Pope Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger was the Principal Responsible for Covering Up the Worldwide Priest Sex Abuse Problems

[Julie (English only!)]

Pope 'led cover-up of child abuse by priests'

The London Evening Standard
Last updated at 23:22pm on 30.09.06

The Pope played a leading role in a systematic cover-up of child sex
abuse by Roman Catholic priests, according to a shocking documentary
to be screened by the BBC tonight.

In 2001, while he was a cardinal, he issued a secret Vatican edict to
Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the
Church's interests ahead of child safety.

The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to
the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim,
witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it. And, to keep victims
quiet, it threatened that if they repeat the allegations they would be
excommunicated.

The Panorama special, Sex Crimes And The Vatican, investigates the
details of this little-known document for the first time. The
programme also accuses the Catholic Church of knowingly harboring
peadophile clergymen. It reveals that priests accused of child abuse
are generally not struck off or arrested but simply moved to another
parish, often to re-offend. It gives examples of hush funds being used
to silence the victims.

Before being elected as Pope Benedict XVI in April last year, the
pontiff was Cardinal Ratzinger who had, for 24 years, been the head of
the powerful Congregation of the Doctrine of The Faith, the department
of the Roman Catholic Church charged with promoting Catholic teachings
on morals and matters of faith. An arch-Conservative, he was regarded
as the 'enforcer' of Pope John Paul II in cracking down on liberal
challenges to traditional Catholic teachings.

Five years ago he sent out an updated version of the notorious 1962
Vatican document Crimen Sollicitationis - Latin for The Crime of
Solicitation - which laid down the Vatican's strict instructions on
covering up sexual scandal. It was regarded as so secret that it came
with instructions that bishops had to keep it locked in a safe at all
times.

Cardinal Ratzinger reinforced the strict cover-up policy by
introducing a new principle: that the Vatican must have what it calls
Exclusive Competence. In other words, he commanded that all child
abuse allegations should be dealt with direct by Rome.

Patrick Wall, a former Vatican-approved enforcer of the Crimen
Sollicitationis in America, tells the programme: "I found out I wasn't
working for a holy institution, but an institution that was wholly
concentrated on protecting itself."

And Father Tom Doyle, a Vatican lawyer until he was sacked for
criticising the church's handling of child abuse claims, says: "What
you have here is an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child
sexual abuse by the clergy and to punish those who would call
attention to these crimes by the churchmen.

"When abusive priests are discovered, the response has been not to
investigate and prosecute but to move them from one place to another.
So there's total disregard for the victims and for the fact that you
are going to have a whole new crop of victims in the next place. This
is happening all over the world."

The investigation could not come at a worse time for Pope Benedict,
who is desperately trying to mend the Church's relations with the
Muslim world after a speech in which he quoted a 14th Century
Byzantine emperor who said that Islam was spread by holy war and had
brought only evil to the world.

The Panorama programme is presented by Colm O'Gorman, who was raped by
a priest when he was 14. He said: "What gets me is that it's the same
story every time and every place. Bishops appoint priests who they
know have abused children in the past to new parishes and new
communities and more abuse happens."

Last night Eileen Shearer, director of the Catholic Office for the
Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults said: "The Catholic
Church in England and Wales (has) established a single set of national
policies and procedures for child protection work. We are making
excellent progress in protecting children and preventing abuse."