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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

A smoking gun letter reveals Vatican directly ordered pedophiles be protected

Posted on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 06:39 PM

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unconvinced | Jan 20, 2011, 02:35 AM EST

Are you surprised at that - Evevy one know the evil of Rome and the Vatican - But what I don'y understand is that people flock to the chapels every day and give creditability to this system that I will never understand -How could you do that knowing that the priests abuse your children and the system you worship covers up for them

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Watereskhill | Jan 20, 2011, 01:40 AM EST

Civil Law. Canon Law. There is no meeting place or common ground. And never was. Two Confession Boxes in operation running paralell for centuries. One for the clergy with automatic erasure and re-location. One for the rest of us with threats and damnation for the slighest infringement of it's infinite scrolls of 'sin'. What pedofile priest was ever grabbed by the throat through the grille for unmentionable mockery of his vocation? Some comments here continue to bolster and argue defending the Church. If there is Civil Law with a Court then surely there is Canon Law with a similar Tribunal? To date none of these derelict clergy have been been brought before The Pope to answer for these crimes let alone locked up in the labrynths under St.Peter's. What does the visible painted demarkation line on the pavements in Rome that denote Vatican City and State mean beyond a tourist's gape. A very different forum indeed.

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jamthecat | Jan 19, 2011, 11:01 PM EST

My earlier post should read "...get away WITH RAPING little boys and girls..."

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jamthecat | Jan 19, 2011, 11:00 PM EST

And are any of the bishops and cardinals who helped the pedophile priests get away little boys and girls being prosecuted? Conspiracy after the fact is illegal in just about every country that I know of. When these church leaders are sent to jail, THEN I'll start thinking our so-called system of justice truly cares about the victims of these hideous crimes. But I don't see any DA's or the like heading for a Grand Jury, yet. Nor do I see the Catholic Church doing one thing more than pretending it's all already taken care of.

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RobbCobb | Jan 19, 2011, 09:26 PM EST

Who the hell in his right mind would think it's okay to protect a pedophile priest, or any pedophile for that matter?! Whether it's base on civil law and/or cannon law doesn't matter - it's a crime against a child, and that's just sick and depraved, no matter how you view it. This should always, always, be disclosed as soon as it comes to light.

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RobbCobb | Jan 19, 2011, 09:21 PM EST

I think this is one of the greatest sins ever perpetrated by the Catholic church. Try explaining this to God and Jesus. Shame on you.

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barneyjo | Jan 19, 2011, 08:59 PM EST

I've also just read and re-read the letter. What I take from it is that Lucianon Storero is saying that Canon law should take precedence over civil law and by definition that rendered the Bishops own guidelines as invalid and worthless within Canon Law. Thats my read anyway, and , I am sure the view of the majority of those who might bother to scrutinise the letter closely. I believe most people will have already been satisfied that the Vatican would seek to uphold Canon over Civil Law. This letter is just another confirmation of that and was further confirmed by the Irish Bishop who contributed to the RTE program; thats an Irish Bishop speaking direct to camera mind you. Not a lot of room for misrepresentation there I would have thought!!

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barneyjo | Jan 19, 2011, 08:39 PM EST

I watched the RTE Programe myself, which included an interview with one Irish Bishop, who provided an insight into the very real difficulty that this letter placed them in. To the point where I understand that at least one Bishop was contemplating resignation from his office. I can only guess that he would not have taken that step lightly.

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jacersagain | Jan 19, 2011, 06:33 PM EST

Carroll09 highlights what I’ve been saying about journalists’ propensity to distort information in pursuit of headlines, mostly of the misleading, misrepresentative kind. Mr. Patrick Roberts and Mike Neelo might apply to the Vatican’s newspapers for a reporting job with them. Then we’d see how much differently their reporting, their articles or TV documentaries would appear. Neelo was clearly miffed that he did not get an interview with Vatican officials and used that to misleadingly suggest to that they had something to hide.

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jacersagain | Jan 19, 2011, 06:26 PM EST

Well now that I’ve read the ‘Strictly confidential” letter, I understand th'e Would You Believe' TV show a bit better. I now see it for what it is... a blatant misrepresentation, by news reporter Mike Neelo (like Roberts above), of what the letter was really about. The person who wrote the letter, Archbishop Storero, wrote it in his capacity as the Ambassador of the Holy See (the State of the Vatican City) to the State of Irish Republic, to “Your Excellency”, a term used in diplomatic circles world-wide to another of diplomatic, or in this case, of a certain level of religious standing. It does not name of the addressee, so for now, I (and we all?) don’t know who that person was/is and we should not assume who it was. In the last paragraph of the letter, Archbishop Storero uses diplomatic language in saying “... I am directed to inform (the bishops of Ireland) ... (that) ... the Code of Canon Law (as of then) must be meticulously followed...” In these simple words, it is clear that he was merely a messenger and that therefore no blame should accrue to him for the letter’s significant message, something, IMO, the TV reporter meticulously misled us viewers to believe.

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Carroll09 | Jan 19, 2011, 05:40 PM EST

...The Congregation for Clergy, according to the letter, expressed reservations about mandatory reporting - keyword being "reservations". Reporting was not forbidden; mandatory reporting was not forbidden. As to the moral concerns about mandatory reporting - the use of the word "moral" astounding Mr Roberts - let us not forget that it has affects the victims too, not just the accused priest. Is there not a question about the morality of forcing victims to recount their experiences to police, when they only came forward in the first place on condition that they remain anonymous? This situation was recorded several times in the Murphy Report where victims said that they only wanted to ensure that the abuser didn't abuse anyone else- they wanted confidentiality, and didn't want to revisit by means of investigations the trauma already inflicted on them. Even the Irish policy on reporting, to which the Congregation for Clergy responded, acknowledged that mandatory reporting could deter victims from coming forward or that it might be seen by some victims as being "an insensitive and heavy-handed response by Church authorities". So the Congregation for Clergy was right that there were moral concerns with regard to mandatory reporting - and the Irish bishops knew it. So, Mr Roberts, your final words are "shame on them" - I conclude by saying "shame on you" for so blatantly distorting the facts contained in the letter. How you can pontificate about the rights and wrongs of using the word "moral" is beyond me when you are prepared to stoop to such disgusting lows yourself.

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Carroll09 | Jan 19, 2011, 05:39 PM EST

So, the letter advises the bishops that the proposals which had been sent to the Congregation for Clergy may not conform with canon law - but there is not a single line in it, contrary to what Mr Roberts asserts, that demands "that no pedophile cases be turned over to police". Not one. Nor, incidentally, is there a single line in canon law which forbids reporting cases to the civil authorities. Saying that the document would have to conform to canon law is not evidence of evil intent on the part of the Vatican - surely it would not be considered sinister for a lawyer to advise one proposing a law that the proposed law violated the constitution. The proposed law might not in itself be wrong, but would certainly cause miscarriages of justice - what if a bishop was to take canonical actions against an abuser only to find that the actions were invalid? Presumably the abuser might appeal his case to Rome, which might find that there was a miscarriage of justice. As the letter says: "procedures and dispositions which appear contrary to canonical discipline and which, if applied, could invalidate the actions of the same Bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems". In other words, action already being taken could jeopardised if action contrary to the provisions of canon law were taken simultaneously. Civil law is no different - the law must be followed to avoid miscarriages of justice...[continued]

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CitizenWhy | Jan 19, 2011, 04:45 PM EST

Does anyone else think it a shame about all the sacrifices the Irish made over the centuries to preserve the Catholic Church? Were any of that sacrifices worth it, given how this church behaves?

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CitizenWhy | Jan 19, 2011, 04:42 PM EST

To 2BorNot2B: Your screed is classic misdirection. The issue is not that other organizations have a problem with sexual abuse too, it is strictly the issue of the many bishops covering up crimes and thereby breaking the law. The fact that they were ordered to break the law by the Vatican only adds to the public disgust they all deserve.

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ochshane | Jan 19, 2011, 04:39 PM EST

The program is available on rte.ie (c.43mins). Type: Would you believe in window on the site and scroll down. The date is Jan. 17. The letter is shown on the program.

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