As long time readers know, I have complained endlessly about the failure of the Vatican to do a thorough house cleaning of the Church hierarchy to punish and/or remove bishops and cardinals who had complicity in enabling sexual predator priest to continue molesting children and youths. As the suspicions build concerning Pope Benedict XVI's own possibly dirty hands in enabling a predator and efforts at hushing things up before and after heading up the Inquisition, it seems the answer to why the Vatican never acted is simple: the complicit bishops and cardinals had done the same thing as Benedict XVI - and likely prior Pontiffs as well. There are numerous stories of the trail tracing to Benedict in with respect to at least one predator priests who was allowed to remain in ministry - despite a 1986 conviction - up until this past week. Claims that Benedict knew nothing about it seem to be increasingly falling on deaf ears. *
Recent coverage on the scandal appears in the New York Times, Time Magazine, Der Spiegel, and Andrew Sullivan's blog among many others. The Church with its typical disingenuousness is trying to claim that the media is out to damage the Church. It will be interesting to see where the story line leads, but it looks like the situation might be akin to the explosion that occurred in Boston in 2002. Obviously, if Benedict XVI proves to have been involved in the cover up and transfer of sexual predators, he has no moral authority to lecture anyone. Indeed, he needs to abdicate. First, here are highlights from the New York Times story*
*
The priest, Peter Hullermann, who had previously been identified only by the first letter of his last name, was suspended from his duties only on Monday. That was three days after the church acknowledged that the pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, had responded to early accusations of molestation by allowing the priest to move to Munich for therapy in 1980.
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Hundreds of victims have come forward in recent months in Germany with accounts of sexual abuse from decades past. But no case has captured the attention of the nation like that of Father Hullermann, not only because of the involvement of the future pope, but also because of the impunity that allowed a child molester to continue to work with altar boys and girls for decades after his conviction.
*
Benedict not only served as the archbishop of the diocese where the priest worked, but also later as the cardinal in charge of reviewing sexual abuse cases for the Vatican. Yet until the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising announced that Father Hullermann had been suspended on Monday, he continued to serve in a series of Bavarian parishes.
*
In 1980, the future pope reviewed the case of Father Hullermann, who was accused of sexually abusing boys in the Diocese of Essen, including forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform oral sex. The future pope approved his transfer to Munich.
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I continue to believe that the fact that these self-absorbed clerics never married and never had children of their own plays a part in the callousness shown to victims. Parents I know, including myself, with children would be so enraged over the mere thought of the molestation of their children that they would never have closed their eyes, shuffled the offending priest off on other unsuspecting victims and apparently not had a further thought about it. There is something disgustingly sick within the mindset of the Church's leaders. Andrew Sullivan does a great job in summarizing the moral bankruptcy of Benedict XVI and other high clerics:
*
The priest, Peter Hullermann, who had previously been identified only by the first letter of his last name, was suspended from his duties only on Monday. That was three days after the church acknowledged that the pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, had responded to early accusations of molestation by allowing the priest to move to Munich for therapy in 1980.
*
Hundreds of victims have come forward in recent months in Germany with accounts of sexual abuse from decades past. But no case has captured the attention of the nation like that of Father Hullermann, not only because of the involvement of the future pope, but also because of the impunity that allowed a child molester to continue to work with altar boys and girls for decades after his conviction.
*
Benedict not only served as the archbishop of the diocese where the priest worked, but also later as the cardinal in charge of reviewing sexual abuse cases for the Vatican. Yet until the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising announced that Father Hullermann had been suspended on Monday, he continued to serve in a series of Bavarian parishes.
*
In 1980, the future pope reviewed the case of Father Hullermann, who was accused of sexually abusing boys in the Diocese of Essen, including forcing an 11-year-old boy to perform oral sex. The future pope approved his transfer to Munich.
*
I continue to believe that the fact that these self-absorbed clerics never married and never had children of their own plays a part in the callousness shown to victims. Parents I know, including myself, with children would be so enraged over the mere thought of the molestation of their children that they would never have closed their eyes, shuffled the offending priest off on other unsuspecting victims and apparently not had a further thought about it. There is something disgustingly sick within the mindset of the Church's leaders. Andrew Sullivan does a great job in summarizing the moral bankruptcy of Benedict XVI and other high clerics:
* If this person headed a secular organization, or if he were a politician, he would be forced to resign. Why are the standards for the Catholic church so much lower on tolerance of child abuse than the rest of society? On what grounds can this Pope reprimand bishops and priests in Ireland or the US when he seems deeply entangled in the same kind of cover-ups himself?
*
When, in other words, will the real victims come first? And moral responsibility meaningfully taken?
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When, in other words, will the real victims come first? And moral responsibility meaningfully taken?
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