New revelations
about clerical sex abuse cases, particularly in Europe, led Pope
Benedict and his top aides in 2010 to look for ways to refine policies
for handling accusations and strengthening child protection programs.
In
a pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland, at a Mass marking the end of
the Year for Priests, in speeches and in meetings with victims of abuse
in Malta and in Great Britain, Pope Benedict acknowledged the horror of
abuse and the shame of a slow church response.
As 2010 drew to a
close, he called the College of Cardinals to a meeting at the Vatican
where the church's response to the scandal was one of the topics and
where U.S. Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, announced the Vatican was working on new
guidelines to ensure a "coordinated and effective program" for dealing
with accusations and protecting children.
The Vatican and leaders
of the Catholic Church in Ireland began the year trying to respond to a
late 2009 report about the failures of the church in handling cases of
abuse; soon afterward Belgian Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Brugge was
forced to resign when his family revealed he had sexually abused his
nephew. Cases of abuse also were revealed in Germany, Switzerland,
Austria and the Netherlands.
Closing the Year for Priests in
June, the pope said that what had been planned as a year of celebration
became a "summons to purification."
"In this very year of joy for
the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light --
particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood,
whose task is to manifest God's concern for our good, turns into its
very opposite," the pope said in a homily during a Mass June 11 with
about 15,000 priests.
Pope Benedict's approach to the scandal
consistently has been to see it as a result of serious sin that has
polluted the church; the process of cleansing must be serious and
profound, he has said, but it also must acknowledge Christ's power to
heal and to strengthen the church.
In his letter to the Catholics
of Ireland, released March 20, the pope wrote directly to the victims
of abuse: "You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know
that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been
betrayed and your dignity has been violated."
He ordered an
apostolic visitation of Ireland's four archdioceses, its seminaries and
its religious orders. The visits, being conducted by church leaders from
the United States, Canada and England, began in November and were to
conclude by Easter 2011.
As revelations of abuse hit the news in
various parts of Europe, the Vatican faced the task not only of
strengthening procedures to deal with the abuse, but also of explaining
to the public what the church already had done over the previous 10
years to help victims and to expel abusers from the priesthood.
In
April, it posted on the Vatican website a summary of the investigative
steps, trial options and possible penalties for clerical sex abuse of
minors, including dismissal from the priesthood. The summary underlines
the local bishop's responsibility to follow civil law in reporting such
crimes to the appropriate authorities. By the end of the year, the web
page -- "Abuse of Minors. The Church's Response" -- contained dozens of
documents and papal speeches addressing the scandal.
The crisis
even was one of the topics covered by Peter Seewald in "Light of the
World," a book-length interview with Pope Benedict.
The pope told
Seewald that the crisis "was really almost like the crater of a
volcano, out of which suddenly a tremendous cloud of filth came,
darkening and soiling everything, so that above all the priesthood
suddenly seemed to be a place of shame."
SIC: CS/INT'L