Posted on 04/23/2005 7:11:09 PM PDT by Lessismore
Confidential letter reveals Ratzinger ordered bishops to keep allegations secret
Pope Benedict XVI faced claims last night he had 'obstructed justice' after it emerged he issued an order ensuring the church's investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret. The order was made in a confidential letter, obtained by The Observer, which was sent to every Catholic bishop in May 2001.
It asserted the church's right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected as John Paul II's successor last week.
Lawyers acting for abuse victims claim it was designed to prevent the allegations from becoming public knowledge or being investigated by the police. They accuse Ratzinger of committing a 'clear obstruction of justice'.
The letter, 'concerning very grave sins', was sent from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that once presided over the Inquisition and was overseen by Ratzinger.
It spells out to bishops the church's position on a number of matters ranging from celebrating the eucharist with a non-Catholic to sexual abuse by a cleric 'with a minor below the age of 18 years'. Ratzinger's letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been 'perpetrated with a minor by a cleric'.
The letter states that the church's jurisdiction 'begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age' and lasts for 10 years.
It orders that 'preliminary investigations' into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger's office, which has the option of referring them back to private tribunals in which the 'functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests'.
'Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret,' Ratzinger's letter concludes. Breaching the pontifical secret at any time while the 10-year jurisdiction order is operating carries penalties, including the threat of excommunication.
The letter is referred to in documents relating to a lawsuit filed earlier this year against a church in Texas and Ratzinger on behalf of two alleged abuse victims. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for the alleged victims claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.
Daniel Shea, the lawyer for the two alleged victims who discovered the letter, said: 'It speaks for itself. You have to ask: why do you not start the clock ticking until the kid turns 18? It's an obstruction of justice.'
Father John Beal, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, gave an oral deposition under oath on 8 April last year in which he admitted to Shea that the letter extended the church's jurisdiction and control over sexual assault crimes.
The Ratzinger letter was co-signed by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone who gave an interview two years ago in which he hinted at the church's opposition to allowing outside agencies to investigate abuse claims.
'In my opinion, the demand that a bishop be obligated to contact the police in order to denounce a priest who has admitted the offence of paedophilia is unfounded,' Bertone said.
Shea criticised the order that abuse allegations should be investigated only in secret tribunals. 'They are imposing procedures and secrecy on these cases. If law enforcement agencies find out about the case, they can deal with it. But you can't investigate a case if you never find out about it. If you can manage to keep it secret for 18 years plus 10 the priest will get away with it,' Shea added.
A spokeswoman in the Vatican press office declined to comment when told about the contents of the letter. 'This is not a public document, so we would not talk about it,' she said.
This is something I know first hand.
Somehow I can't imagine the victims wanting their information being made public either.
Horse manure. The leftists are desperate to smear the Pope before he calls them on the carpet.
Sounds like it.
Notwithstanding the above, the POLICE should be brought into the case immediately. The Vatican has shown itself to be unwilling to engage in punitive action against many priests who have engaged in perversity. And for a simple reason; they don't have a proper hammer. You want to excommunicate me? That's not so bad in my opinion, but, you want to incarcerate me in a system whose denizens have a history of physically frowning upon child-molesters? THAT would get my attention.
The Catholic Church would do well by cleaning up this mess IN A PUBLIC WAY. Secrecy always begets suspicion and protects neer-do-wells.
I never could understand why the heirarchy would want to protect pedophile scum.....
They are attacking this Pope like he was a politician. Like he could get impeached, or like they actually have a say.
This man was elected by the Cardinals to be the leader of the Church, Accept it, He is the elected Pope. It is up to him to make policy and lead the Catholic Church and anyone who dosnt like it should just STFU, because there is not a damned thing you can do about it. This is all just another assault on Christians.
Remember when we used to vote for a President and if he didnt win we got behind the winner for the good of the country? Now its become common practice for the losers to fight everything the President does. This is the Pope and it doesnt and shouldnt work this way.
The Catholic Church would do well by making sure the neer-do-wells are never more in a position to do harm. Also, criminals need to be turned over for civil action. Innocent people deserve to be protected.
bookmarking
The United States has been extending its judicial reach to assert various extraterritorial perogatives, so I'm not sure that I agree that the Pope couldn't be extradited, although it is unlikely in practice.
An American bishop or cardinal who keeps a crime secret is subject to American laws regarding obstruction of justice. The American organization of the Catholic church could be prosecuted under the RICO federal statutes.
Looks like the left just fired their opening salvo in their attempt to take down the Church.
I agree that discretion is important in investigations, and it should be exercized by the police handling the complaint.
As far as I know, the Catholic Church has no authority in the United States to establish Canon Law courts, to investigate crimes, and to punish anyone as a result of the investigations.
READ LATER
You are reading history backwards. Until a few years ago "pedophile" --for the most part acts of sodomy involving teenagers--was not important to the authorities. They treated such matters like they treated prostitution, except that they felt that neither party wanted to make the matter public. Why would they? Sodomy is generrally tolerated by the public and as the Texas case shows, the existing criminal laws had few teeth.
I would hazard a guess that this article forgets to distinguish between Canon Law and Civil Law.
As with any organization, the Church can investigate among the parties to find out what is going on. If necessary, civil authorities can be summoned. Private organizations conduct internal investigations day after day.
Available sanctions have to do with positions in the organization held by bad guys when such bad guys are discovered.
Well, they could, in principle, pressure the pope to quit.
If the private investigation turns up credible evidence that a crime has been committed, the civil authorities must be summoned. The private organization cannot attempt to exact some administrative punishment and then conceal the crime. To do so makes them accomplices after the fact.
It looks to me as though you and I are reading pretty much on the same page.
A family friend, a Catholic priest, was accused of molesting a man when he was younger. I was very interactive with this particular priest growing up as was my family and when I heard about this accusation, I could not believe it! My family was devastated.
This priest was removed from his parish. The parish loved him and was very upset. They also could not believe the allegations. He was not allowed to say mass pending a church investigation.
Guess what? It turns out the man lied (he eventually admitted it), our friend never touched him. The priest's life is ruined. This will follow him and tarnish his reputation wherever he goes. He may leave the priesthood now.
While what has happened in some cases has been an absolute disgrace, many have been falsely accused. Even though they may be cleared eventually, their lives and reputations are destroyed forever.
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