA
Orange County Weekly

By Gustavo Arellano
Tue., Mar. 5 2013

Joelle Casteix has long been a pal of the Weekly, and not just because she’s a hilarious, multitalented gal. She’s been one of the most prominent Catholic Church sex-abuse survivors in Orange County, molested by some pig who’s now a–I kid you not–choir director at some no-name college in the Midwest. She’s been a constant companion to other sex-abuse survivors who need a shoulder, who need someone to face off against pedophile apologists, who needs someone to contact the media.

And now Casteix is taking her story to a national level by serving as one of the faces for a national campaign to help pass something called the Child Victims Act.

Being pursued for the moment on a state-by-state level, the proposed legislation would take away the statute of limitations currently imposed on sex-abuse survivors regarding civil lawsuits that has long hindered complete judgement on pedophiles, especially of the Catholic Church variety. In California, it’s currently in the State Senate.

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DEUTSCHLAND
General-Anzeiger

Von Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu
BONN. Kurz vor Veröffentlichung des zweiten von Professor Arnfried Bintig erstellten Aufklärungsberichts zu Missbrauch in Aloisiuskolleg (Ako) und Ako-pro-Seminar Mitte März hat sich der Ton im Dialog zwischen der Opfergruppe Eckiger Tisch und Jesuitenprovinzial Stefan Kiechle verschärft.Dem GA liegen drei Schreiben vor: 100 Fragen der Gruppe an den obersten Jesuiten, seine Antworten und die gestrige Rückantwort von Heiko Schnitzler, Matthias Katsch und Rudolf Jekel. Im Fokus steht die Frage nach der Verantwortung, die nach Opfermeinung der 2010 bei Bekanntwerden des Skandals zurückgetretene Rektor Pater Theo Schneider zu tragen habe.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the world’s cardinals meet before the conclave to discuss some of the challenges facing the church, U.S. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said he hoped to offer them some of the lessons learned from the sex abuse crisis.

The retired archbishop of Los Angeles said the biggest mistake was not understanding the true nature of the crime by believing the problem of adults abusing children was merely a moral problem.

“Many of us in the church saw this calamity, through the lens of the church, as a sin and a moral weakness,” he told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera March 5. The interview was published in Italian.

While abuse is both, he said the church confused its moral view “with what was necessary to solve the problem.”

“I had not understood the true nature of the problem and that those who abuse — not just in the church — continue to perpetrate their crimes,” he said.

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ROME
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

In the monthly prayer and Mass booklet, Magnificat, the Lenten Gospel for March 5 is according to Matthew: chapter 18, verses 21–35. One of Jesus’ more powerful parables on forgiveness awaits you.

But it’s the Meditation of the Day which is striking. Written by the late Monsignor Romano Guardini, a famous theologian and liturgist, it is well worth reflection:

Forgiveness should be no occasion, but our habitual attitude towards others….If you wish to obey Christ, you must first free yourself of all “righteous” indignation. Only if you forgive entirely, can you contact the true self of the other, whom his own rebelliousness is holding back. If you can reach this better self, you have a good chance of being heard, and of winning your brother. This then is the great doctrine of forgiveness on which Jesus insists as one of the fundamentals of his message. If we wish to get to its root, we must dig our way there question by question.

What must we overcome in ourselves to be capable of genuine forgiveness?…

Deep in the domain of the purely natural, the sentiment of having to do with an enemy. This sense of the hostile is something animals have, and it reaches as far as their vulnerability. Creatures are so ordered that the preservation of the one depends on the destruction of the other.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
March 5, 2013

VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles staunchly defended his record on dealing with sexual abuse in the church in an interview published by an Italian newspaper Tuesday.

Mahony, who has been criticized for moving predator priests from posting to posting, told Corriere della Sera that “after 20 years, people are talking about abuse as if we had not done anything. However, since 2002, we have had our program Protecting the Children, in which we illustrate procedures and the guidelines of our zero-tolerance policy that allows no possibility, for example, of anyone found guilty of abuse of minors working for the diocese.”

Mahony, who in recent months has refused requests for interviews with the Los Angeles Times, was publicly rebuked in February by current Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez in connection with his handling of sexual abuse cases.

The cardinal, who is in Rome ahead of the conclave to elect the successor to former Pope Benedict XVI, described to the Italian paper his approach to abuse in earlier years, saying: “I had not understood the real nature of the problem, that people who commit abuse — not only in the church — continue to commit their crimes. These things were not so well understood then as they are now.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Vatican Cardinals, led by Cardinal Sodano, who has dominated them for over two decades, appear to be dominating the entire Conclave. So far reportedly the Conclave preliminary meetings have focused mainly on taking secrecy oaths and avoiding full disclosure to all Cardinals of the secret dossier on the Vatican Cardinal clique’s reported mismanagement of widespread financial corruption and sexual misconduct. Why is Sodano so concerned to keep the lid on the ongoing Vatican scandals? Why are so many other Cardinals, who do not have his Vatican immunity protection, accepting this?

Prior to the 1870 fall of the Papal States, more powerful European leaders decided to let Pope Pius IX lose his kingdom by not intervening to stop the invasion of Rome by Italian nationalist forces. These leaders had determined apparently that by 1870 the corrupt and inept Papacy had forfeited it right to rule a kingdom and had become a destabilizing force in Europe.

The shrewd Vatican clique of petty Italian princes at the time then apparently fabricated the seeming myth of papal infallibilty and retreated with their “Infallible Pope” to Vatican City for a half century until all other European monarchical threats had been eliminated by World War I.
The petty Vatican princes then re-emerged trying to regain power by wheeling and dealing with Fascists like Mussolini, Hitler and Franco. In the 1980′s, this geo-political strategy was extended to President Reagan who wanted the Polish Pope’s help in bringing down the Soviet Empire.

This is all now ancient history and the papal charade of being a serious player in international politics is finished, with one big negative exception. The exception involves preserving world order, especially between two purportedly universalistic faiths, Christianity and Islam. Both faiths have much to offer the world in their core message and many overlapping virtues, assuming their competition is peaceful and tolerant.

It has not been peaceful or tolerant. The horrors of extremist militant Islamicists is reported daily. Moreover, the Vatican clique has stymied Christian unity, which needs to be able to act as a unified and constructive force for peace along with a moderate Islam.. The ex-Pope began his Papacy by insulting Islam gratuitously and consciously at Regensburg. At least one of the reported papal candidates, Cardinal Turkson, featured an anti-Islamic video at the recent Rome Synod, apparently with the Vatican’s approval. Cardinal Maradiago, according to Harvard Law’s Alan Dershowitz and others, has taken ant-Semitic positions, including by blaming the “Jewish media” for overstating the priest abuse scandal.

World order, especially in Africa, the Middle East and even Europe, cannot afford to let petty Vatican princes’ medieval pursuit of power, money and sex, jeopardize world peace, not to mention their perpetuation of evils perpetrated on children, women and others by the Vatican clique’s power driven theology.

European monarchs in 1870 let Italian nationalists invade Rome. Now, major powers, especially the USA and Germany, must let world prosecutors impose the rule of law on the Vatican, if the Conclave fails now to implement a major reform process that makes the Catholic hierarchy accountable, as it was in the Church that Jesus and his early followers left behind. Is it still possible for Cardinals to do this on their own? It is, but they must act prudently, purposefully and shrewdly, given the Vatican Cardinals’ home court advantage.

A shrewd Roman lawyer, Cicero, much valued by the ex-Pope’s favorite, St. Augustine, often analyzed actions by asking, Cui Bono? Who benefits from the actions? In every negotiation, time favors one side, a famous executive management consultant once told me. If one side is in a rush, the other side can then gain strength in negotiations by delay.

Who benefits at the Conclave by rushing to elect a new Pope? Clearly, the Vatican clique and Joseph Ratzinger, the Shadow Pope, benefit by rushing the Conclave. The Vatican clique appears understandably to be in a hurry to get their man to re-appoint them to their positions that expired last Thursday with the Shadow Pope’s departure. If Cardinals want more of the same, they should accept being stampeded. If not, they must resist and fix the Church sensibly, which cannot be rushed. Whatever loyalty a Cardinal thought he owed the Pope who appointed him, these Popes are history now and a Cardinal neither owes them loyalty or obedience. It is that simple.

With a one-third voting bloc, Cardinals can take their time and enjoy St. Peter’s at Easter. They can run their dioceses well enough remotely, while they address the more important issues. Eventually, the Vatican clique will fold. If Cardinals do not stand firm, they will find themsleves at the mercy of the Vatican clique. Look at UK Cardinal O’Brien’s sacking and Cardinal Mahony’s shaming. Is each Cardinal comfortable that the skirt of his red dress is cleaner than these two disposable Cardinals’ skirts have been?

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

March 5, 2013

We find it interesting that Cardinal Francis George of Chicago seems to know how to discuss sexual abuse before a conclave but he quickly loses an interest for the topic after one.

Our readers may recall that before the 2005 conclave Cardinal George made sure the world knew that he had taken up the subject with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and had extracted a promise from the Cardinal-contender that he would do something about it if he emerged from the conclave a pope.

As the Cardinals gathered Monday for their first official meeting before the conclave Cardinal George was at it again.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Vincent Warren

While critics of the Vatican’s handling of the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal have breathed a sigh of relief at the news of Pope Benedict’s resignation and many hope that a changing of the guard will mean a change in the handling of current and past sex crimes, we must stop to consider who exactly will be selecting the next pope. As Mary Caplan, a leader in the Survivor’s Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), noted, “We’d all like to think there could be a transformation in the church now, but we have to face the reality that the same men responsible for protecting our abusers are going to be the ones casting the ballots.”

First, there is Cardinal Angelo Sodano. Sodano famously described allegations of sexual abuse within the church as “petty gossip” and has been accused of intervening to halt investigations of two of the more notorious sex abuse cases involving his close associates. Although he is ineligible to vote due to his age, Sodano is responsible for convening the process through which the next Pope will be selected and he wields considerable influence and power in that process.

Next, there is Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who served under Joseph Ratzinger before he was pope at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the entity tasked with handling allegations of rape and sexual violence by priests. Together, according to New York Times reporting, Bertone and Benedict decided to halt proceedings in the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, who had been accused of sexually assaulting over 200 deaf students at a Wisconsin school for the deaf, a story told in the new documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.” Bertone has also expressed the view that bishops should not be required to report priests they know to be committing acts of rape and sexual assault. Like Sodano, Bertone is a highly influential figure in the conclave that will be voting on the next pope; unlike Sodano, Bertone gets to cast his own vote.

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VATICAN CITY
FindLaw

By NICOLE WINFIELD

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Sistine Chapel closed to visitors on Tuesday and construction work got under way to prepare it for the conclave, where cardinals from around the world will gather to elect the new pope after Benedict XVI’s resignation last month.

The Vatican said that it was waiting for five more cardinals to arrive before setting the date for the election.

Michelangelo’s frescoed masterpiece closed at 1 p.m. to visitors, one of the first visible signs that the election was nearing. Construction work involves installing a false floor to cover the anti-bugging devices and even it out, as well as installing the stove where the ballots will be burned.

A total of 110 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the second day of preparatory meetings Tuesday to organize the conclave, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another, the Vatican said.

Those still making their way to Rome included: Egyptian Patriarch Antonios Naguib, and Cardinals Karl Lehmann of Germany, Jean-Baptiste Pham of Vietnam, Kazimierz Nycz of Poland and John Tong Hon of Hong Kong, the Vatican said.

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ITALIA
Fanpage

Un incontro segreto, tenuto nascosto anche ai collaboratori più fedeli. Solo un’ora dopo le dimissioni di Papa Benedetto XVI i porporati italiani si sono incontrati nella dimora del cardinale Angelo Sodano per fare “quadrato” intorno ad un nome italiano da sostenere nella corsa verso lo scranno di San Pietro.

La scelta sarebbe ricaduta su un altro “Angelo”, Bagnasco, già cardinale di Genvoa e sostenitore della linea di Giovanni Paolo II. Quella linea che prevedeva una “tolleranza” verso l’omossessualità interna alla Chiesa e che ha tenuto nascosti i casi di preti accusati di pedofilia.

Una scelta che, de facto, mira a sconfessare le scelte fatte da Benedetto XVI. Questi – come scritto da Fanpage poche ore dopo le dimissioni- appena insediato inviò una lettera a tutti i Seminari sparsi per il mondo in cui si intimava l‘allontanamento di tutti coloro i quali fossero anche solo sospettati di omossessualità. Un dogma, quest’ultimo, applicato anche alla lotta alla pedofilia e alla commistione chiesa-criminalità. Un dogma che i vertici ecclesiastici italiani hanno sempre mal digerito: a partire proprio dal Cardinale Sodano.

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VATICAN CITY
The Observer (Canada)

Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and potential successor to Pope Benedict XVI, played a role in the resignation of Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who admitted Sunday of having engaged in inappropriate sexual behaviour.

According to reports from the Telegraph, the Vatican knew for over five months that four men, three priests and a former priest had accused Keith O’Brien for having made sexual advances. A fifth man, a priest, would later join them, making similar allegations against the former Primate of Scotland.

O’Brien announced in late-February that he resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh and made his mea culpa Sunday, admitting that his “sexual conduct” was well below the expected standards of a priest.

According to the report from the Telegraph, The Vatican has said O’Brien had tendered his resignation around November last year, adding that it suggests that the Vatican has entered into an agreement months ago with the cardinal to resign quietly so as not to embarrass the Church.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)

Sistine Chapel closes to tourists: Vatican sends signal that cardinals are ready to elect new pope as it shuts doors to Michaelangelo masterpiece

By Sara Malm and Nick Pisa

Sistine Chapel closes: Master of Liturgical Celebrations Archbishop Piero Marini closes the door of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, after proclaiming those not taking part in the conclave must leave the chapel

The Vatican today sent the clearest sign yet that a papal election is nearing with the Sistine Chapel announcing it is closing to visitors.

As of this afternoon, Michelangelo’s frescoed masterpiece will be sealed to tourists as Vatican workers put it into shape for the conclave.

In 2005, the last time the College of Cardinals elected a pope, those preparations included installing a false floor to hide anti-bugging devices and attaching the stove, where the ballots are burned, to the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.

Today the gathered cardinals began a second round of pre-conclave meetings to organize the election process and get to know one another. With a handful of cardinals still travelling to Rome, no date has yet been set.

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INDIANA
Indianapolis Star

Written by
Dan McFeely

A Fishers parish is taking the unusual step of going public to confront decades-old allegations against its pastor.

A spokesman for the Lafayette Diocese confirmed Thursday that the decision — which includes a rare visit by the bishop for a pair of public “conversations” with parishioners at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church — came as a result of an anonymous letter to the parish.

The letter raises allegations of sexual abuse made against the Rev. Patrick R. Click, based on an alleged incident 40-plus years ago in New Orleans that diocese officials say was investigated and determined to be unfounded.

The anonymous letter writer threatened to make the allegations public unless Click was fired from his position at the parish, where he has been stationed since 2005.

In response to the threat, the parish decided to go public, sending letters to parishioners this week recounting the allegations, the subsequent investigation conducted in 2002 and a plan to have Bishop Timothy Doherty of the Lafayette Diocese on hand this weekend to address concerns.

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BOSTON (MA)
Boston Catholic Insider

In case you have been wondering how and why Cardinal Sean O’Malley is getting so much press in and around the upcoming conclave to elect a new pope, now we know why. The Boston Archdiocesean PR machine is in high gear drumming up stories, as exemplified by the email below from Cardinal O’Malley’s cabinet secretary for communications. A rational person seeing their press activity might wonder why the Cardinal and his PR team have embarked on such an active campaign in the days before the conclave starts.

Here at BCI, we would like to do our part to assist, and we invite our readers to help as well.

1) We suggest that Cardinal O’Malley revisit the list of publications he reads for input and those with whom he spends time interviewing. In this interview with the National Catholic Reporter, published March 3, here are his answers to several questions:

How are you preparing yourself?

Spiritually, I’m trying to focus on the seriousness of this, asking for God’s help in prayer. I’m also trying to learn as much as I can about my brother cardinals.

How are you doing that?

I downloaded Mr. Miranda’s material, because he has a page of just the cardinals who are going to be at the conclave. [Note: Salvador Miranda of Florida International University maintains a web page on the cardinals.] I had my secretary go through and take out the biography of each one. A lot of them, of course, I knew, but this was one way of putting names to the faces of those I don’t know. That’s especially true of the Eastern Europeans and a couple of the Africans. I’m trying to read articles, to become acquainted with some of these issues in the past faced by conclaves. Your articles are all very interesting too.

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TEXAS
KLTV

By Marshall Stephens
By Lexie Cook

KILGORE, TX (KLTV) –
On Monday, Kilgore Police Officers responded to the 100 block of Woodlawn Street in Kilgore and arrested Glenn Douglas Barton, 62 , of Kilgore. Barton was charged with an outstanding Rusk County warrant of arrest for Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child, a felony grade offense.

Barton stood before a Kilgore judge Monday night and took one last look into the crowd before being taken to the Rusk County Jail.

According to the Kilgore Police Department, Barton is a minister at Calvary Way Pentecostal Church in Kilgore.

People in Kilgore say they can’t believe the news of his arrest.

“People are going to be shocked, it’s horrible. Being a mother, I can’t even imagine going through that,” says Kyla Trich, a Kilgore community member.

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TEXAS
TylerPaper.com

A Kilgore man was arrested for aggravated sexual assault of a child Monday after an investigation by the Kilgore Police Department.

The agency received a report two weeks ago that Glenn Douglas Barton, 62, had allegedly sexually assaulted a child between 2009 and 2013, according to a news release from the department.

After the investigation, a warrant was issued for Barton, and he was arrested in the 100 block of Woodlawn Street in Kilgore, the release states.

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TEXAS
News-Journal

From Staff Reports

A Kilgore pastor was being held late Monday in the Rusk County Jail, accused by police of sexually assaulting a child over a period of years.

Glenn Douglas Barton, 62, was arrested about 3:30 p.m. Monday at a residence on the grounds of the Calvary Way Church and charged with an outstanding Rusk County warrant of arrest for aggravated sexual assault of a child, a felony grade offense.

He was being held under a $50,000 bond after being arraigned Monday evening in Kilgore Municipal Court.

The arrest and warrant stem from a continuing investigation being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Kilgore Police Department, according to a statement issued by the department after the arrest.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Michael Sean Winters | Mar. 5, 2013

Ever since 2004, when then-Archbishop Raymond Burke warned that he would deny communion to Sen. John Kerry because of the senator’s pro-choice stance, many of us have argued that Burke’s interpretation of Canon 915 was mistaken, that it is not the place of the minister of communion to decide whether or not a person should receive communion, but that it is up to the communicant to make the decision whether or not to present herself for communion. Most American bishops, and the Bishop of Rome, have never followed Burke’s advice. One Latin American cardinal said denying communion to someone for such a reason would be a scandal. Burke’s position is the minority position and it deserves to be such.

So, it is more than a little curious to see many of the same people who argued against Burke now insisting that Cardinal Roger Mahony absent himself from the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. The release of thousands of pages of documents in sex abuse cases in Los Angeles demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cardinal Mahony took great pains to shield pedophile priests from the law. That such shielding was a sin, there is little doubt. But, if the conclave was only to admit non-sinners, the Sistine Chapel would be very empty.

I was especially alarmed by a press release from the increasingly obnoxious group Catholics United. I had thought that this group was concerned about promoting the Church’s teachings about social justice in the public square. Now, they seem intent on promoting internal Church reform. They have a petition drive to encourage Cardinal Mahony to absent himself from the conclave, which is a rather juvenile way to promote change within the Church. I suspect, of course, that their ambition is to get more hits on their website and more contributions in the coffers. We all have to make a living I suppose but the specter of this group applying Scarlet Letters all around the College of Cardinals has nothing to do with promoting social justice, nor for that matter, with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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UNITED KINGDOM
The Times

Mike Wade

March 5 2013

Catholic critics of the Church in Scotland have urged that a Vatican inquiry into the scandal surrounding Cardinal Keith O’Brien examine an alleged “culture of cronyism” in his archdiocese that lasted for years.

Following the cardinal’s weekend confession of impropriety, he faced further accusations yesterday from lay and clerical figures that his sexual escapades might have compromised his role as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, a post he was appointed to in 1985.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Gerry Braiden
Local Government Correspondent

THE Catholic Church is guilty of double standards for denouncing homosexuality as a disorder while knowing many of its priests and trainees at its seminaries were gay, a Scots-based Vatican adviser has warned.

John Haldane, a professor of philosophy at St Andrews University and a leading commentator on Scottish Catholic affairs, said the Cardinal Keith O’Brien scandal was a challenge for the church to reform. The process, he added, should include cutting the number of dioceses north of the Border by 50%.

Mr Haldane also suggested a committee of about six lay advisers be formed to see it through the transformation.

Currently five of the eight dioceses are without bishops, numerous parishes are struggling to find priests and finances are also dire in many areas.

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SCOTLAND
Herald Scotland

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Colette Douglas Home

SO a veil has been stripped from the life of Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

He stands exposed and humiliated: his work of a lifetime overtaken by scandal. Instead of righteousness, all that is left to see is hypocrisy and, I’m sorry to say, dishonesty.

He is accused of making sexual advances to young priests when he was in a position of power over them. He compounded his actions latterly with his intemperate Old Testament-style attack on gay marriage.

Yet, oddly, I would be more inclined to listen to his opinions now than ever before. If it were possible I might even support his reinstatement. And it’s not because I’m impressed by his apology, which begs more questions than it answers.

In it he admits to times when his sexual behaviour fell below the standards expected of a priest, archbishop and cardinal. Isn’t all sexual behaviour denied to Roman Catholic clergy? Further, why does he include his time as a cardinal when the most recent accusation of which we are aware dates back to 2001? He was an archbishop then. Does the statement hint at the possibility of other revelations to come? It’s a mighty mess.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Daily Mail

Disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien facing possible police investigation as it emerges church officials have ‘told him to live as a hermit’

By Steve Doughty and Graham Grant

Shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien was facing a possible police investigation last night into the sex scandal that has engulfed the church.

Police received a formal complaint yesterday against the disgraced cardinal, who on Sunday night admitted he had been guilty of sexual misconduct.

Last night, it emerged that lawyer Nick Freeman, well-known for representing a string of celebrities, has called on police to investigate.

The latest development comes after it emerged Cardinal O’Brien – until last week the most senior Roman Catholic in Britain – has been told he must live the life of a ‘hermit’ following his confession.

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SCOTLAND
Telegraph

THE credibility and moral authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has been damaged by Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s admission of sexual misconduct, according to the man who has replaced him.

By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
8:22AM GMT 05 Mar 2013

Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, who was named temporary administrator of the Archdiocese of Edinburgh and St Andrews after the cardinal’s resignation last week, said it was a sad moment for the church.

The cardinal stunned Scottish Catholics on Sunday when he admitted that his sexual conduct had fallen below the standard expected of a “priest, archbishop and cardinal”.

He apologised to those he offended and announced that he was retiring from public life.

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SCOTLAND
Daily Record

THE ex-leader of the country’s Catholics will face a probe by Vatican officials into allegations dating back more than 30 years.

SHAMED cardinal Keith O’Brien is set to face a Vatican inquiry after yesterday admitting to sexual misconduct.

Today, it was confirmed that complaints over O’Brien’s conduct had been made to the Vatican.

A Scottish Catholic Media Office spokesman said: “We expect that they will be investigated and a conclusion drawn.”

The inquiry is not likely to begin until after a new pope is chosen. It is understood the cardinal, who will not attend the conclave, is currently out of the country.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Telegraph

Cardinal Keith O’Brien’s ‘sexual conduct’ has rightly left many gay men and women feeling furious and damaged. Ironically it is his hypocritical intolerance for homosexuality that has ended up harming his “physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing”, writes Alice Arnold.

By Alice Arnold
10:57AM GMT 05 Mar 2013

Homosexuality is “harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing of those involved”. So says Cardinal Keith O’Brien. I will be the first to admit that in his case this has been absolutely true. Of course while the Cardinal, or rather ex Cardinal, suffers with his conscience the topic of homosexuality in the Catholic Church comes to the fore once again.

I have made no bones about the fact that I am not a religious person and normally I would leave the Church to its own devices. However, the Catholic Church is such a huge institution influencing opinion over great swathes of the earth; it would be churlish to ignore it.

Do we feel sorry for Keith? That’s the question on which listeners were asked to give their opinion on BBC 5 Live yesterday morning. Well personally, yes I suppose I do, in the way that I feel sorry for anyone who is clearly going through turmoil and sees his life’s work reduced to hypocritical rantings.

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UNITED KINGDOM
DNA (India)

The Vatican was accused on Monday of orchestrating a cover-up over the disgraced Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien amid claims that it knew of allegations against him for five months but kept them secret.

Revelations that the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Britain had a secret sex life cast a shadow over the first day of a meeting of the Church’s cardinals as they gathered to choose a successor to Benedict XVI, now Pope Emeritus.

The 142 “princes of the church” met in the Paul VI Hall of the Vatican to discuss the Church’s problems and the sort of qualities required of the new pope to deal with them.

But officials in Rome and the Vatican’s representative to Britain flatly refused to discuss how long Benedict XVI had known about the accusations against Cardinal O’Brien or how many accusers there are.

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SCOTLAND
BBC News

[with video]

A Scotland-based Vatican adviser and the journalist who broke the story about the sexual conduct of Cardinal Keith O’Brien have argued about when the Roman Catholic church first knew details of the story.

Prof John Haldane, who is a professor of philosophy at St Andrews University and papal adviser to the Vatican, told a special Newsnight Scotland debating panel that the church only learned of the allegations nine days ago.

Catherine Deveney wrote The Observer piece in which three serving priests and one former priest accused the cardinal, who has now stepped down from public office, of “inappropriate behaviour” towards them.

She told the debate: “It is not quite accurate to say the Scottish Catholic Church did not know what was going on because there was an intermediary within the Catholic Church who took the complaints to the Papal Nuncio.”

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ROME
Chiesa

Name by name, nation by nation, role by role, all of the cardinals who will enter into conclave. An indispensable guide for the event

VATICAN CITY, March 5, 2013 – Subtracting the two who have declined to take part in the conclave, the Scottish Keith Michael Patrick O’Brian and the Indonesian Jesuit Julius Darmaatmadja, the cardinals who will enter the Sistine Chapel to elect the successor of Benedict XVI at the moment number 115.

Below they are listed by continent and by nation, with the place of activity of each one, the abbreviation of any religious order of membership, the date of birth and the indication of the pope who conferred the scarlet on them, John Paul II (JP-II) or Benedict XVI (B-XVI).

Followed by further documentation of their roles and backgrounds.
*
EUROPE – 60 cardinals (37 B-XVI and 23 JP-II)

Italy – 28 (20 B-XVI and 8 JP-II)

AMATO Angelo S.D.B, curia, 1938 (B-XVI)
ANTONELLI Ennio, ex curia, 1936 (JP-II)
BAGNASCO Angelo, abp. Genova, 1943 (B-XVI)
BERTELLO Giuseppe, curia, 1942 (B-XVI)
BERTONE Tarcisio S.D.B, curia, 1934 (JP-II)
BETORI Giuseppe, abp. Firenze, 1947 (B-XVI)
CAFFARRA Carlo, abp. Bologna, 1938 (B-XVI)
CALCAGNO Domenico, curia, 1943 (B-XVI)
COCCOPALMERIO Francesco, curia, 1938 (B-XVI)
COMASTRI Angelo, curia, 1943 (B-XVI)

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ROM
kathweb

Kardinal George: Neuer Papst muss bei Missbrauch von Minderjährigen universalen Kodex der Kirche mit Nulltoleranz um- und durchsetzen

05.03.2013

Rom, 05.03.2013 (KAP) Der nächste Papst muss die Nulltoleranz-Politik gegenüber sexuellem Missbrauch durchsetzen und deren Prävention in der Kirche weiterführen, sagte der US-amerikanische Kardinal Francis George am Montag zwischen den Zusammenkünften der ersten Generalkongregation zur Vorbereitung des Konklaves. George – er ist Erzbischof von Chicago und war bis 2010 Präsident der US-amerikanischen Bischofskonferenz – wies auch auf das Problem der sexuellen Verfehlungen einzelner Kirchenmänner hin, die juridisch außerhalb des Missbrauchs angesiedelt sind. In jedem Fall handle es sich um “schreckliche Wunden am Leib der Kirche”.

“Wer auch immer zum Papst gewählt werden wird – es ist evident, dass er den universalen Kodex der Kirche mit einer Nulltoleranz dem Missbrauch von Minderjährigen gegenüber umzusetzen und durchzusetzen hat”, betonte der 76-jährige Erzbischof von Chicago gegenüber der Nachrichtenagentur “Catholic News Service” (CNS) in Rom. Er sehen jedoch zugleich eine “fest verwurzelte Überzeugung”, mit Entschlossenheit dagegen vorzugehen. Die US-Bischöfe hätten sich für eine eigene Nulltoleranz-Politik eingesetzt und auch Überzeugungsarbeit gegenüber Kirchenvertretern in anderen Ländern wie etwa Indien geleistet, um ähnliche Normen und Regeln zu adaptieren.

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ROME
Chicagoist

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George says the next pope must have “zero tolerance” for the sexual abuse of minors. While most of us would just say “Duh!” George’s statement is actually a rare public acknowledgement of the priesthood’s many abuse crimes in the context of choosing a new pope.

In a press conference, Cardinal George was asked what traits he wants to see in the next leader of the Catholic Church. The New York Times writes:

“He obviously has to accept the universal code of the church now, which is zero tolerance for anyone who has abused a child,” Cardinal George said in answer to a question at a news conference.

“There’s a deep-seated conviction, certainly on the part of anyone who has been a pastor,” he said, “that this has to be continually addressed.”

The cardinal asserted that efforts by American churchmen had led to a sharp reduction in reported abuse cases. “But there’s still the victims,” he continued. “The wound is still deep in their hearts, and as long as it’s with them it will be with us. The pope has to keep this in mind.”

David Clohessy of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) told the New York Times that George’s statement is encouraging. “It should be a topic and we are glad that Cardinal George said it will be and must be, but the focus has got to be on safeguarding kids first, healing victims second.”

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HAWAII
West Hawaii Today

By TOM CALLIS

Tribune-Herald staff writer
tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com

Attorneys have filed a lawsuit on behalf of two men accusing Father George DeCosta, a revered Big Island priest, of sexually abusing two boys while he worked as a chaplain at a Catholic school on Oahu.

The alleged abuse occurred during the late 1960s at Damien Memorial High School, according to the suit filed Friday in Hawaii First District Court.

DeCosta worked as the parish priest at Malia Puka O Kalani Catholic Church in Keaukaha for three decades before retiring in 2002. He now lives in Volcano.

The allegations of abuse were first made last August when the plaintiffs filed a claim for damages against the Christian Brothers of Ireland, which operates the school, in federal bankruptcy court.

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ITALIA
Il Fatto Quotidiano

Secondo quanto riportato dal quotidiano genovese ‘Il Secolo XIX’ e come ricostruito dal programma tv ‘Le Iene’ l’allora vescovo di Savona Domenico Calcagno scrisse al futuro Papa Benedetto XVI (al tempo prefetto per la congregazione della fede) per segnalare il caso di un prete pedofilo, don Nello Giraudo: “Se posso lo tengo lontano dai bambini”. La lettera però non ebbe alcun seguito

di Redazione Il Fatto Quotidiano | 4 marzo 2013

Nei giorni in cui la Chiesa deve fare i conti con il caso O’Brien, il cardinale autoesclusosi dal Conclave per “condotta sessuale inaccettabile”, nuove ombre si allungano sul Papa ormai emerito Joseph Ratzinger. Secondo quanto rivela Il Secolo XIX, l’ex Papa era a conoscenza di fatti di pedofilia avvenuti nella diocesi di Savona nel 2003 ma, nonostante fosse stato informato ufficialmente di quanto accaduto nella sua veste di prefetto per la congregazione della fede (l’organo deputato a vigilare sulla correttezza della dottrina cattolica, ndr), non lo denunciò. Il quotidiano di Genova pubblica una lettera inviata dall’ex vescovo di Savona, il cardinal Domenico Calcagno – uno dei partecipanti al Conclave di questi giorni – a Joseph Ratzinger. “Chiedo la cortesia di un consiglio circa l’atteggiamento da tenere , intendendo il sacerdote continuare con un impegno pastorale – scrive Calcagno a Ratzinger – Per quanto possibile intendo evitare che abbia comunque responsabilità che lo mettano a contatto con bambini o adolescenti”. Una richiesta che però rimane inascoltata.

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ITALIA
Il Seccolo XIX

Savona – «Chiediamo che il cardinale Domenico Calcagno non partecipi al conclave»: la petizione è stata lanciata online, nella giornata di ieri, dalla Rete L’abuso – noi vittime di preti pedofili coordinata da Francesco Zanardi, grande accusatore dell’omertà nei confronti della pedofilia della diocesi savonese, dove Monsignor Calcagno è stato vescovo sino al 2007.

Nel 2003, in una missiva inviata all’allora prefetto della Congregazione per la dottrina della fede Joseph Ratzinger, Calcagno chiedeva consigli sul comportamento da tenere con Don Nello Giraudo, il sacerdote pedofilo condannato nel 2012 a un anno di carcere patteggiato per l’ultimo dei numerosi abusi, risalente al 2005 e unico tra i numerosi non caduto in prescrizione.

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ITALIA
Il Seccolo XIX

Alla festa della Madonna di Savona anche Le Iene, impegnate nell’inchiesta sui casi di pedofilia legati alla Chiesa

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ROME
CBS Los Angeles

[with video]

ROME (CBSLA.com) — A woman who claims she was sexually abused by her parish priest as a child traveled to Rome to protest retired Cardinal Roger Mahony’s participation in the papal conclave.

Barbara Dorris, 65, said she is outraged that Mahony, who led the Los Angeles Archdiocese for 25 years until 2011, is one of 115 cardinals who will select a new pope in the wake of allegations he helped conceal child sex abuse involving hundreds of priests.

“Cardinal Mahony…this man has been complicit in the cover-up all over in Los Angeles, yet he’ll be here and have a vote,” Dorris told KCAL9’s Suraya Fadel.

Dorris continued, “There are letters, there are documents, that said he made some very bad… if not criminal…choices. We feel he should have had the decency to stay home. He has been implicated in so many cover-ups. How could you then come and say, ‘I’m the best person to help elect a spiritual leader. A person who will clean up this mess and help restore the church’s reputation?’”

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 5, 2013

Rome

In any walk of life, campaign season always brings people out of the woodwork with a point to make or an axe to grind, and Rome in the run-up to the looming conclave is certainly no exception.

Over the last few days, people from a bewildering variety of backgrounds and perspectives have been trying to make themselves heard above the din, some quite effectively, others coming off as just downright wierd.

Among the former, the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, the main advocacy group for victims of clerical abuse in the United States, has been holding regular press conferences at Rome’s Orange Hotel and issuing statements on issues as they emerge, such as the resignation of Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien of Scotland. SNAP runs a smart, fast press operation, and has emerged as the most important critical voice on the sex abuse crisis in the pre-conclave period.

More brazen was a twenty-something Italian activist who showed up last Thursday in front of a large TV platform at the end of the Via della Conciliazione, the broad street that leads to St. Peter’s Square, just before the pope was due to lift off in his helicopter and head for Castel Gandolfo.

At that moment, the platform was full of anchors and guests for various global networks, all commenting on the pope’s departure. They got a surprise when the young man stripped down to his boxer shorts, despite chilly temperatures, hoisted a bullhorn, and began shouting that “Ratzinger covers up for pedophiles!”

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UNITED STATES
Stop Baptist Predators

Last month, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention wrote a letter to President Obama.

Whew. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? But that’s what it says on the letterhead: “Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention.”

The Commission maintains offices at Southern Baptist Convention headquarters in Nashville and also on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.

Richard Land, who is the head of this lofty-sounding commission was writing to the President to tell him that “we would like to take this opportunity to add our voice to the discussions” on gun control.

He used that word “we” quite a lot. So who exactly is the “we” and by what authority does Land speak for the “we”?

After all, this is a denomination that claims it cannot possibly create a commission to consider clergy sex abuse allegations – as numerous other denominations have done — because the Southern Baptist Convention has no authority to tell local churches about their ministers. Or so they say. They claim that Baptists’ professed belief in local church autonomy precludes such a thing.

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UNITED STATES
Friendly Atheist

March 3, 2013 By Sara Lin Wilde

For a conservative Catholic who meticulously adheres and assents to every word of the Church’s teaching, these are difficult days, filled to the brim with cognitive dissonance. It’s hard to accept the Pope as Jesus Christ’s chosen representative on Earth while groups of abuse victims call on him to stand trial for crimes against humanity.

And as if that’s not enough, the Vatileaks documents revealed (among other things) a gay “faction” within Vatican power circles, allegedly subject to blackmail because of their forbidden sexual orientation or involvement in forbidden relationships. Now, in the face of Benedict’s sudden resignation, people are wondering if the gay scandal has played a role in the pontiff’s decision or his loss of credibility.

The Catholic Church is on the defensive… except for one priest.

Father Dariusz Oko, a Polish priest who studies “homoideology and homopropaganda” from a critical perspective (really!) has tied together these two scandalous moments in recent Catholic history by way of his recently-translated 2012 article, “Standing with the Pope against homoheresy.” In it, he defends Pope Benedict’s record on childhood sexual abuse by priests, arguing that, in fact, it’s not the Pope thwarting Catholic families whose children get abused.

It’s the gay faction.

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MARYLAND
Baltimore Sun

March 04, 2013|By Jessica Anderson, The Baltimore Sun

A longtime deacon at a Fullerton church was charged Friday with possessing “numerous files of child pornography,” Baltimore County police said.

William Steven Albaugh, 67, a deacon at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church on Belair Road, was arrested at his Nottingham home at 7:45 a.m. Police had searched Albaugh’s Treadway Court home and said they found images of children on his Verizon Online account and on thumb drives.

Police do not believe that children at St. Joseph’s were victims.

Albaugh declined to comment when reached by phone Friday.

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VATICAN CITY
Denver Post

By Daniel J.Wakin
The New York Times denverpost.com

VATICAN CITY — The next pope must commit himself to “zero tolerance” of the sexual abuse of minors by clergymen, a senior U.S. cardinal said Monday, the first day of deliberations by the princes of the Catholic Church ahead of the papal election.

The statement by Cardinal Francis George, the archbishop of Chicago, was a rare mention of the scandal in the context of discussing “papability” — the qualities and attributes desired by the cardinals in the man who will succeed the pope emeritus, Benedict XVI, who relinquished the position Thursday.

“He obviously has to accept the universal code of the church now, which is zero tolerance for anyone who has abused a child,” George said in answer to a question at a news conference. “There’s a deep-seated conviction, certainly on the part of anyone who has been a pastor, that this has to be continually addressed.”

The cardinal asserted that efforts by American churchmen had led to a sharp reduction in reported abuse cases.

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CANADA
Vancouver Sun

By SARAH SACHELI and Jason Warick, Postmedia News and The StarPhoenix

WINDSOR, Ont. — Retired priest William Hodgson Marshall stood on legs weakened with age and admitted to sexually abusing two boys in Saskatchewan more than 50 years ago.

“I admit the hideousness,” Marshall, 90, said Monday, his voice trailing off. But he said he didn’t know he was hurting anyone.

“I don’t think I was a monster.”

Marshall was sentenced in a Windsor courtroom Monday to six months of house arrest.

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ROME
The Globe and Mail

TU THANH HA
The Globe and Mail

Published Monday, Mar. 04 2013

The Roman Catholic Church could do more to help victims of abusive priests reconcile themselves with their faith, says Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, one of the front-runners to become the next pontiff.

As cardinals from around the world gather in Rome for closed-door meetings before choosing a successor to Benedict XVI, Cardinal Ouellet recalled in an interview with the CBC how he met with victims of clerical child abuse during a visit to Ireland.

Cardinal Ouellet had asked for forgiveness from the victims during a pilgrimage last year to St. Patrick’s Purgatory in Lough Derg.

“I remember one telling me, ‘You’ve not done everything; you have to do something more for us, because you know these facts happen in pastoral contexts with Catholic people,’” Cardinal Ouellet said in an interview with CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge which aired Monday night.

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SCOTLAND
The Scottish Sun

By SAM WALKER, DAVID WYNN and PAUL THORNTON

A CELEBRITY lawyer last night insisted “justice must be seen to be done” as he urged cops to probe shamed Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

Top brief Nick Freeman told how he made a complaint to Lothian and Borders Police after the axed Scots Catholic leader sensationally admitted sexual misconduct with priests.

Mr Freeman accused the Catholic Church of attempting a cover-up by insisting on an internal investigation.

And he said: “Justice needs to be seen to be done. The Church has a moral and legal obligation to co-operate with police.

“There should be a full criminal investigation. We don’t know who else was involved — or who decided to cover it up. They are just as culpable as the cardinal.”

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Patricia McGuire

As the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church gather in Rome this week for their “congregations” that precede the papal election conclave, they’re getting plenty of advice from people of all persuasions about what kind of pope the Church and the world expect at this moment in human history.

As the lay leader of one of the Church’s ministries in higher education, Trinity Washington University, I share the concern and hope for the new leader’s governance abilities, broad world view and pastoral personality.

As a lifelong Catholic woman who has witnessed the real life of the U.S. Church “on the ground” with families and friends, parishioners and Catholic school teachers, deeply devoted nuns and priests and laity collaborating across the generations to advance the pragmatic work of our faith, I have a stubborn optimism that this moment is less a “crisis” in the faith, as some commentators insist, but rather, a time of real transformation for the organization of the Catholic Church as it struggles to bring its structures, policies and processes into the modern age. …

1. Atone the Child Sex Abuse Scandal: Nothing has done more to damage the Church’s credibility with faithful mainstream Catholics “in the pews” than the child sex abuse scandal. Dismissing the ongoing concerns as figments of some lefty political agenda is naïve. The ladies in the front pews with their rosaries — the pillars of the parishes, the mothers of the altar boys for generations like my sainted mother (God rest her soul) who could not escape the lingering fear that perhaps something bad had happened to one of her sons — this is the place where the scandal has wreaked permanent damage with the Church’s credibility among the faithful. Lose the mothers, lose the teachers.

Mere atonement is not enough; paying out settlements is hardly adequate. The pope and bishops must agree to a significant, permanent symbol of penance for these most grievous sins — not only the horror of the abuse, but the malignant corruption of the cover-ups — along with pervasive change in Church policies and practices universally to ensure that such horrors never happen again. The latter cannot be up to individual bishops; the pope has the power to order canonical change globally, and he should do so immediately.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Express

By: Paul Jeeves
Published: Tue, March 5, 2013

Nick Freeman, known as Mr Loophole for successfully getting celebrities off driving convictions, has written to the Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders Police David Strang demanding action.

He acted after hearing the Church plans to launch its own internal investigation after the 74-year-old cardinal admitted there were times his “ sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal”.

Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric stepped down from his post as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh last week.

I was shocked to hear there is to be an internal investigation only. This will be heard behind closed doors and the full findings would not be published.

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VATICAN CITY
Macleans (Canada)

VATICAN CITY – The Canadian cardinal considered one of the top choices for the papacy says he thinks the Catholic church’s handling of its sex abuse scandals can be held up as a positive example.

In an interview with CBC television Marc Cardinal Ouellet defended the church, saying it had to bear a great deal of public scrutiny when stories of abuse came to light.

“But it is not a Catholic problem; it is a human problem,” he said.

“Most of the abuse occurred in families in very general in society, and my hope is what was done by the Catholic Church, which is not yet perfect, but could be also of example for others in society. And I hope it will create an atmosphere in the whole society for respect of youth, for creating, you know, a safe environment everywhere you know in sports environments and others.”

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POLAND
NBC News

By Donald Snyder, Special Correspondent, NBC News

Polish Catholics are hoping for a new pope with fresh vision.

In Poland, widely considered the most Catholic country in Europe, the church has been plagued by dwindling attendance, surging secularism and increasing alienation among young people.

“Well-educated young people from the cities are leaving the church,” said Marej Zajac, a writer for the Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine Tygodnik Powszechny.

According to Poland’s Statistical Institute of the Catholic Church, weekly church attendance has dropped from 53 percent of the population in 1987 to less than 40 percent in 2011. It’s the lowest number ever recorded, said Bruce Porter-Szucs, a history professor at the University of Michigan who writes extensively about Poland.

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UNITED STATES
Jackson Sun

by Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

Any day now the cardinals of the Catholic church will huddle in the Sistine Chapel to choose the next pope.

Who is the holy, humble, super human who can lead the modern Catholic world of more than a billion believers? Who can preach eternal truth while confronting contemporary spiritual, social, economic and political challenges?

Americans are only 6% of the global church and the issues that loom large here — the clergy abuse crisis, contraception or whether priests can marry or women be ordained — may not be top-of-mind elsewhere.

“The great populations of Africa, Latin America and Asia are not thinking about those things,” says Rev. Patrick Ryan, professor of religion and society at Fordham University in New York who has spent 26 years in Africa.

“When I read that The New York Times suggested one of the major problems Benedict faced was same-sex marriage, I burst out laughing,” Ryan says.

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VATICAN CITY
KSAT

Author: By Laura Smith-Spark and Richard Allen Greene CNN
Published On: Mar 05 2013

ROME (CNN) –
Catholic cardinals are meeting for a second day Tuesday at the Vatican, as they prepare to set a timetable for selecting a new pope.

More cardinals are arriving Tuesday morning so there should be fewer than eight cardinal-electors still to come, according to Vatican spokesman the Rev. Thomas Rosica.

The cardinal-electors, those aged under 80 who are eligible to vote for the new pontiff, are thought to number 115 in total.

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CANADA
NPR

by The Associated Press
March 05, 2013

TORONTO (AP) — Cardinal Marc Ouellet once said that being pope “would be a nightmare.” He would know, having enjoyed the confidence of two popes as a top-ranked Vatican insider.

His high-profile position as head of the Vatican’s office for bishops, his conservative leanings, his years in Latin America and his work in Rome as president of a key commission for Latin America all make him a favorite to become the first pontiff from the Americas.

But the qualities that make him popular in Latin America — home to the world’s biggest Catholic population — and among the cardinals who elect the pope have contributed to his poor image in his native Quebec, where ironically he was perceived during his tenure as archbishop as an outsider parachuted in from Rome to reorder his liberal province along conservative lines.
___

EDITOR’S NOTE: As the Roman Catholic Church prepares to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, The Associated Press is profiling key cardinals seen as “papabili” — contenders to the throne. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. But these are the names that have come up time and again in speculation. Today: Marc Ouellet.
___

By many accounts, Ouellet is not beloved in Quebec, where friends say he struggled following his appointment as archbishop in 2002. His comments condemning abortion even in the case of rape were attacked by politicians and commentators — sometimes viciously.

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