Vatican Corruption – Page 22

October 14, 2015

The mystery surrounding the letter allegedly sent by cardinals criticising Synod procedure

By andrea tornielli

According to a list of names published by Vatican commentator, Sandro Magister, the letter was signed by thirteen cardinals. But four of the men mentioned – Scola, Vingt-Trois Piacenza and Erdö – denied signing the document. The incident underlines the importance of Francis’ call for this “hermeneutics of conspiracy” to stop

Thirteen cardinals – Synod Fathers – are said to have sent a letter to Pope Francis, expressing their doubts about the procedures followed in the current Synod on the family and raising fears of piloting with the aim of obtaining “predetermined results”. The cardinals were apparently especially keen to know about the composition of the commission tasked with drafting the concluding text. They asked that the rapporteurs of the language-based discussion groups be elected, not nominated (the possibility of having non-elected was nominees was wafted about by some media circles on the eve of the Synod but it was never considered seriously).

The letter was published in full by Vatican commentator Sandro Magister, along with a complete list of the letter’s signatories: Carlo Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna, Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, Wim Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Relator General of the Synod, Gerhard Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Wilfrid Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban and one of the presidents delegate of the Synod, George Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Major Penitentiary, Robert Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan, Jorge Cardinal Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris and one of the presidents delegate of the Synod.

But four of these figures denied their names were on the letter sent to the Pope. The Archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola’s spokesman issued a statement on his behalf, confirming that he had signed no such letter. Later, the Archbishop of Paris, André Vingt-Trois, also denied having signed the letter, in a statement to French Catholic newspaper La Croix’s Vatican commentator. Then, in the late morning, the Major Penitentiary Cardinal Mauro Piacenza also denied signing the text. In a statement to Vatican Insider, he said he had not signed the letter, nor was he invited to do so. In the early afternoon, the General Rapporteur of the Synod, Cardinal Péter Erdö, also said his signature was not on that letter. Following each of these statements, Sandro Magister removed the signatories’ names from the list in his article.

In their letter, the cardinals – who gave their assurance that their concerns were shared by other Synod Fathers too – criticise the Instrumentum laboris, the Synod working document, stating: “it also has sections that would benefit from substantial reflection and reworking”. They criticise “the new procedures guiding the synod seem to guarantee it excessive influence on the synod’s deliberations and on the final synodal document”.

“The new synodal procedures,” the letter reads, “will be seen in some quarters as lacking openness and genuine collegiality”. Although the cardinals do not mention specifically which “quarters” they are referring to, it is clear that these doubts are their own. “In the past, the process of offering propositions and voting on them served the valuable purpose of taking the measure of the synod fathers’ minds. The absence of propositions and their related discussions and voting seems to discourage open debate and to confine discussion to small groups; thus it seems urgent to us that the crafting of propositions to be voted on by the entire synod should be restored. Voting on a final document comes too late in the process for a full review and serious adjustment of the text.”

In another paragraph of the letter, cardinals write: “the lack of input by the synod fathers in the composition of the drafting committee has created considerable unease. Its members have been appointed, not elected, without consultation. Likewise, anyone drafting anything at the level of the small circles should be elected, not appointed.”

In turn, these things have created a concern that the new procedures are not true to the traditional spirit and purpose of a Synod. It is unclear why these procedural changes are necessary. A number of fathers feel the new process seems designed to facilitate predetermined results on important disputed questions.”

Finally, cardinals express their “concern that a synod designed to address a vital pastoral matter – reinforcing the dignity of marriage and family – may become dominated by the theological/doctrinal issue of Communion for the divorced and civilly remarried. If so, this will inevitably raise even more fundamental issues about how the Church, going forward, should interpret and apply the Word of God, her doctrines and her disciplines to changes in culture.”

The Secretary General of the Synod, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and the Pope himself responded to this letter in the Synod Hall the following day. Baldisseri explained that the signatories were off the mark in the comments about procedural changes to do with the commission in charge of drafting the final document and about the appointment of rapporteurs in the circuli minores.

Regarding the first objection, Baldisseri explained that until the Extraordinary Synod of 2014, three or four people from the General Secretariat had been in charge of writing the final document. It was Francis who wanted to expand this task, assigning one Synod Father from each continent. The commission was never elected by the Synod Fathers. In addition, the prediction some media circles close to the signatories made about the failure to elect rapporteurs and moderators from the language-based discussion groups (circuli minores), proved to be mistaken. As in 2014, the rapporteurs and moderators of the circuli minores, were elected by the Synod Fathers and not appointed. And the reports issued by these circles were published in full like last year.

Readers will recall Francis’ reference to a “hermeneutics of conspiracy”, defining it as “sociologically weak and spiritually unhelpful”. In other words, it is exactly the opposite of what the Synod Fathers are called to do and all these suspicions about conspiracies and plotting needs to stop. His words were welcomed with applause.

The Pope pointed out that “Catholic doctrine on marriage has not been touched, no one called it into question in this assembly or in the Extraordinary assembly. It has been preserved in its integrity”. He also urged Synod Fathers not to let themselves “be conditioned or limit” themselves, “seeing the question of communion for remarried divorcees as the only problem”.

Complete Article HERE!

September 14, 2015

Chile Catholic Church rocked by e-mail scandal

Pope Francis walked with Chile's Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati to a session of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican last fall. Private e-mails show that Ezzati and his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, tried to block a victim of sex-abuse by a pedophile priest from joining the papal commission. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) — Pope Francis walked with Chile’s Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati to a session of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican last fall. Private e-mails show that Ezzati and his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz, tried to block a victim of sex-abuse by a pedophile priest from joining the papal commission.

By Eva Vergara

The Catholic Church in Chile has been rocked by another scandal surrounding its most infamous pedophile.

Leaked e-mails between the archbishop of Santiago and his predecessor show how they conspired to block a well-known abuse survivor from being named to Pope Francis’ sex abuse commission, fearing it would damage the Church.

Local newspaper El Mostrador this week published the e-mail exchanges between the current archbishop, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, and his predecessor, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz. The Santiago archdiocese confirmed their authenticity.

In the e-mails, dated 2013 and 2014, the two men discussed the key Vatican cardinals they needed to consult to try to prevent Juan Carlos Cruz from being invited to speak at a meeting of Anglophone bishops on sex abuse.

“I hope we can prevent lies from finding space between those who belong to the same Church,” Ezzati wrote to Errazuri.

Cruz was sexually abused by the Rev. Fernando Karadima, a charismatic preacher whom the Vatican sanctioned to a lifetime of penance and prayer for having abused young boys.

Karadima had a huge following and led a parish in Santiago for nearly six decades before allegations against him came to light in April 2010. Two months later Errazuriz forwarded allegations to the Vatican.

Victims say allegations against Karadima were first reported to Errazuriz in 2003, but that he ignored them. Errazuriz, who is one of Francis’ nine key cardinal advisers, has acknowledged in court testimony that he failed to act on several abuse allegations because he believed them to be untrue.

Cruz has been outspoken in accusing Errazuriz of covering up for Karadima’s crimes.

Cruz’s activism prompted Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of abuse and one of the founding members of Francis’ sex abuse advisory panel, to propose him for membership in the group.

On Friday, she said she was “disgusted” at the cardinals’ attitude and said it would be discussed by the commission.

“Personally I am disgusted at the attitude displayed by these leaders in the church to the Pontifical Commission and to a survivor of abuse,” Collins said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Ezzati’s office has said the e-mails were a private exchange of opinion, though it acknowledged the decision on the nomination was the Vatican’s to make.

The e-mails have been harshly criticized in Chile, with some politicians calling on Ezzati to cancel his annual “Te Deum” address, when Church leaders traditionally tell politicians what is ailing society. Others have urged him to resign.

The e-mail scandal comes months after Francis himself was criticized by Collins and other commission members for nominating a Karadima protégé to be bishop of the southern Chilean city of Osorno, even though victims said the prelate knew of Karadima’s crimes and did nothing.

Complete Article HERE!

June 3, 2015

Cardinal Pell’s response to victims “almost sociopathic,” says member of pope’s sexual-abuse commission.

By Grant Gallicho

During the May 31 broadcast of Australia’s 60 Minutes, a member of Pope Francis’s sexual-abuse commission described Cardinal George Pell’s treatment of victims as “almost sociopathic.” The 60 Minutes segment focused on Pell’s response to abuse allegations while he ministered in Australia, including testimony alleging that the cardinal tried to buy a victim’s silence, and that he was involved in the decision to move the nation’s most notorious abuser priest, Gerald Ridsdale, between parishes—claims the cardinal denies. Pell, former archbishop of Sydney, was criticized for appearing with Ridsdale at his first trial in 1993 (Ridsdale was eventually convicted of more than one hundred counts of assault). The cardinal has a “catalogue of denials…a catalogue of denigrating people, of acting with callousness,” according to Peter Saunders, selected by Francis to serve on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors. Saunders explained that he based his judgments on conversations with Australian victims. The cardinal’s position as prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy—the office created by Francis to oversee the Vatican’s finances—is “untenable,” Saunders said. “I would go as far to say,” he continued, “that I consider him to be quite a dangerous individual.”

Responses from Pell and from the Vatican spokesman came quickly. Before the program had even aired (after the network released promotional material), Pell issued statements calling Saunders’s comments “false” and “outrageous”—and suggested he might take legal action. (Saunders defended his remarks on June 1, saying they were “not slanderous.”) While acknowledging “the important work Mr. Saunders has done as a survivor of abuse to assist victims, including the establishment of a victims survivors group in the United Kingdom,” the cardinal suggested that Saunders had overstepped his role as a member of the pope’s sexual-abuse commission. The statutes of that body “make it clear that the Commission’s role does not include commenting on individual cases,” according to Pell, “nor does the commission have the capacity to investigate individual cases.”

Fr. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See, made the same point in his June 1 statement. But he went further, stating that Pell’s responses to the Australian government’s investigation of child abuse have “always” been careful and thorough. The cardinal’s recent statements about 60 Minutes “must be considered reliable and worthy of respect and attention,” according to Lombardi. No doubt the cardinal’s statements about his role in the scandal deserve both respect and attention, but have they always been reliable? An episode from the recent past suggests not.

In 1982, according to Anthony Jones, he was sexually assaulted by Fr. Terence Goodall twice in one day. Jones was twenty-eight at the time. He says that he complained to church authorities the next day, but that they failed to mention the accusation to Goodall. Two decades later, Jones wrote a letter to the Archdiocese of Sydney detailing the alleged assault. (He was suing for $3.5 million.) The archdiocese launched an internal investigation. And on February 14, 2003, Pell wrote to Jones to tell him two things: that the investigator could not substantiate the allegation, and that there were no other complaints against Goodall—neither of which was true. (In 2005, Goodall would plead guilty to indecent assault, under old statutes that outlawed homosexual sex.)

In fact, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2008, the investigator’s report—which of course Pell read—did substantiate Jones’s allegation, along with another man’s accusation that Goodall had molested him when he was an altar boy. Pell wrote a letter to the other victim to inform him that his accusation had been substantiated—on the same day he wrote to Jones denying his claim. What’s more, documents obtained by ABC show church investigators were aware of several accusations against Goodall. Pell later admitted that his letter to Jones was “poorly put,” explaining that he had confused Jones’s allegation of assault with rape. “I was attempting to inform him that there was no other allegation of rape,” he said. But in another letter to Jones, also reported by ABC, Pell expanded on his reason for refusing to substantiate the allegation. “What cannot be determined by me, however, is whether it was a matter of sexual assault as you state, or homosexual behavior between two consenting adults as maintained by Fr. Goodall,” Pell wrote. “In the end it is a matter of your word against his.” Yet a police wiretap revealed that Goodall admitted to Jones that he never told the church investigator that their encounters were consensual. “I certainly did not say it was consensual, I don’t know where they got that from,” Goodall said.

“I acted to the best of my knowledge,” Pell told ABC when presented with news of the recording. “My judgment was vindicated when the prosecutors never alleged rape.” The cardinal acknowledged that he had met with Goodall to discuss the case. “I’m the superior of the priest,” he explained. “I’ve always got to be open to speak with the priest, especially if I’m telling him that it’s likely his time as a priest is over.” But he did not meet with Jones. He only sent him those two letters that misstated the findings of the investigation he had commissioned. “I don’t know who was lying,” Pell conceded, Goodall or Jones. “It’s very, very difficult to find out the truth in these situations.”
Complete Article HERE!

May 8, 2014

Torture the Little Children? The Catholic Church Says It’s Not Responsible

At a United Nations hearing the Vatican tries to turn the moral question of whether child abuse is torture into a legal debate about jurisdictions.

By Barbie Latza Nadeau

This may come as a huge surprise to many Catholics, but the Holy See is claiming it doesn’t really bear legal responsibility for how they or even their priests behave. Too good to be true? Actually, too horrible to be believed. What the Vatican is claiming this week before a United Nations panel is that, really, the question of priests sexually abusing little kids is a matter for local law enforcement. And, no, the physical pain and mental anguish inflicted on children by pedophile prelates should not be called “torture,” at least as defined by the U.N.

When the Vatican’s U.N. ambassador appeared in front of the U.N.’s Convention Against Torture in Geneva on Monday, the issues were about jurisdiction, not spiritual guidance and the Roman Catholic Church’s moral responsibility for errant clerics. “It should be stressed, particularly in light of much confusion, that the Holy See has no jurisdiction over every member of the Catholic Church,” said Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, who represented the Vatican as a signatory of the convention on torture.

In his opening remarks, released in advance to the press, Tomasi went on to say, “The Holy See wishes to reiterate that the persons who live in a particular country are under the jurisdiction of the legitimate authorities of that country and are thus subject to the domestic law and the consequences contained therein. State authorities are obligated to protect, and when necessary, prosecute persons under their jurisdiction.”

“Not our problem” and “they don’t work for us” may have become the boilerplate answers on the issue of who is ultimately responsible for priestly child abuse. But, curiously, when it comes to nearly every other subject, from doctrinal issues like preaching against birth control and for sexual abstinence, to how those spreading the Catholic message behave, including nuns “pushing feminist themes,” the Catholic Church at least seems to want total jurisdiction over its flocks and its shepherds.

As for those state authorities the Vatican says are “obligated to protect,” the Vatican hierarchy has, for years, done everything it can to prohibit them from doing just that by refusing to turn over documents on pedophile priests, or, in some cases, threatening the victims who dare to speak.

In an open letter ahead of Monday’s meeting in Geneva, Barbara Blaine, head of the Survivors Network of Those Abused By Priests, known as SNAP, asked the U.N. committee members to remember that the Vatican is still covering up sex abuse.

In Rome, the pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, shrugged off the meeting entirely, telling reporters that the topic of child abuse has no place in a discussion of torture.
“First, we humbly ask that you keep in mind that we are convinced that hundreds of innocent children and vulnerable adults are being sexually violated, tortured and assaulted—right now, today—by Catholic clerics,” Blaine wrote. “Second, we ask that you keep in mind that torture and violence can be subtle and manipulative. Or it can be blatant and brutal. Either way, it’s horribly destructive to the human spirit, especially when inflicted on the young by the powerful, on the truly devout by the allegedly holy.”

The Vatican’s required appearance in front of the Convention on Torture is the second time this year it has been called on the carpet for how Rome guides the Church’s many dioceses across the world. In January, Vatican officials also sat in front of the United Nations’ Convention for the Rights of the Child to defend their inexcusable record on child abuse. Then, the U.N. group scolded the Vatican:

“The Committee is gravely concerned that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed, has not taken the necessary measures to address cases of child sexual abuse and protect children, and has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and the impunity of the perpetrators,” that U.N. panel concluded.

Back then, as on Monday, Tomasi toed the party line, pleading that the Church in Rome could not possibly take responsibility for what its priests do in the field. “Priests are not functionaries of the Vatican,” Tomasi told the committee in January. “Priests are citizens of their own states, and they fall under the jurisdiction of their own country.”

This time, the Vatican envoy went one step further, arguing that since the Convention on Torture document only applies in a juridical sense to the confines of the tiny Vatican city-state, the members of the convention might consider what a great job the Vatican actually does getting the anti-torture message out around the world.

“It might be said that the measures employed by the Holy See to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent and to prohibit torture and to address its root causes to avoid future acts in this area are abundant,” Tomasi said. “This manifests the Holy See’s desire to lend its moral support and collaboration to the international community, so as to contribute to the elimination of recourse to torture, which is inadmissible and inhuman.”

In Rome, the pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, shrugged off the meeting entirely, telling reporters that the topic of child abuse has no place in a discussion of torture.

“A contributory factor is often the pressure exercised over the [U.N.] committees and public opinion by [nongovernmental organizations] with a strong ideological character and orientation, to bring the issue of the sexual abuse of minors into the discussion on torture, a matter which relates instead to the Convention on the rights of the child,” Father Lombardi said. “The extent to which this is instrumental and forced is clear to any unbiased observer.”

Monday’s meeting follows the first official meeting of Pope Francis’s special commission on child abuse, whose members gathered over the weekend in Rome. They set out their initial plan for drawing up statutes and arranged to meet again soon to help define just what they will do.

“In time, we will propose initiatives to encourage local responsibility around the world and the mutual sharing of ‘best practices’ for the protection of all minors, including programs for training, education, formation, and responses to abuse,” they said in a statement after the inaugural meeting.

On Tuesday, Tomasi faces further questioning on the Vatican’s stance on abuse. If the committee does rule that pedophiliac child abuse is torture, and that the Vatican is responsible, one might expect a rush of lawsuits citing the United Nations’ ruling, or even sanctions or expulsion from the committee.

For the victims of priestly abuse, even that won’t be enough. “For most of us, enduring the torture, rape and sexual violence was almost unbearable,” Blaine said ahead of Monday’s meeting. “But the betrayal by Church officials was just as damaging and, for many, even worse than that of the sexual violence. Those in positions of trust—who we were taught were closest to God and revered above anyone else, including respected teachers, community leaders, politicians, physicians and even our parents—treat us as enemies when we muster enough courage to report the rape and sexual violence we have endured.

“Rather than being embraced, appreciated and acknowledged, we are ostracized, ignored and blamed,” said Blaine. “This adds additional torture to far too many.”

Complete Article HERE!

March 5, 2014March 5, 2014

Pope hits out at criticism of Church over sexual abuse

File Under: What an incredibly stupid thing to say, Francis.

Pope Francis has strongly defended the Roman Catholic Church’s record on tackling sexual abuse by priests.

In a rare interview with an Italian newspaper, the Pope said “no-one else has done more” to root out paedophilia.

He said the Church had acted with transparency and responsibility, yet it was the only institution to have been attacked.

Last month, the UN strongly criticised the Vatican for failing to stamp out child abuse and for allowing cover-ups.
‘Shocking’ statistics

In his interview with Corriere della Sera published on Wednesday, Pope Francis said: “The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility.

“No-one else has done more. Yet the Church is the only one to have been attacked.”

The Pope, who will celebrate his first anniversary of his election later this month, also praised his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, for changing the Church’s attitude towards predatory priests, saying he had been “very courageous”.

He also questioned the focus of the debate, saying: “The statistics on the phenomenon of violence against children are shocking, but they also clearly show that the great majority of abuses are carried out in family or neighbourhood environments.”

A UN report into the abuse scandals published last month called on the Pope to “immediately remove” all clergy who were known or suspected child abusers.

It also accused the Vatican of systematically placing the “preservation of the reputation of the Church and the alleged offender over the protection of child victims” – something it has strenuously denied.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) said the Holy See should open its files on members of the clergy who had “concealed their crimes” so that they could be held accountable by the authorities.

Pope Francis has set up a commission to investigate sex crimes committed by priests and to care for victims, but so far he has made very few public comments about the scandals that have rocked the Church in recent years.

No ‘big changes’

The leader of an Italian group representing victims of clerical sex abuse claimed there had been little action from the Vatican and said there had been no “big changes” under Pope Francis.

Francesco Zanardi of Rete L’Abuso, told the BBC: “The cases of child abuse by priests continue to happen, all around Italy, and of the cases that we’ve denounced we have seen no results.”

“The Pope may make this statement, but then the Vatican doesn’t reply to the UN or impose the obligation that bishops should denounce accused priests in the courts and not deal with the cases internally.”

Mr Zanardi also attacked the coverage of the abuse scandals, saying the media in Italy “adored” Pope Francis.

“We who work on this issue can see how real things are. Reality is very different to what the media say,” he said.

Pope Francis also used the interview to admit that he is uncomfortable with the depiction of him as a “superman” who leaves the Vatican at night to feed the homeless.

He told the newspaper: “The Pope is a man who laughs, cries, sleeps calmly and has friends like everyone else. A normal person.”

His comments came as a new weekly magazine devoted entirely to his life, called Il Mio Papa – or My Pope – hit the newsstands in Italy.

Complete Article HERE!