UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
* A Maltese journalist, seemingly seeking to endear himself to the new Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna, conveniently cites the Boston Globe’s John Allen, observing: “One of journalism’s most prolific of Vatican insiders and the leading American authority on the Holy See, John L. Allen, has dubbed Malta’s new archbishop a Catholic “hero” for his role in successful prosecutions of clerical sex abusers.
* The Maltese journalist continues his cite of Allen: “For years serving by the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Scicluna, 55, spent 10 years handling accusations of clerical sex abuse, gaining a reputation for treating victims with compassion and respect, and for insisting church officials respond to allegations clearly … His leadership on the church’s effort to recover from its child sexual abuse scandals, especially his role in the prosecution of the late Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado, have made him a hero to reformers everywhere. His appointment will thus be taken not only as an important moment for Malta, but also a sign that good guys don’t always finish last!” . (emphasis mine)
* Of course, John Allen has made a nice living, it appears, increasingly as the US “spinmeister of choice” for the Vatican and its wealthy allies. But can Allen be taken seriously here in his “over the top praise” of Scicluna, who perhaps more than any other Vatican bureaucrat facilitated the Vatican’s evident priest abuse cover-up strategy for years. Scicluna’s rewards for this troubling behavior were promotions to senior episcopal positions from all indications.
* Sadly, in a gathering of “moral midgets” that the Vatican’s priest child abuse cover-up team seems to represent, even a short guy like Scicluna may seem a giant. But let’s be honest, please.
* Scicluna’s latest promotion appears to be just more of the same decades’ old cover up strategy. Pope Francis, a reportedly very hands on manager, apparently selected recently the members of his advisory sex abuse commission to deal, slowly it seems, with his biggest challenge, the scandal of sexual predatory priests and their unaccountable bishop accomplices.
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