ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Well-liked by Ratzinger, he is seen as an outsider to the Roman Curia. After four days of discussions, the first alliances take shape

ANDREA TORNIELLI
Vatican City

After four days of discussions and six General Congregations, the groups and the strongest “papabili” are emerging more clearly in the meeting room but even more so in the face to face talks taking place away from prying eyes. Among them is the Archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola, who is coming to the fore. He has been considered one of the possible candidates for the Papal Seat right from the beginning; the votes of several American cardinals and of other European cardinal electors, from Germany to Eastern Europe, as well as those of some Italians, could be cast for him. It is important to remember that thanks to the initiatives of the Oasis Foundation, the Milanese cardinal has interwoven relationships with Eastern Churches as well; for example, with the Lebanese Patriarch Bechara Rai.

Scola was held in particular esteem by Pope Benedict XVI, who transferred him from the Venice to the diocese of Milan. An unprecedented decision considered as a sign by many. And it is no secret that Joseph Ratzinger, endorsing Cardinal Camillo Ruini’s suggestion, had also considered him in 2007 for appointment as President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. At that time, it was the newly appointed Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, who objected and the nomination was dropped. Scola is thus perceived as an outsider to the Roman Curia and to the management that has characterized it in recent years. Because of his international renown he could be one of the two strongest candidates from the very first vote in the Conclave that starts next week.

The other candidate who, at the moment, is expected to start with a good number of votes is the Brazilian Odilo Pedro Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo, who has a long curial and Vatican experience and would have the support of some influential Cardinals of the Curia; from the former Prefect of bishops, Giovanni Battista Re, to the Dean Angelo Sodano (who will not enter the Sistine Chapel to vote).

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

A sophisticated anti-bug and cell phone signal system has been installed in the Sistine Chapel: “Confidentiality is crucial”

GIACOMO GALEAZZI
Vatican City

Still no white smoke to mark the start of the Conclave. Only yesterday, criticisms were being made about the running of the Roman Curia. Vatileaks, lack of coordination, problems in the Curia’s relations with Bishops’ Conferences were all central issues in the cardinals’ speeches during the General Congregation. Lajolo, a Sodano supporter, leapt to the Curia’s defence but another Curia member, Rodé, joined in the criticisms. The start of the Conclave has still not been announced as agreement has not yet been reached. But in a comment, the American, Mahony, said: “The Congregations are coming to an end, the start-date is near.” “It will not be loong before we decide,” French cardinal, Barbarin confirmed. After Benedict XVI’s resignation, cardinals need to show to the world that they have taken on board his warning against “the divisions that disfigure the face of the Church.”

So the sticking points (IOR, scandals, governance) need to be resolved before the start of the Conclave, because too many inconclusive votes could give the world the impression that there is a lack on unity in the Church, both in terms of aims and vision. “The mass media have come up with all sorts of exotic names for potential popes, but who’s actually going to vote for them?” the Italian Curia member asked, smiling, as he stood in front of St. Peter’s Basilica. Althought the Conclave start-date is not yet known, the voting area and the spaces surrounding it, (Sistine Chapel and the Santa Marta residence) are in the process of being cleared out and debugged. The aim is to avoid what happened in the 2005 Conclave, when a German cardinal managed to leak cardinals’ choice of Joseph Ratzinger for Pope, so German television reported the news before the Protodeacon managed to make the famous “Habemus Papam” announcement. To prevent this, a Faraday cage is going to be used to block bug signals.

The Apostolic Palace is riddled with bugs which were installed as a response to the document leak. In the Vatileaks era the Conclave has also become a game of mirrors between those who installed the bugs and those who now have to remove them. Two needs must be reconciled here: one is the need for the Curia’s security and secrecy in the papal election. The Secretariat of State has explained that it is “like a post-war conversion.” The hunt for the poison pen letter writers involved the need for exceptional measures to be taken, but in the case of the sede vacante these measures pose a threat to the secrecy of the papal election. A “heavy” apparatus that was useful during the “war time” but which must now be re-adapted to the extremely delicate “peace” phase during which time the Pope is chosen. The Synod Hall, where the pre-Conclave meetings take place, has already been shielded to prevent the use of cell phones and the wireless network has been deactivated to ensure a complete communication black-out with nearby media. Throughout the course of the papal election, electors’ movements between the Santa Marta residence and the Sistine Chapel will be monitored and they may also be searched. The risk is a news leak via technological means.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Times

Friday 8th March 2013

By Chris Hewett.

An Orthodox Jewish rabbi and three others arrested as part of a sex assault investigation have been released on bail until April.

Rabbi Chaim Halpern, of the Divrei Chaim Synagogue, in Golders Green, was detained on February 20 on suspicion of sexual assault and perverting the course of justice.

The 54-year-old was arrested by officers investigating allegations of sexual abuse within the Orthodox Jewish community.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 8, 2013

Rome —
One of the domain names of a website that is the primary source of information on clergy sex abuse cases has been blocked on the Vatican’s web servers.

Users on Vatican servers who try to access one of the four web addresses for Bishopaccountability.org, which tracks publicly available information on clergy accused of abuse, are told the page has been blocked because of “Hate/Racism.”

A Vatican spokesman said the site may be blocked because of an automatic filter system that checks words that appear on websites for explicit nature or inappropriateness.

Some court documents that appear on the site might contain such language, said Basilian Fr. Thomas Rosica. “It would make sense they would block the words, not knowing it’s a clergy abuse website.”

When accessing one of the four web addresses for Bishopaccountability.org, users are told “this page has been blocked by the Vatican protection system” in Italian capital letters in a notice at the top of a page with a background image of St. Peter’s Basilica.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by Dennis Coday | Mar. 8, 2013

Nigel Baker, the UK Ambassador to the Holy See, blogs from his government’s Foreign Office website. This morning to mark International Women’s Day he has a blog titled: Women at the Holy See. He writes:

” … it seems clear to me that one of the tasks awaiting the successor to Benedict XVI will be to explore how the Holy See, and the Roman Catholic Church, can use better the talents, energy and loyalty of the women in its ranks.”

Baker then gives a long list of women working in, for and along side the church here in Rome.

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ROME
Boston Herald

[with video]

By
Matt Stout / Boston Herald

The Italian press and its leak-fueled coverage of the cardinal confabs continued to breathe life into the once-unthinkable possibility of an American pope, with one noted member of the Vaticanisti trotting out not only Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley but now New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan as rising contenders for St. Peter’s Chair.

On a day with little news emerging from within the Vatican’s walls, the buzz over Americans not only kept its legs, but seemingly gained momentum among Italian reporters, who continued to serve as pace-setters in the hunt for Vatican information since Wednesday’s media blackout.

Sandro Magister, a respected reporter at the Italian magazine Espresso, gushed over the capabilities of Dolan, the gregarious former rector of the Pontifical North American College, while mentioning O’Malley as another possibility.

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VATICAN CITY
The Nation

Vatican City – The Italian media on Friday identified two frontrunners for the papal race – Angelo Scola of Italy and Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil – as the wait continued for cardinals to set a date for the conclave that will elect the new leader of the Catholic Church.

Cardinals have gathered for the fifth day of General Congregations, a preliminary forum for discussions. They were joined Thursday by the last of the 115 papal electors that had yet to arrive, allowing them to finally decide on when to start the conclave.

“All 115 of the Eligible electors for the next Pope are now in Rome. Hope date for Conclave is set soon. Your prayers are really needed,” US Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote on Twitter.

The expectation was that the secluded assembly in the Sistine Chapel could commence no earlier than Tuesday.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
CBS Philly

By Mark Abrams

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia’s Archbishop will not be attending the conclave in Rome, because he hasn’t been elevated to the post of cardinal just yet.

KYW Newsradio‘s Mark Abrams sat down with the shepherd of the region’s Roman Catholics to talk about the upcoming election.

Archbishop Charles Chaput knows many of the players. He also has a sense of what they’re looking for in the next pope.

Chaput says the electors certainly are keenly aware something has to be done to address the clergy sex abuse scandal and allegations of corruption inside the heart of the Vatican.

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CANADA
Sun News

TONY BLAIS | QMI AGENCY

EDMONTON – An Edmonton area man, who claims a Catholic priest sexually assaulted him and said his parents “would die and go to hell” if he told them about it, is suing for $475,000.

According to a statement of claim filed Feb. 22, the middle-aged man alleges the priest, who is now dead, sexually assaulted him in the early 1970s when he was about 10 years old and the priest was a teacher at St. Mary’s Boys School in Edmonton.

The man alleges he would often go over to the school to play or for recreational purposes and claims the priest took him to a dormitory in a back area after asking him to help carry some things to the gym.

He alleges the priest picked him up and tossed him onto a dorm bed and sexually assaulted him.

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TEXAS
Brownsville Herald

Posted: Thursday, March 7, 2013

By Ildefonso Ortiz The Monitor

McALLEN — An Edinburg priest has been charged with vandalism after police say he punctured the tires of a parishioner. The priest is also a person of interest in a series of arsons.

Eusebio Martinez turned himself in to McAllen police Thursday morning and then was formally charged with one count of vandalism by Municipal Judge Robert Salazar, who set his personal recognizance bond at $2,000.

The Diocese of Brownsville has placed Martinez on leave while the case is resolved. Martinez maintains his innocence, the diocese said in a written statement.

Martinez attorney Reynaldo “Trey” Garza III said his client is innocent of the charge.

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TEXAS
Valley Central

by Veronica Gallegos

Posted: 03.07.2013

A McAllen family said a priest betrayed their trust and crossed the line when he harassed them after they decided to stop attending his church.

Now Father Eusebio Martinez is facing criminal charges.

Father Martinez stood before a judge with shackles on his hands and feet, emotionless as the charges were read.

His vandalism was all caught on tape. …

“At one time I spoke to a parishioner and a sister who are very involved in church. We went to talk to the bishop about the father,” Villanueva said.

We went to talk to the bishop about the father wanting me to tell him, ‘I love you’ and wanting me to kiss him when we said ‘hello’ or ‘goodbye’.

I think that after I accused him of that, he began to cause harm to me.”

All are strong allegations.

Action 4 News spoke to Father Martin’s attorney Reynaldo Trey Garza.

He addressed the current charges ‘stressing’ his client’s innocence.

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MASSACHUSETTS
The Salem News

BY JULIE MANGANIS STAFF WRITER

IPSWICH — The former head of a Roman Catholic religious order, already facing child sexual abuse charges, was indicted yesterday for allegedly raping a second child while serving in Ipswich in the early 1980s.

The Rev. Richard J. McCormick, 71, who held a position that is the equivalent of a bishop with the Salesian Brothers of Don Bosco, was already under indictment for alleged sexual abuse of a boy who was 9 and 10 years old at the time.

Yesterday’s indictment charges that McCormick also raped a younger boy while serving at the Salesian Brothers’ Sacred Heart retreat center and seminary in Ipswich. The boy was between the ages of 7 and 9 when the alleged abuse occurred, from 1981 to 1983.

Carrie Kimball Monahan, a spokeswoman for Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, said the second victim, now in his late 30s, came forward last year after learning from news accounts about McCormick’s indictment.

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INDIA
Times of India

KOCHI: Suryanelli gang rape victim hasn’t been banned from entering the church, priest of the church said on Friday.

The clarification was issued following media reports that the girl and her relatives have been banned from entering St Francis Xavier Church at Sachivothamapuram near Kurichy in Kottayam district. Reports had stated that the directive not to enter the church under Vijayapuram diocese was issued two weeks ago.

The priest, Xavier Mammoottil, was said to have told the victim’s family that as the residents in the area have come to know the identity of the victim and her family, it is better that they should stay away from the church until all the problems related to the sex case are resolved.

It was in 1996 that the girl, who was a 16-year-old then, was raped by over 40 men over 40 days by transporting her across the state. The victim had recently lodged a police complaint and a petition before a local magistrate court against Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson PJ Kurien alleging that he had raped her and a probe should be conducted.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By David Gibson| Religion News Service

Published: March 7

VATICAN CITY — In Catholic theology, as in the popular imagination, the closed-door conclave to elect a new pope is supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

There’s no horse-trading or lobbying, no insider deal-making or outside influences allowed. Just red-robed cardinals solemnly entering the Sistine Chapel, accompanied only by prayers and their consciences, sitting beneath Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment and discerning God’s will on who should be the next successor to St. Peter.

At least that’s the theory. The last millennium has shown that papal elections can be fraught with politics or worse, and can take months or even years of wrangling to reach a resolution.

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BELGIE
De Standaard

Het Sint-Andriesziekenhuis erkent dat er in de jaren tachtig ‘onaanvaardbare feiten’ werden gepleegd door de toenmalige deken van Tielt. Norbert Bethune reageert tevreden.

De voorbije weken barstte de discussie tussen de raad van bestuur van het Tieltse Sint-Andriesziekenhuis en Norbert Bethune van de werkgroep Mensenrechten in de Kerk over het seksueel misbruik van patiënten door voormalig deken Leopold Lefebvre weer in volle hevigheid los. De man is intussen overleden.

Bethune was zelfs van plan om actie te voeren bij de opening van de nieuwe vleugel van de kliniek op 15 maart en diende klacht in bij de procureur in Brugge omdat de directie destijds de namen van de patiënten doorgaf aan de deken.

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CANADA
Times Colonist

Louise Dickson / Times Colonist
March 7, 2013

The sentencing of a Roman Catholic priest convicted of sexually touching a young person while in a position of trust will not take place until at least early June.

Last week, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper found Father Phil Jacobs deliberately touched a young person between the ages of 14 and 18 for a sexual purpose.

The offence occurred between Jan. 1, 2000, and June 30, 2001, and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Jacobs, who was parish priest at St. Joseph the Worker in Saanich from 1997 to 2002, was acquitted of three other charges, including sexual assault and two counts of sexually touching a person under 14.

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ROME
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 08, 2013

Here are 20 simple steps the next pope could and should promptly take with little effort or real controversy. Based on our 25 years of dealing with this crisis, we are convinced these moves will make children much safer by exposing and deterring wrongdoing in child sex cases by church staff.

New proposals

—Ordering bishops to set up and finance a “whistleblower fund” to reward church staff whose actions lead to criminal charges or conviction of current or former abusive clerics.

—Removing child sex abuse from the CDF’s jurisdiction so that all church officials will clearly see that clergy sex abuse and cover up is a crime, not a sin, and a matter of discipline not of doctrine.

—- Insisting that priests immediately give their passports to their bishops when abuse accusations arise (so they can’t flee overseas).

—-Demanding that bishops hire independent corrections staff to house and monitor child molesting clerics (who cannot be criminally charged) in remote, secure facilities so they will be kept away from children.

—-Instructing bishops to use only licensed therapists (not priests or nuns) to deal with abuse victims.

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NEDERLAND
RKnieuws

AMSTERDAM (RKnieuws.net) – Hoewel merendeels mannen slachtoffer zijn geworden van seksueel misbruik in de katholieke kerk, zijn het vooral vrouwen die de hoogste schadevergoeding krijgen uitgekeerd. De compensatiecommissie van het Meldpunt Seksueel Misbruik RKK heeft tot dusver aan zeven slachtoffers de maximale vergoeding van 100 duizend euro toegekend. Onder hen zijn vijf vrouwen, die reeds op jonge leeftijd zijn misbruikt door katholieke priesters die bij hun ouders thuis kwamen en zelfs als huisvriend werden gezien.

Het grote aandeel vrouwelijke slachtoffers aan wie de katholieke kerk wegens uitzonderlijk misbruik het maximumbedrag van een ton heeft uitgekeerd, is opmerkelijk. In de misbruikaffaire is de aandacht vooral uitgegaan naar jongens die op internaten zijn misbruikt. Ook in alle 127 uitspraken die de compensatiecommissie tot half februari heeft gedaan, zijn weinig vrouwelijke slachtoffers, aldus de Volkskrant.

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CANADA
CBC News

The media have been too negative in reporting about Quebec papal contender Cardinal Marc Ouellet, said the Quebec City Archdiocese.

Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre, spokesman for the Archdiocese, said a recent “blacklist” compiled by a U.S.-based group, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, is unfair to Ouellet.

The organization nicknamed a group of 12 cardinals including Ouellet “the dirty dozen,” saying it did too little to address concerns of abuse in the Roman Catholic church.

“When I saw this coverage, I could only say to myself, ‘This is enough,’” said Lemieux-Lefebvre at a press conference this afternoon.

He said none of the 12 cardinals on the so-called blacklist deserve to be on it.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The curtain has been lifted this week on key aspects of the Vatican operation that supports the Papal Wizard of Oz and it is a very ugly picture. Sausage making is pretty by comparison. After a Pope quit in despair, we are beginning to understand better why he despaired. The Vatican is literally out of control. Almost a month after the Pope resigned, Cardinals are still arguing over a schedule. They have failed to agree on a public relations policy: the Italians prefer their standard “leak to a friendly reporter” approach, while the Americans prefer a press conference where they say nothing of substance, ideal for someone like Cardinal Dolan who can often say less with more words than any other public figure.

A choice by the Cardinals to finish by Easter will indicate the Conclave will have been a complete failure. Electing a Pope is not enough. A Papal Superman does not exist, no matter what country he hails from. The preliminary Conclave meetings, even with Fr. Lombardi’s spin, demonstrate that deep distrust exists among Cardinals, even within country groups, not just between Cardinals from different countries.

One Cardinal reportedly said this Conclave is like going to the dentist; one wants to get it over with as soon as possible and get home. The problem is that it is already quite clear that there are many rotten teeth and failing to acknowledge that now will likely be disasterous. The time, likely the only time, to address them is now. Government regulators and prosecutors, not dentists, can be expected to invade Rome soon. When that happens, Cardinals will lose control of the situation. Now is the time to fix the Church.

The Cardinals must just admit and accept that the Shadow Pope, Joseph Ratizinger, has left them with a real mess, which understandably he wants to be nearby with Georgeous Georg to limit their own exposure.

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VATICAN CITY
Huffington Post

NICOLE WINFIELD | March 8, 2013

VATICAN CITY — The election of a new pope always brings with it hopes for change from across the Catholic ideological and theological spectrum. Advocacy groups from around the world have descended on Rome to try to publicize their causes while media attention on the Vatican is high. These lay groups won’t determine the vote. But some movements are influencing the debate, particularly those which count hundreds of active Catholic priests as members – a threat the Vatican cannot easily ignore. Here is a look at some of the more well-known “dissident” reform and advocacy groups, from those claiming to have ordained female priests to those seeking Vatican files on sexually abusive priests.
___

ASSOCIATION OF CATHOLIC PRIESTS: Founded in 2010 in Ireland by three priests, the ACP now says more than 1,000 of the estimated 3,500 active priests in Ireland are members. The group’s founding constitution calls for a re-evaluation of the church’s teaching on sexuality and for greater lay involvement in church decision-making, but it is better known for its support for an end to mandatory celibacy for priests and opening discussion on women’s ordination. One of its founders, the Rev. Tony Flannery, has been sanctioned by the Vatican for his views: Until he recants, he can’t be in active ministry. But Flannery, a member of the Redemptorist order, is undeterred. “The point we try to make is that in 20 years’ time, there will be very few priests in Ireland. Who is going to provide the Eucharist to people?” The ACP promotes inviting back priests who have left the priesthood to marry, allowing mature married men to celebrate the Eucharist “and then having made those changes, you can begin to look seriously at the question of ordaining women,” Flannery said in a telephone interview.
___

PFARRER INITIATIVE: Founded in 2006 in Austria by the Rev. Helmut Schueller, the former vicar of papal contender Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the “Priest Initiative” claims 350 priests and 79 deacons as members. Most of them are in Austria, but Schueller is looking to expand to Germany, Ireland, France, Australia and the U.S. The group’s 2011 “Appeal to Disobedience” calls for the admission of women and married men into the priesthood to relieve the priest shortage – an appeal that has so shaken the church in Austria that Schoenborn briefed Vatican officials about it. “The Roman refusal to take up long needed reforms and the inaction of the bishops not only permits but demands that we follow our conscience and act independently,” the appeal reads. Those supporting the call pledge to ignore the ban on preaching by trained laity, including women, and vow to never deny communion to the faithful, including divorced and remarried Catholics. Church teaching forbids such divorcees from receiving the Eucharist. In November, the Vatican stripped Schueller of the right to call himself “monsignor.”

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ROME
The Globe and Mail (Canada)

ERIC REGULY
ROME — The Globe and Mail

A report that more Vatican insiders are ready to spill secrets has brought the so-called Vatileaks scandal back to life, just as cardinals are preparing to elect a new pope.

The revelation, made Thursday in La Repubblica, one of Italy’s biggest newspapers, came a day after American cardinals got swept up in the Vatican’s obsession with secrecy.

American cardinals had been meeting the press at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, but on Wednesday, an hour before powerful U.S. cardinals Francis George and Timothy Dolan were to appear on statge, the College of Cardinals told the Americans to cancel the events.

The order came down in the days leading up to the papal conclave, the meeting of cardinals to choose the successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who retired on Feb. 28. Its start date is expected to be announced this weekend.

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VATICAN CITY
The New York Times

By DANIEL J. WAKIN and ALAN COWELL

Published: March 8, 2013

ROME — For a fifth straight day, Roman Catholics awaited word from the Vatican on Friday on whether the so-called princes of their church have agreed a date to begin the formal voting to select a successor to Pope Benedict XVI who retired abruptly last month, citing old age and advancing infirmity.

Since Monday, 115 cardinals under age 80 — those who are eligible to participate in the papal balloting — have converged on Rome to prepare for the moment when they enter the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to begin the processes of voting known as a conclave, a word derived from Latin denoting a lockable room and reflecting the closed and secretive nature of the ballot.

Despite expectations among Vatican watchers that the cardinals would set the date earlier in the week, the prelates have proceeded cautiously and with deliberation, joining with older cardinals to debate a wide range of issues about the papacy and the challenges facing the church without resolving the question of a date.

The cardinals have been meeting behind closed doors in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall every day this week, their utterances regarded as potential auditions for those among them regarded as “papabile,” or candidates for pope.

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IRELAND
Association of Catholic Priestsi

The ACP welcomes the present period of reflection in the Church, and commends Pope Emeritus Benedict for facilitating this by his resignation. We also welcome the growing realisation at all levels in the Church of the need for reform and renewal, in the Church all over the world, but not least in the Vatican itself.

We hope for the following actions in particular from the new Pope.

Firstly, we hope he will not reappoint the existing heads of congregations within the Vatican, or at least that he will only give them temporary appointments, and that he will bring new people with fresh ideas and attitudes into the system. This, we believe, is the only way that the acute problems in the Curia will be put right.

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IRELAND
RTE News

The Association of Catholic Priests in Ireland has urged that Pope Benedict’s successor should dispel the climate of fear and repression in the Church.

It has also called on the new pope not to reappoint any of the Vatican’s departmental leaders but new people who would introduce new ideas and attitudes.

The association also calls on the new pope to fully implement the second Vatican Council’s programme for renewal.

Today is the fourth day of the College of Cardinals’ pre-election discussions.

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UNITED STATES
The Daily Beast

by Robert Shrum
Mar 8, 2013

The bureaucracy of the Catholic Church is more maladroit than managerial. And the cardinals fear change. Is there any hope for a reformer as pope?

It was so like the Curia: distressed by leaks to the Italian press from Italian cardinals about the machinations of electing a new pope, the hierarchy muzzled the Americans. U.S. cardinals were ordered to stop holding press conferences every day, in which no secrets were revealed but prelates at least talked openly about the needs of the church. Simultaneously, Vatican insiders were alleged to be cassock-rushing the conclave with the aim of holding on to both the papacy and their own power. Cardinals not permanently ensconced in Rome were pushing for more time to take a broader measure of each other.

I hope that when the Cardinals finally enter the Sistine Chapel to choose a successor to Benedict XVI, they will comprehend that nothing so became his papacy as the manner of leaving it. I’m not referring to the helicopter that whisked him away—an image so at odds with his richly venerable Renaissance appearance after he took the Medici vestments out of 16th-century mothballs. At least the Pope, with a measure of genuine humility, at the end affirmed that the papal office is just that—-the position, not a person anointed permanently through debility and even unto death. It was the most striking, uncharacteristically progressive decision of his reign.

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ROME
Telegraph (UK)

A clergy abuse victims group has named cardinals from Austria and the Philippines as the only papal contenders untainted by sex abuse scandals.

By Nick Squires, Rome
10:56AM GMT 08 Mar 2013

Only two of the dozen cardinals in the running to become the next Pope are “clean” in terms of their handling of scandals involving sexually abusive priests, a prominent association of victims of clergy sex abuse said on Thursday.

The damning indictment came as it was claimed that there were up to 20 moles inside the Vatican prepared to leak more confidential documents in order to expose corruption, following the example of Pope Benedict XVI’s butler, who was jailed for theft after handing a stash of stolen papers to an Italian journalist.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said the vast majority of cardinals are tainted by having ignored cases of predatory priests or by having actively covered them up and impeded efforts by police and prosecutors to bring the offenders to justice.

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VATICAN CITY
AFP

By Dario Thuburn (AFP)

VATICAN CITY — Catholic cardinals have seized the rare chance of being able to air their grievances against the Vatican at talks that continued Friday, with no new pope to defer to and no old pope to mourn.

Benedict XVI suddenly announced his resignation last month saying he was too old to keep up with a fast-changing modern world, an unprecedented decision in modern Catholic history that has sent shockwaves through the Church worldwide.

The meetings of elderly cardinals that began on Monday are normally something of a formality before the conclave to elect a new pope but this time around they have taken a revolutionary turn.

The closed-door talks are protected by an oath of secrecy sworn by the cardinals, but the voices calling for change have been growing louder after the first papal resignation since the Middle Ages.

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OSTERREICH
der Standard

8. März 2013

Abt und Prior sollen Zusagen nicht eingehalten haben – Kritik an Art der Aufarbeitung des Geschehenen

Kremsmünster/Steyr/Linz – Missbrauchsopfer des oberösterreichischen Stiftsinternats Kremsmünster und Vertreter der Ordensgemeinschaft treffen am Montag – dem dritten Jahrestag des Bekanntwerdens der Affäre – in Steyr im Gerichtssaal aufeinander. Zwei frühere Klosterschüler brachten eine Zivilklage gegen das Stift ein, weil Abt und Prior Zusagen nicht eingehalten haben sollen. Da sie mit der Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsaffäre durch das Kloster unzufrieden sind, veranstalten einige Betroffene am 21. März ein eigenes hochkarätig besetztes Symposium zu dem Thema in Linz.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Mittelbayerische

von Pascal Durain, MZ

Regensburg. Als im Jahr 2010 Fälle von sexuellen Missbrauch und Misshandlungen in zahlreichen katholischen Einrichtung in Deutschland bekannt wurden, erschütterte der Skandal auch Regensburg. Denn auch in einem der ältesten Knabenchore der Welt, den Regensburger Domspatzen, kam es zu Übergriffen und Gewaltexzessen. Das Bistum versprach Aufklärung und betonte immer wieder, nichts unter den Teppich kehren zu wollen. Doch zahlreiche Opfer hegen schon lange Zweifel daran.

Die Suche nach der Glaubwürdigkeit

Bistumssprecher Clemens Neck weist diese Kritik zurück. Persönliche und individuelle Aufarbeitung könne sehr unterschiedlich sein. Diese könne zum Beispiel Therapieangebote umfassen oder auch Gespräche mit Beschuldigten.

Er erklärte, dass man sich bei der Aufarbeitung an die Leitlinien der katholischen Kirche halte. Und: „Jede Beschuldigung sexuellen Missbrauchs, die das Bistum Regensburg erreicht, wird umgehend veröffentlicht, indem sie der Staatsanwaltschaft zur Kenntnis gebracht wird“, so Neck schriftlich.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Die Welt

Ein Bericht über sexuellen Missbrauch im Kloster Ettal offenbart: Viele Schüler mussten durch die Hölle gehen. Die Mönche sollen aus “sadistischer Motivation” Kinder missbraucht und gebrochen haben.

Das Leben im Internat des Klosters Ettal muss die Hölle gewesen sein. Schüler wurden geschlagen, betatscht, missbraucht, an den Haaren durch den Schlafsaal gezerrt. Der Bericht des Klosters, der die Missbrauchsfälle aufarbeiten soll, offenbart viele solcher erschreckenden Details.

Die “Süddeutsche Zeitung” zitiert aus dem Bericht, die Pädagogik der Erzieher habe ein System der Unterdrückung aufbauen und bewahren sollen. Das Ziel: Den Willen der Schüler zu brechen, damit die sich den vorgegebenen Regeln unterordneten.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Rhein-Gieg-Anzeiger

Der Ton in der Diskussion um den Missbach am Aloisiuskolleg hat sich verschärft. Im Bezug auf die FKK-Urlaube von Patern mit Schülern sieht der Jesuitenprovinzial eine Betriebsblindheit im Rahmen “damaliger liberaler Sexualkultur”. Von Ebba Hagenberg-Miliu

Bonn.
Kurz vor Veröffentlichung des zweiten Aufklärungsberichts zu Missbrauch in Aloisiuskolleg (Ako) und Ako-pro-Seminar durch Professor Arnfried Bintig Mitte März hat sich der Ton im Dialog zwischen der Opfergruppe Eckiger Tisch und Jesuitenprovinzial Stefan Kiechle verschärft.

Der Redaktion liegen drei Schreiben vor: 100 Fragen der Gruppe an den obersten Jesuiten, seine Antworten und die Rückantwort von Heiko Schnitzler, Matthias Katsch und Rudolf Jekel. Im Fokus steht die Frage nach der Verantwortung, die nach Opfermeinung der 2010 bei Ausbruch des Skandals zurückgetretene Rektor Pater Theo Schneider zu tragen habe. Und zwar in Bezug auf die schon im ersten Aufklärungsbericht erhobenen schweren Missbrauchsvorwürfe gegen seinen Vorgänger und Ziehvater Pater Ludger Stüper und gegen den Ex-Leiter des Ako-nahen Vereins Ako-pro-Seminar. Pater Schneider ist heute von Kiechle als Superior in der jesuitischen Gemeindearbeit in Göttingen eingesetzt.

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GHANA
Ghana Business News

Victims sexually abused by priests name Ghana’s Turkson among 12 blacklisted cardinals ahead of Pope election

A group made up of victims abused by Catholic priests has listed Ghana’s Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson among 12 worst cardinals who are likely to become the next Pope.

According to the Chicago-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), they listed the 12 cardinals based on their approach to handling child sex abuse claims.

“The following twelve papal candidates are the ones that we are most worried about becoming the next pope,” said SNAP on March 5, 2013.

These twelve were chosen based exclusively on their actions and/or public comments about child sex abuse and cover up in the church, it added.

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UNITED STATES
Washington Post

By Mathew N. Schmalz,

Published: March 7

There’s a media blackout surrounding the lead up to the papal conclave. No interviews—and probably no blogging or podcasts.

USCCB spokesperson, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, managed to spin the whole thing quite positively: she weaved in the fact that only American cardinals were doing press conferences in addition to mentions of the official Vatican briefings. She then moved to a nun joke.

The Americans brought their pros.

Black out it is. But it’s really a temporary cease-fire in the Catholic culture wars: a lull in the battle between the new world and the old, between the church as it is now and the church as it will become.

The lead up to the papal conclave has been surprising in many ways. Like other commentators, I had initially expected that the conclave would be held sometime before March 8 since it would give the new pope enough time to settle in before Easter. I also though that curia officials would push for a quick start, since it would benefit established candidates.

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ROME
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Mar 8, 2013

The U.S. cardinals may have been barred from holding their popular daily press briefings but the war of words between the Italian cardinals and their allies – who are suspected of engineering the silencing – and the Americans only seemed to escalate.

On Friday, Vaticanista Marco Tosatti of La Stampa, an Italian daily that has been a chief conduit for Roman curialists who want to plant select information anonymously, wrote a piece ripping the American cardinals for insensitivity in holding briefings and telling the other cardinals, in effect, “We are here, and we are the ones running the conclave.”

Tosatti’s post was provocatively titled “Conclave: USA uber alles,” a reference to the German national anthem that begins, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,” or “Germany, Germany, over all.” And he included a picture of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the most visible and vocal of the U.S. cardinals, pointing in a characteristically exuberant – or perhaps aggressive, from the Italian perspective – way.

Tosatti went on to say that by holding their own briefings the American cardinals were tainting the “climate of reflection and meditation that should accompany a serious choice” like electing a new pope.

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VATICAN CITY
euronews

[with video]

No public stages, no extra flags, no slogans… You won’t find anything like that in Rome before the conclave of cardinals who will choose a successor to Benedict XVI from among their number.

Cardinals do not campaign to become pope. Even when names are floated in public of men seen as having the right stuff, they themselves keep quiet. It’s one of the ways that a papal election is unlike any other. Secrecy reigns.

The other rules include an age limit. To be able to vote; a cardinal must be younger than 80 at the time the papal throne was vacated. Two of the 115 cardinals eligible to participate in this conclave had their 80th birthdays just after Benedict resigned on February 28th.

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VATICAN CITY
Times of Malta

Vatican officials yesterday told cardinals gathered for the election of the next Pope to stop speaking to the media, as further indications emerged that a conclave would not start early next week as had been expected.

American cardinals who had been scheduled to hold their third media briefing in as many days cancelled it less than an hour before it was to have started at Rome’s North American College, where they are residing.

A spokeswoman for the American cardinals said “concern” was expressed at yesterday’s closed-door meeting “about leaks of confidential proceedings reported in Italian newspapers”.

More than 150 cardinals attended the third day of the preliminary meetings to sketch a profile for the next Pope following the shock abdication of Pope Benedict last month. All but two of the 115 “cardinal electors” aged under 80 have arrived for the meetings, the Vatican said.

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VATICAN CITY
IOL

March 8 2013
By Ella Ide

Vatican City –

As Roman Catholic cardinals prepare a secret conclave in the Vatican to choose a new pope, the only woman seen taking part in the preparations has been the seamstress sewing the ceremonial tablecloths.

The most important decision in the life of the Church is being taken with one half of the Catholic community either looking on or playing an auxiliary role as the male hierarchy deliberates.

“Not hearing the opinions of half of the world is like a slap in the face,” said Janice Sevre-Duszynska, who was excommunicated by the Vatican after her unofficial ordination as a female priest.

Speaking to AFP on the eve of International Women’s Day on Friday, the American said the idea that only men should decide on the next pope who will rule over both men and women was “a mockery”.

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NEDERLAND
Omroe Brabant

Auteur: Ron Vorstermans

DEN BOSCH – Aankomende priesters kregen tussen 1900 en 1965 speciale lessen over zeer uiteenlopende seksuele handelingen. Dat schrijft René Bastiaanse, directeur van het Brabants Historisch Informatiecentrum en presentator van het bekende Omroep Brabant-programma De Wandeling, in zijn boek ‘Onkuisheid’ dat deze week verscheen.

Alle standjes en technieken kwamen in de lessen aan de orde, waaronder perverse handelingen als seks met dieren, kinderen en dode mensen. Alles werd tot in detail weergegeven en niets bleef onbesproken.

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ROME
International Business Times

New Pope 2013: Sex Abuse Victims Group Names Filipino, Austrian and Irish as Promising Papabiles After Rejecting Dirty Dozen Cardinals

By Vittorio Hernandez March 7 2013

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), after giving the thumbs down on Wednesday to 12 cardinals because of their alleged bad record in handling sex abuse cases involving minors, gave the thumbs up on Thursday to three papabiles.

SNAP identified the three as Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Austria and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Ireland.

The network conceded that the Irish clergyman is not a cardinal, but Vatican does not prohibit the election of a non-cardinal as pope, although historically, it had been cardinals.

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NEW JERSEY
New Jersey 101.5

A monument at a New Jersey Catholic church that is dedicated to victims of child sexual abuse has been destroyed for the second time in less than two years.

Local authorities say someone caused extensive damage to the 400-pound millstone that sits outside St. Joseph Church in Mendham. No suspects have been identified.

Mendham Mayor Neil Henry tells The Associated Press it appears the damage occurred late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

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NEW YORK
NYUNews

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Peter Keffer

Emeritus Benedict XVI’s personal decision to renounce the papal role has given the world outside of the Vatican walls a fleeting glimpse of the person beneath the weight of the triple-tiara and the burden of papal duty. A first in 600 years, Joseph Ratzinger’s resignation demonstrates an expression of personal liberty within a church afflicted by sexual abuse scandals and increasing secularism. This radical conclusion of Ratzinger’s tenancy as the bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church has given rise to questions of individualism and personal choice in specific doctrines of the church where such convictions lack. Ratzinger has built a stage on which the future trajectory of the world’s largest faith will be played out.

The late John Paul II’s acclaimed papacy demonstrates a love for theater within the papal role. Where Benedict was a quiet academic and theologian, his predecessor was something of a diplomatic celebrity — images of the late pope kissing the earth of more than a hundred countries are sure to decorate the memories of devoted Catholics more lavishly than Benedict’s more muted gestures. Doubtlessly, John Paul II enjoyed immense popularity during his papacy — his funeral was attended by over four million people and was the largest gathering of any statesman in history. This popularity, however, was merely superficial — and as this appearance faded, the church and the pope who followed John Paul II were haunted by the re-emerged ghosts of sexual abuse and corruption.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

VATICAN CITY | Fri Mar 8, 2013 12:59pm IST

(Reuters) – Joseph Ratzinger never hid the fact he thought the Roman Catholic papacy was too big for one man.

For several days after being elected in 2005, Pope Benedict – as he chose to be called – spoke as if in shock. At his first public Mass, he asked: “I must assume this enormous task, which truly exceeds all human capacity. How can I do this?”

At a meeting with fellow Germans the following day, Benedict surprised his well-wishers by likening the experience of being elected in the Sistine Chapel to getting dizzy as he watched a guillotine blade fall upon him.

Now he has broken six centuries of tradition and resigned, the Catholic Church is asking whether in an era of democracy, 24/7 television and Twitter, the papacy modelled on Renaissance-era monarchy is suffering the same fate. There have been sexual abuse scandals, disputes with Muslims and Jews, suspected money-laundering at the Vatican Bank and communications gaffes. Stacks of private files stolen by Benedict’s own butler have documented corruption and in-fighting among senior officials. …

Benedict dealt with sexual abuse cases in the final years of John Paul’s papacy, and when he became Pope, he started out boldly. He ordered Rev Marcial Maciel, founder of the strict Legionaries of Christ order and a favourite of his predecessor, to retire to a monastery in penance for his secret life as father of several children, sexual abuser of seminarians and drug user.

He apologised for the scandals and made private meetings with abuse victims a regular part of his visits abroad.

COVER-UPS

But the dirt kept surfacing. Four official reports into clerical child abuse in Ireland in as many years exposed details of priestly sin, and how the hierarchy covered it up. One clearly said the Vatican was complicit, leading to a once-unthinkable rebuke by Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Dublin’s embassy to the Holy See was closed in late 2011 and relations remain strained.

Between December 2009 and April 2010, three Irish bishops resigned and apologised for mishandling abuse cases in their dioceses. Also in 2010, a German bishop quit and apologised for physically abusing children. A Belgian bishop stepped down after admitting having molested his own under-age nephews. A Chilean bishop accused of abusing an altar boy quit in 2012, saying he had committed “an imprudent act” but the boy was not underage.

Such “zero tolerance” did not always apply to bishops who protected the predators in their dioceses. Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles stayed in office for years despite accusations – later proven true – that he shielded molesting clerics from the police. He has admitted to making “mistakes” and said he had been naïve about the impact of abuse. Bishop Robert Finn still leads the Kansas City diocese after being convicted of failing to alert authorities to a trove of child pornography found on a priest’s computer. He apologised “for the hurt that these events have caused”.

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WASHINGTON (DC)
WJLA

By John Gonzalez, Suzanne Kennedy

March 7, 2013
As Catholic bishops from around the world descend on the Vatican to prepare to pick a new pope, speculation continues to swirl about who will succeed Pope Benedict XVI.

One of those names that is being tossed around is Washington Archbishop Cardinal Donald Wuerl.

With the start of the papal conclave just days away, the local cardinal is already in Rome. He’s among the 117 cardinals from around the world, and one of 11 Americans who will select the next pope.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Washington resident Bernadette Semple. “Cardinal Wuerl, I know him – great theologian, great leader, wonderful man.”

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CANADA
Toronto Sun

By Giuseppe Valiante,QMI Agency

First posted: Thursday, March 07, 2013

MONTREAL – Quebec City’s Catholic Diocese pleaded Thursday for reporters to not help ruin Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s chances of becoming the next pope.

Diocese spokesman Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre said recent media reports have sullied Ouellet’s name and unfairly associated the cardinal with his brother, a convicted pedophile.

“Ouellet’s brother has paid his debt to society after he committed the abuse,” Lemieux-Lefebvre said to reporters in Quebec City.

“I am speaking to the conscience of communication professionals, to please not associate Ouellet to his brother as if it were a stain on the cardinal’s record.”

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ROME
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

On a day when the cardinals again failed to name a date for the forthcoming conclave to elect a new pope, a US abuse victims’ lobby named Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin as one of three “most promising candidates” to succeed Benedict XVI.

In a provocative gesture given that Dr Martin is not a cardinal, clerical sex abuse victims’ lobby Snap said the archbishop, along with the archbishops of Manila and Vienna, cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle and Christoph Schönborn, represented the “least worst” choices.

Yesterday’s statement followed one on Wednesday when the lobby named a “Dirty Dozen” of cardinals whom they felt should not become pope, largely because of their alleged mishandling of clerical sex abuse cases. The list includes Canadian Marc Ouellet, Italian Angelo Scola, Ghanaian Peter Turkson and US cardinals Tim Dolan and Sean O’Malley.

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ROME
USCCB Blog

Thursday, March 7, 2013

By Sister Mary Ann Walsh

The leaks at the Vatican continue. The morning La Repubblica newspaper ran a story claiming revelations from the secret Vatican Report on Vatileaks. Meanwhile, a few Italian journalists apparently have the minutes of the General Congregation. The topic came up at today’s briefing. Stopping the leaks will be one challenge in a media culture which lives on leaks. It’s just the way to do business here in Rome and has been for years. One journalist asked how they could be sure a cardinal will not leak the papal election result before the new pope comes out on the balcony after the famous phrase: Habemus Papam (We have a pope). Finally, Father Lombardi declared, “If you know who leaked, tell us.” He added that if someone is wrongly disclosing information it is on their consciences.

The cardinal from Vietnam has finally arrived (He was met by Vietnamese staff of Vatican radio, which reaches all around the world), so cardinals can now make the decision about when to start the conclave. Rumors among Italian journalists, which were denied by the Holy See Press office, were that the opening Mass would be Monday. The press office also showed a video of conclave preparations, which included laying a floor in the Sistine Chapel, darkening windows and moving in a stove to burn ballots. We also saw men turning over the sod where a floral papal coat of arms had been planted in front of the Casa Santa Marta. Out goes the pope; out go his flowers. Wonder if new ones will be planted while waiting for the next pope.

The media were filling all spaces at the regular press office (the overflow press facility is in the Vatican audience hall). Cindy Wooden and Frank Rocca were in the Catholic News Service booth and Nicole Winfield and Daniela Simpson were working at the other end of the room in the AP booth. Jason Berry was among journalists standing about. Father Tom Reese, now of National Catholic Reporter, was heading back to the Jesuit curia residence, where he stays, because he needed a land line for a radio interview.

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NEW YORK
Staten Island Advance

By Maura Grunlund/Staten Island Advance
on March 07, 2013

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which is headed by New York’s Cardinal Dolan, claims that the leaks of information from the Vatican are continuing despite the Vatican’s decision to cancel the popular news conferences given by the American cardinals.

More than 5,000 reporters have descended on the Vatican and it’s apparently become a media feeding frenzy since Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff in nearly 600 years to resign on Feb. 28.

In her blog, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, the director of media relations for the conference, wrote from her temporary office inside the Vatican that “La Repubblica newspaper on Thursday ran a story claiming revelations from the secret Vatican Report on Vatileaks. Meanwhile, a few Italian journalists apparently have the minutes of the General Congregation.”

“Stopping the leaks will be one challenge in a media culture which lives on leaks. It’s just the way to do business here in Rome and has been for years.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Michelangelo Sigorile

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Britain’s highest-ranking Catholic cleric until he resigned last week, now admits that he did in fact engage in inappropriate “sexual conduct” with priests, as the Vatican scandals rock on in the wake of Benedict XVI’s resignation. But O’Brien’s story appears to underscore a larger, more pervasive reality about the dangers of the closet in society, and how it can be a corrupting force when combined with power, as I pointed out in a post a few weeks ago about former New York City Mayor Ed Koch.

Powerful closeted gay men, driven by an almost pathological fear of being exposed, many times engage in two often destructive activities: 1) speaking out against gays and homosexuality, or courting those who are anti-gay, in a desperate attempt to show that they are not gay themselves, and 2) seeking sex through risky channels, feeling that they have no choice because they’re unable to freely have sexual encounters via public, everyday social situations, like dating or going to bars or public places.

We’ve seen this over and over again: the homophobic hypocrite caught trying to have gay sex in public restroom stalls or posting nude photos online. However, another way that the powerful and closeted seek sex is by engaging in workplace sexual harassment and abuse of men who are compromised (sometimes, but not always, closeted and conflicted themselves) and fearful of being fired from their jobs if they rebuff these sexual advances.

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CANADA
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by David Clohessy on March 07, 2013

We sincerely apologize for offending anyone by using the phrase “dirty dozen.”

We are a staff of three abuse victims working very hard to protect kids, help victims, expose wrongdoers and deter cover ups in a huge, powerful, global institutions. We simply are incapable of monitoring how a 40 year old movie title translates into multiple languages and slang expression.

We hope Catholics and citizens, in Canada and elsewhere, will focus on what we believe really matters:

–Accounts in credible mainstream media that Cardinal Ouellet refused to meet with victims in Canada.

–Cardinal Ouellet’s recent bragging about the church’s abuse response

–Cardinal Ouellet’s widely reported – and thus far un-refuted – brokering of a deal with a Scottish church official who retired a few weeks early after denying and then admitting sexual misconduct with several seminarians and young priests.

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ROME
NPR

by Mark Memmott

March 06, 2013

As Roman Catholic cardinals now gathered in Rome continue to make preparations for their conclave that will choose a new pope, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli tells our Newscast Desk that “advocates for victims of clerical sex abuse across the world are stepping up demands that three cardinals withdraw” from that process.

According to Sylvia:

“The victims groups accuse three cardinals of covering up crimes. Victims of an Italian priest have launched a petition against Cardinal Domenico Calcagno. Advocates of victims in Chile accuse Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz of ignoring accusations they were abused by a popular priest. In Mexico, victims of the disgraced Father Marcial Maciel are demanding that Cardinal Norberto Rivera stay away from the conclave.”

As The Associated Press notes: Calcagno has declined comment about accusations that he covered up any abuse; Errazuriz has also “denied any cover-up;” and Rivera has “repeatedly denied wrongdoing.”

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ROME
Fox News Latino

By Bryan Llenas

Published March 07, 2013

As the Archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Odilo Pedro Scherer bears the tremendous responsibility of being the face of the Church in the world’s most populous Catholic nation.

Born to German immigrant parents in the Brazilian city of San Francisco, Cerro Largo, Scherer, 63, is the youngest of the Latin American cardinals considered possibilities to become the next pope.

Scherer is also one of the few cardinals with a Twitter account — @DomOdiloScherer — and though he doesn’t send out daily dispatches, he has amassed 22,500 followers.

His age could prove to be a double-edged sword with those who think he lacks sufficient seasoning for the top job. Conversely, some of the cardinals who will select the next pope may be looking for a man who can be expected to lead the Church for decades, as did Pope John Paul II.

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CANADA
CNews

By Giuseppe Valiante, QMI Agency

MONTREAL – Quebec City’s Catholic Diocese pleaded Thursday for reporters to not help ruin Cardinal Marc Ouellet’s chances of becoming the next pope.

Diocese spokesman Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre said recent media reports have sullied Ouellet’s name and unfairly associated the cardinal with his brother, a convicted pedophile.

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PHILIPPINES
GMA News

A U.S.-based organization representing victims of child abuse named two cardinals and an archbishop, who they say are the best candidates to become the new Pope.

At a news conference in Rome, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) said that Cardinals Christoph Schonborn and Luis Antonio Tagle and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin were the “least worst” papal candidates on the basis of their words and actions in regards to the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The Roman Catholic Church has been rocked in recent decades by repeated sex scandals, primarily in wealthy Western nations such as the United States, Ireland and Germany. Many of the cases dated back decades and became known only later.

SNAP member Barbara Doris explained why the organization favors Schonborn, Tagle and Martin before SNAP Director David Clohessy held up a card listing their names.

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CANADA
Canada.com

The Canadian Press
Published: March 7, 2013

QUEBEC — A Roman Catholic Church spokesman is criticizing a list that calls Canada’s Marc Cardinal Ouellet and 11 other papal candidates the “Dirty Dozen.”

Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre, a church spokesman in Quebec City and a former press attache to Ouellet, says none of the cardinals deserves such negative recognition.

The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests put Ouellet on the list because it said he refused to meet with sex-abuse victims. Ouellet recently told the CBC he met with victims during a visit to Ireland.

The “Dirty Dozen” reference comes from a 1967 film of the same name that features 12 convicts assigned to a raid on a German-filled chateau during the Second World War.

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PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Big Trial

Thursday, March 7, 2013

By Ralph Cipriano
for Bigtrial.net

Billy Doe’s mother kept meticulous track of both of her sons’ grade school events.

On monthly calendars, she noted dates and times for football and hockey games, doctor’s appointments, and guitar lessons, flu shots and snow days. She wrote down dates for upcoming exams, school projects, home and school meetings, as well as the day that report cards came out.

She also kept track of the Masses that her sons were scheduled to serve at as altar boys at St. Jerome’s Church.

Billy Doe’s mother kept all those calendars, including the 1998 and 1999 calendars when Billy was a fifth grader at St. Jerome’s. That’s the school year when Billy claims he was raped by Father Charles Engelhardt after a 6:30 a.m. Mass.

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VATICAN CITY
Daily Telegraph (Australia)

A DECISION on when to elect the new head of the Catholic Church could be made as early as tomorrow as cardinals are reportedly already clashing on the timing of the election.

The Vatican has reported the last of the 115 cardinals eligible to vote on a new pontiff are expected in Rome today, almost a week after Pope Benedict XVI’s historic stepping down causing a power vacuum at the top.

Up to a dozen cardinals have been missing from pre-conclave meetings designed to look at potential papal candidates ahead of the actual voting process to be held in the Sistine Chapel.

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VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service

David Gibson | Mar 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Roman Catholic cardinals meeting here to pick a successor to Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday (March 7) that they still have not set a date for the actual conclave to begin, and while that decision could come any day, a lot of people are wondering what is holding them up.

Benedict announced his intention to resign nearly a month ago, on Feb. 11, the resignation took effect on Feb. 28, and most of the cardinals have been in town for more than a week. So what’s the delay?

The problem, in short, stems from the arcane structure of the papal election process, which forbids cardinals from campaigning (overtly) for the top office while a pope reigns – or even when he leaves office. More importantly, the process does not allow for any real vetting or lobbying during the prayerful silence of the conclave balloting itself.

As a result, the precious days between the time a pontiff leaves office and the moment the 115 cardinal-electors enter the Sistine Chapel provide virtually the only opportunities for them to sound out colleagues and size up potential candidates, and that’s what’s happening now during the daily meetings known as the General Congregations.

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ROME
The Times (UK)

James Bone
Rome

A group representing victims of abuse by Catholic clergy called yesterday for the Archbishop of Dublin to be made Pope. The Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP) endorsed Archbishop Diarmuid Martin — even though he is not a Cardinal.

SNAP, the largest victims group, put him on its “most promising candidates” list alongside Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines and Christoph Schoenborn of Austria. All 115 voting Cardinals have now arrived in Rome, making it possible for them to decide the date of the conclave to select the next pope.

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ROME
NBC News

By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

American Cardinal Roger Mahony tweeted Thursday that his fellow princes of the church are close to setting a date for the conclave that will choose the next pope, but the day ended without it happening.

Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man arrives at the Vatican on Thursday. He was the last of the 115th electors to arrive in Rome for the conclave.

“Days of General Congregations reaching a conclusion. Setting of date for Conclave nearing. Mood of excitement prevails among Cardinals,” wrote Mahony, who was stripped of his public duties in January over his handling of sex abuse claims in Los Angeles. He still retains a vote in the conclave.

Mahony took to Twitter a day after all cardinals agreed to a media blackout after concern was raised that some of them — chiefly the Americans, who held two press briefings — were talking too much.

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ROME
Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

It is now March 7 here in Rome. In two days, our Novena to St. Joseph begins. It would be an incredible blessing to have it end on the Feast of St. Joseph, Universal Patron of the Church, on March 19, with the Inauguration of our new Pope!

Please join me in this 9 day Novena:

O glorious St. Joseph, faithful follower of Jesus Christ, to you do we come to ask your powerful intercession in obtaining from the merciful Heart of Jesus all the helps and graces that we need for our spiritual and temporal welfare, and in particular the grace of a happy death, and the special favor we now implore (silently recall the grace you are requesting). O guardian of the Word incarnate, we know with confidence that your prayers on our behalf will be graciously heard before the throne of God, and that God will grant us whatever is for His greater glory and for our greatest good.

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VATICAN CITY
John Thavis

The College of Cardinals’ blanket ban on interviews with the press has returned the conclave narrative to its traditional padroni: Italian journalists and their Italian and Roman Curia sources.

On a practical level, the move effectively muzzled U.S. cardinals and sent a signal that the Vatican’s communication culture remains one of back-channel sources, leaks and speculation — not on-the-record press conferences.

Not surprisingly, the Italian papers today – in particular, La Stampa – were chock full of unsourced details from the cardinals’ closed-door general congregation meetings. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, the Italian head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, gave a global report on missionary challenges. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the Italian head of the Congregation for Clergy, weighed in with an overview on the priesthood and vocations.

Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini spoke about the need to choose a younger pope with sufficient energy. Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet and U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, both Roman Curia officials, talked about the figure and role of “pope emeritus.” Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola went over the five-minute limit in his talk on the nature of the church.

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VATICAN CITY
La Stampa

Andrea Tornielli

VATICAN CITY

One of the cardinals getting ready to enter the upcoming conclave knows that he himself is not papabile — that is, his is not one of the names being considered as a possible next pope. Perhaps for this reason he has taken the time to lay out to La Stampa, in a letter written with an old-fashioned silver fountain pen, what he believes is the ideal profile for the successor to Pope Benedict XVI. Other cardinals have spoken to us in confidence, and a few have even spoken in public, about the man they will be seeking when the conclave begins later this month. While an ideal picture begins to come into focus, so too does the challenge of finding one man to meet all the requirements.

“What we want in a new pope is someone who isn’t too old and has good physical stamina, which is what Benedict XVI indicated to us in his own statement of resignation,” wrote the anonymous Cardinal. “That he is not too young has been repeated by many of my fellow cardinals so that we avoid another reign of 30 years. (a reference to John Paul II’s 27-year reign) That we need a pontiff able to reform the Curia (Vatican government) is something many think; that the faithful expect a shepherd pope who is able to bring forth a positive message is something we all know.

This time, age and physical strength are likely to weigh in. Just like they were important in the second conclave in 1978 after the sudden death of Pope John Paul I, when the cardinals chose a 58-year-old cardinal as his successor: Karol Wojtyla. As he announced that he would be stepping down, Benedict XVI said: “In today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary.”

Even with the possibility that resignation, after Benedict set a new precedent, could pave the way for a very young successor, most cardinals say they believe the most likely successor is someone “around 65-70 years-old.”

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ROME
dotCommonweal

March 7, 2013,

Posted by Dominic Preziosi

Leading stories on a slow news day: “Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi has announced that no date for the papal conclave has been established,” while rumors of a Monday mass for “election of the pontiff” are not true. And, the final electing cardinal has landed in Rome; he is “Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man from Vietnam, and his arrival brings the College of Cardinals to its full count of 115.”

The ban on on-the-record interviews was supposed to plug leaks to the press, but John Thavis reports on the unsurprising results, noting that “the Vatican’s communication culture remains one of back-channel sources and speculation,” as evidenced by the fact that Italian papers today “were chock-full unsourced details from the cardinals’ closed-door” meetings. (A good example from earlier this week: La Stampa’s piece headlined “The Perfect Next Pope: A Secret Guide From Anonymous Cardinals,” in which one unidentified Vatican source is described “taking the time to lay out” his thoughts in a letter “written with an old-fashioned silver fountain pen.”)

Thavis says another story line (aside from the apparent lack of cohesion and focus among cardinals) may be the Curia’s surprise at the “unexpected activism” of the U.S. contingent of cardinals—and the consequent renewed attention to potential American candidates like Timothy Dolan.

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VATICAN CITY
BBC News

The last of the 115 cardinals who will chose the new Pope has arrived in Rome.

Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man joined his colleagues in closed-door discussions at the Vatican.

His presence means a date can now be set for the conclave to choose a successor to Benedict XVI as head of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict stepped down last month after nearly eight years in office, becoming the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

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ITALY
PolicyMic

Jake Horowitz

In a very strange update courtesy of PinkNews.com, which bills itself as Europe’s largest gay news service, a Catholic priest has apparently called on the conclave to elect a gay man to be the next pope, to avoid association with pedophilia.

Don Andrea Gallo, who is an outspoken advocate of LGBT right, had this to say to Italy’s Radio 24: “A homosexual pope would be a magnificent thing. The essence of the Gospel is that we are all God’s sons and daughters and we are all equal as God’s children. “The homosexual priest must be free to express his identity and his sexuality, because repression leads to pedophilia.”

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CANADA
Hindustan Times

A woman has come forward in defence of Hindu priest, Karam Vir, accused of sexually exploiting two teenage members of his congregation in March 2010.

The woman, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, was a defence witness at British Columbia (BC) Supreme Court, where she stated that the priest made a “big difference” during his tenure at an Abbotsford temple.

The woman said that before Vir arrived in 2008, the temple was unclean and had financial problems, which she described through an interpreter as “very bad, actually”.

She said Vir properly submitted donation receipts and operated according to temple rules.

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Charisma News

3/7/2013 Naomi O’Leary/Reuters

Colm O’Gorman was 14 years old when Father Sean Fortune arrived unannounced at his parents’ house in a small town in southern Ireland. The priest was given tea and a seat by the fire, and asked the teenager to help set up a youth group.

“I was 14, and very eager and hungry to be out in the world, involved in things, doing things, making a difference. And that’s what he exploited,” said O’Gorman, now 46 and the executive director of Amnesty International in Ireland.

The abuse that followed, culminating in Fortune’s repeated rape of the boy, was part of one of the greatest scandals ever to hit the Catholic Church, damaging the curtailed papacy of Pope Benedict and posing a huge challenge to whoever succeeds him.

O’Gorman’s story is just one in a worldwide scandal that destroyed lives, bankrupted dioceses, and in many cases cost the Church its most precious asset: faith.

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HAWAII
KPUA

By 67AM KPUA News

A lawsuit has been filed in Honolulu Circuit Court accusing a revered Big Island priest of sexually abusing two boys while employed at Damien Memorial High School in the 1960’s. The suit filed this week on behalf of two men identified as John Roe 6 and John Roe 7 to protect their privacy names Father George DeCosta, Damien Memorial High School, the Roman Catholic Diocese and the Congregation of Christian Brothers as defendants.

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TEXAS
Hispanically Speaking News

Father Eusebio Martinez has been arrested in Texas for vandalizing the property of a local resident family, the Villanuevas.

Father Martinez is Pastor of the Holy Family Catholic Church in the border town of Edinburg, Texas which has a predominantly Latino population. He was allegedly caught on camera drilling holes in the tires of the family’s car according to Valley Central. It is not known if the priest was wearing his official garb when he was filmed.

Local police began investigating Father Martinez back in January when the family submitted video evidence of the vandalism. He was arrested this morning and is out of jail on a personal recognizance bond.

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UNITED KINGDOM
National Secular Society

By Terry Sanderson

The Catholic Church is in crisis, and not a moment before time. The level of arrogant politicisation to which it aspired under the papacy of Joseph Ratzinger was appalling.

Not that such interference in secular politics has stopped. Only this week we read that the Catholic bishops in Northern Ireland are rushing to support new restrictions on abortion in the province, where the law is already severe by most European standards. And in thePhilippines a huge tarpaulin has been erected over the front of a cathedral naming politicians who didn’t vote in the way the Church wanted them to, and advising worshippers in turn not to vote for them in elections.

Now Cardinal Keith O’Brien,Britain’s most senior Catholic cleric and one of the most prominent opponents of same-sex marriage, has been brought low over “inappropriate behaviour”. His own cruel and overblown rhetoric is now catching up with him and intensifying his humiliation. The hatred that he heaped on the gay community because it dared to aspire to equality turns out to have been just a cover for his own, unresisted, sexual impulses.

So what will the Catholic Church do now? Will the new pope see sense and accept that the world has moved on and that his Church must move on too, if it is to retain any relevance. Will he accept that many of its teachings are impractical, unheeded and despised?

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TEXAS
Valley Star

By Ildefonso Ortiz, The Monitor

McALLEN — An Edinburg area priest was arrested by McAllen Police for slashing the tires of a parishioner.

Eusebio Martinez was formally charged with one count of vandalism on Thursday morning when Municipal Judge Robert Salazar set his bond at $2,000 personal recognizance.

Police began investigating Martinez on January 13 after a victim got video of him damaging the tires, said police spokesman Lieutenant Joel Morales.

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UNITED STATES
Catholic League

Bill Donohue comments on attempts by the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) to smear papal candidates:

David Clohessy, the head of SNAP, rails against the Catholic Church for not reporting suspected sexual abusers to the police, yet he has admitted that he himself failed to call the cops when he learned of a priest who molested a male youth. He accuses the Church of lying, yet he has admitted under oath that he has lied to the media about his work. He says the Church lacks transparency, yet he refuses to disclose the source of his funding. He says the Church failed to give adequate counseling to victims, yet he acknowledges that SNAP offers no counseling services. Moreover, in 2007, his organization spent $593 for “survivor support” (Clohessy, who has no counseling license, holds counseling sessions at Starbucks), yet in 2008 he spent $92,000 on travel. And so on.

SNAP is broke. Less than two weeks ago, it sent an e-mail to its donors pleading with them, “We are barely meeting our everyday expenses.” That’s because they have nothing to do. The homosexual abuse scandal ended almost three decades ago, leaving few of their rapacious lawyer friends who have been suing the Church to grease them anymore. This explains their latest stunt.

Yesterday, Clohessy released SNAP’s “dirty dozen” list of cardinals who may be named pope. It’s a sure sign they are in panic mode; they need to kick-start their operations once again. It was revealing, too, that they are furious about those “who pretend the worst is over.” They have to say that. They have no other choice but to lie.

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ROME
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 7, 2013

Rome —
While we wait for a date for the conclave, there are three fresh developments in the pre-conclave drama worth bringing up to speed.

A boost for Dolan

Veteran Italian writer Sandro Magister has offered a major plug for the candidacy of Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York as the next pope, styling him as the great hope of non-Roman cardinals who want to break the grip of “the feudal lords of the curia.”

Magister upsets conventional wisdom by suggesting Dolan is actually a stronger runner than his fellow North American, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who usually finishes much nearer the top of candidate handicapping lists.

He also suggests that the candidacy of Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil is being floated by the Vatican’s old guard, who, Magister asserts, see him as “docile and bland.” In part, the analysis is based on the fact that Scherer served in the Congregation for Bishops from 1994 to 2001 under Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, a consummate Vatican insider and presumably one of those “feudal lords” Magister had in mind.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Conclave rescue effort to find a new Captain to save Peter’s sinking Barque has already failed. Women and children were not first. Instead, women’s equality and child protection have already, in effect, been thrown over the side. Aging Vatican Captain Ratzinger had already shrewdly jumped ship with Gorgeous Georg to manipulate the Conclave by remote control.

Dominant aging Vatican Cardinals, led by Cardinal Sodano and his new ally (apparently out of desperation), Cardinal Bertone, have been left on board to steer. These students of Machiavelli have focused almost solely on helping some Cardinals continue to avoid prosecution, among other ways, by closely guarding the secret dossier on Vatican scandals. These over-the-hill successors to petty Italian princes seem unable to see, it appears, that the Vatican barque is almost mastless and taking on water. This Vatican clique just refuses to change its secret course despite rumors that more Vatileaks from many more Vatican moles are in transit. While the best Clown Prince may have just been elected to run Italy, the unintended Italian Clown Princes seem to be controlling the Conclave.

Of course, Cardinal Sodano had a half century earlier seen Cardinal Ottaviani, his predecessor as Vatican clique leader, play this game very succesfully at the Second Vatican Council where his opponent was a brave anti-Nazi veteran, Cardinal Frings, and his smart and ambitious aide, Joseph Ratzinger. At Vatican II, almost all Cardinals and Bishops wanted power sharing with the Vatican, a married priest option and more family planning choices for couples, while they frequently criticized the Vatican clique, the Curia. The Curia patiently marked time and undid or undercut the Council’s reform initiatives by controlling the Popes, in some cases beginning even before the Vatican II prelates returned home. Thereafter, the ambitious Ratzinger switched from the losing side and developed Vatican II amnesia, as he climbed ruthlessly and rapidly up the hierarchical ladder. He also played this game before.

Watching the Conclave in light of the Vatican clique’s manipulation of the Second Vatican Council’s unimplemented reform initiatives, one must immediately think of the quote of the famous Italian American “ballplayer/philosopher”, Yogi Berra, “It is ‘deja vu’ all over again”! By “faking” his own ecclesiastical “death”, the Shadow Pope, Ratzinger, appears well on his way masterfully to installing a younger clone to replace him in the drive to create a smaller priest cult funded worldwide by overly trusting, insufficiently informed and politically conservative Catholics led by their plutocratic cheerleaders.

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PHILIPPINES
Massachusetts Newswire

MANILA, Philippines, March 6, 2013 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Only a few days have passed since the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and already speculation is rampant about his replacement. In Asia, those who are devoted to one of the prime candidates, Archbishop of Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, have mounted an Internet campaign to share their support of his potential selection, according to Batangas Varsitarian.

On websites like http://Batangasvarsitarian.net they even post links to social network pages of members of the College of Cardinals, so that supporters can directly message the actual decision makers who will choose the next Pope.

There has never been a Pope from Asia, and no pontiff has been chosen from outside Europe for 1500 years (since Gelasius I, who was from North Africa). Supporters of Cardinal Tagle believe that his selection would bring the world’s attention not only to the Philippines, home of 75 million Catholics, but to the vast number of Third World believers often ignored by Western media.

Says website co-director Eula Laki “We know the Church has their own selection process which is almost 2000 years old. We have no idea if God supports using social media to affect this procedure, but we decided to put the information out there and let people decide what to do according to their own consciences.”

“If nothing else,” says Angelina Ramos, one of the effort’s founders, “We will be acquainting the world with the amazing works and character of this exemplary church father.”

Already the effort has brought together many expatriate Filipinos in learning about the revolutionary work the Church has done in the Archipelago in promoting education, health care, and poverty alleviation.

Though Cardinal Tagle is an accomplished humanitarian and scholar, as a Professor of Dogmatic Synthesis at San Carlos Seminary and winner of the Adelina Award for charity work, his youthful age (56) may work against him as a potential candidate for Pope. But the founders of the movement believe their work has already been successful in throwing a spotlight on the Catholic Church in Asia.

For more information go to http://batangasvarsitarian.net/ .

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler
March 07, 2013 12:19 PM

Something historic is happening in Rome this week. Not only preparations for the election of a new Roman Pontiff—although that would be historic in itself—but the clash between two incompatible visions of how the Catholic Church should present herself to the world.

Yesterday the American cardinals abruptly suspended the press briefings they had been organizing every day during the sede vacante period, apparently under pressure from other prelates. The director of the Vatican press office, Father Federico Lombardi, seemed more comfortable, now that the competition to his own daily briefings had been eliminated. He explained that while the cardinals were meeting for confidential discussions, it was important for all the participants to be sure that their talks would not leak into the public domain. More candid officials (and it is not difficult to find officials more candid than the Vatican’s chief spokesman) revealed that the American cardinals were shutting down their media operation because of a backlash caused by leaks to the Italian press.

There had indeed been some serious leaks. The Italian daily La Stampa, in particular, had printed detailed accounts of the “confidential” talks in the cardinals’ congregations. But these leaks had nothing to do with the American prelates’ daily briefings.

Think about it. A “leak” is, by nature, a surreptitious release of information. The American cardinals were doing nothing at all surreptitious; they were speaking in plain sight, with cameras and tape recorders rolling. If their briefings had been the source of indiscreet reports on the meetings in the Synod Hall, the whole world would have known it—and would have known exactly who broke the seal of secrecy.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
March 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY — A day after the U.S. delegation shut down its popular daily media briefing, the Vatican continued to struggle Thursday to stem the tide of leaks to Italian media, allegedly by cardinals gathered for private meetings ahead of their eagerly anticipated conclave to elect a new pope.

About 150 cardinals have been meeting daily this week at the Vatican to discuss the future of the Roman Catholic Church and to form opinions about possible candidates to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who retired last week.

Despite the prelates’ sworn oath to keep details of the proceedings secret, Italian newspapers have provided daily leaked accounts of which cardinals have spoken and of the reluctance on the part of some to agree on a date for the conclave until they are told more about alleged infighting and mismanagement at the Vatican.

Cardinals had been allowed to give interviews as long as they skirted the details of the meetings, known as general congregations. But that practice came to an end when the cardinals agreed Wednesday to refrain from all contacts with the media.

The decision put a lid on the daily briefings given by cardinals from the United States, leading critics to allege that the ban was aimed primarily at halting the Americans’ bid to bring some transparency to the traditionally secretive Vatican.

Despite the ban, on Thursday there was no sign of the leaks in Italian media drying up. La Stampa alleged that a senior European cardinal had asked to know the names of two lay people reportedly named in a secret report commissioned by Benedict on corruption inside the Vatican. The request was turned down, the report said.

Asked on Thursday if the cardinals might consider further measures to stop the leaks, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said, “We count on the responsibility and morality of people.”

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UNITED STATES
Fox News Latino

By Bryan Llenas

Published March 07, 2013

Miguel Diaz, the former US Ambassador to the Vatican, is one of the few Americans who got to know Pope Benedict XVI on a personal level.

“He had a personal way of relating to my family, when we asked him to pray about the kids, he would always smile and in an affirmative way convey to us that he would do so,” Díaz told Fox News Latino.

The Cuban-American is the first Hispanic to ever represent the US at the Holy See and, as a result, has had a front row seat to Benedict’s pontificate – and therefore is more keenly aware of who needs to be the next pope.

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VATICAN CITY
CTV (Canada)

The Associated Press
Published Thursday, Mar. 7, 2013

VATICAN CITY — The last cardinal who will participate in the conclave to elect Benedict XVI’s successor as pope has arrived in Rome.

Vietnamese Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man attended the Thursday afternoon session of the pre-conclave meetings in a Vatican audience hall after his flight landed earlier in the day. He said nothing to reporters as he arrived.

He was the last of the 115 cardinal electors to arrive in Rome, and his presence now means that the cardinals can set a date for the conclave.

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VATICAN CITY
CNN

By Samuel Burke & Juliet Fuisz, CNN

Pope Benedict XVI bears personal responsibility for not holding sexually abusive priests in the Catholic Church accountable, alleges the director of a new documentary, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God.”

“From 2001 to 2005, as cardinal, [Benedict] ran the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And in that office, he looked over every sex abuse case that there was all over the world. So he’s the most knowledgeable person in the world about this issue,” director Alex Gibney told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “Then, as pope, he presided, as more and more information about this came out. And he was pretty much utterly ineffective in being able to stem the tide.”

Gibney, whose documentaries have taken on complicated characters from Jack Abramoff to Dick Cheney, says Benedict took some positive steps: “He did make some apologies. He did blame some bishops. But he took no responsibility for the Vatican itself. So, in a way, I think this whole sex abuse crisis engulfed Benedict.”

“Mea Maxima Culpa” focuses on the case of Father Lawrence Murphy, an American priest who is accused of molesting as many as 200 boys at St. John’s School for the Deaf. The film traces his case to the highest levels of Church power.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Solihull News

Mar 7 2013

A SOLIHULL priest and school governor has been arrested by police investigating historic child sex allegations.

Father Ted Simpson, based at Olton Friary in Solihull, was arrested on January 25 on suspicion of sexual activity with a minor.

West Midlands Police said he was currently on bail while inquiries continued.

Staff at the church seemed unaware of the police investigation. One said: “He has not retired yet, but he may do. I should leave things alone for the moment.”

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ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

(By Christopher Livesay) Rome, March 7 – As the last cardinals made their way to Rome this week ahead of the conclave to elect a new pope, fresh priest sex-abuse allegations surfaced on Thursday as advocates and victims called on the Church to make pedophilia a central focus when considering a successor to Benedict XVI. In Italy, a group campaigning against priest sex abuse on Thursday called for Cardinal Domenico Calcagno to be banned from electing a new pope. Francesco Zanardi, the head of L’Abuso, said he he will be in Rome Friday to “personally hand (Vatican Spokesman Federico) Lombardi and the Vatican administrative office” a petition signed by numerous people demanding that “Cardinal Calcagno stays out of the conclave”. Zanardi accuses Calcagno, a former bishop of the northern city of Savona, and two other recent bishops there of systematically covering up cases of pedophilia in the diocese. On Sunday, pedophilia victims appeared on Italian television with accusations that Benedict knew of several cases of priest sex abuse in Savona but never did anything about it. The accusers, who made their statements on Italian television program Le Iene, said that the Vatican failed to press charges against several priests in the city of Savona who victimized minors 10 years ago when then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was cardinal-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose role required investigating the sexual abuse of minors by priests. Presented as evidence on the program was a letter dated September 8, 2003 and addressed to Ratzinger in which Calcagno informed him of a priest who had been accused of pedophilia. The priest, who was later transferred to another parish, was sentenced to one year in jail last year. In an unrelated case, an Italian consumer association is pressing forward in its motion to investigate Cardinal Roger Mahony and his role in allegedly covering up instances of priest sex abuse in the United States.

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ROME
The Daily Beast

by Barbie Latza Nadeau
Mar 7, 2013

As Cardinals arrive in Rome to choose a new pontiff, victims of priest sex abuse have laid out their case against the top contenders, and say that even the best options are tainted by the global scandal.

“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Those who have clean hands and a pure heart…” says the Bible. But as the College of Cardinals gets closer to choosing a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who retired on February 28, it is becoming an

This week, as the cardinals descended on Rome for pre-conclave congregational meetings to share concerns for the global church and form a profile of what they want in a new pontiff, another group of concerned Catholics held court of their own to voice the concerns of victims of predator priests. SNAP (Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests), the 12,000-member strong priest abuse victims’ group, issued its “dirty dozen” of potential popes who they feel would be “the worst papal candidates for the safety of children” and gave their blessing to three others who they feel are “the least of the bad” who could lead their church out of its darkest hour. They also presented a wish list for what they believe the church should do going forward, which includes “to severely and clearly discipline, demote, denounce and defrock bishops caught concealing sex abuse crimes.” They would also like the church to order bishops in local diocese to “turn over every piece of paper relating to accusations of abuse” which they believe would stop predators in their tracks.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Birmingham Mail

Father Ted Simpson, of Olton Friary in Solihull, has been arrested and quizzed by police over child sex allegations

A Midland priest and school governor has been arrested by police investigating historic child sex allegations.

Father Ted Simpson, based at Olton Friary in Solihull, was arrested on January 25 on suspicion of sexual activity with a minor.

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VATICAN CITY
GlobalPost

An excommunicated female priest decked out in her liturgical robes was detained by Italian police for demonstrating at the Vatican on Thursday, where she called on the Catholic Church to rethink its policy on ordaining women.

Unfurling a red and white banner reading “Women Priests are Here”, Janice Sevre-Duszynska said she wanted to draw attention to the lack of a voice for women as cardinals gather at the Vatican to choose former pope Benedict XVI’s successor.

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ROME
CNN

By Richard Allen Greene and Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

updated 11:29 AM EST, Thu March 7, 2013

Rome (CNN) — A cardinal from the Philippines, another from Austria and an archbishop from Ireland would be the “least worst” choices to be the next pope, according to a group representing the victims of abuse by priests.

The Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, released its list Thursday as cardinals held meetings at the Vatican in a prelude to the selection of the next pontiff.

The three are Cardinal Luis Tagle of the Philippines; Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Austria; and Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, Ireland.

Martin is not a cardinal, but SNAP noted that a man need not be a cardinal to be elected pope. Historically, the role has gone to cardinals, however.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Cardinals are calling for stronger communication between the Pope and his “ministers” and between the Church headquarters in Rome and the local Churches

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

After asking for more information on the Vatileaks affair, cardinals are calling for reforms in the Curia. There needs to be better communication between the Pope and his “ministers”, improved coordination between dicasteries and stronger links between the central Church in Rome and the local Churches. These were some of the issues discussed during the third General Congregation session yesterday morning. The Conclave start date is still to be decided and a number of cardinals have asked for the discussion phase to be extended to the beginning of next week. They are eager to get to know each other, to examine the state of the Church across the world and to find out what the state of affairs within the Roman Curia is, given the various scandals it has recently been at the centre of.

Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts gave a speech on the last of these issues. The Milanese cardinal spoke of the need for better communication between the Pope and dicastery leaders: there needs to be constant contact and exchanges with the Pope. Once upon a time, the Pope used to hold pre-scheduled audiences throughout the year, not just with prefects of Congregations, but also with secretaries; so even deputies had contact with the Pope and could get a first hand idea of the problems the Church was facing, helping them in their decision-making.

In recent decades, the number of pre-scheduled audiences has been reduced and were only attended by some heads of dicasteries such as prefects of bishops and of the former Holy Office. The Secretariat of State has increasingly acted as a buffer: recently one dicastery leader/cardinal had to wait several months before he was able to meet with the Pope.

Cardinal Cocopalmerio therefore spoke of the need for an improved coordination and exchange of information within the Curia itself, between the various “ministries”. The cardinal also touched on the subject of relations between the Holy See in Rome and the Episcopal Conferences across the world: he emphasised that it is important for more consideration to be given to the needs of local Churches. Finally, Coccopalmerio said it was high time the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus was updated. This was the document with which John Paul II reformed the Curia in 1988.The cardinal did not go into the details but many now agree that streamlining and rationalisation are crucial.

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NEW YORK
Catholic League

Bill Donohue addresses New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey’s Child Victims Act:

Over the past several years, Markey has introduced legislation addressing the sexual abuse of minors. One problem: her bills focus unfairly on private institutions, leaving public institutions virtually untouched. This year’s version of her bill offers no change; it would open up a one-year window for alleged victims who were abused in a private institution regardless of when it took place. But it changes nothing for a victim who was abused in a public school even as recently as Thanksgiving (he only has ninety days to report the abuse).

On Friday, Markey will hold a rally outside City Hall in Manhattan in an attempt to persuade the public. It is interesting to note that the roster of speakers at the press conference does not include anyone from the Department of Education. Doing so would open Markey up to questions that she does not want to answer. One being, why a private school student who had his crotch grabbed by a janitor a quarter century ago has greater rights than a public school student who was abused by a teacher a few months ago.

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ROMA
Fatti di Cronaca

La chiesa attende l’elezione del nuovo Papa, ma il caso Vatileaks irrompe sulle pagine della stampa nazionale mentre il Conclave non è ancora ufficialmente aperto. “I corvi sono tanti, più di 20 persone“. È quanto emerge da un’intervista fatta da Marco Ansaldo per Repubblica proprio a un “ex corvo” come si definisce l’intervistato. Con le dimissioni di Benedetto XVI il caso torna a spaventare il Vaticano e per i corvi “è venuto il momento di parlare“. I motivi sono vari, ma c’è un unico scopo: i documenti trafugati dall’Appartamento del Papa fanno parte di “un’operazione di trasparenza nella Chiesa“, necessaria per riformare i vertici vaticani.

Il maggiordomo del Papa, Paolo Gabriele, non è il solo corvo in Vaticano. Più di venti, donne e uomini, laici e prelati: lo spiega “l’ex corvo” che si definisce così perché “non ci sono più Papi da difendere o verità da far emergere. È tutto nel rapporto segreto compilato dai tre cardinali anziani“. È un credente, molto fedele alla Chiesa, che conosce il Vaticano e i suoi ingranaggi così come i protagonisti dei retroscena, quelli che tirano i fili da dietro le quinte, ed è esperto di finanza.

Sarebbe proprio l’aspetto finanziario la vera causa scatenante del caso Vatileaks, tenendo conto che i documenti in possesso del giornalista Gianluigi Nuzzi. Circa due anni fa il Papa chiese a monsignor Carlo Maria Viganò di iniziare “un’operazione di razionalizzazione nelle attività economiche dalla Santa Sede, unite all’opera di trasparenza affidata a Gotti allo Ior“.

Tutto però venne ostacolato perché si temeva che venissero lesi gli equilibri degli enti che si andavano a controllare. “Così nacque una lobby in Vaticano, composta da persone che lavoravano fra Governatorato, Apsa, Segreteria di Stato, Biblioteca, Archivio, Musei, Cei, Osservatore Romano, che ha cominciato a dialogare“.

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

The Vatican is still annoyed at the leaks of confidential proceedings to the media by U.S. cardinals. All cardinal electors are now in Rome: the Conclave nears

Giacomo Galeazzi
Vatican City

All 114 cardinal electors have now arrived in Rome so the College of Cardinals can finally decide on a date for their entry to the Sistine Chapel. During the Congregations, cardinals discussed thepossibility of beginning the election process Sunday or Monday. This morning the remaining few cardinal electors swore an oath of secrecy and in the afternoon the Conclave start-date could be announced. The arrival of cardinals Nycz (Poland), Lehmann (Germany), Naguib (Egypt) and Tong Hin (China), has marked the beginning of the X-Hour. “The decision can now legitimately be made,” said the jurist, Archbishop Sciacca who is assisting Bertone during the sede vacante period.

There is still no decision on the date but the Curia has imposed a media blackout so cardinals are not allowed to give information tot he press. Tensions have been rising in the past few days, leading to yesterday morning’s clash between “Romans” and “foreigners”.

The Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano and the Camerlengo, Bertone (who have formed an alliance against cardinals outside the Curia after eight years of mutual hostility) did everything in their power to contain the solid group of U.S. cardinals. In the name of transparency, U.S. cardinals had held a series of parallel news briefings with the press on the issues relating to the Conclave. The briefings were held at the Pontifical North American College where the cardinals are currently staying. For this reason on Monday Rigali, the U.S. cardinal who is closest to the Curia, was given the task, through Re, of letting his group know that these news briefings were inappropriate. On Tuesday, Sodano supporter Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo also had a go at urging them to stop: “Americans talk tot he press more because it’s their style, they are expansive.” A glasnost which violates a century-old tradition of discretion and stealthy caution. The American cardinals finally gave in to growing pressure from the Vatican, cancelling their umpteenth press briefing. The Vatican’s irritation came like a slap in the face in the midst of the Synod Hall. “Concern was expressed in the general congregation about leaks of confidential proceedings,” the U.S. cardinals’ spokesman Mary Ann Walsh later explained. Dolan’s 14:30 press conference was cancelled an hour before it was due to start.

“As a precaution, the cardinals have agreed not to do interviews,” Sister Walsh added, saying that complaints were mainly in relation to the cardinals’ interviews with the Italian media (in particular one report published by Italian daily La Stampa)who use some cardinals as sources. If U.S. cardinals came to Rome with the conviction that Benedict XVI’s butler was not the only one to blame for the leak of confidential Holy See documents but that poor Curia governance was also to blame, this has only strengthened everyone is mutually responsible for the their belief. The term “leaks” (like Wikileaks and Vatileaks), used twice by Mary Ann Walsh is not coincidental. Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi clarified that “everyone” in the College of Cardinals “has a shared responsibility in the process that is under way and each cardinal needs to be able to balance their duty of confidentiality with other duties.”

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VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider

Things turned sour towards yesterday’s General Congregation, the third in the series of pre-Conclave meetings: “Discussions are still too general”

Andrea Tornielli
Vatican City

In a speech given during yesterday’s General Congregation, a foreign cardinal asked for some information on two individuals who are allegedly mentioned in the Vatileaks scandal dossier prepared by the three-man investigation commission . But the Camerlengo, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, sent an internal communiqué urging those present not to “name names” if they are not “certain”, as they could risk fomenting a climate of suspicion and resentment.

Italian newspaper La Stampa has learnt that the two individuals referred to yesterday were not members of the clergy but laymen. One of them does not work in the Holy See but has had frequent contact and collaborated to a high level with Holy See institutions. The other is a Vatican employee. The foreign cardinal’s frank request indicated that although the Vatileaks case is not the focal point of discussions ahead of the Conclave, many are keen to learn more about the contents of the dossier that will end up in the hands of the new Pope.

“The Church in today’s world and the requirements of the new Evangelisation,” the reform of the Curia and “relations between the Holy See, the dicasteries and the Episcopates” and the profile of the new Pope are the big topics discussed during the fourth General Congregation yesterday. The meeting was attended by 153 cardinals, 113 of whom will be entering the Sistine Chapel to elect Ratzinger’s successor. The Prefect of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Fernando Filoni, gave a presentation of his dicastery, illustrating figures and other data about missionary lands. The Prefect of the Clergy, Mauro Piacenza also gave a speech about the priesthood and vocations. Meanwhile, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who is over 80 and therefore not eligible to vote in the Conclave, traced an outline of the future Pope’s profile. In tune with what other cardinals said in their speeches over the past few days, the former Vicar of Rome suggested electing a “dynamic” Pope who is young enough to adequately deal with the challenges currently faced by the Church.

Two influential members of the Curia gave speeches, in which they gave different perspectives on the unprecedented question of the “Pope Emeritus” title. Never in the history of the Catholic Church did a Pope resign due to old age so no one ever had to ask the question of what title he should be given. The issue was also addressed by the Prefect of the Congregation Marc Ouellet, a papabile and the American Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, Raymond Leo Burke

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PENNSYLVANIA
Catholics4Change

March 7, 2013 by Susan Matthews

We are asking supporters of child sex abuse statute of limitations reform to email your state representative today (Find your state rep and contact info here) with this message.

Support McGeehan, Rozzi Amendments – Protect Kids, Not Predators!

Dear Representative:

Although the Task Force for Child Protection made recommendations for new laws dealing with child sexual abuse, it failed to take up the most powerful tool designed to expose predators and to afford victims the justice they deserve.

HB 342, a bill on the voting calendar for next week, may give us the opportunity to create a one time, two year window that suspends the civil statute of limitations to allow past victims of child sex abuse to be heard. It would allow access to the justice system so that suspects could be subpoenaed and deposed. The victim would still have to prove “gross negligence” and the current sovereign immunity defense for public employees would be suspended.

Rep. McGeehan and Rep. Rozzi will be offering child sex abuse statute of limitation amendments to HB 342.

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ROM
n-tv

Papst Benedikt XVI. ist zurückgetreten. In den kommenden Tagen treffen sich die Kardinäle, um einen Nachfolger zu suchen. Vor der Entscheidung über einen neuen Papst taucht nun eine

Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch durch katholische Geistliche haben eine Schwarze Liste möglicher Kandidaten für das Amt des Papstes veröffentlicht. Die Liste enthält die Namen von zwölf Kandidaten für die Nachfolge von Benedikt XVI., denen verharmlosende Äußerungen zum Thema Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche oder das Inschutznehmen pädophiler Geistlicher vorgeworfen wird.

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ROM
OTZ

Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch durch katholische Geistliche haben eine Schwarze Liste möglicher Kandidaten für das Amt des Papstes veröffentlicht. Die Liste enthält zwölf Kirchenmänner, denen verharmlosende Äußerungen zu dem Thema vorgeworfen werden.

Opfer von sexuellem Missbrauch durch katholische Geistliche haben eine Schwarze Liste möglicher Kandidaten für das Amt des Papstes veröffentlicht. Die Liste enthält die Namen von zwölf Kandidaten für die Nachfolge von Benedikt XVI., denen verharmlosende Äußerungen zum Thema Missbrauch in der katholischen Kirche oder das Inschutznehmen pädophiler Geistlicher vorgeworfen wird.

Zudem sprach sich die US-Organisation Netzwerk der Überlebenden von Missbrauch durch Priester (SNAP) gegen die Wahl eines Mitglieds der römischen Kurie zum neuen Papst aus. “Nach unserer Überzeugung hat kein derzeitiger Vatikan-‘Insider’ den Willen, wirklich reinen Tisch im Vatikan oder anderswo zu machen”, sagte SNAP-Vorstand David Clohessy.

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DEUTSCHLAND
OTZ

Mit dem sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern an katholischen Schulen in Irland hat sich am Mittwoch der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte befasst.

Mit dem sexuellen Missbrauch von Kindern an katholischen Schulen in Irland hat sich am Mittwoch der Europäische Gerichtshof für Menschenrechte befasst. Die 17 Richter der Großen Kammer des Straßburger Gerichts prüften die Klage eines der Opfer. Das damals neun Jahre alte Mädchen war im Jahre 1973 mehrere Monate lang wiederholt vom Leiter ihrer Schule in der südirischen Ortschaft Dunderrow missbraucht worden. Sie wirft den irischen Behörden vor,

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DEUTSCHLAND
Sueddeutsche

Es war eine Institution, aus der es kein Entrinnen gab. Im Internat des Benediktinerklosters Ettal herrschte bis in die achtziger Jahre hinein “ein System der Unterdrückung”. Das geht aus einem Untersuchungsbericht hervor, der der SZ vorliegt. Auch sexuelle Übergriffe seien Teil dieses Gewaltsystems gewesen.

Im Internat des Benediktinerklosters Ettal herrschte bis in die achtziger Jahre hinein “ein System der Unterdrückung”. Gewalt sei “gezielt als pädagogisches Mittel eingesetzt” worden. Auch sexuelle Übergriffe seien Teil dieses Gewaltsystems gewesen. Das geht aus einem Untersuchungsbericht hervor, der der SZ vorliegt und der an diesem Donnerstag vorgestellt wird.

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ROMA
La Repubblica

di MARCO ANSALDO

ROMA – “Il maggiordomo del Papa, Paolo Gabriele, non è l’unico corvo del Vaticano. I corvi sono tanti. Più di venti persone, tutte legate alla Santa Sede. Siamo donne e uomini, laici e prelati. Se abbiamo fatto uscire i documenti dall’appartamento del Papa, con l’aiuto di Paolo Gabriele, è stato per compiere un’operazione di trasparenza nella Chiesa. Ora, dopo la rinuncia di Benedetto XVI al pontificato, e alla vigilia del Conclave, il caso Vatileaks continua a tenere banco”. “E per noi è venuto il momento di tornare a parlare”.

Il tavolino della veranda di un bar ai Parioli, a Roma, lontano dal Vaticano e da occhi indiscreti. Una mano che tormenta un anello dorato con lo stemma del Papa. La persona che parla è credente, fedelissima alla Chiesa, ha una perfetta conoscenza della macchina vaticana, dei suoi protagonisti, e spiccate competenze in materia finanziaria. Nessun nome, com’è ovvio. Anche il maggiordomo del Papa è rimasto a lungo ignoto. Ma la “fonte Maria” che in passato aveva fornito ai media carte e documenti è del resto un nome collettivo.

In epoca di Conclave i corvi tornano a volare?
“Io sono un ex corvo”.

Cioè?
“Non ci sono più Papi da difendere o verità da far emergere. È tutto nel rapporto segreto compilato dai tre cardinali anziani”.

Che cosa c’è dentro?
“So qual è stata la metodologia, e soprattutto lo scopo di questa relazione”.

Quale?
“I documenti fuoriusciti avevano portato a un’atmosfera di tutti contro tutti in Curia. E il Papa voleva capire cosa stesse succedendo, e se il malumore che aveva spinto quelle persone a utilizzare il suo maggiordomo fosse stata la molla di un disagio più grande”.

“Verissima. Altroché. Potrei fare nomi e cognomi di cardinali e monsignori, di vescovi e funzionari. Dai piani alti della Segreteria di Stato a dicasteri di prima fila”.

Che altro c’è?
“Questioni finanziarie legate allo Ior. Benedetto confidava moltissimo nell’operazione di trasparenza che poteva fare Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. E nel momento in cui questi fu sfiduciato, ne chiese le ragioni. Le risposte furono insoddisfacenti, e la sua reazione fu di aprire una commissione di inchiesta che facesse piena luce”.

Si è parlato di molte persone che stessero dietro al corvo: cardinali, laici, donne e uomini a contatto quasi quotidiano con Benedetto. Chi sono i mandanti dell’operazione Vatileaks?
“Noi abbiamo parlato, come ha fatto il maggiordomo, con la stampa. Ma se di mandanti si può parlare sono altre le sfere che vanno cercate. Ben più alte. Molto più vicine al pontefice di quello che siamo noi”.

Ci sono altri documenti oltre a quelli già emersi?
“Sì”.

Potrebbe uscire un altro libro di Gianluigi Nuzzi basato sulle carte?
“Sì”.

Con documenti consegnati da Paolo Gabriele oppure con altre carte?
“So solo che il libro “Sua Santità” non contiene tutti i documenti in possesso di Nuzzi, ma che ce ne sono altri”.

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ROME
Gazetta del Sud

Rome, March 7 – An Italian consumer association is pressing forward in its motion to investigate Cardinal Roger Mahony and his role in allegedly covering up instances of priest sex abuse in the United States. On Thursday, Codacons filed a motion with Rome prosecutors to convene with the leaders of US-based SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) as expert witnesses. Named in the motion were SNAP directors David Clohessy and Barbara Dorris, who are in Rome advocating for issues related to sex abuse in the Church to be a priority in electing a new pope at the upcoming conclave.

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UNITED STATES
Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests

Posted by Tim Lennon on March 06, 2013

Thankfully the American people now understand that top ranking Vatican officials have not addressed the problem of sexual violence within the church. Americans should remain vigilant in demanding zero tolerance from US bishops, especially since a grand jury found three dozen predators working in one diocese just over a year ago, (Philadelphia.)

The new Pope needs to make the protection of children his top priority. He will be judged by his actions, not merely by his words. We hope to see his first act be to demand that all credibly accused predators be removed from ministry and reported to police immediately. He should follow that with a demand that all bishops who knowingly transferred a predator resign immediately. These actions will help protect children immediately.

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