2001
Letter to Bishops
After being tasked in 2001 by Pope John Paul II to assume
responsibility for sex abuse allegations, and after gaining access to a trove of
documents that laid out allegations against abusive priests, Ratzinger took
action. He did
so in a 2001 letter sent to every one of the church's
bishops. In it, Ratzinger laid out the church's guidelines for investigating
claims of sexual abuse, which asserted that the church -- and not civil
authorities -- still held primary authority over investigations and that the
church had a right to keep evidence in such cases confidential until 10 years
after a minor turned 18. That assertion led to charges by victims' rights
advocates that Ratzinger had committed worldwide gross obstruction of justice,
a charge that critics saw as compounded by Ratzinger's assertion in the letter that
such cases required absolute secrecy. Breaking the code of silence carried a
range of penalties, among them excommunication. Ratzinger's order effectively
removed the possibility that sex abusers would be brought to justice in lay
courts and guaranteed that the
church would retain its investigatory prerogative.
Eamonn
Walsh and Raymond Field, Ireland, 2010
In an attempt to help bring closure to victims affected by
sexual abuse in the Irish Catholic Church, two auxiliary bishops, Eamonn Walsh
and Raymond Field, accused of helping to cover up rampant abuse offered
Pope Benedict their resignation in 2010. In a move that stunned critics of the
church and victims' rights groups, the pope rejected
their resignation and informed the bishops that they would be allowed to stay
on in the church, despite the fact that other priests accused of covering up
the scandal were allowed to resign. "By rejecting the resignations of two
complicit Irish bishops, the Pope is rubbing more salt into the already deep
and still fresh wounds of thousands of child sex abuse victims and millions of
betrayed Catholics," said
Barbara Blaine, president and founder of the Survivors Network of those Abused
by Priests, in a statement. "He's sending an alarming message to church employees across the
globe: even widespread documentation of the concealing of child sex crimes and
the coddling of criminals won't cost you your job in the church."
2010
Apology to Ireland
By 2010, the hard-line strategy advocated by Pope Benedict became
unsustainable. Explosive and wide-ranging reports of abuse -- including allegations
against Ratzinger himself during his time in Munich -- put the church firmly in
the cross-hairs of public opinion. Detailed investigations
by the Irish government unearthed widespread abuse, and Ireland became
something of a ground zero for the scandal. In response, Pope Benedict issued a
public apology to his parishioners in Ireland. "You have suffered grievously
and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured,"
the pope wrote. "Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated.
Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what
happened to you, no one would listen." Priests read
the letter aloud in church.
But if the apology to Ireland signaled a willingness within the church to more openly confront its past, subsequent guidelines to bishops quashed that notion. In 2011, Pope Benedict issued new guidelines that reaffirmed bishops' authority in adjudicating cases. Although that letter underscored the importance of stopping the abuse of minors, victims remained dismayed at the lack of an enforcement mechanism.
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