March 13, 2002 Archbishop John Foley, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, suggested that “the best defense against the crisis is virtue, and in the absence of virtue, candor." Foley spoke at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia. “The real tragedy of the present crisis, apart from the undermining of confidence in the Church and her clergy from such terrible actions and such revelations, is not embarrassment for the Church. It is the fact of a grave offense against God and a grave offense against God’s children," he said. Foley added: “We truly need holy priests, priests who are pure in thought, word and deed; priests who are men of prayer; priests who are generous in service; priests who are self-giving, self-sacrificing; priests who are dedicated to making known the saving knowledge and love of Jesus."
March 21, 2002 John Paul II made his first public comment since the crisis broke on January 6 in his annual Holy Thursday letter to the priests of the world. “As priests, we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mysterium inquitatis [mystery of evil] at work in the world," the Pope wrote. “Grave scandal is caused, with the result that a dark shadow is cast over all the other fine priests who perform their ministry with honesty and integrity and often with heroic self-sacrifice. . . . As the church shows her concern for the victims and strives to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations, all of us . . . are called to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness."
The Pope’s letter was presented at a news conference by Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillón Hoyos, head of the Congregation for Clergy, the Vatican office that supervises priests. Castrillón Hoyos and his top aide, Archbishop Csaba Ternyák, read statements commenting on the Pope’s letter, which was mostly about the sacrament of reconciliation. When they finished, Navarro-Valls invited a large group of reporters, including many Americans, to ask questions. My questions were:
Will the Vatican support a zero tolerance policy, under which any credible allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest means he is automatically removed from ministry?
Will the Vatican support an automatic reporter policy, under which any credible allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest is automatically reported to the civic authorities?
What is the status of proposals, widely circulated and debated within the Vatican in recent months, to ban the admission of homosexuals to Catholic seminaries?
Does the Vatican still have full confidence in Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston or is there consideration of asking him to resign?
Robert Mickens of The Tablet, an English Catholic journal, wanted to know why the language in the papal letter about the sexual abuse problem was indirect. Stephen Weeke of NBC asked why the Pope wasn’t speaking himself, rather than signing a letter and having someone else talk about it.
Castrillón Hoyos took notes, jotting down each question as it was asked. After the reporters had finished, he then declined to answer the questions. “I don’t want to take more risks than are necessary," he said, and instead produced a two-page prepared statement which he said was the only response he could offer. The statement made two points: few priests are guilty of this sort of misconduct, and the Catholic Church has long had strong policies against sexual abuse by clergy. He cited the 1917 Code of Canon Law as evidence.
Castrillón Hoyos added to his prepared statement several times, however, in the course of reading it aloud. First, when Castrillón Hoyos started to speak, he observed that most of the questions had been put to him in English. “That in itself is an X ray of the problem," he said. The comment was taken as an indirect way of presenting the sexual abuse issue as an American or Anglo-Saxon problem. Then, in arguing that the Catholic Church has never ignored the problem of sexual abuse, Castrillón Hoyos added that this was true “even before it ended up on the front page of newspapers." Citing provisions of the Code of Canon Law that fix penalties for sexual misconduct with minors, Castrillón Hoyos issued a challenge: “For the non-Catholic world, I want to know what other institutions have laws like this for defending children from the behavior of officials? What other great institution?" In noting that the Church had recently adopted a statute of limitations of ten years from the date when an alleged victim turns eighteen for prosecuting sexual misconduct cases against priests, Castrillón Hoyos asked: “I would like to know, has this been legislated elsewhere?" Still later, in describing new Vatican norms that insist priests should have a right of reply to charges of abuse, Castrillón Hoyos said: “We live in an era of human rights, not totalitarianism. This is an era of law." At the end, Castrillón Hoyos defended the Church’s preference for “keeping things within the family," which does not, he said, mean that the Church refuses to cooperate with the state, except when it comes to its sacramental secret. He then expressed the Pope’s solidarity with the priests and bishops of the United States, but said nothing about victims.
April 8–13, 2002 Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, Vice-President Bishop William Skylstad, and Secretary-General Monsignor William Fay attended a week-long series of meetings in the Vatican. This regular biannual visit had been scheduled before the sexual abuse crisis erupted, but conversations were dominated by the scandals. “The Holy Father is an extraordinary pastor of souls," Gregory said afterward to the media. “Given the level of anxiety and anguish, this has touched him deeply." Gregory insisted that the Vatican was engaged in the crisis. “We came away from these conversations with a strong sense of the Holy See’s desire to listen and to support our efforts," he said. The Pope communicated a desire to help the American church “at this difficult moment," Gregory said. “He extended his hand in support to the bishops of the United States. The Holy See has demonstrated an extraordinary openness in understanding the particular situation that we face in the United States."
April 15, 2002 The Vatican announced that Pope John Paul II had called the American cardinals to Rome, along with Gregory and Skylstad, for an extraordinary two-day summit on the sexual abuse crisis, April 23–24. The news triggered a flood of speculation in the U.S. press about likely Vatican concerns and American responses. The eight residential American cardinals who attended were: William Keeler of Baltimore; Bernard Law of Boston; Francis George of Chicago; Adam Maida of Detroit; Roger Mahony of Los Angeles; Edward Egan of New York; Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia; and Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C. The American cardinals had been called to Rome as a group previously in 1989 to discuss the situation of divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and in December 1996 the seven American cardinals active at the time went to the Vatican en masse to try to resolve a liturgical dispute. Also to take part in the summit were the three American cardinals resident in Rome: James Francis Stafford, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Edmund Szoka, president of the government of the Vatican City-State; and William Baum, retired.
April 23–24, 2002 The forty-eight-hour Vatican summit took place. On the Vatican side, eight officials took part. Cardinals Angelo Sodano, secretary of state; Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Congregation for Bishops; Jorge Medina Estévez, of the Congregation for Divine Worship; Castrillón Hoyos; Archbishops Julian Herranz, head of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts; Tarcisio Bertone, secretary of the doctrinal congregation; and Francesco Monterisi, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops. Media interest from the United States was intense, with one portion of the large piazza in front of St. Peter’s Square cordoned off for all the satellite trucks dispatched by American networks.
The Pope received the participants in an audience the first day and lunched with them the second day. He spoke to the American bishops April 23, and the key phrase from his address for policy purposes was the following: “People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and r
eligious life for those who would harm the young." The sentence was widely taken by the American bishops and in the press as a green light for a zero tolerance stance.
The full text of the Pope’s remarks:
Let me assure you first of all that I greatly appreciate the effort you are making to keep the Holy See, and me personally, informed regarding the complex and difficult situation which has arisen in your country in recent months. I am confident that your discussions here will bear much fruit for the good of the Catholic people of the United States. You have come to the house of the Successor of Peter, whose task it is to confirm his brother Bishops in faith and love, and to unite them around Christ in the service of God’s People. The door of this house is always open to you. All the more so when your communities are in distress. I too have been deeply grieved by the fact that priests and religious, whose vocation it is to help people live holy lives in the sight of God, have themselves caused such suffering and scandal to the young. Because of the great harm done by some priests and religious, the Church herself is viewed with distrust, and many are offended at the way in which the Church’s leaders are perceived to have acted in this matter. The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in the eyes of God. To the victims and their families, wherever they may be, I express my profound sense of solidarity and concern.
It is true that a generalized lack of knowledge of the nature of the problem and also at times the advice of clinical experts led bishops to make decisions which subsequent events showed to be wrong. You are now working to establish more reliable criteria to ensure that such mistakes are not repeated. At the same time, even while recognizing how indispensable these criteria are, we cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches to the depths of a person’s soul and can work extraordinary change. Neither should we forget the immense spiritual, human and social good that the vast majority of priests and religious in the United States have done and are still doing. The Catholic Church in your country has always promoted human and Christian values with great vigor and generosity, in a way that has helped to consolidate all that is noble in the American people. A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains; and this is a truth which any intellectually honest critic will recognize. To the Catholic communities in the United States, to their Pastors and members, to the men and women religious, to teachers in Catholic universities and schools, to American missionaries in all parts of the world, go the wholehearted thanks of the entire Catholic Church and the personal thanks of the Bishop of Rome.
The abuse of the young is a grave symptom of a crisis affecting not only the Church but society as a whole. It is a deep-seated crisis of sexual morality, even of human relationships, and its prime victims are the family and the young. In addressing the problem of abuse with clarity and determination, the Church will help society to understand and deal with the crisis in its midst. It must be absolutely clear to the Catholic faithful, and to the wider community, that bishops and superiors are concerned, above all else, with the spiritual good of souls. People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young. They must know that Bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality, a truth as essential to the renewal of the priesthood and the episcopate as it is to the renewal of marriage and family life.
We must be confident that this time of trial will bring a purification of the entire Catholic community, a purification that is urgently needed if the Church is to preach more effectively the Gospel of Jesus Christ in all its liberating force. Now you must ensure that where sin increased, grace will all the more abound (cf. Rom 5:20). So much pain, so much sorrow must lead to a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate and a holier Church. God alone is the source of holiness, and it is to him above all that we must turn for forgiveness, for healing and for the grace to meet this challenge with uncompromising courage and harmony of purpose. Like the Good Shepherd of last Sunday’s Gospel, Pastors must go among their priests and people as men who inspire deep trust and lead them to restful waters (cf. Ps 22:2). I beg the Lord to give the Bishops of the United States the strength to build their response to the present crisis upon the solid foundations of faith and upon genuine pastoral charity for the victims, as well as for the priests and the entire Catholic community in your country. And I ask Catholics to stay close to their priests and Bishops, and to support them with their prayers at this difficult time. The peace of the Risen Christ be with you!
Sodano also made a statement to the American prelates at the opening of the two-day session. Sodano said:
I wish to open this meeting with the words of Psalm 133, which we often sing: “Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare fratres in unum," “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers live in unity" (v. 1). This is a distressing time for the Church and for all of us. Still, the joy of Easter must be the disposition of our heart and the source of our confidence in addressing the present difficulties. It is true that the immediate reason for this fraternal meeting of the Pastors of various particular Churches in the United States of America with the Holy Father and some of his collaborators is our common concern about what has emerged so forcefully in the last three months. It is a sign of charity to “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep," “gaudere cum gaudentibus et fiere cum flentibus," as Saint Paul wrote to the Romans (Rom 12:15).
As we begin this meeting, the Holy Father has asked me to convey greetings to you, the Cardinals and Bishops from the United States. He has urged me to assure you of the importance he attaches to this meeting, in which we will study the many issues involved and share our pastoral experience. As you are well aware, this meeting has come about for two purposes. On the one hand, a number of American Bishops expressed a desire to inform the Holy See of the difficulties in which they have found themselves in these last months. On the other, the various Roman Dicasteries also wish to hear at first hand from the American Cardinals and the leading officials of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops an overall evaluation of the situation.
We have come together today, conscious of the great responsibility which Christ has laid upon us for the good of God’s People. Let us not be disheartened by the difficulties involved; let us seek the way forward in fidelity to the great tradition of the Church, Mother and Teacher, instrument of justice, mercy, and redemption. Our task is to reflect on the problems of the present moment with great openness of spirit, knowing that the Church should be transparent. The Church loves the truth, and must always put it into practice in charity, following what St. Paul taught nearly two thousand years ago: “veritatem facientes in caritatem" (Eph 4:15).
The summit produced two documents: a letter from the American bishops to U.S. priests, and a final communiqué outlining areas of agreement between the American cardinals and the officials of the Roman Curia.
The letter read:
We, the Cardinals of the United States and the Presidency of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered with our brother Cardinals of the Roman Curia around the Successor of Peter, wish to speak a special word to you, our brother priests who give yourselves so generously from day to day in service of God’s people. At our meeting, you have been very much in our minds and hearts, for we know the heavy burden of sorrow and shame that you are bearing because some have betrayed the grace of Ordination by abusing those entrusted to their care.
We regret that episcopal oversight has not been able to preserve the Church from this scandal. The entire Church, the Bride of Christ, is afflicted by this wound—the victims and their families first of all, but also you who have dedicated your lives to “the priestly service of the Gospel of God" (Rom 15:16). To all of you we express our deep gratitude for all that you do to build up the Body of Christ in holiness and love. We pledge t
o support you in every possible way through these troubled times, and we ask that you stay close to us in the bond of the priesthood as we make every effort to bring the healing grace of Christ to the people whom we serve.
We are in complete harmony with the Holy Father when he said in his address yesterday: “Neither should we forget the immense spiritual, human and social good that the vast majority of priests and religious in the United States have done and are still doing. . . . To the Catholic communities in the United States, to their Pastors and members, to the men and women religious, to teachers in Catholic universities and schools, to American missionaries in all parts of the world, go the wholehearted thanks of the entire Catholic Church and the personal thanks of the Bishop of Rome."
As we look to the future, let us together beg the eternal High Priest for the grace to live this time of trial with courage and confidence in the Crucified Lord. This echoes the summons of our Ordination: “Imitate the mystery you celebrate; model your life on the mystery of the Lord’s Cross" (Rite of Ordination); and it is a vital part of what we now offer the Church as she passes through this time of painful purification. From the house of the Successor of Peter, who has confirmed us in our faith, we wish in turn to confirm you in the humble and exalted service of the Catholic priesthood to which we have been called. Peace be with you!
The final communiqué read:
On April 23–24, 2002, an extraordinary meeting was held in the Vatican between the Cardinals of the United States and the leadership of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops and the heads of several offices of the Holy See on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors.
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