ABUSE TRACKER

VATICAN CITY
Vatican Information Servicei

Vatican City, 16 February 2013 (VIS) – Today the Holy Father renewed, for a five-year period, the Commission of Cardinals for oversight of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR).

The new oversight commission is composed of: Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, S.D.B., secretary of State (president of the commission); Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer, archbishop of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, India; and Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), who takes the place of Cardinal Attilio Nicora, president of the Financial Information Authority (AIF).

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

February 18, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI has renewed the terms of 4 of the 5 cardinals on the committee that supervises the work of the Vatican Bank, of the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR).

Rumors of sweeping changes in the supervisory board had circulated in Rome last month. But only one of the 5 cardinals on the board was replaced. Cardinal Attilio Nicora, the president of the new Financial Information Authority, was due for replacement because his new duties—ensuring transparency in all financial transactions–could create a conflict of interest with the work of the IOR, which he now scrutinizes. He place on the supervisory board has been taken by Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).

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Rorate Caeli

In June 2012, Polish magazine Fronda published an extensive, incisive, and influential article on the papacy and what it calls the “Homoheresy” and the great powers of the group it calls the “Homomafia” in all levels of the Church hierarchy, going all the way to the Roman Curia – and on how Benedict XVI has tried to curtail the great influence of this underground network of deviation. The Rev. Dr. Dariusz Oko, the author, is a Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Academy of Theology (Pontifical University John Paul II), in Krakow. The article was published in German as well (D. Oko, Mit dem Papst gegen Homohäresie, “Theologisches” 9/10 [2012] pp. 403-426), but it has been sparsely available in English.

In the days following the announcement of his resignation, we have been hearing the repeated warnings of Pope Benedict against the divisions in the Church. They recall one of the most somber declarations made by His Holiness, when, en route to Portugal, he said:

As for the new things which we can find in this [Fatima] message today, there is also the fact that attacks on the Pope and the Church come not only from without, but the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church. This too is something that we have always known, but today we are seeing it in a really terrifying way: that the greatest persecution of the Church comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the Church, and that the Church thus has a deep need to relearn penance, to accept purification, to learn forgiveness on the one hand, but also the need for justice. (Interview, May 11, 2010)

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UNITED STATES
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler February 18, 2013

Several informative and/or provocative commentaries on the Pope’s resignation and the impending papal conclave appeared over the weekend:

• “Benedict’s ‘wager’”–David Warren mentions the ignorance of the mainstream media, emphasizes that the Church’s main enemy is the power of secular ideology, and observes that Pope Benedict encountered a great deal of resistance from inside the Church. He suggests that the papal resignation is a “gamble,” with the Pope banking on the Holy Spirit to break the stalemate that he has encountered:

Benedict is saying, in effect, “Lord you must act in these circumstances, which have passed beyond my power.” And praying thus, as he will continue to pray, with all the gravity of a man who has represented, as Priest before God, more than a billion living Catholics. He is taking the weight of this upon himself, as he has taken the weight of the consequences of his decision.

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UNITED STATES
Religion News Service

Wesley Granberg-Michaelson | Feb 18, 2013

(RNS) As the 117 Roman Catholic cardinals walk into the Sistine Chapel next month for the election of a new pope, one hopes that they fully recognize the unfolding, dramatic pilgrimage of world Christianity: The demographic center of Christian faith has moved decisively to the Global South.

Over the past century, this astonishing demographic shift is the most dramatic geographical change that has happened in 2,000 years of Christian history. Trends in the Catholic Church — comprising about 1 out of 2 Christians in the world — have generally followed this global pattern:
•In 1900, about 2 million of the world’s Catholic faithful lived in Africa; by 2010, this had grown to 177 million.

•11 million Catholics were found in Asia in 1900; by 2010 there were 137 million Asian Catholics.
•Through colonial expansion, 59 million Catholics populated Latin America and the Caribbean in 1900; but by 2010, that number had grown to 483 million.
•In 1900, two-thirds of the world’s Catholic believers were in Europe and North America; today, two-thirds are in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

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UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter

by Pam Cohen | Feb. 18, 2013

The question’s been floating around since Feb. 11: Who will be chosen to be the next pope after Pope Benedict XVI steps down Feb. 28?

There’s no set date for the conclave yet, but there are lists all across the Internet of papabili, and everyone’s talking about who might be the cardinal who gets chosen.

Because of this, we’ve assembled our own conclave: the conclave of the people of God. We’ll start with the 117 cardinals eligible to vote in the conclave, then next Monday, we’ll take the 25 cardinals with the most votes and vote again, then the top 10, and so on until we’re down to the one cardinal you, the readers, think will be chosen to be pope.

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UNITED STATES
Straits Times

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An association of US Catholics has launched a petition to keep a retired Los Angeles cardinal mired in a paedophilia scandal from taking part in the conclave that will choose the next pope.

The group, Catholics United, is targeting Roger Mahony, who last month was relieved of all church administrative and public duties for mishandling abuse claims against dozens of priests, dating back to the 1980s.

“Cardinal Mahony: Stay Home,” the online petition reads. “Your further implication in the church sex abuse scandal and being barred from public ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles should be an indication to you that you should not attend the next Papal Conclave.”

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ROME
Vatican Insider

The case regarding the cardinal’s involvement in the paedophilia scandal has caused a storm in the U.S. which has now reached Rome

Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva
Rome

Is it ethical for someone whose image has been tainted by the paedophilia scandal to take part in the next Conclave? It seems right to at least ask the question: California in particular and the U.S. in general have certainly been doing so over the past few days, as cardinals hurry to book their flights to Rome.

One of them is the 76 year old archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, Roger M. Mahony, who was “relieved of all public duties” by his successor, Mgr. José H. Gomez, last 31 January, as announced by the Los Angeles Times.

The files the current pastor of the Diocese of California had to examine and which were the focus of a five year court case handled by the Superior Court of Los Angeles (Judge Emilie Elias) leave no room for doubt. The Church, led by Mahony (from 1985 to 2011) had fought for years to conceal reported sex-abuse cases, in particular reports against Fr. Nicolas Aguilar Riveira (accused of molesting 29 minors during a nine-month stay in the archdiocese) who eventually fled to Mexico.

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ROME
Vatican Insider

Negli Stati Uniti scoppia la polemica per la partecipazione del cardinale all’elezione del nuovo pontefice. E’ stato coinvolto nello scandalo pedofilia

Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva
Roma

E’ morale che possa partecipare al prossimo Conclave anche chi si è macchiato di crimini in materia di pedofilia? Sembrerebbe legittimo almeno porsi l’interrogativo: se lo chiedono in molti in questi giorni in California e un pò in tutti gli Stati Uniti, mentre i cardinali si apprestano a prenotare un volo alla volta di Roma.

E della partita, fino ad un clamoroso contrordine, dovrebbe essere compreso anche Roger M. Mahony, 76 anni, arcivescovo emerito di Los Angeles che il 31 gennaio scorso era stato “sospeso da ogni incarico” dal suo successore, monsignor José H. Gomez come annunciava il Los Angeles Times a tutta pagina.

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UNITED STATES
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

VATICAN CITY | Mon Feb 18, 2013

A U.N. committee has accused U.S. legal authorities of failing to fully pursue cases of child sex abuse in religious groups, an issue especially troubling the Roman Catholic Church.

The Committee on the Rights of the Child wrote this month that it was “deeply concerned” to find widespread sexual abuse by clerics and staff of religious institutions and “a lack of measures … to properly investigate cases and prosecute them”.

Britain’s National Secular Society, which drew attention on Monday to the little-noticed report, said it hoped the Catholic pope to be elected next month would open Church files to help prosecute as yet undiscovered cases of clerical sexual abuse.

The scandal of predator priests has haunted the pontificate of Pope Benedict, who will resign on Feb 28. The pope has apologized for the abuse and met victims in several countries, but cases and damning internal files are still coming to light.

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DEUTSCHLAND
kathweb

Vorsitzender der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz: Keiner hat wie Benedikt XVI. Fehlbarkeit und Verwundbarkeit der Kirche selbst ausgesprochen

Trier, 18.02.2013 (KAP) Der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK), Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, hat den scheidenden Papst Benedikt XVI. öffentlich um Verzeihung für Fehler aus den Reihen der Kirche in Deutschland gebeten. “Ich möchte den Heiligen Vater um Verzeihung bitten für alle Fehler, die vielleicht aus dem Raum der Kirche in Deutschland ihm gegenüber begangen wurden”, sagte der Freiburger Erzbischof am Montag in Trier, wie die deutsche Katholische Nachrichtenagentur KNA berichtete. Zugleich dankte er Benedikt XVI. “im Namen vieler Millionen Menschen in Deutschland und aller Gläubigen”, die sich von ihm “geistlich genährt und im Glaubensbemühen unterstützt fühlen”. Sie hätten Benedikts Dienst als Guter Hirte und Brückenbauer “als großartig erlebt”.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

The Vatican Titantic is sinking rapidly. The key 85 year old “Captains”, Pope Benedict and Cardinal Sodano, spent their formative years under Hitler and Mussolini and know how to survive a sinking ship. They, with their octogenerian Vatican clique, are now trying to commandeer a personal lifeboat by ramming through quickly a subservient new Pope who will do their bidding for their few remaining years, leaving younger Cardinals, Bishops and worldwide Catholics to swim for themselves thereafter. The Pope and his architects have been planning his nearby “refurbished convent” for many months, yet Cardinals are now being stampeded to vote early. Will all Cardinals be so shortsighted to fall for this? Will at least one-third of them slow the election process down and still salvage the Church (and themselves) instead? There is a way they can do this as described below.

Captains Ratzinger and Sodano, however well intentioned, have for three decades misdirected the Church after hitting the iceberg of priest child abuse, amidst increasing irrelevance to world Catholics. All Cardinals need to act now to begin to fix the Church first before it is too late, especially before an ineffective new Pope is installed for life to bail out the reckless Captains. Prosecutors are increasingly moving into the Church, while Catholics are steadily moving out, and all will continue to do so if the Church is not fixed promptly.

President Obama’s new Catholic chief of staff, Denis McDonough, just said on Meet The Press, in effect, that the Church will do fine if it does the right things. And what if it continues to do some bad things? President Obama and a U.S. Presidential investigation commission, similar to Australia PM Julia Gillard’s new commission, would have the clout to compel much of the fix needed. Will Cardinals instead try to fix the Church themselves now or risk sitting in future prison cells, as some of them very well may be doing soon, wishing they had fixed it when they could have.

Here’s what Cardinals can and should do. They need to block by a one-third vote any papal candidate that will not agree publicly now to take the following three actions:

(1) Serve only a three year term subject to re-election thereafter. Pope Benedict just proved by resigning that the papacy is not a lifelong position.

(2) Appoint now a special committee to identify and recommend within nine months needed structural and pastoral changes, as described in my April 2010 Washington Post web column warning Pope Benedict what he was facing, that he failed to acknowledge, and which is linked here at:

[Washington Post]

(3) Implement the needed changes so identified at a worldwide council held away from Rome within six months of receipt of the special committee’s recommendations as described in my Washington Post column. …

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition.]

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DEUTSCHLAND
domradio

Kurz vor dem Eröffnungsgottesdienst der Frühjahrsvollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz hat Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch in Trier die Themen vorgestellt und eine emotionale Dankrede an den Papst gerichtet.

Der Missbrauchsskandal in katholischen Einrichtungen und der Skandal um eine von katholischen Kliniken abgewiesene vergewaltigte Frau überschatten das Frühjahrstreffen der Deutschen Bischöfe in Trier. Dass eine hilfesuchende vergewaltigte Frau von Kölner Krankenhäusern abgewiesen wurde, sei erschreckend, sagte der Vorsitzende der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Robert Zollitsch, zum Auftakt des viertägigen Treffens am Montag in Trier. “Es wäre schade, wenn das, was in Köln passierte, auf alle kirchlichen Krankenhäuser übertragen würde”, sagte der Freiburger Erzbischof. Es werde auch zur Sprache kommen, wie die katholische Kirche in der Öffentlichkeit dastehe.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Deutsche Welle

Von der Wahl des nächsten Papstes bis zur “Pille danach” – bei ihrer Frühjahrsversammlung dieses Jahr in Trier haben die deutschen katholischen Bischöfe viel zu besprechen. Nicht zuletzt die Lage ihrer Kirche.

Die Tagung wird wohl eine Mischung aus Ungewissheit, Problemdiagnosen und Gebeten. Zunächst jedoch steht die Wahl eines neuen Papstes an. Von den 66 Mitgliedern der Bischofskonferenz werden vier im März nach Rom reisen und als Kardinäle zur Papstwahl ins Konklave einziehen. Dazu zählen der frühere Konferenz-Vorsitzende aus Mainz, Bischof Karl Lehmann (76), der Kölner Erzbischof Joachim Meisner (79), der Münchner Erzbischof Reinhard Marx (59) und der Berliner Erzbischof Rainer Maria Woelki (56).

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DEUTSCHLAND
epd

Trier/Saarbrücken (epd). Aus Anlass der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz in Trier haben Opferverbände und kirchliche Initiativen eine konsequentere Aufklärung des sexuellen Missbrauchs in der katholischen Kirche gefordert. An den vier Tagen des Bischofstreffens, das am Montag beginnt, mache das “Aktionsprogramm Aufklärung!” mit begleitenden Veranstaltungen auf Versäumnisse aufmerksam, sagte Heiner Buchen, Sprecher der Saarbrücker Initiative gegen sexualisierte Gewalt in der katholischen Kirche dem Evangelischen Pressedienst (epd). Vorgesehen seien unter anderem eine Podiums-Diskussion, eine Licht-Installation sowie der Kreuzweg “Tatbestände” mit Missbrauchs-Opfern.

Kardinäle und Bischöfe setzten sich nach wie vor nicht mit der kirchlichen Macht- und Gewaltgeschichte auseinander, kritisierte der katholische Theologe, Pastoralreferent im Dekanat Saarbrücken. Dabei hätten gerade diese Strukturen den Missbrauch begünstigt und Kinder zu Opfern gemacht. Die Kirche gehe jedoch weiterhin von irregeleiteten Einzeltätern statt von struktureller Gewalt aus, beklagte er.

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ITALY
San Francisco Chronicle

ROME (AP) — An influential Italian Catholic magazine is asking its readers if disgraced former Los Angeles archbishop Roger Mahony should participate in the upcoming election for a new pope.

Famiglia Cristiana, one of Italy’s most-read magazines, featured the question on its website Monday asking readers: “Your opinion: Mahony in the conclave: Yes or No?”

Mahony was stripped of his duties last month by his successor at the largest Catholic diocese in the United States. Recently released documents showed that Mahony and other diocesan officials maneuvered to shield child-molesting priests and keep Catholics unaware of sexual abuse in their parishes.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Famiglia Cristiana (Italia)

[La tua opinione: Mahony sì o no al conclave?]

Negli Usa è partita una petizione affinché il cardinale Mahony, coinvolto nello scandalo pedofilia, non partecipi al conclave. L’azione dell’acivescovo Gomez a Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, il cardinale in tribunale

Il Washington Post scrive di lui che “è fortunato a non essere in prigione” e il suo successore, monsignor Josè Gomez lo ha sollevato da tutti gli incarichi. Ma il cardinale Roger Mahony parteciperà regolarmente al conclave che eleggerà il nuovo Pontefice. Eppure monsignor Gomez lo ha riconosciuto responsabile di aver insabbiato 129 casi di abusi su minori da parte di ecclesiastici e, proprio su uno di questi casi di pedofilia (un sacerdote messicano accusato di aver abusato di 26 bambini della diocesi nel 1987) il porporato dovrà deporre in tribunale, alla corte superiore della contea di Los Angeles, il 23 febbraio.

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VATICAN CITY
Gazzetta del Sud

Vatican City, February 18 – The scandal surrounding American Cardinal Roger Mahony for allegedly covering up priest sex abuse is heating up in Rome ahead of a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. On Monday, influential Catholic newspaper Famiglia Cristiana launched an online poll asking if Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, should participate in the conclave, which will take place days after he will be deposed as part of a clergy abuse suit. Mahony, the senior American cardinal attending the conclave, will be questioned under oath February 23 about how he handled Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest who allegedly molested 26 children in the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1987.

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CNN

(CNN)–Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation brings calls for his prosecution. CNN’s Nic Robertson investigates the claims.

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GERMANY
Spiegel

With Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation drawing closer, The struggle for power in the Vatican has gotten underway in earnest. The church badly needs to reform itself, but with Ratzing lurking in the shadows, will it be able to? By SPIEGEL Staff

Naked and goaded viciously by hornets and wasps, his blood sucked by loathsome worms. Such was the fate of a pope in Dante’s “Divine Comedy” who “by his cowardice made the great refusal.”

Benedict XVI, in short, knew what could happen to one who rebelled against a centuries-old tradition in a church in which suffering is far from foreign. But he also knew that it wasn’t just a matter of his own suffering — it was a matter of the exhaustion, weakness and sickness of the church at large.

The pope from Bavaria has given up. Nevertheless, when he announced his resignation last Monday, hastily and almost casually mumbling the words as if he were saying a rosary, as if he were returning the keys to a rental car rather than the keys to St. Peter, there was still a sense of how deeply his move has shaken the Catholic empire.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 17, 2013

Rome —
Openly campaigning for the papacy is not only taboo, it’s usually fatal. Most cardinals are of the belief that if someone actually wants the job, they have no idea what it’s about.

On the other hand, sometimes circumstances align to thrust someone into the spotlight, creating an opportunity to either boost or diminish his electoral prospects, even if that’s not officially the purpose of what’s going on.

Today one such papabile steps onto the stage in Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a 70-year-old biblical scholar, essayist and intellectual omnivore.

From Sunday evening to Saturday morning, Ravasi will preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia, an annual retreat during which the Vatican more or less goes into lockdown while its personnel gather in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace.

Ravasi is the son of an anti-fascist tax official who was lost to the young Ravasi for 18 months after deserting the army during World War II. In a typically reflective flourish, Ravasi later said his lifelong search for permanence is probably related to that early sense of loss.

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SCHWEIZ
Aargauer Zeitung

Anwalt und Notar Magnus Küng leitete die Expertenkommission des Schwyzer Klosters Ingenbohl. Er sagt im Interview, dass ihm die grausamen Schicksale der Kinder nahe gegangen sind. von Dieter Minder

«Ich hatte das riesige Glück, wohlbehütet und glücklich aufwachsen zu dürfen. Für andere Kinder galt das nicht, sie waren leider oft der Willkür einzelner Menschen ausgesetzt.» Mit diesen sehr persönlichen Worten beginnt Magnus Küng seine Ausführungen zum Schlussbericht der unabhängigen Expertenkommission des Klosters Ingenbohl. Der Wettinger Jurist hat die vom Kloster eingesetzte sechsköpfige Expertenkommission geleitet, welche die Missbrauchsfälle in den von Ingenbohler Schwestern betreuten Kinderheimen untersuchte.

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Galway native singer Mary Coughlan will lead a candle lit vigil tomorrow evening outside the Dáil in solidarity with the Magdalene survivors and their families.

The Vigil at 5pm will precede the Dáil Debate on the McAleese Report during which the Magdalene Laundry survivor groups say they’re hopeful the Taoiseach will make a full formal apology.

The McAleese report found the State had a hand in the running of the laundries, one of which was located at Forster Street in the city.

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VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter

by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 18, 2013

Starting today, John Allen will be offering a profile each day of one of the papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring that they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.

Rome

By consensus, there’s no slam-dunk, take-it-to-the-bank favorite heading into the next papal election, but the closest to thing to someone in pole position is probably 71-year-old Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan.

Scola breathes the same intellectual air as Benedict XVI, coming out of the Communio theological school co-founded by the young Joseph Ratzinger in the period following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). As a young theologian himself, he published book-length interviews with Henri de Lubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

During his college years Scola met the famed Italian Fr. Luigi Giussani and became part of his Communion and Liberation movement. Of late Scola has tried to put some distance between himself and the ciellini, as the center-right movement’s members are known, especially because several leading Italian politicians identified with it have been engulfed in corruption scandals.

Still, in Italian ecclesial politics, Scola is inextricably linked with the movement, which cuts both ways – some deeply admire Communion and Liberation, others not so much. The linkage with Scola was solidified amid the Vatileaks scandal, which included a letter from Giussani’s successor to Pope Benedict XVI in March 2011, suggesting that the previous two archbishops of Milan had fostered a critical stance toward some aspects of church teaching, and that Scola was the best candidate to take over.

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AUSTRALIA
WA Today

Gerard Henderson
Executive director, The Sydney Institute

The advent of the 24/7 news cycle has led to an explosion of opinion in which politicians, former politicians, opinion leaders and other celebrities prevail. There is simply not enough hard news to fill the allocated hours on talk radio or such television outlets as Sky News and ABC News 24.

Most people can talk with some authority about contemporary politics. However, this is not the case with some other subjects, which require a degree of expertise if a commentator is to make sense. Yet, this constraint does not necessarily bother panellists on such shows as Paul Murray Live (Sky News) or The Drum (News 24). It is often a case of – have panel chair, will comment.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is a case in point. This took the international media by surprise. Yet this should not have been the case. In fact, the Pope had raised this very matter in his conversation with Peter Seewald, which was published under the title Light of the World (2010). It was known that Benedict XVI had prayed at the tomb of Pope Celestine V, who had resigned as pontiff in 1294. I referred to Seewald’s book in this column shortly after it was published.

The Pope’s resignation led to considerable comment, some of it ill-informed and much of it ideologically driven. Let’s start with the invincible ignorance. As anyone who has an awareness of Christian theology understands, the doctrine of papal infallibility does not mean that the Pope is always right, still less divine.

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VATICAN CITY
Chicago Tribune

February 17, 2013

Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor | Reuters

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – After Pope Benedict’s papacy of almost eight years, the cardinals who will elect the next Catholic pontiff are more European, more conservative and more “Roman” than the conclave that chose him in 2005.

Benedict has hand picked more than half the men who will elect his successor. The rest were chosen by the late Pope John Paul, a Pole with whom the German pope shared a determination to reassert a more orthodox Catholicism in the new millennium.

Those two popes made sure any man awarded a cardinal’s red hat was firmly in line with key Catholic doctrine supporting priestly celibacy and Vatican authority and opposing abortion, women priests, gay marriage and other liberal reforms.

Benedict has also stiffened the Church’s missionary spirit by creating a Vatican department for what is called the New Evangelization, a drive to spread the faith more vigorously.

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NEW YORK
New York Post

By ANTONIO ANTENUCCI and BETH DEFALCO
From With Post Wire Services

Anyone who believes Timothy Cardinal Dolan has a chance of becoming the next pope is smoking funny cigarettes — so says Dolan.

At St. Patrick’s Cathedral yesterday, Dolan was asked about rumors that he would be named the first American pope when the College of Cardinals convenes next month to select Pope Benedict’s successor.

“I’d say those are only from people smoking marijuana,” Dolan said.

When Benedict stunned the world last week by saying he would resign on Feb. 28, it was expected the Vatican conclave to choose the next pope would be held a couple of weeks later.

But now, there are indications it will be moved up because there is no period of mourning, as there would be for a deceased pope.

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UNITED STATES
National Survivor Advocates Coalition

by Jim Jenkins

There is so much one can say about B16′s resignation. We can only speculate on the outcome of the conclave soon to assemble in Rome. Since Ratzinger has been such a careful politician over his entire career, it is hard for me to imagine that he has left the choice of his successor to chance.

With the stink from the “Paolo-the-Butler-Did-It Affair” still hanging like acrid incense in the air, it could be very plausible that Ratzinger has quietly arranged to have his successor already fitted for his white cassock. The Butler Affair revealed, if nothing else, is that there are seismic tensions within the Vatican hierarchy that even the Panzer pope could not tame. Challenges galore ready for anyone who dares slip his big toe into the “shoes of the fisherman.”

Nonetheless, to those of us still old enough to remember, miracles do happen: Angelo Roncalli, J23rd, defied the pundits and naysayers, and became what is arguably the greatest Christian apostle since Peter and Paul. IF, IF such a man could, or should emerge, I would be the first to cheer. But alas, I fear that we shall not see the like of J23rd again for at least another millennium.

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UNITED STATES
The New York Times

By BILL KELLER

Published: February 17, 2013

Behold a global business in distress — incoherently managed, resistant to the modernizing forces of the Internet age, tainted by scandal and corruption. It needs to tweak its marketing, straighten out its finances, up its recruiting game and repair its battered brand. Ecce Catholicism Inc.

Yes, the business of the church is saving souls, but it is nevertheless a business: a closely held conglomerate with a work force of more than a million, 1.2 billion more-or-less regular customers, 10 times as many outlets as Starbucks, more real estate than Donald Trump dreams of and lobbying clout to rival that of any secular industry. Now its C.E.O., physically and mentally depleted at age 85, is stepping down, creating an opportunity for a serious relaunch. …

The first major task facing Benedict’s successor will be to get past the lingering horror story of predatory priests, to restore the trust of the faithful and the respect of the general public. The business world has much to teach about surviving scandal. Michael Useem, director of the Center for Leadership and Change Management at the Wharton School, told me the church might learn from the way Warren Buffett cleaned up Salomon Brothers after a bond-trading scandal and Ed Breen revived Tyco International after its chief executive went to prison for theft. The remedies were bold and effective. First, a purge of those responsible for the abuses and the cover-up. (“Managing out,” as it is called in the corporate vernacular, has been a major weakness in the church, so it was heartening to hear the Vatican spokesman say that Benedict’s retirement could “open the door for a potential wave of resignations.”) Second, unstinting disclosure to investigators, waiving any privileges. Third, appointment of a compliance officer with impeccable credentials, ethical tenacity and conspicuous support at the top. At Tyco, the new leadership went on a high-profile road show of the company’s outposts to drive home the reforms.

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ROME
Gazzetta del Sud

Rome, February 18 – The Catholic Church should be in no rush to elect a new pontiff, following Pope Benedict XVI’s shock announcement last week that he is stepping down, the Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan has said. The Vatican initially said the conclave to elect a new pope will not take place until 15 to 20 days after Benedict leaves the position on February 28, in accordance with Church rules. But at the weekend Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the conclave may start earlier, given that the pope has not died, but has quit. Cardinals from around the world have begun informal talks about what sort of person the next pope should be and many are already in Rome. Some reports have suggested the Church may want to accelerate proceedings in order have a new pope installed before Palm Sunday on March 24, so he can preside at the Holy Week services leading up to Easter. But Dolan said that the 117 cardinals who will elect the next head of the Church should have plenty of time to reflect. “I haven’t heard anything about the possibility of bringing forward the conclave, I’m waiting for instructions,” Dolan, who is considered one of the cardinals who is in with a chance of becoming pope, told Turin daily La Stampa.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW in Rome

For the first time, a senior Curia cardinal this morning suggested publicly that the successor to Pope Benedict may well be an African, Asian or Latin American cardinal.

In an interview in this morning’s Rome daily, La Repubblica, Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, former Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation For the Cause of Saints, confirmed the thinking of many Vatican insiders and commentators, saying: “A vast and authoritative range of candidates, who reflect the truly universal and not just European nature of the Church, will present themselves at the Conclave (papal election). Therefore, the big surprise may come from faraway places such as Asia, Africa and Latin America.”

Asked to make a prediction about the forthcoming Conclave, he added: “The next Conclave is open to just about any surprise because this is a Universal Church and.in the end I wouldn’t be surprised if the chosen one ended up being a young Cardinal, like the Filipino Luis Antonio Tagle, or it could be a figure like (Italian Cardinal) Gianfranco Ravasi.”

Both 55-year-old Cardinal Tagle and 70-year-old Cardinal Ravasi, the current President of the Pontifical Council of Culture, have featured prominently on the “papabile” short lists that mushroomed last week.

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IRELAND
RTE News

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has said the Government will make very specific announcements in the Dáil on Tuesday to address the issues raised in the Magdalene Laundries report.

Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Mr Shatter said the Government was working on producing a comprehensive package of measures on the issue.

The Dáil will debate the report next week.

The report found there was significant State involvement in the Magdalene Laundries, which were run by Catholic nuns.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Times

MARK HENNESSY, London Editor

Taoiseach Enda Kenny came face to face in London with the distress of survivors of the Magdalene laundries

For years, the women once held in the Magdalene laundries were ignored or called liars. On Saturday, some of them sat around a table in London with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, recounting a lost youth.

In the wake of the publication of the McAleese report into the Magdalenes, Kenny was criticised for offering a tepid apology to the thousands of women incarcerated on the instruction of the State or religious, or, frequently, of their families.

Unexpectedly, perhaps, Kenny received support from the women.

“I don’t think he should have taken the criticism, because he is not long in government. I think he shouldn’t have taken the stick that he did get,” Mary O’Connor (82) says, “because what we got here today is that he is very genuine about this.

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IRELAND
Irish Times

JOANNE HUNT

Compensation amounts for Magdalene laundry survivors may be awarded on a case-by-case basis, it has emerged.

Minister of State Kathleen Lynch yesterday said the Government would appoint someone with whom victims could interact and who would assess survivors’ needs on an individual basis.

“What we have decided is that the person who would have both the competence and the compassion and the expertise will be asked to deal with the issue,” the Minister said.

“That person will be asked to put in place a framework where women can interact with that person and their team and we will then look at what needs to be put in place.”

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IRELAND
Irish Examiner

Monday, February 18, 2013

Former residents of Magdalene laundries said that a process of compensation amounting to more than €100m should be set up within a month and wound up by August, so as not to allow the issue drag on any longer.

By Mary Regan, Political Correspondent

A package to deal with their concerns is expected to be agreed at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting, which will also sign off on the appointment of an individual who will examine the needs of the 800 or so surviving women who formerly worked and lived in the institutions.

Minister of State Kathleen Lynch said: “A person who will have the competence and the compassion and the expertise in the area will be asked to deal with the issue.

“That person will then be asked to put forward a framework where women can interact with that person and their team and we will then look at what needs to be put in place.”

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IRELAND
Galway Bay FM

Magdalene Laundry survivor groups say they’re hopeful the Taoiseach will make a full formal apology this week.

It’s expected to come during a Dáil debate tomorrow (tue) on the McAleese report which found the State had a hand in the running of the work houses, one of which was located at Forster Street in the city.

One group is calling for compensation of one hundred thousand euro as a lump sum to each Magdalene survivor.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Bruce Davis, Ph.D.

Dear Holy Father or Holy Mother (I believe in miracles),

Please let’s get through the politics so the Church can truly have a new beginning.

First day in office let there be an announcement: there will now be married priests, women priests, gay priests (there are already many just kept a secret). All forms of abuse are strictly forbidden including any church denial or cover up. Life has no beginning and no ending since we are all spiritual beings. We should respect and support life in the womb, prisons, hospitals, ghettos, individual freedom, the dying and the deceased. We should respect and support all life!

We’re done! It’s not hard to make change when it is the truth. Let’s take care of the politics, so everyone can get back to the purpose of the Church. Enough distraction. We all know the gender of the priest and the details of their private life is not what spirituality is about. There is too much spiritual need in the world! One billion people and more are wanting a spiritual home, a safe place to open their hearts and feel the peace and love of God.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Volksfreund

Vor Beginn der Frühjahrsvollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz (DBK) in Trier hat ein kirchenkritisches Aktionsbündnis vor dem Trierer Dom die lückenlose Aufklärung des Missbrauchsskandals gefordert.

Dutzende leere Aktenordner wurden auf einen Haufen gestapelt: «Sie sollen ein Symbol für die jahrelange, systematische Vertuschung von sexuellem Missbrauch in der katholische Kirche sein», sagte Hermann Schell von der Betroffenen-Initiative «Schafsbrief» am Montag. Auch ein riesengroßer «Aussitzer»-Stuhl und ein Karnevalswagen mit dem Logo «Verschweigen & Vertuschen» sollten auf Missstände bei der Aufarbeitung aufmerksam machen.

Die katholische Kirche war jüngst heftig in die Kritik geraten, nachdem sie eine wissenschaftliche Missbrauchsstudie mit dem Hannoveraner Kriminologen Christian Pfeiffer gekündigt hatte. Triers Bischof Stefan Ackermann leitet als Missbrauchsbeauftragter der DBK seit drei Jahren die Aufarbeitung der Missbrauchsfälle.

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RHODE ISLAND
Digital Journal

By Greta McClain
Feb 17, 2013

Providence – The release of court documents involving a Roman Catholic organization is fueling speculation that Pope Benedict was forced to resign.

Prior to her death in 2008, wealthy Rhode Island widow, Garielle Mee, designated a Catholic order known as the Legion of Christ as the beneficiary of her $60 million fortune. Following Mee’s death, her niece, Mary Lou Dauray, filed a lawsuit challenging Mee’s will, claiming the Legion had defrauded Mee.

In September 2012, Judge Michael Silverstein of Rhode Island Superior Court said there was evidence that the Legion had “unduly persuaded” Mee to change her will so the Legion would be the beneficiary of the fortune. Silverstein also pointed to a detailed process used by the Legion to slowly take control of Mee’s finances. Despite the evidence, Silverstein dismissed the case against the Legion, saying Dauray had no legal standing in the case.

Rev. Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legion, was investigated by the Catholic Church for allegations of sexual abuse on several occasions. In 1997, nine men accused Maciel of sexual abuse, filing a formal complaint with the Vatican in 1998. The case was never investigated however, being shelved by the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which was led by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Digital Journal reported that Ratzinger, who is now known as Pople Benedict XVI, was named head of the Congregation of Faith in November 1981. In that capacity, Ratzinger was in charge of overseeing all investigations into sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

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AUSTRALIA
The Age

February 18, 2013

Barney Zwartz

A TRARALGON child has clubbed his pocket money together with three others, paying $69.70 to launch a private criminal prosecution against the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The child, 11, who is due to give evidence on Monday at the state inquiry into how the churches handled child sex abuse, wanted to force the church to comply with working with children laws. After four hearings, to which church leaders did not send a representative, the church began complying and the Office of Public Prosecutions intervened to discontinue the case.

The inquiry will also hear from anti-Jehovah’s Witness campaigner Steven Unthank, a former member of the church who says he and his family were ostracised and persecuted after he tried to tackle child abuse.

His submission alleges the church and its incorporated body, the Watchtower Society, covered up criminal child abuse, including rape, sexual assault, death threats, blackmail and assault, across four states by ordained ministers and officers of the church.

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VATICAN CITY
MercoPress

The Vatican appointed a German lawyer to head its bank, but the bid to turn the fortunes of the scandal-hit institution was clouded by his business links to a military shipbuilder.

The appointment, made by a commission of cardinals, was approved by Pope Benedict and is likely one of his last major decisions before he resigns at the end of the month, a move he announced last week, stunning Catholics around the world.

As chairman of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), Ernst von Freyberg will head efforts to improve the image of the Vatican’s bank which is under investigation for money laundering and has been without a head for nine months.

But within minutes of announcing his appointment, the Vatican faced a new public relations challenge when asked to explain Freyberg’s chairmanship of Blohm + Voss, a Hamburg-based shipbuilder in which he is a minority shareholder.

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UNITED KINGDOM
UK Progressive

by Denis G. Campbell

Pope Benedict XVI is gone in ten days. Many inside and outside the Catholic Church are saying, “don’t let the door hit you on the way out.” This papacy, controversial from his initial selection to replace John Paul II, was hit with damning revelations of a child sexual abuse cover-up that reached all the way up to Los Angeles’ Cardinal Mahony. It was alleged in numerous court documents that Mahony deliberately sought to evade the law by sending sex-offender priests to treatment facilities in states outside of California who specifically did not require health professionals to report these crimes to authorities.

So the question remains, if the child sex abuse scandal reached all the way to a Cardinal, one of 130 or so global leaders of the church, could the trail reach Pope Benedict? It’s not a stretch since, as Cardinal Ratzinger of Germany, Pope Benedict was the church’s lead authority handling the controversy. Add in reports of Cardinal Mahony paying off $660 million dollars of child sex-abuse settlements with monies from church cemetery funds (a practice illegal for all but religious cemeteries), one can see how truly despicable a crime and cover-up this all is. Mary Dispenza, a woman who received a sex-abuse settlement back in 2006 said it best, “I think it’s very deceptive, and in a way they took it from people who had no voice: the dead. They can’t react, they can’t respond.”

Benedict did not help himself while leading the church. A hard right conservative, he lashed out at homosexuality and the use of any and all birth control measures including condoms and The Pill. But no stain is as deep as his two decades as Pope John Paul II’s point man on the growing allegations of sexual abuse of young boys the last four decades.

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AUSTRALIA
9 News

A Victorian man who grew up in church-run orphanages says he was beaten and locked in a dark basement by priests and nuns, but never saw any evidence of sexual abuse.

Alan “Charlie” Walker also alleges a man he grew up with had made false claims of sexual abuse to win compensation.

Mr Walker was abandoned at a babies’ home in Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s north when he was nine days old and lived in several Catholic orphanages in Victoria until the age of 15.

Speaking of mistreatment, such as being caned and locked in a basement for bad behaviour, Mr Walker told the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into sex abuse there had been good and bad in his upbringing.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
U.S. Catholic

By Bryan Cones

It’s hard to generate much sympathy for Cardinal Roger Mahony, especially given the onslaught of files recently released that showed unacceptable failure to adequately respond to the Los Angeles’ archdiocese clergy sex abuse problem. Last week, however, the L.A. Times reported what many bishops have long complained about, if only privately: an outmoded Vatican legal structure that made it virtually impossible to remove a priest intent on resisting laicization.

Case in point is Father Kevin Barmasse, who as far back as 1993 had been accused of giving alcohol to and molesting teenage boys. Barmasse appealed to Rome, since as a priest he has separate legal protections provided by canon law. Despite Mahony’s personal interventions in Rome, it took 10 years to remove Barmasse from the clerical state, due partially to the sheer lack of staff in the Vatican (along with other issues, no doubt).

Mahony could, of course, simply turned Barmasse into the police–and that’s likely what he should have done, presuming that criminal behavior was involved, which seems quite obvious unless it is legal in California to give underage boys alcohol. But to me it also signals the complete inability of the Vatican apparatus to deal with problems of this magnitude. If the church had an empowered tribunal system, which was intended in the revision of canon law but removed by Pope John Paul II, the system might have actually worked. Instead, a staff of a mere 45 people at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is trying to deal with a problem completely beyond most people’s competence.

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WORCESTER (MA)
The Crusader

By Elizabeth O’Brien
News Editor

Published: Friday, February 15, 2013
Updated: Sunday, February 17, 2013

On Monday, February 11 at around 11:30 a.m., some members of the Holy Cross community may have seen a woman standing on College Street who appeared to be protesting something and answering questions to anyone who came up to her. The woman – Kate – was participating in a vigil for justice after the Holy Cross administration mishandled a very traumatizing event that Kate went through.

She asserts that she was sexually assaulted by a Jesuit priest while on a study abroad trip as a student at Holy Cross. Many years later, in 2003, Rev. Michael McFarland, S.J., the former President of the College, apologized for what happened and offered assistance. He also promised confidentiality, as did Rev. Dennis J. Yesalonia, S.J., the general counsel of the College of the time.

However, the next year Kate found out that Fr. McFarland had released private information to a third party. She has continued to reach out to members of the Holy Cross administration, including the College’s current president Father Philip Boroughs, S.J.. Allegedly she is ignored, and some of her confidential information keeps on being released without her consent. Fr. Boroughs has taken action against Kate such as banning her from campus and creating an internal list with her name on it.

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AUSTRALIA
The Jewish Press

Australian Holocaust survivors are furious with US-based Rabbi Manis Freidman for apologizing for comparing sexual abuse with diarrhea but not for expressing regret for remarks he made around 30 years ago that the Nazis should not be blamed for the Holocaust because it was part of a Divine plan.

Rabbi Friedman recently posted a YouTube, which since has been removed, in which he stated that that sexual abuse, like diarrhea, “should be kept private and that victims of abuse are that damaged.”

He had said in the clip that anyone who abuses others sexually can do mitzvot to atone for his acts and that the victim must get over the abuse. “[If} You’ve learned that not every uncle is your best friend, you’ve learned an important lesson,” according to him.

Rabbi Friedman apologized for his “completely inappropriate use of language,” called sexual abuse one of the “worst crimes imaginable” and added that perpetrators of molestation should be prosecuted by the police.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

EXCLUSIVE by JORDAN BAKER
From:The Sunday Telegraph
February 17, 2013

THE new Pope must save the Catholic Church from waning influence amid the evils of modern society – and may well be an Italian – says Cardinal George Pell, one of the 117 men who will elect a new pontiff next month.

In an exclusive interview, Cardinal Pell said the vote was “enormously important for the Church”.

“If we go under, we surrender to the tides that are breaking up families, decreasing the birth rate, the challenges of alcoholism and drugs and pornography. If we collapse or we wobble disastrously, it won’t be for the good of the western world at all,” he said.

Cardinal Pell will fly to Rome on Friday, where he will meet other cardinals before being secluded inside the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to choose a replacement for the retiring Pope Benedict.

There are factions – Cardinal Pell describes it as “different schools of thought” – and this will be evident in the discussions among cardinals, although he says the lobbying has not yet begun.

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AUSTRALIA
CathNews

The new Pope must save the Catholic Church from waning influence amid the evils of modern society – and may well be an Italian – says Cardinal George Pell, one of the 117 men who will elect a new pontiff next month, reports The Sunday Telegraph.

In an exclusive interview, Cardinal Pell said the vote was “enormously important for the Church”.

“If we go under, we surrender to the tides that are breaking up families, decreasing the birth rate, the challenges of alcoholism and drugs and pornography. If we collapse or we wobble disastrously, it won’t be for the good of the western world at all,” he said.

Cardinal Pell will fly to Rome on Friday, where he will meet other cardinals before being secluded inside the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to choose a replacement for the retiring Pope Benedict.

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RHODE ISLAND
The Hartford Courant

By DAVE ALTIMARI, daltimar@courant.com
The Hartford Courant
5:49 p.m. EST, February 17, 2013

As Gabrielle Mee lay on her deathbed in a Rhode Island hospital in 2008 the leader of the Connecticut-based Legion of Christ asked her bank to transfer $400,000 from her personal bank account to the church “as soon as possible.”

The bank complied, and the money was the last of nearly $60 million that Mee either gave or bequeathed to the religious organization over nearly 20 years, court records unsealed late last week in Rhode Island indicate.

The documents were part of a now-dismissed lawsuit filed by Mary Lou Dauray, Mee’s niece, in an attempt to overturn Mee’s will, which left everything the woman had to the church group.

Among the thousands of pages of documents are depositions of some of the highest-ranking members of the Legion, bank records, and personal letters that Rev. Marcial Maciel, the now-disgraced founder, wrote to Mee over the years.

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VATICAN CITY
Economic Times

Pope resigns: Next pontiff’s election will depict a lot about Church’s ideologies

By Bennett Voyles

Whether the beleaguered Pope Benedict XVI is simply worn out or just saw his February 10 announcement of abdication as a way to call a snap election that will keep his conservative faction of the Roman Catholic Church in power, it didn’t take long for betting to begin on who the next pope might be.

Paddy Power, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, is now offering 11/4 odds on Angelo Scola, cardinal of Venice, 7/2 on Peter Turkson of Ghana, and 9/2 on Marc Ouellet of Quebec, Canada. Meanwhile, across the Irish Sea, Ladbrokes has Cardinal Turkson in the lead, followed by Marc Ouellet and Angelo Scola.

It might seem irreverent to bet on the future leader of the 1.2 billion-souled flock like a horse race, but maybe the bookies are on to something. Turning the election into an actual race could put a little more Roman back into the Roman Catholic Church, and give it a welcome dose of positive publicity. After so many sordid scandals in recent years, the spectacle of those scarlet robes billowing around a restored Circus Maximus would be long remembered by the faithful and heathen alike. It would also have the practical advantage in ensuring that the College of Cardinals selected its strongest – or at least its sharpest-elbowed – member, either of which are useful qualities in a SupremePontiff.

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MASSACHUSETTS
Telegram & Gazette

By Susan Spencer TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
susan.spencer@telegram.com

Will the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics bring more of the same or is it time for a change?

As Central Massachusetts Catholics last week observed the beginning of Lent, the six weeks leading to Easter, they grappled with the unexpected announcement last Monday of Pope Benedict XVI’s plan to resign at the end of the month, and the implication for the church’s future.

“I’m just as surprised as anyone else. I didn’t think popes could retire,” said Pat Olsen of Rutland, on her way to Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in Worcester. …

In looking toward the next leader, views ranged from a desire to carry on in the same vein as Pope Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, to wanting to reach out more to youth and being open to ordaining women, gays and married priests.

Ms. Olsen said, “We hope that they choose somebody who would be progressive and responsive to the needs of the younger generation.”

Rommy Medrano of Worcester, a Dominican Republic native who attends St. Paul’s, said she wished the new pope would move the church in a positive direction, moving beyond the specter of the worldwide sex abuse crisis to focus on the good work the church does. …

Chris Beggs of Milford said: “The pope has had a lot to contend with, with all the sexual abuse going on … Anyone who becomes pope will have to handle that. That takes a lot of stress.

“I think he (the next pope) should be younger so he can relate to the younger people who have fallen away from the church.”

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UNITED STATES
Dale O’Leary

February 15, 2013

In response to the scandal over sexual misconduct with persons under 18 by members of the Catholic clergy, the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops commissioned the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to conduct a comprehensive study of the problem. The study The Nature and Scope of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States 1950-2002, was released in 2004 (JJR I)[1]. This was followed up by a Supplementary Data Analysis in 2006 (JJR II)[2].

In discussing childhood sexual abuse (CSA), it is necessary to remember that while people feel reassured when they receive a statistic to two decimal points, statistics are like snapshots, taken at a particular time in a particular place, from a particular point of view. In order to know how reliable statistics taken from a published study are, it is necessary to know how the group studied and any comparison groups were assembled, what questions were asked, and how were they asked. Can the statistics presented in a particular study be generalized or are they only relevant to that particular group at that particular place and moment time? Do the results agree with the results from a number of other well designed studies? The JJR study is well designed and provided a unique opportunity to look at the problem of CSA.

According to JJR I, 4,392 clerics were accused of CSA. This represents about 4% of clerics in active ministry during that period. While the number of alleged victims of clergy abuse in the JJR is unacceptable high (10,667 total allegations), the publicity generated by the coverage of the scandal, and the fact that the Church was offering financial settlements may have encouraged those who had not previously revealed their abuse to come forward. Some of those who did reported abuse that had occurred decades earlier. This added the fact that the Church as a hierarchical institution was able to give the researchers’ access to records, means that JJR is probably one of the more comprehensive studies of CSA.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic News Service

By Cindy Wooden and Francis X. Rocca
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Wherever journalists and bookmakers may be getting the names on their lists of top candidates for the next pope, it’s not from the cardinals who will actually vote in the election. Both custom and canon law forbid the cardinals to discuss the matter in such detail with outsiders.

Moreover, the true “papabili” — literally, pope-ables — are likely to emerge only after all the worlds’ cardinals — not just the 117 who will be under 80 and eligible to vote — begin meeting at the Vatican in the coming days.

One thing is already clear, however: because of their experience and the esteem they enjoy among their peers, certain cardinals are likely to serve as trusted advisers to the rest in the discussions and election.

Here, in alphabetical order, are 12 cardinals expected to have a major voice in the deliberations:

— Conventional wisdom has long held that the cardinals will never elect an American pope, lest the leadership of the church appear to be linked with the United States’ economic and geopolitical dominance. But the extroverted and jocular Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, 63, charmed and impressed many in the College of Cardinals in February 2012 when he delivered the main presentation at a meeting Pope Benedict XVI had called to discuss the new evangelization. The pope himself praised the New York archbishop’s presentation on how to revive the faith in increasingly secular societies as “enthusiastic, joyful and profound.”

— Although not a familiar name in the press, Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest, 60, is a major figure among his peers in Europe, the church’s traditional heartland and the region of more than half the cardinal electors. He was elected to a second five-year term as president of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences in 2011.

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Press TV (Iran)

Recently released documents in Los Angeles suggest Vatican bureaucracy hampered bishops trying to deal with allegations of abusive priests.

The documents show Cardinal Roger Mahony’s frustration as he tried to ensure one priest, the Rev. Kevin Barmasse, did not return to pastoral work.

Barmasse, who allegedly abused at least eight teenage boys after plying them with alcohol, appealed to Rome.

“Given the pastoral situation in the United States today, which is all too well known, bishops need to be able to act quickly and decisively in cases of alleged clerical misconduct to assure the People of God that their rights are being fully protected,” Mahony wrote in a 1994 letter to a Vatican official the cardinal had met with during a visit to Rome four months earlier.

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VATICAN CITY
The Weekly Standard

Feb 25, 2013, Vol. 18, No. 23 • By JOSEPH BOTTUM

In 1294, Peter of Morrone—San Celestino, little St. Celestine, as popular devotion calls him—was elected pope of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church. The Spirit moves where it will; perhaps a shy, ascetic monk was necessary at that moment, to remind the church of its truest calling. The college of cardinals thought so, at least, desperate after two years of failing to choose a successor to Nicholas IV.

Still, no one should have been surprised that a man who had previously lived as a hermit in a cave in Abruzzi would prove one of the least competent administrators the world has ever seen. He never actually made it to Rome, ruling—if the word is allowed a certain looseness—from Naples and attempting such governance practices as disappearing for the whole of Advent to fast and pray. After five months and eight days in office, the saint had simply had enough. Citing his desire for a purer life, his physical weakness, his ignorance, the perverseness of those around him, and a longing for tranquillity, he issued a papal decree that popes had the authority to leave their office, and then took advantage of his decree to resign the papacy and flee to a monastic retreat in the forest. …

In 2005, a devout and serious theologian named Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope, taking the name of Benedict XVI in honor of St. Benedict, one of the founders of Western monasticism and, in interesting ways, one of the founders of the West itself. At the time of his election, commentators made much of Ratzinger’s nod toward the Christian root of European self-understanding. They might have been better served by paying attention to his nod toward the monastic element—for in February 2013, Benedict XVI suddenly and inexplicably reaffirmed Celestine’s decree of papal authority to resign and announced his own resignation from the office, effective at the end of the month. He would, he informed the world, be spending the rest of his life in prayer, isolated within a monastery.

In certain ways, the decision is intelligent. For the rigors of an extremely public office, the 85-year-old pontiff is increasingly and recognizably unfit. Always something of an isolated figure, he was a man with few close advisers. “He never talked to anyone,” a Vatican official told me, “not really.” He seemed to have no friends who were also high officials in the church—no counselors who could understand the stresses of his position. Worse, his natural distaste for the glad-handing part of the job was a constant burden. John Paul II drew strength from crowds; they revived his spirit even in his infirm old age. Benedict saw and felt the press of people as a burden, necessary but uncongenial, and as the almost eight years of his papacy went by, one could see the endless papal audiences exhausting him more and more.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Tom Kington
February 17, 2013

VATICAN CITY — A week after Pope Benedict announced his resignation, more than 50,000 supporters jammed into St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for his next-to-last weekly blessing, as it emerged the aging pontiff may have gone blind in one eye.

Addressing the cheering crowd, which was larger than usual for the Sunday Angelus, Benedict appeared to criticize the infighting that has plagued the Vatican during his reign.

“The church, which is mother and teacher, calls on all its members to renew their spirit, turn back firmly toward God and ignore pride and egoism to live in love,” he said, before asking in Spanish for prayers to be said for the next pope.

Benedict, 85, shocked the Vatican and the world Feb. 11 by announcing that he would step down at the end of the month due to failing health, although Vatican insiders have also cited a toll taken on the pope by power struggles behind the Vatican walls.

New evidence is emerging of Benedict’s declining physical condition. Peter Seewald, a German journalist who has interviewed Benedict on numerous occasions, said that when he last saw the pope 10 weeks ago, his hearing had deteriorated and he appeared to have gone blind in his left eye.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Radio Vatikan

Eine Woche nach der Rückzugsankündigung des Papstes treffen sich die deutschen Bischöfe von Montag bis Donnerstag zu ihrer Frühjahrsvollversammlung in Trier. Bei der turnusmäßigen Sitzung dürften auch der Amtsverzicht Benedikts XVI. und die bevorstehende Papstwahl zur Sprache kommen. Der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz gehören vier Kardinäle an; Anfang oder Mitte März werden sie ins Konklave einziehen und gemeinsam mit 113 weiteren Kardinälen einen neuen Papst wählen.

Unter Leitung des Vorsitzenden, Erzbischof Robert Zollitsch, nehmen 66 Mitglieder der Bischofskonferenz an der Trierer Tagung teil. Dort steht unter anderen das Thema „Pille danach“ auf der offiziellen Tagesordnung. Nach der Abweisung einer vergewaltigten Frau durch zwei katholische Kliniken in Köln hatte Kardinal Joachim Meisner Ende Januar eine neue Position zur „Pille danach“ verkündet, die er zuvor mit dem Vatikan abgestimmt hatte. Demzufolge sind nach einer Vergewaltigung Präparate ethisch vertretbar, mit denen die Verhinderung einer Befruchtung beabsichtigt wird. Die Bischöfe in Nordrhein-Westfalen haben sich dieser Position bereits angeschlossen; die Bischofskonferenz insgesamt strebt in dieser Frage eine einheitliche Linie an.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

By Jason Horowitz

VATICAN CITY — In the early 1990s, college friends of Carlo Fusco, a law student in Rome, introduced him to Paolo Gabriele, an amiable Roman with dark hair and chubby cheeks. The two young men recognized one another as kindred Catholic spirits and chatted in pizzerias and coffee bars. After college, Fusco lost track of Gabriele but happily ran into him years later at a night mass at Santa Maria in Via Lata, a 17th-century church built atop the warren of rooms where tradition holds the apostle Paul lived under house arrest. (“Verbum Dei non est alligatum — The word of God is not chained” is etched on a column in the crypt.)

Gabriele would later become a prisoner himself, after being convicted in the pilfered-documents scandal known as “VatiLeaks” that has cast a pall over Benedict’s last year in office. But back then, he talked intensely about his relationship with God to Fusco, who by then had become the equivalent of a divorce lawyer on the church court. Gabriele’s career had taken a turn across the Tiber. He told Fusco that his parish priest, a man with Vatican connections, had recommended him for a maintenance job in the Holy See. His rise there has since become the stuff of legend.

“Who cleaned this bathroom?” Fusco said one powerful cardinal asked Gabriele upon exiting the spotless facilities. Gabriele was the Mr. Clean in question, and he moved up to polishing the Vatican’s ornate marble and got ever closer to the pope. Fusco said over lunch in an upscale Rome restaurant that he was surprised to run into Gabriele again in the early 2000s, after an audience Pope John Paul II held for lawyers credentialed to the Vatican, in the frescoed Clementine Hall.

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VATICAN CITY
Washington Post

Pope Benedict XVI’s leaked documents show fractured Vatican full of rivalries

By Jason Horowitz

Published: February 16

Vatican City — Guests at the going-away party for Carlo Maria Viganò couldn’t understand why the archbishop looked so forlorn. Pope Benedict XVI had appointed Viganò ambassador to the United States, a plum post where he would settle into a stately mansion on Massachusetts Avenue, across the street from the vice president’s residence.

“He went through the ordeal making it very clear he was unhappy with it,” said one former ambassador to the Vatican, who attended the Vatican Gardens ceremony in the late summer of 2011. “And we just couldn’t figure out, us outsiders and non-Italians, what was going on.”

There was no such confusion within Vatican walls. Benedict had installed Viganò to enact a series of reforms within the Vatican. But some of Rome’s highest-ranking cardinals undercut the efforts and hastened Viganò’s exile to the United States.

Viganò’s plight and other unflattering machinations would soon become public in an unprecedented leak of the pontiff’s personal correspondence. Much of the media — and the Vatican — focused on the source of the shocking security breach. Largely lost were the revelations contained in the letters themselves — tales of rivalry and betrayal, and allegations of corruption and systemic dysfunction that infused the inner workings of the Holy See and the eight-year papacy of Benedict XVI. Last week, he announced that he will become the first pope in nearly 600 years to resign.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Bild

Von:ROMAN EICHINGER und MARTIN S. LAMBECK

BILD am SONNTAG: Papst Benedikt XVI. ist am Montag überraschend zurückgetreten. Darf man Gott den Dienst aufkündigen?

ERZBISCHOF ROBERT ZOLLITSCH: Er hat Gott den Dienst ja nicht aufgekündigt, sondern gesagt: Meine Kräfte reichen nicht mehr aus, um diese Verantwortung voll wahrzunehmen. Dann soll es jemand anderes machen. Ich sehe das als Zeichen der Ehrlichkeit und Bescheidenheit. Auch der Stellvertreter Christi auf Erden ist ein Mensch.

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DEUTSCHLAND
16 Vor

Erstmals seit 30 Jahren findet eine Frühjahrs-Vollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz wieder in Trier statt. 66 Bischöfe und Kardinäle werden ab diesem Montag im ERA-Kongresszentrum tagen, erwartet werden außerdem Kleriker aus mehreren Erdteilen. Nach dem angekündigten Rücktritt des Papstes rechnen manche schon mit einer Art Mini-Konklave, doch dürfte Benedikts historische Entscheidung eher im informellen Teil des Treffens eine Rolle spielen. Die Kirchenvolksbewegung hingegen hofft auf ein deutliches Signal aus Trier: “Wir brauchen einen neuen Führungsstil und mehr Dezentralisierung, so wie das Zweite Vatikanische Konzil es bestimmt hat”, verlangt Christian Weisner von “Wir sind Kirche”. Mehrere Initiativen und Verbände wollen mit einem kritischen Begleitprogramm die Missbrauchsaffäre in den Mittelpunkt rücken.

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UNITED STATES
PolicyMic

James Banks

The big news with Catholicism this week is that the pope has chosen to retire. I should note that I am not Catholic. My family has been moving in and out of the Church for a few generations now, but my feet are still planted firmly on the South side of the Tiber. Therefore, I can understand why retiring is a perfectly sensible move for a guy who is 85-years-old given the contentious issues that the Church had to deal with in recent years weighing down on his shoulder.

The ambivalence with which some Catholics are greeting his abdication is understandable. After all, the pope is supposed to be the successor of St. Peter. That is not a job that people walk away from in the way that they walk away from being, say, the bean counter for Bethlehem Steel. As New York Times’ Ross Douthat points out, if God wanted a new ambassador on earth, He probably would have said so.

That being said, one should keep in mind the other recent major story regarding the Roman Catholic Church. This one was a story from North America that followed from the publication of documents suggesting that Cardinal Mahoney (formerly Archbishop of Los Angeles) participated in the cover up of serious cases of sexual abuse during his tenure.

Most of the journalism that covers the sexual abuse scandal, particularly from people who are not otherwise interested in the Church, misses the point. There is no real evidence linking celibacy or other characteristics of the priestly lifestyle to a proclivity for pedophilia. The average priest is probably less prone to sexually abuse an altar boy than a public school teacher is a student. There is absolutely no compelling evidence that the Catholic clergy has more perverts than any other religious or secular organization.

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UNITED STATES
The Jewish Daily Forward

In a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said that one of the leading candidates to replace Pope Benedict XVI is an anti-Semite.

Responding to a list published last week after the resignation of Benedict, which identified Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras as a possible successor to the current pope, Dershowitz wrote: “He has blamed the Jews for the scandal surrounding the sexual misconduct of priests toward young parishioners! He has argued that the Jews got even with the Catholic Church for its anti-Israel positions by arranging for the media — which they, of course, control, he said — to give disproportionate attention to the Vatican sex scandal. He then compared the Jewish controlled media with Hitler, because they are ‘protagonists of what I do not hesitate to define as a persecution against the church.’”

Maradiaga, in a May 2002 interview with the Italian-Catholic publication “30 Giorni,” claimed Jews influenced the media to exploit the current controversy regarding sexual abuse by Catholic priests in order to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

At the time, the Anti-Defamation League expressed public outrage at the cardinal’s comments. In a later conversation with Abraham Foxman, ADL national director, Maradiaga apologized and said he never meant for his remarks to be taken as perpetuating an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about Jewish control of the media, and promised never to say it again.

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PHILIPIPINES
Manila Bulletin

By The New York Times

February 17, 2013

MANILA, Philippines — There is no formal nominating process for choosing the man to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, and campaigning for oneself is counterproductive. But the cardinals who will file into the Sistine Chapel next month to elect a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church have been quietly sizing up potential candidates for years.

They were impressed when the young soon-to-be-cardinal of Manila, Luis Antonio Tagle, told bishops gathered for a momentous synod in Rome last October that the church should listen more and admit its mistakes.

They took note a year ago when Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York delivered a winning address on evangelization to the College of Cardinals, the day before the pope gave him the red hat of a cardinal.

They deemed Cardinal Marc Ouellet a gracious host on their visits to the Vatican, where he guides the selection of bishops, but some said he practically put the crowd to sleep during his talk at the International Eucharistic Congress last June in Dublin.

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CANADA
Toronto Star

By:Sandro Contenta
Feature reporter, Published on Sat Feb 16 2013

If God works in mysterious ways, then the Vatican has long been meticulous about following His example.

The Holy See’s pronouncements on Catholic doctrine claim the missile-like clarity of truth. But its politics and workings are monuments to obscurity.

Centuries of secrecy and intrigue turn even the most historic events into exercises in uncertainty. On Monday, when Pope Benedict made one of the biggest Vatican announcements in 600 years — his resignation — he did it exclusively in Latin, a dead language only one journalist in attendance understood.

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VATICAN CITY
Business Recorder

Sunday, 17 February 2013
Posted by Muhammad Iqbal

VATICAN CITY: Cardinal Kurt Koch, a close aide of Pope Benedict who will cast his vote for the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, says there is no reason why the new pontiff cannot be African or Latin American.

Koch, head of the Vatican department that deals with Christian unity and relations with Jews, also said he had had no doubt that Pope Benedict would resign rather than rule for life, and said that future popes would be free to do the same.

“The challenges of the Church in the world are very different on different continents: in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America.

The question is ‘where will the challenges be greater, on which continent, should it be a pope for, above all, Latin America, for Africa ,” Koch told Reuters in an interview.

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VATICAN CITY
Reuters

By Tom Heneghan

February 17, 2013

After Pope Benedict’s papacy of almost eight years, the cardinals who will elect the next Catholic pontiff are more European, more conservative and more “Roman” than the conclave that chose him in 2005.

Benedict has handpicked more than half the men who will elect his successor. The rest were chosen by the late Pope John Paul, a Pole with whom the German pope shared a determination to reassert a more orthodox Catholicism in the new millennium.

Those two popes made sure any man awarded a cardinal’s red hat was firmly in line with key Catholic doctrine supporting priestly celibacy and Vatican authority and opposing abortion, women priests, gay marriage and other liberal reforms.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Cicero

Von Timo Stein

Die Zeitungen überschlagen sich mit Lobeshymnen auf den scheidenden Papst. Warum eigentlich? Mit der Lebenswirklichkeit der Menschen hat all das nichts zu tun

Schon erstaunlich. Ein geistlicher Führer dankt ab und die säkulare Welt spendet Applaus. Die Zeitungen überschlagen sich mit Lobeshymnen, Huldigungen und schmeichelnder Ehrerbietung. Kein Politiker, der nicht eine Meinung hat, der verherrlicht und Respekt zollt.

Allenfalls in Nebensätzen oder als Fußnote erschöpf sich dann das, wofür dieser Mann und seine Kirche auch stehen: Ökumene verstanden als Schulterschluss mit der Orthodoxie, mit Piusbrüdern, Missbrauchskandalen, Homosexuellenfeindlichkeit und einer Abtreibungspolitik, die jüngst eine mutmaßlich vergewaltigte Frau in Köln zu spüren bekam, als ihr zwei katholische Krankenhäuser die Behandlung mit der „Pille danach“ versagten.

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PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Democrat

Kathy Mellott kmellott@tribdem.com

JOHNSTOWN — His name was Paul Stephen Baker, he was a friar, a member of the Catholic religious order known as the Franciscan Third Order Regular.

The group takes a vow of chastity, poverty and obedience.

Baker, 62, at the time he died Jan. 26 of a self-inflicted stab wound to the heart, was part of one of the largest religious orders in the world, but was committed to one of the smallest religious communities.

He was one of only eight religious brothers in the United States who are members of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception Province, headquartered in Blair County at Hollidaysburg.

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VATICAN CITY
allAfrica

By Luke Lythgoe, 11 February 2013

ANALYSIS

In the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s shock resignation, bookmakers and international media alike are heralding the prospect of Rome’s first black African pontiff.

With the shock resignation this morning of Pope Benedict XVI, the international media has gone into overdrive in an attempt to predict the next spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Could the world finally see its first black pope?

The Church (with more than one billion followers worldwide and counting) has had three ‘African’ popes in its history – all from the North African provinces of the Roman Empire and none since the fifth century. However, the latest papal election could very realistically see the first black – indeed, first truly non-European – pope.

In recent years, the Catholic leadership has become increasingly global in makeup, finally starting to represent Catholic demographics across the planet. Catholicism is truly global, with the majority of the Catholic community living in the Americas today. Second place goes to Europe, and third to Africa. However, over the last decade the number of Europeans adhering to the Catholic faith has been in decline, while Catholicism in Africa is on the rise.

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ROM
Zeit

Rom (dpa) – Der Theologe Hans Küng befürchtet nach dem Rücktritt von Papst Benedikt XVI. einen Machtkampf im Vatikan. «Es droht mit Benedikt XVI. ein Schattenpapst, der zwar abgedankt hat, aber indirekt weiter Einfluss nehmen kann», sagte Küng dem Nachrichtenmagazin «Der Spiegel».

Schließlich habe es auch kein Pfarrer gern, wenn sein Vorgänger nebenan sitze und alles beobachte.

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DEUTSCHLAND
LN Online

Wer dachte, dass sich mit der Wahl eines deutschen Papstes seine Landsleute stärker um die katholische Kirche scharen würden, täuschte sich. Die berühmte „Wir sind Papst“-Schlagzeile vor acht Jahren war witzig, aber das Wir-Gefühl blieb dann doch unterentwickelt.

Benedikt XVI. war im Alltagsbewusstsein der Deutschen eher eine geistliche Trophäe als ein Brückenbauer. Es gab auch unter katholischen Kirchgängern kaum verstärkte Bindungen in die geistige Welt des Vatikans.

Umgekehrt auch nicht: Joseph Ratzinger hatte nur wenig zu den Problemen zu sagen, mit denen sich seine deutschen Glaubensbrüder herumschlugen — auch nicht zur Bewältigung der Missbrauchsskandale.

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DEUTSCHLAND
Spiegel

Sex und Zölibat: Wenn es nach den Deutschen geht, soll der künftige Papst der katholischen Kirche vor allem moralische Reformen verordnen. Laut einer Umfrage wünschen sich dies 80 Prozent der Bevölkerung. In Rom bereiten die Gläubigen derweil Papst Benedikt einen triumphalen Abschied.

Berlin – Eine große Mehrheit der Deutschen wünscht sich vom künftigen Papst Reformen in der katholischen Kirche. Das geht aus einer Umfrage des Meinungsforschungsinstituts YouGov im Auftrag der Nachrichtenagentur dpa hervor. Demnach wünschen sich 80 Prozent der Befragten Reformen etwa hinsichtlich der Sexualmoral oder beim Zölibat. Nur sieben Prozent wollen das nicht.

Der Wunsch nach Reformen ist laut Umfrage bei Katholiken mit 85 Prozent und bei Lutheranern mit 87 Prozent besonders groß – deutlich schwächer ist er etwa bei orthodoxen Christen. Hier wollen nur 46 Prozent Reformen.

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DEUTSCHLAND
lokalo

TRIER. Wer heute über den Domfreihof in Trier spaziert, kann ihn gar nicht übersehen, den überlebensgroßen Kirchenmann, der sich im Verschweigen und Vertuschen der Missbrauchsfälle in der katholischen Kirche übt. Der Wagen kommt aus dem Düsseldorfer Karnevalsumzug und begleitet die Protestaktionen anlässlich der Frühjahrstagung der Vollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, die diese Woche in Trier statt findet.

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VATICAN CITY
Al Arabiya

By RANA KHOURY
EXCLUSIVE TO AL ARABIYA

The competition and speculations over who would be the next Vatican’s chief have been floating around since Monday, when Pope Benedict XVI stunned the world and its over one billion Catholics by announcing his retirement.

The 85-year-old German pontiff said he took the decision with full freedom, due to his “advanced age” and failing strength of “mind and body.” He would officially be stepping down as head of the Catholic Church on Feb. 28.

The pontiff resigned amid a sense of crisis within the Vatican. The institution’s most recent scandals involve several documents leaked by the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, alleging corruption, internal disputes within the Vatican and other gossip. …

Amongst the 117 cardinals eligible to enter the secretive conclave to elect Benedict’s successor, Lebanese Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai, head of the Maronite Church, an Eastern Catholic Syriac Church that had affirmed its communion with Rome since 1180 A.D.

Vatican’s role in the Arab world

The Vatican’s influence in the Arab region has been increasingly highlighted in recent years.

According to Father R., a high-ranked Maronite Priest in Lebanon who prefers not be named, the main difference between John Paul II and the outgoing Pope, is that “Benedict, who has sent a lesson of humility to the world after his retirement, has approached the Arab Christians from a regional perspective, contrary to his predecessor who mainly accentuated his efforts on Lebanon and the solidarity between religions in the cedar land.”

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IRELAND
Irish Central

It is now quite likely the new pope could be elected on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th.

Usually, the conclave begins 15 to 20 days after the death of The Pope, says National Review blogger Michael Potemra. In this case the 15-to-20 day clock will start running on Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation day, February 28, which means the election will likely begin between March 15 and March 20.

Vatican sources have said it could possibly start before that but no final decision has been taken. …

Meanwhile, one of the front runners, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, may have disqualified himself according to The New York Times because of a very poorly received speech he made at the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin last year.

The Times quotes Vatican insiders as saying “some said he practically put the crowd to sleep during his talk at the International Eucharistic Congress last June in Dublin.”

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LOS ANGELES (CA)
Los Angeles Times

By Teresa Watanabe and Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times
February 16, 2013

In more than two decades leading the Los Angeles Archdiocese, Cardinal Roger Mahony headlined immigration rallies, marched for worker rights and made national news by announcing he would defy a congressional bill he regarded as anti-immigrant.

But the man who replaced him in 2011 — Archbishop Jose Gomez — has shied away from such attention-getting actions. Instead, he plans to take 60 conservative Catholic business leaders on a spiritual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City this fall in hopes of winning them over on immigration reform.

It’s a distinctly different style from that of Mahony, whom Pope John Paul II nicknamed “Hollywood” for his frequent media appearances.

“Cardinal Mahony was pretty much everywhere,” said parishioner Carlos De Leon as he departed from Ash Wednesday Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels last week. “Archbishop Gomez seems much more behind the scenes. It’s a different management style.”

Yet Gomez has begun quietly making his mark on the archdiocese, the nation’s largest with 4.5 million Roman Catholics in 120 Southern California cities.

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ROME
Washington Post

Pope’s leaked papers were bad for Vatican, but good for reporters, publisher

By Jason Horowitz

The VatiLeaks scandal marred Benedict XVI’s last year as pope, embarrassed the church, exposed the dysfunction of the Vatican bureaucracy, and destroyed the career of the butler convicted for leaking the pontiff’s personals correspondence. But it has been very good for some Italians reporters and their publisher.

As the Vatican reeled and the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, sat in jail, Gianluigi Nuzzi became something of a celebrity in Italy. As part of the roll-out for the English translation of his blockbuster book, “His Holiness: The Secret Papers of Pope Benedict XVI,” Nuzzi has appeared as the hero of a GQ story about his source the butler, and now writes for the Italian Vanity Fair. He has become a familiar Vatican pundit on Italian television and Twitter, where he often directs vitriol at Benedict’s number two, Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.

On a recent afternoon, Nuzzi, dressed in a sharp black three-piece suit and three-quarter coat, arrived late to a panel discussion for a friend’s book about a predator priest in Rome. He carried a leather briefcase filled with documents in transparent plastic sleeves, had a mark across his cheek and a nick atop his glossed bald head.

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UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism

Jerry Slevin

If “bad news” for this month’s and next month’s Popes restores the Catholic Church closer to its original consensual structure, it is “good news” for Catholics worldwide by making the neglected Gospels the “New Gospel” once again.

Catholicism is based principally on the broad guidelines left by an actual historical person, Jesus. But he left nothing in writing for his followers. Decades after Jesus’ crucifixion and oral devotional reports of his unique “after death experience”, several writings, called Gospels or “Good News”, began to appear in different communities about Jesus’ message and unique experience. The Gospels were written for purposes, by persons, and used sources, all mainly unknown with certainty today. These often impressionistic reports have errors and inconsistencies. They are contained in thousands of often conflicting copies of key manuscript fragments that were transcribed in multiple languages centuries later often in ancient language idioms. Over the centuries, these reports were included with other similarly problematic, often unrelated and sometimes inconsistent writings into the New Testament. Moreover, at the insistence mainly of Constantine and his imperial successors, these various and often Palestinian scriptural strands were prematurely squeezed into mandatory creeds using Greek philosophical terminology.

Problematic or not, Jesus’ message overrides all Popes’ statements, of course, especially since church history indicates many Popes were selfish autocrats who interpreted the Gospels for personal advantage or with incomplete information. Moreover, some papal statements cannot clearly be reconciled with the Gospel message. Popes since 1869 claim to be infallible, but Pope Benedict’s error-prone performance as Pope, and now especially his unexpected resignation, suggest otherwise.

Among some of the relevant guidelines generally ascribed to Jesus are that he was opposed to a self-important, excessively scrupulous and overly indulgent religious hierarchy and that he thought children should be protected from harm. These points have neither been consistently understood nor respected in the Vatican for decades, even for centuries. The “Good News”, or the Gospels, have often been disregarded by the Catholic hierarchy where a Renaissance culture of opulence and celibate incomprehension of children still predominate today. Where in the Gospels did Jesus say predatory priests are to be protected before innocent children? Where did Jesus instruct his followers to wear $30,000 outfits? Where did Jesus tell his followers to launder money? Prosecutors are steadily moving in and soon, new Pope or not, one Pope or two, international courts will resolve these major contradictions. Hence, current “bad news” for the Pope and his Vatican Cardinals’ clique that should undermine the Vatican’s ideological, self-serving and unsupportable interpretation of the Gospel message is “good news” for Catholics. …

We all have a moral obligation to protect children and signing a petition is a simple, yet potentially effective, way towards meeting that obligation. Please take a minute and sign it at:

[Click here for the petition.]

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UNITED KINGDOM
BBC News

Women who spent time in the Republic of Ireland’s Magdalene laundries have called for a “fast, fair and just” settlement for their suffering.

It comes after a meeting between 17 women, who now live in the UK, and the Irish prime minister Enda Kenny, where they described their treatment to him.

Between 1922 and 1996 some 10,000 women and girls were made to work unpaid in laundries run by Roman Catholic nuns.

The group say they are expecting Mr Kenny to give a full apology next week.

Sally Mulready, who chairs the Irish Women’s Survivors Network, described the meeting as “significant”.

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Times

MARK HENNESSY London Editor

Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s decision not to apologise immediately for the State’s involvement in the Magdalene Laundries has been supported by British-based survivors, following a meeting in London today.

Mr Kenny, along with the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter and Minister of State Kathleen Lynch, heard the personal stories of 15 of the women during a two hour meeting at the Irish Embassy this afternoon.

Later, Cllr Sally Mulready, who runs a support group for some of the women in Britain, said: “There was a consensus that the Taoiseach was quite wise not to have done so until he had read the report and before next week’s Dáil debate.”

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UNITED KINGDOM
Irish Examiner

A group of Magdalene laundry survivors have called for a “fast, fair and just” settlement following a meeting with the Taoiseach in London today.

Seventeen women who now live in the UK described their ordeals to Enda Kenny.

Afterwards they indicated that they are expecting a full apology next week.

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UNITED STATES
Sweeping Zen

By Eshu Martin

Joshu Sasaki Roshi, the founder and Abbot of Rinzai-ji is now 105 years old, and he has engaged in many forms of inappropriate sexual relationship with those who have come to him as students since his arrival here more than 50 years ago. His career of misconduct has run the gamut from frequent and repeated non-consensual groping of female students during interview, to sexually coercive after hours “tea” meetings, to affairs and sexual interference in the marriages and relationships of his students. Many individuals that have confronted Sasaki and Rinzai-ji about this behaviour have been alienated and eventually excommunicated, or have resigned in frustration when nothing changed; or worst of all, have simply fallen silent and capitulated. For decades, Joshu Roshi’s behaviour has been ignored, hushed up, downplayed, justified, and defended by the monks and students that remain loyal to him.

Based on my own experience as a student and monk in Rinzai-ji from 1995-2008 and many conversations during that time and since, it seems to me that virtually every person who has done significant training with him, the Rinzai-ji board of Directors, and most senior members of the Western Zen community at large know about his misconduct. Yet no one to my knowledge has ever publicly spoken out. Certainly, as an organization, Rinzai-ji has never accepted the responsibility of putting a stop to this abuse, and has never taken any kind of remedial action.

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UNITED STATES
Huffington Post

Adam Tebbe

By now, most everyone in the Zen Buddhist world has heard the news that Joshu Sasaki purportedly misused his position as a Zen teacher for his own sexual gratifications with many of his female Zen students. It’s not been the best of times for the Zen world, I’m afraid.

According to a report by an independent council of Zen teachers assembled to hear the stories of those affected, these sexual encounters were often initiated “in the formal setting, privacy, and ‘face-to-face’ encounters of the sanzen room.” Sanzen is a ritualized private meeting between a Zen student and Zen teacher. Their report also stated that there were reports of coercion and that Sasaki would at times frame the sexual contact as being a form of Zen teaching, or otherwise beneficial to the student. The council did a terrific job, considering morale and support for such an endeavor sure seemed to be at a low in the Zen community at large. It felt as though we’d arrived at some snapping point for readers who were sick of the coverage. The council, in my opinion, really deserves the thanks of the community. They collectively put in a lot of hours to offer us their report.

I am the editor at the website Sweeping Zen, where this story was first written about (see: Everybody Knows) by one of Sasaki’s former students, Eshu Martin of the Victoria Zen Centre. Eshu’s initial piece was an icebreaker of sorts, a shot across the bow that quickly grabbed the attention of many. Martin alleged a history of abuse and cover-ups involving his former teacher that stemmed his entire career. He received considerable backlash for his piece, accused of being nonspecific in his accusations. And, while it was partially true, readers did not know that at the time there was more information at his disposal which would and could be used if necessary. It was not released instantly because much of it needed to be said by Giko David Rubin, a priest ordained by Joshu Sasaki and his translator of many years (see: Some Reflections on Rinzai-ji). When Giko’s reflections on his experiences at Rinzai-ji and of Sasaki were first published, the mood was rather somber. It remains one of the most detailed and painful articles I’ve ever had to publish in my work at the website.

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VATICAN CITY
Telegraph (United Kingdom)

The Vatican is awash with conspiracy theories about why the Pope is resigning, but Benedict has had the last word

By Peter Stanford

After the initial shock came the speculation. Pope Benedict XVI surprised even his closest advisers on Monday by announcing that he was standing down, but within hours the Vatican was awash, not just with the inevitable talk of who would succeed him, but also with whispers about the “real story” behind the first papal resignation in over 600 years.

Once the curia – or Vatican bureaucracy – started chewing it over, the theories it spat out were quickly flying around what the papal historian John Cornwell has characterised as “a palace of gossipy eunuchs”. And from there it is one short step to finding their way into the Italian press.

Dan Brown couldn’t have made it up. The ecclesiastical earthquake of a pope resigning has been attributed, variously, to Benedict nursing a fatal illness; to a head injury during his trip to Mexico last March that convinced him to abdicate; to being forced out after an acrimonious meeting with a group of senior cardinals two days before he announced his resignation; to his looming disgrace over either dodgy deals done by the Vatican Bank, past cover-ups of paedophile priests, or an “explosive” forthcoming report by a team of cardinals on a tendering scandal; and to a strategy to secure the succession for his favourite.

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VATICAN CITY
Los Angeles Times

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times
February 15, 2013

VATICAN CITY — He’s God’s own man, but Italians think he should be theirs too.

Now, after a 35-year hiccup, they have a good shot at making that true again. As the derby begins to replace Pope Benedict XVI, who stunned the world this week by announcing his intention to retire at the end of the month, Italy is aiming to resume the line of homegrown pontiffs who reigned for more than 450 years until John Paul II, a Pole, came along in 1978.

Italians figure high on the list of likely successors to the German-born Benedict and, by a wide margin, form the single largest national bloc — though far from a majority — among the cardinals who will choose the next occupant of St. Peter’s throne.

But chances of a glorious restoration are tempered by strong candidates from other regions, missteps by senior Italians in the Vatican and the reality that the center of gravity of the global church has shifted, perhaps permanently, away from Europe. Many Roman Catholics believe that in the 21st century their leadership would be better off a little less Roman and a lot more catholic.

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VATICAN CITY
Irish Times

PADDY AGNEW, Rome Correspondent

Pope Benedict’s resignation is the most radical move in the Catholic Church in 50 years. Could it open the doors to a wider transformation? Don’t count on it

So, ironically, Benedict XVI, a pope widely perceived as a safe pair of hands and even more conservative than his predecessor, may have provoked the greatest change in the Catholic Church’s modern history. Cautious, timid, stubborn old Benedict, by stepping down from the Seat of Peter, could have initiated a process of radical rethinking not seen since the second Vatican Council, in the 1960s.

The holy father’s resignation is an intrinsically modern act, one that seems more temporal than spiritual, even for a man of deep faith. It makes him look less like the holy father of the universal church and more like the resigning CEO of a multinational company with a staff of 1.3 billion.

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VATICAN CITY
Catholic Culture

By Phil Lawler | February 15, 2013 5

What is the real reason for Pope Benedict’s decision to resign? What’s the story behind the story? Like thousands of others, I have been asking myself those questions since Monday morning. After a week of intensive reporting, and weighing the theories put forward by others, I have reached a conclusion. The real reason is the reason that the Holy Father put forward in his surprise announcement:

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

There is no conspiracy to unravel. There is no major medical news that has been hidden from the public. Nevertheless, there still is a story behind the story.

Throughout his pontificate, Benedict XVI has acted slowly but decisively. He has weighed arguments and planned carefully before making major policy decisions, but once he has reached a decision he has been steadfast. He spoke about the possibility of resignation as far back as 2010. His brother testifies that the question has been on his mind for months. Finally Benedict XVI reached the conclusion that he was no longer capable of doing the job that needs to be done—not because of any particular medical emergency, but because of the gradual decline in energy that comes with old age.

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AUSTRALIA
The Australian

AAP
February 17, 2013

CATHOLIC Bishops in NSW have signed a letter urging parishioners and clergy not to bury their heads in the sand ahead of the royal commission into child sexual abuse.

In a publication signed by 15 bishops, including the Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell, parishoners and clergy are urged to reflect upon the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.

“We must not put our heads in the sand about any of this, or try to minimise or explain it away,” the letter published on Sunday states.

“The fact is that our Dioceses have all known cases of child abuse.”

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UNITED STATES
Get Religion

So many details will sound terribly familiar. At the heart of the news story is a powerful religious patriarch, surrounded by disciples who view him with a reverence that helps support an iron-clad climate of silence and secrecy.

In this case, however, the leader is Joshu Sasaki Roshi, one of the most famous Zen Buddhist monks in the world and a teacher who has had a tremendous impact in American elite culture. Now, it is being alleged (and in some cases confirmed) that since the 1960s he has sexually abused many, perhaps 100s, of his followers in Southern California and elsewhere.

Here is a key passage from a report in The Los Angeles Times:

A recent investigation by an independent council of Buddhist leaders has suggested that Roshi, a leading figure in Zen Buddhism in the United States, may have abused hundreds of others for decades. According to the group’s report, that abuse included allegations of molestation and rape, and some of the incidents had been reported to the Rinzai-ji board, which had taken no effective action.

“We see how, knowingly and unknowingly, the community was drawn into an open secret,” the council wrote, adding: “We have reports that those who chose to speak out were silenced, exiled, ridiculed or otherwise punished.” …

The council of Rinzai-ji oshos — senior Zen teachers ordained under Roshi — however, responded with a public statement: “Our hearts were not firm enough, our minds were not clear enough, and our practices were not strong enough so that we might persist until the problem was resolved. We fully acknowledge now, without any reservation, and with the heaviest of hearts, that because of our failure to address our teacher’s sexual misconduct, women and also men have been hurt.”

The allegations had lingered, literally, for decades and were allowed to become, in the words of one figure in the scandal “a tribal secret for 50 years.”

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UNITED STATES
Boston Globe

By Joan Vennochi
Globe Columnist
February 17, 2013

THE CATHOLIC Church can’t get to a bright, new future until it finally breaks with the ugliness of the past.

One way to make such a break would be to keep Cardinal Roger Mahony from participating in the next election to determine a new pope.

If past is prologue, as Shakespeare wrote, keeping Mahony away from the upcoming conclave seems unlikely. Church leaders, from the pope down, never understood the depth of outrage over the long-running clergy sexual abuse scandal. Apology, not accountability, was supposed to quiet the rebellious.

But the scenario involving Mahony — the retired archbishop of Los Angeles — has its own distinction. Two weeks ago, Mahony was relieved of all public duties by current Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez. What The New York Times called “an extraordinary moment in Catholic Church history” occurred after long-sought documents revealed that Mahony actively worked to protect priests who were abusing children from ­police, rather than protect victims from their abusers.

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CALIFORNIA
The Fresno Bee

By Lewis Griswold – The Fresno Bee

Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013

VISALIA — A bitter family feud between mega-church pastor Bob Grenier and his estranged sons escalated this month with a son’s claim in court papers that his father sexually molested him as a child.

The allegation by Paul Grenier, 31, is in a statement filed in Tulare County Superior Court in support of his brother Alex Grenier, 41, who is being sued for libel by their parents, Bob and Gayle Grenier. Alex was the first to publicly accuse his father of molesting Paul when he wrote about it online in 2011.

Now, Paul has gone public with the accusation, too. His court statement says that twice when he was 5, “I was forced to perform oral sex on Bob.” It also alleges instances of inappropriate touching.

But Paul Grenier has not filed a police report, even though state law allows adults to report alleged sexual abuse that happened when the victim was a minor.

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GERMANY
Washington Post

German journalist says Pope Benedict XVI talked last August of diminishing strength

By Associated Press,
updated: Saturday, February 16

BERLIN — Pope Benedict XVI said last August that his strength was diminishing and “not much more” could be expected from him as pontiff, according to a German journalist who interviewed him for a 2010 book in which Benedict said popes should in some circumstances consider resigning.

Journalist Peter Seewald recalled in an article for German weekly Focus published Saturday asking Benedict during a meeting last August at the pontiff’s summer residence, Castel Gandolfo, what more could be expected of him and his papacy. …

Seewald said Benedict replied: “From me? From me, not much more. I am an old man and my strength is running out. And I think what I have done is enough.”

In Saturday’s article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope’s ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.

It “is not as though I were somehow falling into a kind of desperation or world-weariness — it is simply incomprehensible to me,” Benedict said, according to Seewald.

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CALIFORNIA
Monterey Herald

ROYAL CALKINS
montereyherald.com
Posted: 02/16/2013

Some have written that when Roger M. Mahony became the priest of the farmworkers, allying himself closely with the United Farmworkers Union, it was an act of great courage. This was in the San Joaquin Valley and many of the biggest Catholic contributors there were growers, including many owners of the vineyards where Cesar Chavez began his organizing.

Others maintain that Mahony was largely posturing. They say that while he was sympathetic to the workers, he mainly was angling to accelerate his rise to the top of the church hierarchy.

Either way, it was a risk. Though he cost the church treasury by enraging much of the church’s core membership from Stockton to Bakersfield, he gained the star power that caused many church observers over the years to predict that he might be the first American pope.

Growing up mostly in the valley, I admired Mahony and the handful of priests who openly supported the UFW. Though I later would become seriously disenchanted with the UFW as a union, in those days it was an important and effective social movement. With Mahony’s help, in the church and in Sacramento, Chavez and the UFW were responsible for many overdue reforms in the fields. Banishment of the short-handled hoe, the requirement for toilets, fresh water, shade and rest breaks all were the result of legislation that never would have occurred without Chavez and, to some extent, Mahony. ..

As archbishop of Los Angeles for 25 years, Cardinal Mahony presided over huge regional growth in the church while also presiding over a conspiracy to protect pedophile priests. And he did it not by simply looking the other way. He was a ringleader of a successful effort to hide priests known to have molested many. He thwarted secular efforts to stop the abuse. He turned his back on a multitude of victims.

It took a series of court orders for the public to finally get a look at church records that reveal just how widespread the molestation was and just how hard the church administration fought to evade scrutiny. Officials under Mahony’s direction even shielded repeat offenders from therapists who might be obligated to report them.

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UNITED STATES
ABC News

By RACHEL ZOLL AP Religion Writer
NEW YORK February 16, 2013 (AP)

Conventional wisdom holds that no one from the United States could be elected pope, that the superpower has more than enough worldly influence without an American in the seat of St. Peter.

But after Pope Benedict XVI’s extraordinary abdication, church analysts are wondering whether old assumptions still apply, including whether the idea of a U.S. pontiff remains off the table. …

Cardinal William Levada, the former San Francisco archbishop, was the first U.S. prelate to lead the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s powerful guardian of doctrine. Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis archbishop, is the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court. And Benedict appointed others from the U.S. to handle some of his most pressing concerns, including rebuilding ties with breakaway Catholic traditionalists and overseeing the church’s response to clergy abuse cases worldwide.

But as Christopher Bellitto, a historian at Kean University in New Jersey who studies the papacy, said, “There’s a big difference between letting somebody borrow the car and handing them the keys.”

“The American church,” he said, “comes with a lot of baggage.”

Among the negatives is the clergy sex abuse scandal, which has affected every U.S. diocese and bishop.

The 11 U.S. cardinals expected to vote in the conclave will include Cardinal Roger Mahony, the former Los Angeles archbishop who was recently stripped of public duties by his successor over his record on handling abuse cases. Also attending will be Cardinal Justin Rigali, who stepped down as Philadelphia archbishop after a landmark indictment of priests revealed he had kept several clergy on assignment despite claims they molested children.

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RHODE ISLAND
News 12

Updated: February 16, 2013
By The Associated Press MICHELLE R. SMITH (Associated Press), NICOLE WINFIELD (Associated Press)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – (AP) — The disgraced Roman Catholic religious order the Legion of Christ bent its own rules for a wealthy elderly woman while it also isolated her from some relatives, according to newly released court documents, and a lawyer says the moves show the order was intent on becoming the beneficiary of her $60 million fortune.

The Legion counters that widow Gabrielle Mee was independent, strong-willed and happy and was never coerced into anything. The fact she led a less-restrictive life than others in its community shows she freely gave them her money, the Legion argues. Mee died in 2008 at age 96. …

Mee’s niece, Mary Lou Dauray, sued the Legion after her aunt died. She said Mee was defrauded by an order whose leaders orchestrated an effort to hide its founder’s misdeeds from her aunt.

A Superior Court judge ruled in September that Dauray did not have standing to sue. But Judge Michael Silverstein took pains in his order to detail the process by which the Legion wooed Mee, bending the rules to let her become a “consecrated” member of its lay movement, giving her privileged access to Maciel and inviting her on special trips to Rome and Mexico.

Among the documents released Friday was a deposition from one of Mee’s friends, Joanne McKosker, who testified how the two had bonded in the 1980s through their deep Catholic faith. She said she would visit after Mee moved into a Legion center in Smithfield, R.I. Around 2001, she asked Mee for a $5,000 donation for an anti-abortion charity. After Mee gave it to her, McKosker was prevented from visiting or calling Mee again.

“Months that went on, my trying to see her,” she said. “I was getting, I was angry because I, I wanted to be still friends with her, you know, and I wanted, I felt she wanted, too.”

The Legion says Mee had her own private phone line in her apartment and it never screened her calls.

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INDIA
Times of India

NAGPUR: A 75-year-old priest was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing two girls aged 5 and 7 on Friday. A group of agitated women from Hazaripahad stormed the Gittikhadan police station on Saturday and demanded stern action against the accused Babulal Dwivedi.

The matter came to fore after one of Dwivedi’s neighbours — the wife of a tailor whose shop is located across the temple — observed him sexually abusing one of the girls on February 8. …

The women initially approached a temple trustee over the issue but he — as the agitated women claim — tried to hush up the episode.

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WASHINGTON
Wenatchee World

By Jefferson Robbins
World staff writer

Saturday, February 16, 2013

YAKIMA — A lawsuit that claimed sexual abuse by a Waterville Catholic priest was dismissed last week for lack of evidence.

The complaint said the plaintiff, called only “S.A.” in the court file, was sexually abused multiple times while a child between 1972 and 1974 by the Rev. Joseph Graaf, then the priest of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Waterville.

But the 2010 suit was dismissed Feb. 6 on the motion of the Diocese of Yakima, the defendant, which successfully argued that there was insufficient evidence to allow the claim to go to trial.

Yakima Superior Court Judge Robert E. Lawrence-Berrey agreed there was no evidence the diocese knew or should have known that Graaff presented a risk of abuse; or that the diocese created circumstances that allowed the claimed abuse to occur.

“Whether the abuse happened or not has never been established either,” diocesan spokesman the Rev. Robert Siler said Friday. “I suppose that would have been something that would have been up to a jury to decide, if there had been enough evidence to proceed to a trial.”

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RHODE ISLAND
Fox Providence

[with video]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Thousands of pages of documents from a lawsuit against a Catholic order have been unsealed, making public new details surrounding alleged sexual misconduct by its founder.

Eyewitness News obtained the legal documents and sat down with attorney Bernard Jackvony, who has been compiling evidence against the Legion of Christ for years to support a $60 million lawsuit filed by the family of a local woman who gave $60 million to the group and wants that money returned.

Gabrielle Mee bequeathed $60 million to the Legion of Christ a few years before her death in 2008, and her family is suing the Legion, arguing that its efforts to cover up that alleged sexual misconduct amounted to fraud.

The order’s founder, the late Rev. Marcial Maciel, was discovered to have fathered three children with two women and allegedly sexually molested seminarians. The newly-unsealed documents indicate that the order’s second-in-command knew of the alleged misconduct but did not either report it or confront Maciel. The Legion finally acknowledged those allegations in 2009, a year after Maciel’s death, and the Vatican took over the order in 2010 after an investigation substantiated those reports.

Jackvony says that the documents, which include thousands of pages of testimony from Legion leadership, show that its leaders covered up Maciel’s misconduct and therefore the order defrauded her out of the money she bequeathed.

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INDIA
Bhaskar

Bhopal: A local court has ordered registration of a case against the Archbishop of Bhopal and two others for allegedly conspiring to make a priest and former spokesperson of the local church mentally unsound by administering drugs.

Judicial Magistrate First Class Alok Mishra ordered the filing of a case against Archbishop Father Leo Cornelio and the other two under IPC Sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison etc with intent to commit an offence) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) and has asked them to appear on March 1.

The order was given on February 7, a copy of which was received by the complainant on February 14.

Father Cornelio, however, told a news agency that the allegations levelled by Anand Muttangal, an ex-Public Relation Officer (PRO) for the archdiocese, were “baseless”.

“The allegations were totally baseless. Muttangal is levelling these charges as he was removed from the post of PRO following complaints of gross irregularities which were not expected from a priest like him,” he said.

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