Pedophilia and cover-up

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 13:49

Pedophilia and cover-up

After two days of meetings between Benedict XVI and the bishops, members of the Episcopal Conference of Ireland, the Vatican said yesterday in a statement, his willingness to cooperarcon the government of that country to clear the thousands of cases of child sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy, which, as revealed last year a report by Dublin-were hidden for decades by Irish ecclesiastical and secular authorities. According to the document called Joseph Ratzinger decrimen atrocious these cases of pedophilia and urged the Irish bishops to address past problems with determination and resolution, and addressing the present crisis with honesty and courage, in order to heal the moral credibility and Church's spiritual.

The commitment assumed by the bishop of Rome "attitude to these facts that at first glance it might seem plausible and necessary-is unlikely if one takes into account the desire of concealment shown by Catholic authorities themselves in similar situations, and presents, however, as a damage control measure by the Vatican before a scandal that has engulfed this institution in a global disgrace.

Indeed, despite the documented accusations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, who, without becoming a standard, constitute a trend and a pattern unconcealable within that church, the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the Vatican itself, far to assume an attitude of enlightenment and cooperation, have attempted to deny, minimize or systematically silence the accusations: they demonstrate, among other things, the multimillion-dollar sums that the U.S. Catholic Church has paid in the payment of attorneys and arrangements economic with victims of pedophilia, in order to deter them from persisting in their accusations against priests.

Moreover, the Vatican's commitment to cooperate in the investigation of these crimes and call of its current top leader to show zero tolerance for bishops involved, they collide with the lack of sense of justice that the ecclesiastical authorities themselves have been shown in other cases sexual abuse. As just a sample, it must be remembered that Ratzinger himself had in 2004, while still headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the opportunity to reopen the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel now defunct, and clarify once and for all serious allegations credible and never denied that weighed against him for crimes of child sexual abuse. However, the Vatican hierarchy withdrew the possibility of subjecting Maciel a canonical process and simply withdraw from public life two years later, in what was perceived as an attempt to defuse the scandal and avoid a confrontation with the huge economic, political and media that the Legionaries have internationally.

At the local level, something similar happened with the release last Saturday, the Veracruz priest Rafael Lopez Muniz, who was arrested in April 2009 for belonging to a pedophile ring. Despite having proven their participation in the storage and shipment of child pornography to other countries, the priest was released after a criminal judge reclassified its comon serious crimes, with the blessing of the Archdiocese of Xalapa, which was built from the beginning in defense of the accused.

The evidence referred to, in short, puts into perspective an unfortunate proclivity of the Catholic Church to give impunity and cover-up pedophile priests. For Benedict XVI has said it had credibility with the international public opinion, would require that the church hierarchy shows a serious commitment, sustained and translated into action to exclude, punish and bring to the courts for priests who commit crimes under have moral ascendancy over the faithful and cause thereby irreparable harm to the victims and a severe injury to the corporation

Day editorial of February 17, 2010

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