Possibly the most remarkable feature of the explosion of news and commentary on clerical sexual abuse around the world, has been how swiftly and fundamentally the nature of church reaction has changed. For decades, there was virtually no response beyond shuffling the perpetrators around dioceses, or simply blaming “gay priests”. That began to change after the Irish Ryan report took a far franker and more honest look at the problems in Dublin than had previously been done elsewhere, and especially since the governmental Murphy report went beyond the abuse itself to reveal patterns of Church secrecy, cover-ups and protection of offenders.
After the emergence of similar stories from continental Europe, and especially in the German speaking countries in Benedict’s backyard, suddenly there has been a clamour of comment form senior clerics. Especially over the past week, the number of national church speaking up to defend the person of Pope Benedict and his record appears to be a clearly orchestrated campaign. Much of it is still the good old shoot the messenger, impugn the motives stuff, confusing attacks on the pope or on the leadership with attacks on the church as a whole. But there have also been a number of prominent, highly placed insiders, who have combined defence of specific actions with calls for deep seated reform.
For the first time, there have been episcopal resignations and calls for more resignations, including those of Cardinal Brady, the leader of the Irish Church, and Benedict himself. Brady may well find himself forced out: Benedict cannot be removed unless he chooses to himself, which remains highly unlikely. Just the simple fact that it is being talked abut though, would have been unthinkable just a month ago. An increasing number of national churches are now embarking on independent investigations of their own records in dealing with abuse, either in partnership with government (as in Germany), or independently of both the government and the clergy - as in Austria.
Now for the first time, I am seeing reports of calls for an emergency synod of bishops to discuss the problem of how to respond to the publicity. This may be no more than a kite flying exercise; none of the reports I have seen name the people asking for such a synod; the emphasis seems to be on news management and PR rather than on the substantive, systemic crisis stemming from the culture of secrecy and control; and Benedict cannot be forced into calling anything unless he wants to.
BUT, once again: the simple fact that these calls are being made is a notable new development, and given the pace of change in Vatican reaction up to now, this idea may well snowball into something much bigger. If such a synod is called, who knows where it might lead? When Vatican II was announced, nobody imagined how far-reaching it would turn out to be.
(Another new point raised in this piece from the Independent, is the factor of Benedict’s age, and with it his health. While he is probably determined to see off his critics, the question that mus be asked is, “Will his health stand up to the increasing pressure?” )
From the Independent:
Pope considers emergency ‘abuse summit’
Senior clergy call for crisis gathering of bishops as fears grow that the scandal is spiralling out of control
As pilgrims, tourists and the faithful congregate in St Peter’s Square today to collect olive branches during a solemn Palm Sunday Mass, an embattled Pope Benedict XVI is coming under mounting pressure to call an emergency synod of bishops from around the world to hammer out a new strategy to deal with the worsening child abuse scandal, Vatican sources say.
A number of Roman Catholic prelates have strongly urged the Holy See that such an extraordinary synod, or conference, be held on the grounds that the German pontiff and the Vatican evidently cannot cope effectively on their own with the spiralling image crisis.
“There is a deep feeling of unease in the Vatican at the moment,” said one well-placed source in the Holy See. “Senior people in the Curia feel under siege from parts of the international media as they see it trying to nail the Pope for allegedly covering up or mishandling abuse cases.
“Many bishops have let it be known they want Benedict to convene a special synod or worldwide conference of bishops to examine the problem because of a growing feeling that the Vatican cannot handle this.”
The source added: “There is a realisation that the scandal is not going to stop. It is not one country or five countries but an increasing number.”
Among aspects of the paedophilia maelstrom to be dealt with, Benedict currently has resignation letters from three Irish bishops sitting on his desk in the Apostolic Palace. Even as he considers them, Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the primate of all Ireland, is considering whether to resign, a decision which, as he said in his St Patrick’s day homily, he is reflecting on between now and Easter.
The three bishops, James Moriarty, Raymond Field and Eamonn Walsh, tendered their resignations following the publication of the Murphy report into abuse.
“It is quite possible that Brady will resign,” said one Vatican insider. “He could go with his head held high and if he goes, others would follow.”
Vatican sources poured scorn on the suggestion on Friday by Der Spiegel magazine that Benedict might consider resigning over the affair.
However, in addition to the damage to the image of the Catholic church from the scandals, described as a “catastrophe” by some senior Vatican officials, Benedict will celebrate his 83rd birthday on 16 April, and papal advisers are concerned about the effect the stress from handling the crisis may have on his health as he braces himself for another round of tiring public appearances celebrating Easter. Before last Christmas, papal doctors told the pontiff, who suffered two minor strokes before his election, to slow down, persuading him to slim down his gruelling Christmas schedule and prohibiting him from making any more tiring long-haul foreign trips.
The Vatican media and its tiny press office have gone into overdrive to fend off criticism of Benedict himself for his record during his period as Archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982 and as head of the Holy Office from 1982 to 2005.
Benedict has received messages of support from around the world, with many commentators pointing out that from the outset of his pontificate he made it clear he intended to clean out what he termed emphatically “the filth” in the church, marking himself out as the first occupant of St Peter’s throne publicly to declare war on sexual abuse by paedophile priests.
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