by Claudia Windal

Created on: April 19, 2010   Last Updated: April 24, 2010

I believe that Pope Benedict XVI (formally Cardinal Ratzinger) has been negligent in addressing the sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. Although much of this abuse was reported prior to his being elected as the pope, reports indicate that Ratzinger knew of abuse and did not take appropriate actions to remove the offender(s) from ministries involving contact with children. This constitutes neglect in both my mind and the minds of many others who continue to study the scandalous and sinful abuse of children by clergy.

The Roman Catholic heirarchy (including the curia and pope) have a close knit "boys club." The cardinal rule appears to be that it is better to admit to nothing than to act upon anything that might prove scandalous to the church. George Weigel,  a Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC, recently wrote in THE MIRROR (newspaper of the Diocese of Springfield and Cape Girardeau, MO) that during the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI wanted there to be a declaration that the Pope is only accountable to God (not human kind, not Roman curia or others). This proposal was dropped. What Weigel suggests in this article is that the pope is not a micro manager: the bishops who head individual dioceses should have been aware of the sexual abuse by their priests, addressed the concerns, and let the pope know about this sometime along the way! His insinuation is that there is no way the pope should have been aware immediately both of abuse as well as actions being taken to heal the wounds caused by the abuse and to prevent similar incidents in the future.

Benedict is said to have known about American clergy abuse while still a Cardinal. A priest abused over 200 deaf boys in the USA and rather than being relieved of his priestly vows and any priestly duties, he was reassigned to a school where he continued his pattern. Certainly the pope did not leave his knowledge of increasing reports of sexual abusing Roman Catholic priests behind, when he was elected the pope. The fact that little if anything, was said about this or apparently acted upon, says to me, that the Pope has been negligent regarding reported sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church.

George Weigel continued his comments in the Witness by assigning blame for lack of action regarding sexual abuse by clergy, to the diocesan bishops. I have no doubt that many diocesan bishops were aware of this abuse and did little if anything, to intervene. The most prevalent action on the part of the bishops was to move the offender priest to another parish or school where he could continue his pattern of abuse. Bishops are responsible to the College of Cardinals and to the Pope. If the pope knew what was going on in parishes by priests and he did not act upon the information passed on to him, them he is guilty of covering up sinful behavior.

The National Catholic Reporter (NCR) recently reported that both John Paul II as well as Benedict XVI knew of the abuse of seminarians by the founder of the Legionare Order. This priest was not only never disciplined since he had great wealth and made of good use of that wealth to fend off anyone who might attempt to stop his life style. Not only did this priest abuse seminarians, he also fathered children by several women! Money speaks volumes in the Roman Catholic church; often more than the voices of the poor and abused crying out for help and compassion. If the Roman Catholic Church is considering ignoring what John Paul II knew about priestly scandals and elevating him to sainthood, who will be next: Adolph Hitler who Pius XII knew to be killing Jews? Where does this dishonesty and sinfulness stop and repentance and truth begin?

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