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Pope blasts Irish bishops for ‘grave errors’
But he places no blame for the sex abuse scandal on Vatican policies
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI rebuked Irish bishops Saturday for "grave errors of judgment" in handling priest sex abuse cases and ordered an investigation into the Irish church. But he laid no blame for the problem on the Vatican's policies of keeping such cases secret.
In a letter to the Irish faithful read across Europe amid a growing, multination abuse scandal, the pope apologized to victims but doled out no specific punishments to bishops blamed by Irish government-ordered investigations for having covered up abuse of thousands of Irish children from the 1930s to the 1990s.
"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," Benedict wrote.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of leadership occurred. And this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness."
Ireland's main group of clerical-abuse victims, One in Four, said it was deeply disappointed by the letter because it failed to place responsibility with the Vatican for what it called a "deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children."
"If the church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial," the group said.
'Deeply disturbed'
The letter directly addressed only Ireland, but the Vatican said it could be read as applying to other countries. Hundreds of new allegations of abuse have recently come to light across Europe, including in the pope's native Germany, where he served as archbishop in a diocese where several victims have recently come forward. One priest suspected of molesting boys while the future pope was in charge was transferred to a job where he abused more children.
While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger penned a 2001 letter instructing bishops around the world to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep the church investigations secret under threat of excommunication. While the Vatican insists that secrecy rule only applied to the church's investigation and didn't preclude reporting abuse to police, Irish bishops have said the letter was widely understood to mean they shouldn't report the cases to civil authorities.
The pontiff said a misplaced concern for the church's reputation and inadequate methods of choosing priests had contributed to decades of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. He ordered a Vatican investigation into elements of the Irish church to tackle the problem.
In his letter, the pope said he was "deeply disturbed" by the flood of allegations in Ireland and told victims he was "truly sorry." He acknowledged that victims had suffered "grievously" from "sinful and criminal" abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns.
"It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church," he said. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel."
The letter did not mention similar claims in the pope's native Germany.
The church has been accused of protecting priests in the past and the pope's comment about the "demands of justice" appeared to be a reference to court proceedings, NBC News reported.
Reasons for abuse
Benedict laid out four reasons why abuse by priests had continued over the last four decades:
a misplaced concern for the reputation of the church;
inadequate procedures for choosing priests;
insufficient training in seminaries;
and a tendency to favor clergy.
The Vatican investigation will look into some diocese, seminaries and religious orders. Such a move is undertaken only when Rome considers a local church unable to deal with a problem on its own.
The Vatican ordered such an "apostolic visitation" into U.S. seminaries after the U.S. clerical sex abuse scandal exploded in 2002.
The results of the Irish investigation could lead to further action.
The pope's letter did not call for the resignation of the head of the church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, which victims groups have demanded.
In a speech after celebrating Mass on Saturday in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Cardinal Brady said: "I welcome this letter. It is evident from the Pastoral Letter that Pope Benedict is deeply dismayed by what he refers to as 'sinful and criminal acts and the way the Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them.'"
Three Irish bishops have offered to step down. Benedict hasn't accepted the resignations. The pope said that while bishops committed errors in the past, the church's leadership had already begun to remedy past mistakes.
Video
Germany's Catholic abuse scandal grows
March 19: With abuse allegations increasing at an alarming rate, German bishops take a revolutionary step.
Nightly News
Benedict used his harshest words for the abusers themselves, saying they had betrayed the trust of the faithful, brought shame on the church and now must answer before God and civil authorities.
"Conceal nothing," he exhorted them. "Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy."
Secularization
The letter said the Irish church had had "to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society."
The pope added there was a "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."
Vatican reforms had been "sometimes misinterpreted" and "there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations."
Asked why there were no punitive provisions contained in the letter, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi noted that the letter was pastoral, not administrative or disciplinary in nature, and that any further measures concerning resignations would be taken by the competent Vatican offices.
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What did Pope Benedict and his brother know?
Three Irish government-ordered investigations published from 2005 to 2009 have documented how thousands of Irish children suffered rape, molestation and other abuse by priests in their parishes and by nuns and brothers in boarding schools and orphanages. Irish bishops did not report a single case to police until 1996 after victims began to sue the church.
But Benedict said it wasn't enough to argue that abuse is widespread in society at large. He said the Irish church must now address the problem that has occurred in the Irish Catholic community "and to do so with courage and determination."
The seven-page letter was divided into sections directed at particular groups: the victims, their parents, their abusers, the bishops and the Irish faithful as a whole. Addressing himself first to the victims, Benedict said he understood that nothing he could say could undo their pain. He equated their wounds with those of Christ, and said he hoped that they find the courage to find faith.
"Christ's own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope."
The letter concluded with a prayer for the faithful to meditate on as they work to try to rebuild the church.
"May our sorrow and our tears, our sincere effort to redress past wrongs, and our firm purpose of amendment, bear an abundant harvest of grace for the deepening of faith in our families, parishes, schools and communities, for the spiritual progress of Irish society, and the growth of charity, justice, joy and peace within the whole human family."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35960566/ns/world_news-europe
But he places no blame for the sex abuse scandal on Vatican policies
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI rebuked Irish bishops Saturday for "grave errors of judgment" in handling priest sex abuse cases and ordered an investigation into the Irish church. But he laid no blame for the problem on the Vatican's policies of keeping such cases secret.
In a letter to the Irish faithful read across Europe amid a growing, multination abuse scandal, the pope apologized to victims but doled out no specific punishments to bishops blamed by Irish government-ordered investigations for having covered up abuse of thousands of Irish children from the 1930s to the 1990s.
"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," Benedict wrote.
Nevertheless, it must be admitted that grave errors of judgement were made and failures of leadership occurred. And this has seriously undermined your credibility and effectiveness."
Ireland's main group of clerical-abuse victims, One in Four, said it was deeply disappointed by the letter because it failed to place responsibility with the Vatican for what it called a "deliberate policy of the Catholic Church at the highest levels to protect sex offenders, thereby endangering children."
"If the church cannot acknowledge this fundamental truth, it is still in denial," the group said.
'Deeply disturbed'
The letter directly addressed only Ireland, but the Vatican said it could be read as applying to other countries. Hundreds of new allegations of abuse have recently come to light across Europe, including in the pope's native Germany, where he served as archbishop in a diocese where several victims have recently come forward. One priest suspected of molesting boys while the future pope was in charge was transferred to a job where he abused more children.
While a cardinal at the Vatican, Joseph Ratzinger penned a 2001 letter instructing bishops around the world to report all cases of abuse to his office and keep the church investigations secret under threat of excommunication. While the Vatican insists that secrecy rule only applied to the church's investigation and didn't preclude reporting abuse to police, Irish bishops have said the letter was widely understood to mean they shouldn't report the cases to civil authorities.
The pontiff said a misplaced concern for the church's reputation and inadequate methods of choosing priests had contributed to decades of sexual abuse by members of the clergy. He ordered a Vatican investigation into elements of the Irish church to tackle the problem.
In his letter, the pope said he was "deeply disturbed" by the flood of allegations in Ireland and told victims he was "truly sorry." He acknowledged that victims had suffered "grievously" from "sinful and criminal" abuse at the hands of priests, brothers and nuns.
"It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the church," he said. "In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel."
The letter did not mention similar claims in the pope's native Germany.
The church has been accused of protecting priests in the past and the pope's comment about the "demands of justice" appeared to be a reference to court proceedings, NBC News reported.
Reasons for abuse
Benedict laid out four reasons why abuse by priests had continued over the last four decades:
a misplaced concern for the reputation of the church;
inadequate procedures for choosing priests;
insufficient training in seminaries;
and a tendency to favor clergy.
The Vatican investigation will look into some diocese, seminaries and religious orders. Such a move is undertaken only when Rome considers a local church unable to deal with a problem on its own.
The Vatican ordered such an "apostolic visitation" into U.S. seminaries after the U.S. clerical sex abuse scandal exploded in 2002.
The results of the Irish investigation could lead to further action.
The pope's letter did not call for the resignation of the head of the church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, which victims groups have demanded.
In a speech after celebrating Mass on Saturday in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Cardinal Brady said: "I welcome this letter. It is evident from the Pastoral Letter that Pope Benedict is deeply dismayed by what he refers to as 'sinful and criminal acts and the way the Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them.'"
Three Irish bishops have offered to step down. Benedict hasn't accepted the resignations. The pope said that while bishops committed errors in the past, the church's leadership had already begun to remedy past mistakes.
Video
Germany's Catholic abuse scandal grows
March 19: With abuse allegations increasing at an alarming rate, German bishops take a revolutionary step.
Nightly News
Benedict used his harshest words for the abusers themselves, saying they had betrayed the trust of the faithful, brought shame on the church and now must answer before God and civil authorities.
"Conceal nothing," he exhorted them. "Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God's mercy."
Secularization
The letter said the Irish church had had "to confront new and serious challenges to the faith arising from the rapid transformation and secularization of Irish society."
The pope added there was a "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."
Vatican reforms had been "sometimes misinterpreted" and "there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations."
Asked why there were no punitive provisions contained in the letter, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi noted that the letter was pastoral, not administrative or disciplinary in nature, and that any further measures concerning resignations would be taken by the competent Vatican offices.
Click for related content
Irish Catholic leader won’t quit after cover-up
Pope: Irish church ‘severely shaken’ by abuse
Ex-Vienna Boys' Choir members allege abuse
What did Pope Benedict and his brother know?
Three Irish government-ordered investigations published from 2005 to 2009 have documented how thousands of Irish children suffered rape, molestation and other abuse by priests in their parishes and by nuns and brothers in boarding schools and orphanages. Irish bishops did not report a single case to police until 1996 after victims began to sue the church.
But Benedict said it wasn't enough to argue that abuse is widespread in society at large. He said the Irish church must now address the problem that has occurred in the Irish Catholic community "and to do so with courage and determination."
The seven-page letter was divided into sections directed at particular groups: the victims, their parents, their abusers, the bishops and the Irish faithful as a whole. Addressing himself first to the victims, Benedict said he understood that nothing he could say could undo their pain. He equated their wounds with those of Christ, and said he hoped that they find the courage to find faith.
"Christ's own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope."
The letter concluded with a prayer for the faithful to meditate on as they work to try to rebuild the church.
"May our sorrow and our tears, our sincere effort to redress past wrongs, and our firm purpose of amendment, bear an abundant harvest of grace for the deepening of faith in our families, parishes, schools and communities, for the spiritual progress of Irish society, and the growth of charity, justice, joy and peace within the whole human family."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35960566/ns/world_news-europe
