|
WASHINGTON: When Pope Benedict XVI visits the United States this
week, he will bring with him a unique chance for renewal and healing
in the scandal-rocked US church.
But while Vatican insiders were lauding the
April 15-20 visit as a “time of grace”, US Catholics who have
broken with the church over the decades-long sex scandal doubted the
pope would take firm enough action against the US church.
Benedict will discuss the thorny issue of
pedophile priests and the bishops accused by victim support groups
of covering up for them, at New York’s St Patrick’s cathedral on
April 19, the third anniversary of his election to the papacy and
the penultimate day of his visit, due to begin Tuesday.
But Patrick Wall, who left the priesthood 10
years ago over the sex scandal, and Becky Ianni, a victim of a
pedophile priest, said talking about the plague of predator
clergymen was not enough.
“Unless the holy father empowers somebody to
go out and investigate his priests and get them out of ministry, 20
years from now we are going to have the same conversation,” Wall
said.
“I hope the holy father makes some changes
while he’s here but it’s very unlikely. That’s not the way
Rome works,” said Wall, who was in the Benedictine order for 17
years.
Ianni, who from age nine was repeatedly molested
by a priest, said concrete action, not lofty words, were needed from
the pope.
“If all the words they say and put down on
paper become reality, if the bishops and priests are really held
accountable for what they’ve done, then maybe we can rebuild
trust,” said Ianni, who broke with the church as an adult.
“But since he became pope, Benedict has not
disciplined any bishop,” she added.
The US church was plunged into the worst crisis
in its 200-year history in 2002 when the Archbishop of Boston
confessed he had protected a priest who had sexually abused young
members of his church.
Last year, the church paid out $615 million (400
million euros) to settle sex abuse cases, according to an annual
report by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
In a video message posted on the website of the
US Conference of Catholic Bishops, German-born Benedict said he was
coming to the United States “to proclaim this great truth: Jesus
Christ is hope for men and women of every language, race, culture
and social condition.”
For Hispanics, who make up nearly 40 percent of
the 70 million Catholics in the United States, and who are
increasingly targeted by a crackdown on illegal immigrants from
Latin America, the pope also had a message of hope.
“I am close in spirit to you, in particular to
the young, the sick, the elderly and those who are in difficulty or
in need,” he said in Spanish.
“The visit of the holy father is a time of
grace... it ought to be a moment that everyone takes advantage
of,” said Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the archdiocese for
military services which serves 1.4 million Catholic US soldiers and
their families.
During his visit, the pope will mark his 81st
birthday, meet President George Bush at the White House, pray with
US bishops, and meet with leaders of other faiths and Catholic
educators.
He will hold huge open-air masses before tens of
thousands of Catholics, and will become the third pope, after John
Paul II and Paul VI, to address the United Nations general assembly.
“I think the centerpiece (of his UN speech)
will be the pursuit of peace,” said Chester Gillis of Georgetown
University’s theology department.
“But I would be surprised if he doesn’t
allude to Iraq directly and maybe even make a veiled warning about
incursions... to say pro-active military activities are not very
welcome,” he said.
Benedict’s UN speech was likely to be couched
“in general terms about the value of peace,” said Broglio.
“But in private conversations, such as with
President Bush and the Secretary General of the UN, it’s
anyone’s guess how he would approach the situation,” said
Broglio.
“There is a whole church teaching on the
justification of a conflict, in self-defense or in response to an
aggression... In the case of Iraq, it was neither of those two
situations,” the archbishop said.
-- AFP
|
