UNITED STATES
La Croix International
November 21, 2018
By Massimo Faggioli
There is a gap between the cultural myths of Catholicism and the historical reality of the Church
The clergy sex abuse crisis has become an integral part of the current narrative of Catholicism. But we are still trying to find precedents in history to make sense of this moment. There are two major hypotheses on the similarities between today’s situation and other periods of turmoil.
The first hypothesis was articulated recently by Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, a well-regarded Church historian who was one of the four cardinals who signed the dubia against Pope Francis.
The German cardinal sees a precedent for today’s crisis in the 11th-12th centuries. It was during this period that St. Peter Damiani, in 1049, urged Pope Leo IX to take strong action against concubinage and homosexuality among the clergy.
Around the same time the laity of Milan rose up and called for similar reforms in what was known as the Pataria or Patarine movement (which has some similarities with the current dynamic between Rome and U.S. Catholics).
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.