German Journo: “What Viganò Says is True in Principle... But It’s Actually Worse”

"... but in reality it is even worse" - "Herder 

Correspondence" makes the question of abuse a big topic and draws from Francis an “ambivalent picture”   - He makes sacrifices, but looks in individual cases and is advice-resistant

Rome (kath.net) “What Viganò says is true in principle, voices from the Vatican say behind the scenes, but it's actually worse." This is what Benjamin Leven writes in a recent, comprehensive article on the abuse crisis in the Catholic Church in the liberal monthly "Herder Korrespondenz". According to Leven, one still feels bound to the "papal mystery". The number of dissatisfied and cold employees in the Curia is great. If someone from this group decided to "unpack", there would not be any stone left in the Vatican on the other.

Leven calls 2018 the “Annus Horribilis" in the history of the Franciscan Pontificate, the trip to Chile was the "worst of his pontificate," in which the planned for Mass services which were sparsely filled. The Rome correspondent of the journal published by the publishing house Herder in Freiburg recalled that Francis had been warned by the curia that Chilean bishops were involved in abuse cover-ups, but he did not believe this information.

The journal's Rome correspondent also described it as "noteworthy" that a few days ago the Pope's Cardinal Council assured Francis of solidarity, but at the same time have made it known that he was "aware that in the current debate, the Holy See will need to formulate necessary clarifications.” Leven made it clear that only Francis himself could release the McCarrick documents - which according to Viganò are documented in the Washington Nunciature and the State Secretariat - as well as the dossier of the Congregation of Bishops, to clarify whether there are sanctions against the US Cardinal under Benedict XVI. which Francis put aside.

It is not unusual, according to Leven, that sanctions imposed on high-ranking clerics would not be made public. This was also the case with the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel. The Rome correspondent also does not think it is outlandish that Pope Francis turned a blind eye to certain people and ignored warnings. There are some examples of this, such as abusive offenders - including Church  leaders - who have covered up, and influential priests with a propensity to double lives and sexual debauchery.

The Rome correspondent finds this reminiscent in this context to the Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, whose  fellow bishop had spent years sexually abusing his nephew. Danneels had tried in 2010 to dissuade the nephew to make the deeds public. Later, the victim gave a recording of the conversation to the media. Despite hints from the Curia,

Danneels was then personally appointed by Francis to the family synods 2014 and 2015.

Another example is Luigi Capozzi, the secretary of Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, the former head of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts. In his apartment in the Congregation of the Faith, a gay drug party was caught by the Vatican gendarmerie in 2017. According to Leven, Capozzi received this flat through direct intervention by Coccopalmerio with the Pope. Capozzi was, according to the Herder  even intended for an episcopal post. But Coccopalmerio has even more problematic things to answer for. Thus, Francis, because of the intercession under Benedict XVI.,, who decreed the dismissal of a well-known Italian priest from the clerical state, had mitigated this again. Only after a judgment of the priest by an Italian court, was Francis’  countermeasure reversed.

Leven also brings interesting details about the three employees of the Congregation of the Faith who have been dismissed by Francis. Two of them had worked in the disciplinary department of the Congregation, which has dealt with the cases of abusive priests. Francis has never given a reason for the dismissal, Cardinal Müller has criticized these dismissals several times. These jobs have not been filled up to the present day, although Mueller even asked for these posts to be increased.

For the Herder, therefore, "an ambivalent picture" of Francis arises in the abuse context. He faced the problem, met regularly with victims of abuse and was also able to intervene. At the same time he looks, according to the newspaper in individual cases away and show "advice resistant.” Leven also recalls the Franco-German television documentary, which claimed that Francis, as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, was trying to influence the judiciary to protect a pedophile priest.

At the end of his contribution, Leven states that the topic will be instrumentalized by an ecclesiastical political orientation, but from both sides. The conservative side sees the cause of abuse above all "in the moral and doctrinal laxity after the Council.” In addition, according to kath.net there would be a connection with homosexuality. The liberal side, on the other hand, sees power structures, celibacy and the exclusion of women from ordination as responsible for the cases of abuse. [Women are moral agents too, and just as capable of abusing their power and falling into sin and corruption] 

Trans: Tancred venron99@hotmail.com

AMDG