The bishops, not the Pope, should be blamed for wayward priests who got embroiled in sexual abuse cases, Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz said on Tuesday. Cruz, a canon law expert, noted that Pope Benedict XVI has been getting a lot of flak for the scandals currently hounding the Catholic Church.
But he said that the Church had hierarchy, and the bishops have been tasked with supervising the conduct of priests. Bishops, in turn, are answerable to the Pope, according to Cruz.
“The problem is that the Pope is being blamed. The Pope is the head of the universal church of the four corners of the world. The one responsible for the discipline of the clergy are the bishops, not the Pope. The Pope is responsible for the bishops,” he told reporters.
The Pope has been making amends for the sexual abuse cases involving the clergy. Recently, he met with sexual abuse victims in Malta and expressed his “shame and sorrow” for the fate that had befallen them.
Bishops could be held accountable if they failed to punish the guilty clergy, Cruz said. He also said abuses took place if the bishop did not discipline the clergy well.
“Upon acceptance of a territory, [a bishop] is responsible not only for liturgy. More than anything else, he is responsible for the discipline of his priests. Otherwise, if you would not do that, people would get the wrong idea that what they're doing is ok,” he said.
If a bishop could not handle the case brewing under his jurisdiction, a congregation in the Vatican could take over the matter, he added.
Earlier, a bishop who had ordained a priest who was once convicted of sexual misconduct regretted his decision.
Bishop Leopoldo Tumulak, the former Bishop of Tagbilaran, said he would not have ordained the American priest Fr. Joseph Skelton had he known that the latter was once convicted of sexual misconduct while a seminarian in Detroit.
Tumulak had said that he was unaware of Skelton's past record when he made the latter a priest. Skelton is based in Tagbilaran.
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