Is Pope Benedict XVI a hypocrite?

Sexual abuse against children has been going on since the beginning of time. Sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church are finally seeing the light of day which emanated in Catholic dioceses, monasteries, schools, and seminaries by priests and members of the Christian Brothers and as such have been exploding all over the world. However to suggest that this is a phenomenon that has only occurred in the last twenty years in the Catholic Church is a misinterpretation of facts. In 2004, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commissioned a wide-ranging study into the nature and scope of the problem of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. Their 120-page study identified 4,392 priests accused of sexual abuse between 1950 and 2002, and estimated that American dioceses had paid out many millions of dollars to compensate the 10,667 victims of the U.S. priests who abused them from 1950 to 2002. More than 17 percent of accusers had siblings who were also abused. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles by itself agreed to pay $660 million to 500 victims of sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1940s. There is no doubt in my mind that sexual abuses against children instigated by Catholic priests have been going on for centuries. Over that period of time, the number of abusive priests could be in the hundreds of thousands and their young victims could be in the millions.

In many cases the crimes, when reported to Church authorities, were covered up by high-ranking authorities of the Church, and the perpetrators were simply moved to another location, often with continued access to children. This has fueled criticism of the Church and its leadership especially as there were still ongoing refusals by some high-ranking Church authorities to disclose sex abuse information to government authorities. What is ironic when you think of it is that priests also have to go the confessional and one is forced top ask the rhetorical question, “Did they admit to fellow priests hearing their confession that they were molesting children?” If not, then their confessions were a sham.

From a legal perspective, the most serious offence, after the actual abuse of children, was the failure by senior Church leaders aware of the facts to report the crimes directly to the police. This happened in many cases in many countries, and is proving to have extremely negative consequences. The Norbertines, for example, knew not merely of Fr. Brendan Smyth's apparently pedophilic tendencies but also of allegations of sexually interfering with children from as early as 1945, yet it was only in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the police forces of the Republic of Ireland, and of Northern Ireland, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, were able to gather sufficient information to prosecute Smyth.

In May 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later elected Pope Benedict XVI on the death of his predecessor, sent a letter to all Catholic Bishops declaring that the Church's investigations into claims of child sex abuse claims were subject to the pontifical secret and were not to be reported to law enforcement, on pain of excommunication. The secrecy related only to the internal investigation, and the letter did not attempt to discourage victims from reporting abuse to the police. What it did do was prohibit the Bishops from reporting the sexual abuses of children to the police.

Pope Benedict XVI announced on March 17, 2010, that he would issue a pastoral letter the next day aimed at bringing "repentance, healing and renewal" to the Roman Catholic Church rocked by sex scandals involving pedophile priests. On the 18th, he did just that. The letter was directed primarily at Ireland's Catholic Church, though it was expected to touch on abuse revelations from other European countries, most notably in the Pope's homeland of Germany. In his letter, he said;

“Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Church in Ireland, it is with great concern that I write to you as Pastor of the universal Church. Like yourselves I have been deeply disturbed by the information which has come to light regarding the abuse of children and vulnerable young people by members of the Church in Ireland, particularly by priests and religious. I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them.” unquote

There were 46 priests in Ireland who were implicated in abusing hundreds of children – and, in almost all cases, being transferred to new parishes by bishops who didn't tell police or other child-protection authorities about the crimes or dangers. These horrific acts of depravity went for decades without prosecution by the civil authorities because the authorities didn’t know of the abuses.

It was reported the week before, that the Pope, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, archbishop of Munich, approved giving Church housing and therapy in 1980 to Father Peter Hullermann, who was suspected of sexually abusing children. Two years later, Fr. Hullermann was cleared by the Church in Munich to return to pastoral duties in a Bavarian town, though this happened after Cardinal Ratzinger had been transferred to the Vatican. In 1986, Fr. Hullermann was fined and given a suspended sentence for abusing children, though he continued serving as a priest. Dr. Huth who attempted to treat the priest said he was concerned enough that he set three conditions for treating the priest, Peter Hullermann: that he stay away from young people and alcohol and be supervised by another priest at all times. Dr. Huth said he issued the warnings — explicit, both written and oral — before the future pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger, left Germany for the Vatican. The priest was later suspended from his role as a pastoral priest for defying a ban on him working with children.

First of all, the pope, when he was the archbishop of Munich, didn’t follow the procedures he later advocated in his March 18th letter. In that letter, he said in part with respect to the failings of the church to acknowledge the seriousness of the crimes against children by priests;

“Such an acknowledgment, accompanied by sincere sorrow for the damage caused to these victims and their families must lead to a concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in the future.” unquote

As the cardinal/archbishop of Munich, he should have given an order that the priest was not to ever return to the Church as a pastoral priest. This he didn’t do. It should have been obvious to the pope that if he allowed Peter Hullermann to work in the church after he abused the trust of the parishioners, he may abuse more children. Many priests in the past who were discovered to be abusers of children were merely sent to another parish where they continued to abuse children.

Unfortunately, the bishops didn’t report the abusers to the police because they were afraid to do so. Why?” Because in May 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later elected Pope Benedict XVI on the death of his predecessor, sent a letter to all Catholic Bishops declaring that the Church's investigations into claims of child sex abuse claims were subject to the pontifical secret and were not to be reported to law enforcement, on pain of excommunication. The secrecy related only to the internal investigation, and the letter did not attempt to discourage victims from reporting abuse to the police.

In Canada, the archbishop of St. John's, Newfoundland, Alphonsus Penney in the 1980s, ignored the evidence of priests abusing children. Penney resigned as archbishop of St. John's in July 1990 after a scathing report into child sex abuse by priests. According to a report headed by a former provincial lieutenant-governor that was set up by Penney, it said in part; "Because the archbishop did not act vigorously on the complaints and concerns of his priests, parishioners and concerned parents, children continued to be abused by some priests, even while under criminal investigation." unquote

In July 2000, London Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor acknowledged making a mistake in a previous post in the 1980s by allowing a pedophile priest to continue working. The priest was jailed in 1997 for abusing nine boys over a 20-year period. A government-commissioned inquiry into abuse in Dublin, Ireland from 1975 to 2004 released on Nov. 26, 2009, said church authorities covered up widespread cases of child sexual abuse until the mid-1990s. The Church operated a policy of "don't ask, don't tell.” Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law resigned in December 2002 over charges he transferred clerical abusers to other parishes to cover up the scandal. This sort of cover-up occurred in many countries by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in those countries.

In his letter, the pope also said;

“It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations.” unquote

Cardinal Sean Brady, Archbishop of Armagh and head of the Church in Ireland, apologized "with all my heart" for his role in the child sex abuse cover-up. "I want to say to anyone who has been hurt by any failure on my part that I apologize to you with all my heart," he said at a sermon at Armagh Cathedral, Northern Ireland. "I also apologize to all those who feel I have let them down. Looking back, I am ashamed that I have not always upheld the values that I profess and believe in." unquote

As a young priest, Cardinal Brady attended meetings in 1975 where two alleged victims of Father Brendan Smyth signed an oath of secrecy. The Church was investigating sex abuse complaints against Smyth, believed to have abused hundreds of children over four decades in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the United States. He was finally jailed in the 1990s and died in prison.

Germany's justice minister accused the Vatican on March 8, 2010 of covering up severe sexual abuse in the Church after fresh reports surfaced at three Catholic schools in Bavaria. Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called the developments frightening after the cathedral choir in Regensburg, the Benedictine monastery school at Ettal and a Capucian school in Burghausen revealed new cases of sexual and physical abuse. The Pope has also been embarrassed by revelations about the boarding school in Regensburg whose students include members of the famous cathedral choir because the choir was run in 1964-94 by his brother, Georg Ratzinger, who says he knew nothing about sex abuse at the school. I don’t question that statement since victims of child abuse often keep silent about the abuses they suffer from, especially the abuses are of a sexual nature.

The revelations followed reports last month that Catholic priests had sexually abused over 100 children at Jesuit schools around Germany, which led to a public apology from Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops Conference. The justice minister said; "In many schools there was a wall of silence allowing for abuse and violence. Even the most severe cases of abuse are subject only to papal secrecy and should not be disclosed outside the Church." unquote

While the Pope has taken several measures that have won praise from observers, one prominent Vatican analyst warns of a nightmare scenario if further revelations in Germany jeopardize his moral authority to manage the Church's worst crisis of the past century.

The pope also said,

“Healing of the wounds will require full disclosure of past failings and vigilance in the future. At the same time, I must also express my conviction that, in order to recover from this grievous wound, the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenseless children. Such an acknowledgement, accompanied by sincere sorrow for the damage caused to these victims and their families must lead to a concerted effort to ensure the protection of children from similar crimes in the future.” unquote

He connected the scandal to several factors, including a general weakening of faith in Ireland, a traditionally Catholic country. The pope said;

“Fast-paced social change has occurred, often adversely affecting people’s traditional adherence to Catholic teaching and values. All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant too was the tendency during this period, also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel. The program of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, it was far from easy to know how best to implement it. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings.” unquote

He can’t blame the parishioners if they have a weakening of faith, especially if they or their loved ones were abused by the priests and the bishops and the church leaders tried to cover up those abuses. One such parishioner even went so far as to say. "I don't believe in God. If there was a God, why didn't He help me?"

The pope also said that other factors were poor selection and training of priests, and a “misplaced concern for the reputation of the church. On that point, he is quite right. In 2003, a vast cache of child pornography and photos of young priests having sex had been discovered at a Roman Catholic seminary in Poelten, Austria. The discovery led Austrian politicians and church leaders to demand a criminal probe and the resignation of the bishop in charge. As many as 40,000 photos and an undisclosed number of films, including child pornography, were found on seminary computers.

In the pope’s letter, he said;

“Only by examining carefully the many elements that gave rise to the present crisis can a clear-sighted diagnosis of its causes be undertaken and effective remedies be found. Certainly, among the contributing factors we can include: inadequate procedures for determining the suitability of candidates for the priesthood and the religious life; insufficient human, moral, intellectual and spiritual formation in seminaries and novitiates; a tendency in society to favor the clergy and other authority figures; and a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church and the avoidance of scandal, resulting in failure to apply existing canonical penalties and to safeguard the dignity of every person.” unquote

I am in total agreement with that statement.

The pope, after saying he would be willing to meet with victims of abuse, apologized to them in his letter when he said,

“You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering.” unquote

He is willing to meet with them now because of the flack he’s getting with respect to the abuses in Ireland and Germany. However, I am not forgetting that several years ago when a group of abused persons who were abused by Catholic priests were in Rome and asked to meet the pope, he refused to see them because he chose to see a visiting Hollywood movie star instead.

He had harsh words for priests who abused children when he said,

“You betrayed the trust that was placed in you by innocent young people and their parents, and you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals. You have forfeited the esteem of the people of Ireland and brought shame and dishonor upon your confreres. Those of you who are priests violated the sanctity of the sacrament of Holy Orders in which Christ makes himself present in us and in our actions. I urge you to examine your conscience, take responsibility for the sins you have committed, and humbly express your sorrow. Sincere repentance opens the door to God’s forgiveness and the grace of true amendment. By offering prayers and penances for those you have wronged, you should seek to atone personally for your actions. Christ’s redeeming sacrifice has the power to forgive even the gravest of sins, and to bring forth good from even the most terrible evil. At the same time, God’s justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy.” unquote

As I said earlier in this piece, he has had a change of heart because he originally notified all the bishops that if they disclosed those abuses outside of the Church, they did so on pain of excommunication.

He told bishops that some of them had made “grave errors of judgment” in dealing with sex abuse allegations. His words were,

“It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse. Serious mistakes were made in responding to allegations. I recognize how difficult it was to grasp the extent and complexity of the problem, to obtain reliable information and to make the right decisions in the light of conflicting expert advice. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred. All this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness. I appreciate the efforts you have made to remedy past mistakes and to guarantee that they do not happen again. Besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse, continue to cooperate with the civil authorities in their area of competence.” unquote

The bishops weren’t the only ones who made grave errors of judgment. The pope announced an apostolic visitation of some dioceses and institutions in Ireland, as well as a year of penitential reparation and spiritual renewal, saying the church needs not only norms to deal with specific cases of abuse but also broader measures:
“In confronting the present crisis, measures to deal justly with individual crimes are essential, yet on their own they are not enough: a new vision is needed, to inspire present and future generations to treasure the gift of our common faith…. In solidarity with all of you, I am praying earnestly that, by God’s grace, the wounds afflicting so many individuals and families may be healed and that the Church in Ireland may experience a season of rebirth and spiritual renewal.” unquote

He urged young people in Ireland not to cut themselves off from the church when he said;

“We are all scandalized by the sins and failures of some of the Church’s members, particularly those who were chosen especially to guide and serve young people. But it is in the Church that you will find Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.” unquote

Unfortunately for the hundreds of thousands of victims of sexual abuse that had been thrust upon them in the last century by Catholic priests, Jesus Christ didn’t intercede. If the spirit of Jesus was in the churches when these abuses were going on, then so was the Devil and the Devil pushed Jesus aside.

The pope didn’t improve his relations with the people of Ireland when he spoke from the window of his studio in the Vatican to the crowd of followers in St. Peter’s Square when he referred to how Jesus dealt with those who were willing to condemn an adulterer. He told them that they should not cast the first stone unless they are without sin themselves. Many, who came to pray in the square, heckled him.
Finally, the pope expressed his confidence that the church was on the right track in addressing the problem of abuse:

“Since the time when the gravity and extent of the problem of child sexual abuse in Catholic institutions first began to be fully grasped, the Church has done an immense amount of work in many parts of the world in order to address and remedy it. While no effort should be spared in improving and updating existing procedures, I am encouraged by the fact that the current safeguarding practices adopted by local Churches are being seen, in some parts of the world, as a model for other institutions to follow.” unquote

Finally after centuries of abuse, the Church has opened its eyes and publicly admitted the wrongdoings of thousands of priests who abused their positions in the Church and the community in which they served. The current pope has been less favorably viewed for his past efforts to ensure the accountability of bishops who failed to deal with the abuse. By the time he eventually acted, thousands upon thousands of children were abused by his priests. This doesn’t say much for the Church, its leaders or the pope.

Nothing is more fatal to religion than indifference to the suffering of its followers. Religion without pity is no religion at all. Reciting the Lord’s Prayer alone doesn’t make a non-believer into a Christian anymore than appointing someone to be a priest makes them a priest. What makes someone a priest is their willingness to work towards the good of others and in doing so, live a life that can be looked upon by others as a life of goodness. If as priest fails to meet those conditions; then he is not a priest----he is an evil man who has no right to serve the Church and those in his community.

Hopefully, as time passes by and the Catholic Church rids itself of its evil priests, the Church, through the auspices of its pope, its leaders and priests will then be recognized as en entity that has the interests of its followers at heart. Until that happens, it will be looked upon with disdain and its pope will be looked upon as being a hypocrite.