Fathers and Sons

The scandal around Catholic priests who corrupted children is gaining momentum. The Vatican reacts hesitantly

In the past, American Jeff Anderson was an atheist and an alcoholic. And now he is one of the most famous lawyers dealing with the cases of victims of pedophile priests. Jeff himself refers to his clients as "survivors". “For 25 years now, my mission has been to make the clerical environment safe for children,” the 62-year-old lawyer explains to Newsweek. He no longer remembers how many victims he helped: the bill goes into the thousands, and the compensation sued from the US Catholic Church amounts to tens of millions of dollars.

It was Anderson who gave the New York Times the documents that made a lot of noise in the Vatican and beyond. On March 26, the publication published an article with accusations against Pope Benedict XVI. According to journalists, the future pope (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) concealed the crimes of the Rev. Lawrence Murphy of Wisconsin, who between 1950 and 1974 seduced about 200 deaf Catholic students. When these crimes became known, Murphy was simply transferred to another diocese, where he continued to work with children.

The Vatican claims to have learned about the incident only in 1996, two years before Murphy's death. But even then the investigation was put on the brakes. The scandal was hushed up, according to New York Times journalists, thanks to the personal intervention of Cardinal Ratzinger. Prior to his accession to the Holy See in 2005, he led the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for over 23 years. One of the functions of this body, formerly called the Holy Inquisition, is to observe morality in the Catholic world, and therefore, its powers also include investigating accusations against priests. The Vatican's official publication, L'Osservatore Romano, called the American article "petty gossip".

In recent weeks, accusations of rape against Catholic priests have been snowballing around the world. After the scandal in the United States, hundreds of people in Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland announced the crimes of people in cassocks. The Swiss authorities have thought about creating a register of pedophile priests in order to exclude the possibility of their contact with children. Other governments are promising to set up independent commissions to investigate the rampant allegations against the church. Believers around the world are waiting for an honest investigation from the Vatican. But the Holy See has chosen a different tactic - counter-blaming the media.

SECRET EDICT

A 2004 internal investigation of bishops in the United States found that 4% of priests were child molesters. “Their real share is much higher,” says David Clohessy, director of the American organization SNAP, which provides assistance to victims of pedophile priests. “And only a few go to jail.”

In Germany, about 200 people have already reported rape by priests. Of the country's 27 Roman Catholic dioceses, 22 were involved in the scandal. In one of the cases, the hand of Cardinal Ratzinger was again found. We are talking about the case of the Reverend Peter Hullermann: in 1980, after suspicions of pedophilia, he was transferred from Essen to Munich to undergo psychotherapy. Later, the priest, as if nothing had happened, returned to work with children. The diocese of Munich at that time was headed by Josef Ratzinger. He has already stated that he did not know about the sins of Hullermann.

Forty-four-year-old Colm O'Gorman, chief executive of Amnesty International Ireland, has always believed in God. “I was taught not to be afraid to take responsibility for all the bad things that I could do to others. They taught that the first step on this path is to confess your sins, Colm tells Newsweek. “And from the head of the church, which instilled these values ​​in me, I expect at least the same.” At the age of 14, Colm was raped by a priest, Father Sean Fortune. In the mid-2000s, it turned out that he abused many others. But they did not have time to condemn him - in 1999, a pedophile priest, afraid of the court, committed suicide.

This has been the case in Ireland all over the place for decades. In November 2009, the Ministry of Justice released the independent commission's report. It says that the hierarchs often covered the rapists in cassocks. "Only a handful of the priests implicated in the scandal have been brought to justice," Italian journalist Luigi Irdi, author of the recent book Anonymous: A Secret Sin, tells Newsweek about the scandal in Ireland. According to him, the clergy found guilty of abuse were simply transferred to other parishes. "The church preferred to hush up scandals and protect its assets," says Irdi, referring to the Vatican's reluctance to compensate the many victims.

On March 20, Benedict XVI unveiled the long-awaited pastoral message to Irish Catholics. Everyone expected that, in addition to an apology, the pontiff would announce what punishment those who molested children and those who hid these facts would suffer. “In a letter of 4,700 words, “sorry” sounds only once,” Colm O'Gorman calculated. And not a word about the recognition of responsibility for the silence of facts, guarantees for the protection of children and the fact that the names of rapists will be disclosed to civil authorities.

Last week, however, the Vatican announced the creation of a special commission to investigate cases of indecent behavior of its clerics in Ireland. The details are still being worked out, but most of Newsweek's interlocutors find it hard to believe in a fair punishment. “The Vatican will convince the flock that it is absolutely intolerant of such things, running into individual priests. They will find scapegoats,” says Irishman Colm O'Gorman.

And the American Jeff Anderson recalls the scandal surrounding the secret edict sent by Cardinal Ratzinger to all the Catholic dioceses of the world in 2001. In it, the leadership of parishes, under pain of excommunication from the church, was urged not to report the indecent behavior of priests to the police, notifying only the Vatican. Supporters of the pope interpret the document differently: it only obliges the dioceses to report all crimes to Rome, which was not done before Benedict XVI.

The Holy See categorically rejects allegations of personal responsibility of the pontiff. “This is not a multinational company where the chief executive takes responsibility,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in an interview. He declined to speak to Newsweek by phone, citing a written request procedure. A written request from the magazine went unanswered.

PROTEST AGAINST THE POP

The more the Vatican denies the scandal, the stronger the public outrage. “The Pope has no right to assume that the current confessions of crimes among the clergy and the news of the concealment of these facts are part of a global media conspiracy. Do not try to blame it on the decline of Western society, the sexual revolution, gays, secularization, or see it as the machinations of the devil,” says Colm O'Gorman.

British human rights activist Peter Tatchell is now exploring the possibility of bringing the pontiff to trial. “If anyone else had been caught defending pedophiles, they would probably have been arrested as an accomplice,” he argues. - In honor of what should there be a different attitude towards the pope? True, he admits, it is unlikely that he will be able to start a case against the pope - as head of state, he has immunity from prosecution. "But if he can escape prosecution, other high-ranking Vatican officials could well face criminal charges," adds Tatchell. He is one of the founders of the Protest Against the Pope! coalition. A week ago, its activists held a protest near the walls of Westminster Cathedral. The minimum task is to achieve the cancellation of Benedict XVI's visit to Great Britain in September, the maximum task is to force him to voluntarily resign his high rank.

A series of scandals led to the fall of the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll at the end of March, support for the pope among American Catholics had fallen from 81 percent to 61 percent. Now everyone is waiting for the scandal in the very heart of the Catholic world - Rome. “I think the main wave of revelations will cover the country in the next few weeks,” Luigi Irdi is sure.

There has already been talk in the circles of the Roman Catholic Church about the abolition of the vow of celibacy. In the Catholic Church, unlike Protestants and Orthodox, those who want to become priests have no choice - they must renounce marriage for life. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna urged the church to openly discuss the issue of celibacy. But its cancellation is something out of the realm of fantasy, Luigi Irdi is sure. And, in his opinion, the reason here is not only in the theological understanding of priestly ministry, but also in more mercantile matters: “Catholic priests have no heirs, therefore, their property is inherited by the church. Does anyone need the inheritance of priests to go to their wives and children, and not to the church?