England's Roman Catholic leader has compared his church’s paedophile scandal with the banking collapse that led to the recession.Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols linked the behaviour of abusive priests with that of the City traders whose unrestrained lending threw the financial world into crisis.
The comparison astonished an audience during a question-and-answer session at the Mansion House and drew criticism from seasoned City analysts.
It also focussed fresh attention on the Catholic Church’s long-running tribulation over child abuse which many of the Archbishop’s colleagues had hoped may have been set at rest by the Pope’s visit last month.
Both the bishops in England and Wales who are led by Archbishop Nichols and Pope Benedict himself have delivered sweeping apologies for abuse by priests. Paedophile clerics are estimated to have raped 3,000 children over the past 50 years, but their crimes were habitually covered up by Church authorities.
The Archbishop told an audience including bankers and Labour MP Frank Field, an adviser on poverty to the Coalition, that the bad actions of a small minority will often command the attention of the public.
Replying to a suggestion that a few badly-mismanaged banks had tarnished the reputation of the City, he suggested that the good works of the majority are overshadowed by the misbehaviour of the few.
‘That’s what sticks, that’s what you have to deal with,’ the Archbishop said.
His remarks provoked raised eyebrows among senior bankers. The Financial Times said in a commentary that ‘you could just about see his point’ but asked: ‘Is it really an appropriate comparison to make?’
His decision to raise the paedophile scandal followed a decade of widely-praised efforts by English Roman Catholic leaders to purge their Church of the taint of abuse and cover-up.
A thorough report on the extent of the problem by Catholic judge Lord Nolan was accompanied by new administrative systems to ensure there could be no further tolerance of paedophile priests.
The Archbishop’s comparison amounted to a stronger condemnation of the behaviour of the City than that made by Pope Benedict during his state visit.
The Pope said the financial crisis was a result of moral failure and added: ‘There is widespread agreement that the lack of a solid ethical foundation for economic activity has contributed to the grave difficulties now being experienced by millions of people throughout the world.’
However Benedict kept his condemnation of paedophile priests entirely apart from his comments on finance.
The Pope spoke in a separate speech of his ‘deep sorrow and shame’ over the behaviour of clerics and added: ‘Sadness is also due to the fact that the Church was not vigilant enough and not sufficiently fast and decisive to take the necessary measures.’
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