Catholic Hierarchy – Page 236

January 20, 2014January 20, 2014

Spain’s new cardinal says homosexuality a ‘defect’

Pope Francis’ newly chosen Spanish cardinal, 84-year-old Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, has described homosexuality as a “defect” that can be corrected with treatment, sparking condemnation from gay rights groups.

“A lot of people complain and don’t tolerate it but with all respect I say that homosexuality is a defective way of manifesting sexuality, because that has a structure and a purpose, which is procreation,” Sebastian told Malaga newspaper Sur.

The interview was published Sunday, a week after the Spaniard was named as one of 19 new cardinals chosen by the pope, to be officially appointed February 22.

“We have a lot of defects in our bodies. I have high blood pressure. Am I going to get angry because they tell me that? It is a defect I have that I have to correct as far as I can,” said Sebastian, who is the archbishop emeritus of the northern city of Pamplona.

“Pointing out a defect to a homosexual is not an offence, it is a help because many cases of homosexuality can be recovered and normalised with adequate treatment. It is not an offence, it is esteem. When someone has a defect, the good friend is the one who tells him.”

The archbishop was asked in the interview if he shared the view of Pope Francis, who said in July last year: “If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with good will, who am I to judge?”

The Spanish archbishop, who, because of his age, will not hold a vote in the conclave that elects pontiffs, said the pope shows respect to all people but is not changing the teaching of the Church.

“It is one thing to show welcome and affection to a homosexual person and another to morally justify the exercise of homosexuality,” he said.

Gay and lesbian rights group Colegas called on the archbishop to retract his comment.

“We hope that Fernando Sebastian will correct his words and we note that homosexuality is not a curable disease, but homophobia is,” it said in a statement.

Nicolas Fernandez, head of the Malaga-based gay and lesbian rights group Entiende, added his condemnation.

“It is not the first time the cardinals have said we are defective,” he said, calling for non-discrimination legislation that would condemn such “repugnant” statements.

Complete Article HERE!

January 16, 2014

UN panel confronts Vatican on child sex abuse by clergy

The Vatican is being confronted publicly for the first time over the sexual abuse of children by clergy, at a UN hearing in Geneva.

Officials faced a barrage of hard questions such as why would they not release full data and what were they doing to prevent future abuse.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said such crimes could “never be justified” and every child should be “inviolable”.

A fellow official said “things need to be done differently”.

The Vatican earlier refused a request from the UN’s Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) for data on abuse, and was accused of responding inadequately to abuse allegations.

The Vatican came to Geneva expecting a rough ride and so far it is getting one, the BBC’s Imogen Foulkes reports.

Victims say they hope the hearing, which is being broadcast live, will prompt the Church to end its “secrecy”.

Pope Francis announced last month that a Vatican commission would be set up to fight sexual abuse of children in the Church.

The Holy See is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a legally binding instrument which commits it to protecting and nurturing the most vulnerable in society.

It ratified the convention in 1990 but after an implementation report in 1994 it did not submit any progress reports until 2012, following revelations of child sex abuse in Europe and beyond.

‘No cover-ups’

Members of the CRC asked about the Church’s practice of moving priests suspected of abuse and allegations that it had concealed such abuse.

Why, it was asked, did the Vatican continue to describe such abuse as an offence against morals rather than a crime against children?

“Does the Holy See believe that paedophilia is something that can be successfully overcome?” was one question.

How, the Vatican was asked, did it go about training priests for work with children? What oversight was in place for Catholic institutions such as schools?

“The best way to prevent new offences is to reveal old ones,” one of the questioners said.

Archbishop Tomasi, who is the Vatican’s envoy to the UN, said that it was important to note that priests were “not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries”.

Bishop Charles Scicluna, the Vatican’s former chief prosecutor of clerical sexual abuse, insisted it was “not the policy of the Holy See to encourage cover-ups”.

But he added: “The Holy See gets it that there are things that need to be done differently.”

Archbishop Tomasi said no profession was immune from producing sex offenders but the fact that there were cases in the Church was very damning: “Abusers are found among members of the world’s most respected professions, most regrettably including members of the clergy and other church personnel.

“This fact is particularly serious since these persons are in positions of great trust and they are called to levels of service that are to promote and protect all elements of the human person, including physical, emotional and spiritual health.”

‘We request justice’

While Thursday’s questions were numerous and far-ranging, they were asked in blocs, with the Vatican delegation given time to retire to prepare its answers.

Observers vented frustration at the lack of specific answers.

“Holy See: ‘We get it’ in UN review on child sexual abuse Catholic Church,” wrote the children’s rights watchdog CRIN in a tweet. “Do you? Why then don’t you make statistics public?”

Barbara Blaine, president of a group representing US victims of abuse by priests, told BBC News that the hearing had brought “hope to victims across the globe”.

But it would also stand, she said, as a “record of how the Church officials refused to answer the questions, how they claim to be open and transparent, and yet they don’t live up to that ideal”.

The hearing in Geneva was welcomed by Teodoro Pulvirenti, an Italian who was abused by a priest as a teenager in Sicily.

Mr Pulvirenti, who now lives in the US, told the Associated Press it was time for the Vatican to end its “secrecy” over a global sex abuse scandal.

“I’m not coming out against the Vatican and I don’t want the Church to think the victims are against the Church, against the Vatican,” Mr Pulvirenti said. “We are standing up for our own survival, but we request justice.”

Complete Article HERE!

January 15, 2014January 15, 2014

Archbishop faces trial in Vatican over teenage ‘rent boys’

A POLISH archbishop could become the first cleric to be put on trial by the Vatican for alleged child abuse.

It was announced at the weekend that Josef Wesolowski was under criminal investigation as a citizen of the Holy See.

If Vatican prosecutors proceed with the case, Archbishop Wesolowski faces the prospect of an unprecedented sex-abuse trial in a Vatican court and even imprisonment in the city state’s tiny jail.

The case will be a major test for the Pope, who has announced he plans to set up a committee to try to remedy the problem of child abuse by Catholic clergy.

Not only was Archbishop Wesolowski an official representative of the Pope, he was also ordained a priest and bishop by his fellow Pole, John Paul II, who is to be made a saint in April.

Complete Article HERE!

Archbishop Wesolowski was recalled to Rome from his post as papal nuncio in the Dominican Republic in August after a television expose accused him of hiring teenage “rent boys”.

The NCDN channel alleged the Vatican ambassador was known as “Jusepe” among the boys who frequented a known pick-up area in the Plaza de Montesinos in the capital, Santo Domingo.

A 13-year-old shoeshine boy said Archbishop Wesolowski paid him several times to masturbate while filming him on his mobile phone.

The boy alleged that the nuncio sometimes took up to five boys together to a house where he masturbated them.

The program showed the Vatican diplomat walking along the waterfront in the area, drinking a beer by himself.

A second Polish cleric in the Dominican Republic, Father Wojciech Gil, a friend of the former nuncio, faces similar allegations, which he denies.

The Vatican has refused to disclose the whereabouts of Archbishop Wesolowski since his recall. The church says, however, that he is “at the disposition of his superiors”.

As a former papal nuncio and a citizen of the Holy See, Archbishop Wesolowski has diplomatic immunity and cannot be extradited from the Vatican City State.

He faces two investigations, one canonical and one criminal. Canon law convictions can result in defrocking while breaches of the Vatican’s criminal code can carry jail terms.

January 11, 2014

Vatican ‘won’t turn in bishop charged with molesting Dominican boys

File under: The more things change, the more they stay the same

Santo Domingo.- The Vatican on Friday rejected a Warsaw Office of the Prosecutor’s request to hand over its former envoy to Dominican Republic, the Pole Jozef Wesolowski, to face charges of sexual abuse filed by five Dominican boys.

Quoting the AFP, French newspaper Le Monde reports that Pope Francis declined Warsaw’s request to extradite the Polish national to face accusations by Dominican authorities.

Wesolowski was whisked out of the Dominican Republic and sent to Rome once local journalist Nuria Piera uncovered the scandal, which could also be linked to another Polish priest, (Padre Alberto) Wojciech Gil, charged with pedophilia in Juncalito, a town in a rugged region of Santiago province.

“The Holy See’s response is concise and fits in a half-page,” reports Polish TV channel N24. “The letter’s authors noted that the Vatican is investigating the Catholic hierarch about the alleged practice of pedophilia.”

December 17, 2013

Archbishop Nienstedt Accused of Inappropriately Touching Minor

The head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is stepping aside from public ministry after an allegation that he touched an underage male.

Archbishop John Nienstedt denies the allegations, but is removing himself from ministry pending an investigation.

The archdiocese says the incident allegedly occurred in 2009 after a confirmation ceremony. Nienstedt is accused of inappropriately touching an underage male on the buttocks during a group photography session.

The archdiocese learned of the allegation last week and instructed the person who brought it forward to go to police.

In a letter posted Tuesday on the archdiocese website, Nienstedt says the allegation is “absolutely and entirely false.” He says he hopes the investigation will be thorough and quick so he can return to work.

Statement from the Archdiocese about Abuse Allegations