Vatican’s Cardinal Sodano accused of sex abuse cover-up
The Irish Times
Monday, May 10, 2010
PADDY AGNEW in Rome
IN A HIGHLY unusual development, the archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, has accused the former Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, of having blocked a Vatican inquiry into sex abuse allegations against the late, disgraced cardinal of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groer.
Cardinal Schönborn’s accusations come on a weekend when Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of yet another bishop, German Walter Mixa, the bishop of Augsburg in Bavaria, who is under investigation in relation to accusations of child sex abuse.
Only last Friday, in an ad limina meeting with Belgian bishops, the pope had said that the Belgian church had been “tested by sin”, a reference to the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, who resigned last month after admitting that he had sexually abused a boy when in charge of the diocese of Bruges.
As someone widely believed to have been one of the key “electors” of Pope Benedict at the 2005 conclave, Cardinal Schönborn is both close to the pope and a “heavyweight” in the College of Cardinals.
He had already raised the issue of Cardinal Groer, his predecessor as archbishop of Vienna, in late March when he claimed that unnamed Vatican officials had blocked an inquiry in 1995 into sex abuse allegations against Cardinal Groer.
In comments last week to Austrian news agency, Kathpress, Cardinal Schönborn went further, identifying Cardinal Sodano as the person who had persuaded the current pope, then in his previous role of Prefect For The Congregation Of The Doctrine Of The Faith (CDF), not to investigate Cardinal Groer.
In 1995 the Austrian church had been stunned by a series of sex abuse accusations against Cardinal Groer, which alleged that he had molested young boys at a seminary in the town of Hollabrunn.
Three years later, Cardinal Groer relinquished all religious duties and sought exile in Germany.
He died in 2003 without having admitted any guilt in relation to the sex abuse allegations.
Not only did Cardinal Schönborn last week identify Cardinal Sodano as the head of the Vatican “diplomatic track” that had protected Cardinal Groer but he also said that Cardinal Sodano had done “massive harm” to victims of sex abuse with his recent Easter Sunday remarks in which he dismissed international criticism of the church over the sex abuse scandal as “idle gossip”.
Furthermore, Cardinal Schönborn added: “The days of cover up are over.”
Cardinal Schönborn’s unprecedented comments could well be seen as an attempt to defend Pope Benedict, arguing that it was not he but rather other senior church figures, in particular “prime minister” Sodano, who so manifestly mishandled the sex abuse crisis during the last decade of the pontificate of the ailing John Paul II.
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Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope’s closest aides of abuse cover-up
From The Times
May 10, 2010
Richard Owen, Rome
Cardinal Schönborn accused the former Vatican Secretary of State of having blocked investigations into abuse (Ronald Zak/AP)
Open warfare broke out in the Vatican over the clerical sex abuse scandal at the weekend as Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, accused one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of covering up past scandals.
Cardinal Schönborn, 65, seen as a possible future Pope, accused Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 82, the former Vatican Secretary of State (Prime Minister), of having blocked investigations into sex abuse crimes committed by his predecessor in Vienna, the late Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.
Cardinal Schönborn, a former theology pupil of Pope Benedict and a close ally, also charged Cardinal Sodano with causing “massive harm” to victims by dismissing claims of clerical abuse as “petty gossip” on Easter Sunday.
Cardinal Sodano is now Dean of the College of Cardinals and as such due to convene and chair the conclave to elect the next Pope. The row thus pitches the man in charge of the next papal election against one of the leading contenders.
Andrea Tornielli, the papal biographer, said that Cardinal Schönborn’s remarks, made to a small group of journalists and reported by the Catholic news agency Kathpress, were “without precedent” and a sign of “nervous tensions” in the Church hierarchy.
Pope Benedict, who on Tuesday travels — volcanic ash permitting — to Portugal, asked the faithful yesterday to “pray for the success” of his visit to the Marian shrine at Fatima, where in 1917 the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three shepherd children and confided three “apocalyptic” secrets to them.
The first and second secrets offered a vision of Hell and predicted the Second World War and the conversion of Communist Russia to Christianity. The Third Secret was only revealed ten years ago at Fatima by John Paul II, who — in remarks read out on his behalf by Cardinal Sodano — said that it referred to the attempt on his life in 1981.
There are persistent reports that part of the Third Secret referring to the collapse of the Roman Catholic Church in scandals and “apostasy” was withheld. Vatican officials deny this.
Cardinal Schönborn had previously accused senior Vatican officials of obstructing the investigation of Cardinal Groer, but had stopped short of naming names. The scandal broke in 1995 when a former seminary student said that Groer had abused him repeatedly in the early 1970s. Other accusations followed. Groer stepped down because of “old age” and died in 2003 without admitting any wrongdoing.
Cardinal Sodano has also been accused by US Catholic journals of persuading John Paul II not to take action against Father Marcial Maciel, the once revered Mexican founder of the conservative order the Legionaries of Christ.
Father Maciel, who died two years ago, was found to have abused seminarians and fathered several children by mistresses. Pope Benedict has ordered direct Vatican control of the disgraced order.
Cardinal Schönborn praised Benedict for having pushed for sex abuse inquiries when he was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger and head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith before his election as Pope in 2005. He said that “others” however had stopped John Paul II from taking action, adding “The days of cover up are over.”
Austria, like other countries in Europe, has been hit by a wave of clerical abuse allegations. On Saturday Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg in Bavaria. Bishop Mixa, 69, is the first bishop to step down in the pontiff’s native Germany over the abuse scandal.
Bishop Mixa offered to step down last month after being accused of striking children. However, German prosecutors and Church officials said that they were now also investigating accusations of sexual abuse when he was bishop of Eichstaett in Bavaria. Bishop Mixa’s lawyer denied the accusations.
A survey last month found that a quarter of Germany’s Catholics were considering leaving the church over the abuse allegations.
Belgian bishops ended a week-long visit to the Vatican on Saturday with a press conference at which they spoke of their pain over the resignation last month of the Bishop of Bruges, Monsignor Roger Vangheluwe, after he admitted sexual abuse.
In his remarks to the Belgian bishops Pope Benedict only made an indirect reference to the Bruges case, saying that their Church had been “tested by sin”.
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Cardinal accuses Vatican official of abuse cover-up
Reuters
Sun May 9, 2010 10:34am EDT
Philip Pullella
Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn speaks during a church service regarding recently revealed child abuse cases in the Roman Catholic church, in Vienna in this March 31, 2010 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader
VATICAN CITY
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Internal Catholic Church bickering over the handling of its sexual abuse scandal has escalated to a new level, with one cardinal accusing another of a cover-up.
World
The accusations were leveled by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna against Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who served for 16 years from 1990 to 2006 as secretary of state, the Vatican’s second-most important position.
Schoenborn, in what was supposed to have been a private conversation with Austrian newspaper editors last month, accused Sodano of having blocked an investigation of former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.
Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress published a summary of the conversation Saturday, with Italian newspapers giving it prominent coverage in their Sunday edition.
Groer stepped down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after allegations that he had sexually abused young seminarians in the past. He died in 2003 never admitting guilt or facing charges.
Schoenborn told the journalists that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who then headed the Vatican’s doctrinal department and is now pope, wanted a full scale investigation of Groer in 1995 but was blocked by Sodano, according to Kathpress.
The spat made the front pages of many newspapers, with the conservative Il Giornale headlining its story “A war in the Vatican over paedophilia.”
According to Kathpress, Schoenborn criticized Sodano for dismissing reports of sexual abuse as “petty gossip” when he addressed the pope at the start of last month’s Easter Sunday mass at the Vatican.
SODANO ALREADY ACCUSED
Last month the National Catholic Reporter, a publication in the United States, ran a series of articles which accused Sodano of turning a blind eye to another case of sexual abuse while he was the Vatican’s number two from 1990 to 2006.
That case involved Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ priestly order, who was discovered to have been a sexual molester and to have fathered at least one child.
That prompted the Vatican to say that accusations it once dismissed against Maciel, who died in 2008, were true.
Several editorials said the accusations against Sodano showed how deep the crisis over paedophilia in the Church has become. Sodano has yet to comment on the accusations.
Saturday, the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg, the first bishop to quit in the pontiff’s native Germany over the scandal that has rocked the Church in several European countries and the United States.
Mixa had admitted to hitting pupils and is now under investigation over accusations of sexual abuse, German prosecutors and church officials said.
In recent weeks, a Belgian bishop resigned after admitting he had sexually abused a boy, and three Irish bishops quit over their handling of sexual abuse cases.
Belgian bishops concluded a week-long visit to the Vatican Saturday with a news conference in which they spoke of the pain caused by the scandal which led to the resignation last month of the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, who stepped down after admitting he had sexually abused a boy years ago.
(Editing by Maria Golovnina)
May 15, 2010: St. Patrick’s Cathedral 9AM Ordination Mass
One World Life Systems
“Serving One Love and Developing One World for the Common Good of Humanity”
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For Immediate Release 13 May 2010 For more info: 212-360-7458
Ascension Thursday
“Good Shepherds” or Holy Sees’ “Hired Hands”: ‘AWOL’ Archbishop Dolan to Ordain New Priests
Talking through tears, held in for over 30 years, Pastor Michael-Vincent Crea met with staff of Westchester DA Janet DiFiore this past Monday. DA DiFiore’s staff gave the Pastor a compassionate, conscientious, cogent and heartfelt response to his being raped at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY in spring of 1979.
It was his first time meeting with a veteran member of Sex Crimes Bureau, who said of his account of being assaulted, “without a doubt, I believe a crime was committed against you.” Where for years Roman Catholic authorities, like “hired hands” have run away, Pastor Crea, finally, found an empathetic legal expert, with whom his empowered voice could express the unspeakable about the sexual crime and the cover-up by ecclesiastics.
Already aware of current the NYS statute of limitations, Pastor Crea knew legal criminal charges against rapist Richard Doscher are not possible. Doscher, now, an Anglican priest in Florida, had committed another grievous act, as a NY Catholic deacon at St. John the Evangelist Church in Mahopac, NY about 1981. The Archdiocese denied him priesthood. A Florida woman has written to Crea after her own recent encounter with Doscher.
Pastor Crea continues courageously to come forward less another member of the faithful or public is subjected to such sexual crimes, most especially, amid the ongoing secrecy surrounding Roman Catholic seminaries.
Although Archbishop Dolan has stated publicly on WABC’s “Up Close with Diana Williams” that he is open to speaking to anyone seeking to enter St. Joseph Seminary, Dolan has made no reply to Pastor Crea’s twice delivered Easter greeting and request to discuss his being rape at the seminary. Secretaries have hung up on him. Cardinal Egan, Dolan’s predecessor, refused to meet any of New York’s sexually violated Catholics.
Pastor Crea’s April 4 request to Archbishop Dolan included the quote from “Call to Conscience” by The Rev. Dr. Martin King Jr.: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” The Pastor finds Archbishop Dolan’s behavior very disturbing and disconcerting, in light of “the avalanche of abuses from over the Alps,” having Pope Benedict XVI making remarks about repentance. Since 2002 Pastor Crea’s pastoral plan “Leave Your Gift at the Altar” appeals for not only spiritual and civil accountability but “Good Shepherd” responses to all.
Archbishop Dolan’s ordination of new priests on May 15 and his own behavior begs the question as to their training in caring for the violated and confronting ecclesiastical crimes. Pope Benedict XVI has not removed excommunication for any clergy breaking the silence on sexual crimes. An Austrian Bishop has accused Cardinal Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals and former Secretary of the Vatican, of a cover-up. Pastor Crea and Catholic Congressman Charles B. Rangel never received responses to their letters to Pope John Paul II, that both Sudano and Benedict, then Cardinal Ratzinger, also, likely had received.
In 2006 at Cardinal Egan’s last Mass of Chrism, blessing the holy oils to be used at the new priests’ ordinations, Egan had the Pastor arrested, prosecuted and convicted for praying that Egan investigate his being raped at St. Joseph Seminary. Nonetheless, Pastor Crea is celebrating the sensitivity, the veracity and insight of DA DiFiore’s staff, “who touched my soul.”
Now, the Pastor is still seeking Pope Benedict to meet with a delegation in Rome, in personally responding to “Leave Your Gift at the Altar.” Pastor Crea is planning to “carefront” all clerics to break their silence about the sexual crimes, renouncing the clerical cover-up and being accountable as “Good Shepherds,” locally and globally.
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“Serving One Love and Developing One World for the Common Good of Humanity”
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For Immediate Release 1-4 April 2010 For more info: 212-360-7458
The Easter Tridiuum of the Passion and Resurrection of Christ Jesus
Pastor to Pope: “Leave Your Gift at the Altar” Meet Face-to-Face in Rome
Pastor Michael-Vincent Crea is calling on Pope Benedict XVI to “Leave Your Gift at the Altar” on these high holy days. Living daily with PTSD and depression from being violated in two Catholic seminaries, Crea’s call has echoed for seven years from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to the Pope’s St. Peter’s window.
Since October 2002, Pastor Crea has offered his “Good Shepherd” response calling on John Paul II and Benedict XVI, as well, as NY authorities to start “truly to begin healing our humanity, the rediscovery of our divinity and ‘living the Truth with charity.’” Meet with the violated in Rome is Crea’s pastoral appeal.
Along the way the Pastor has literally laid down his life to make his pastoral point, stopping a St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, rallying members of the Italian Parliament at St. Peter’s Square and facing down NYS troopers, while chanting outside of St. Joseph Seminary, Yonkers, during Benedict’s visit with youth.
Jesus’ injunction found in scripture [Matthew 5: 23-24], “Leave Your Gift at the Altar,” according to Pastor Crea “is a clear and direct admonition to be accountable for one’s own actions and anger, whether pope, prelate, priest or person in the pew. All are called to go and be reconciled, first, with whomever one has offended gravely prior to presenting one’s ritual gifts at worship, which are otherwise rendered worthless.”
Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have chosen to meet national bishops in the Vatican. Crea challenges Catholic authorities to live up to their true calling of service to all violated men, women and children. He asks if the public and the press are being led astray by the Vatican only focusing on crimes against minors, claiming only to have made “mistakes.” “Perpetrators cannot define their perditions’ perimeters,” states Pastor Crea.
“There are ‘weeds among the seeds,’ beginning in the seminaries,” counsels Pastor Crea, who finished his Master of Divinity degree at The Catholic University of America, yet, chose not to be ordained.
Richard Doscher, now, an Anglican priest in Florida, violated Crea at St. Joseph Seminary. As a deacon in Mahopac, NY, Doscher committed a grave act denying him ordination. Al Kim still serves as a priest in Honolulu, Hawaii, after leaving the Paulist Fathers at whose Washington, D.C. college, he accosted Crea.
In 2004 then Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Sudano received Pastor Crea’s appeal after he sat-in peaceably at the Papal Nuncio’s U.N. office. In 2006 the Pope’s Pastor, Franciscan Friar Raniero Cantalamessa assured Crea of a response from Benedict, along with his new State Secretary Cardinal Tarcisco Bertoni and U.S. Papal Nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi in D.C. The “Good Shepherd” in Harlem, NY never received the “respect of a response,” demanded in a letter by Catholic Congressman Charles B. Rangel, whose own letter was ignored.
Now, Pastor Crea, is “willing to go a second mile” as a servant of the servant of the servants of God, Pope Benedict. Besides filling the 6,000 seat Pope Paul VI Auditorium in Rome, Pastor Crea has envisioned The R.E.V.I.V.E Trust Fund [The Reviving and Empowering of the Vitality of the Incested and Violated by Ecclesiastics Trust Fund]. Pastor Crea prays “to see all the sexually violated be received, recognized, reparated and most of all, given the respect of a real response, from Pope Benedict XVI, proclaiming a gospel of Resurrection and legacy of love from the Christ Jesus, our Good Shepherd and from all persons of good will worldwide.”
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