UNITED KINGDOM
The Tablet
05 July 2017
If reports are correct, it is impossible to see how the newly appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer SJ, can take up his new post. Together with the then Prefect, Cardinal William Levada, he is said in 2012 to have put his name to a letter calling for secrecy “lest it cause a scandal amongst the faithful”, about a parish priest convicted – by a tribunal inside the Vatican itself – of several counts of the sexual abuse of children. The fear of causing scandal is precisely what lies behind the numerous cases where abuse has been covered up by church authorities, which has caused such uproar all over the world.
But there is worse. The priest was laicised. The Italian daily, La Repubblica, reports that because his previous record as a paedophile was kept secret thanks to this letter, he was appointed as a soccer coach to a boys’ team. He went on to abuse at least one other child. He was arrested and convicted, and is now serving a sentence of eight years. Other cases are still being investigated by the police. Had the authorities been properly informed, it is unlikely children would have been abused by this priest after his laicisation.
That is not the end of the matter. Under its previous Prefect, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the CDF had been dragging its feet in investigating bishops alleged to have covered up abuse cases. Before his appointment to succeed Cardinal Müller, Archbishop Ladaria had been the Congregation’s secretary. The Congregation had been charged with creating a disciplinary tribunal to deal with such allegations, and has not yet done so. Two members of the papal commission dealing with child abuse left it after expressing concerns about obstruction by the CDF over this issue.
Cardinal Müller’s departure from the top of the CDF seems likely to be because he was out of tune with some of the approaches Pope Francis was taking, for example regarding the admission of divorced and remarried Catholics to Holy Communion. The cardinal was close to Pope Benedict, who was adamantly against such a change during his pontificate. If the intention behind appointing Archbishop Ladaria was to have someone more amenable in such a key position, Pope Francis will now have to think again.
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