Belgian Police Raid Three Bishops' Offices

In a move that ought to be happening in many more jurisdictions, including many in the USA, police authorities in Belgium raided the offices of three Catholic bishops and seized documents as part of the ongoing investigation of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy and the cover up of crimes by the Church hierarchy. I can just imagine some of the bomb shells that might be exposed were the police to take similar action in Boston, Los Angeles and other large archdioceses. The Church hierarchy has engaged in a criminal conspiracy and the bishops, cardinals - and yes, the Pope - ought to be treated as criminal suspect just like common criminals. Here are highlights on the developments in Belgium from the Washington Post:

Belgian authorities on Monday raided three bishops’ administrative offices as an official said investigators were nearing the end of a two-year probe into whether church officials protected child abusers at the expense of their victims.

Belgian Catholic Church spokesman Geert Lesage said the offices in the Hasselt, Mechelen and Antwerp cooperated during the raids and handed over requested files as much as possible.

Monday’s surprise raids were based on some 200 witness accounts and 87 civil claims and sought to reveal if high-level clergy were involved in keeping abuse covered up. Over the past two years, more than 500 witnesses have come forward with accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy in Belgium over several decades.

The main part of the investigation centers on “the non-assistance to people in danger and is targeted at people higher up in the hierarchy,” the official said. “Possibly, we will be able to charge people.” The official would not expand on who in the church hierarchy could potentially be charged.

A tally of the raids showed that some two dozen files were collected from the three offices based on individual cases, reports of meetings between high clergy and victims and exchanges of letters.

The scandal has had a huge impact on the Belgian church and has highlighted the issue of sex abuse, which has undermined the church’s credibility in many Western nations. Revelations of rape or other sexual abuse of minors by priests, and of cover-ups by bishops, piled up for months.

Belgium’s abuse scandal broke when Bruges bishop Roger Vangheluwe admitted to the sexual abuse of a nephew for 13 years, starting when the boy was 5. He acknowledged briefly abusing a second nephew too.

Why does anyone still listen to the Catholic hierarchy? I can think of few groups of men more reprehensible and morally bankrupt.