Cardinal defends stance on abuse cases
A senior cardinal defended the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of frequently not reporting sexual abusive priests to the police, saying it would have been like testifying against a family member at trial.
Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos also said in a radio interview that Pope Benedict XVI, formerly Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was involved in a 2001 decision to praise a French bishop for shielding a priest who was convicted of raping minors.
“The law in nations with a well-developed judiciary does not force anyone to testify against a child, a father, against other people close to the suspect,” the Cardinal told RCN radio.
“Why would they ask that of the church? That’s the injustice. It’s not about defending a paedophile, it’s about defending the dignity and the human rights of a person, even the worst of criminals.”
While the church stands by “those who truly were victims (of sexual abuse),” he added, “John Paul II, that holy pope, was not wrong when he defended his priests so that they were not, due to economic reasons, treated like criminal paedophiles without due process”.
His comments came just days after the Vatican posted on its website guidelines telling bishops they should report abusive priests to police if civil laws require it.
The Vatican claimed that was long its policy, though it was never written before explicitly.
The Vatican posted the guidelines as a response to mounting criticism that it mandated a culture of secrecy that instructed bishops to keep abuse quiet, letting it fester unchecked for decades.
Outrage over the church’s handling of sexual abuse allegations against priests is spreading across Latin America, where the large majority of more than 500 million people are Roman Catholics.
In Brazil, an 83-year-old priest was detained this week on allegations that he abused at least three boys, beginning when they were 12 years old.
A bishop in Brazil who oversaw three priests accused of sexual abuse acknowledged the “shame and dishonour” brought upon the church.
Chile’s bishops on Tuesday asked for forgiveness for past cases of abuse. Yesterday, a prosecutor announced a criminal investigation of a popular retired priest, Fernando Karadima, accused of sexually abusing five young men in his parish residence.
Cardinal Castrillon, 80, was an influential figure at the Vatican before his recent retirement from active duty, heading the Vatican’s office for clergy as well as efforts to reconcile with ultraconservatives who had broken away from the church.
Recently the cardinal himself was drawn into the international scandal over the church’s handling of child abuse by priests due to the surfacing of the 2001 letter, which he wrote, praising the French bishop.
Cardinal Castrillon said last week in Spain that he showed the letter to then-Pope John Paul II, who authorised him to send it to bishops worldwide.
Yesterday, he said the letter was the product of a high-level meeting at which Cardinal Ratzinger was present.
“It was a meeting of cardinals. Therefore the current pope (Benedict XVI), who at that time was a cardinal, was present. The pope (John Paul II) was never at those meetings. However the Holy Father was indeed present when we spoke about this matter in the council, and the cardinals ruled.”
