By EDITORIAL BOARD - THE STANFORD DAILY
Added: Sun, 11 Apr 2010 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Ingrid for the link.
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Over the past few weeks, new revelations have cast a startling light on the extent to which the Vatican–and even Pope Benedict XVI himself–may have been involved in preventing clergymen accused of child abuse from facing legal repercussions, or even being removed from contact with children. New documentation reveals that church officials may have ignored repeated warnings from bishops as to the dangers of a Wisconsin priest who is accused of molesting more than 200 deaf children.

The same month, a Munich priest’s alleged abuse showed that the Pope may have directly ignored cases of abuse by the clergy while serving as then-Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger. This incident is just one in a string of cases that seem to reveal that child abuse by priests has been, contrary to original assertions, a world-wide problem rather than simply an American phenomenon.

As offensive as the possibility of church officials covering up child abuse may be, the church’s reactions to allegations of a cover-up are perhaps even more offensive. During a Good Friday service, Pope Benedict’s personal preacher, Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, equated criticism of the church in these times with anti-Semitism against Jews in the lead-up to the Holocaust. According to Cantalamessa, the perceived “passing from responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

Furthering Rev. Cantalamessa’s feelings of persecution, American Catholic League leader Bill Donohue added this month that the abuse of children by priests should have been handled as a private, internal matter within the church instead of a cause for police involvement. He added that, because many of the victims in question were post-pubescent, the issue is one of homosexuality and not of child abuse.
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TAGGED: ABUSE, COMMENTARY, RELIGION