Exactly one year later [after the Williamson affair], the darkest
clouds gather over the Catholic Church. As though out of a deep abyss,
countless incomprehensible cases of sexual abuse from the past come to
light – acts committed by priests and religious.
The clouds cast their
shadows even on the Chair of Peter. Now no one is talking any more about
the moral authority for the world that is usually granted a pope. How
great is this crisis?
Is it really, as we occasionally read, one of the
greatest in the history of the Church?
Yes, it is a great
crisis, we have to say that. It was upsetting for all of us. Suddenly so
much filth. It 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 and every priest was under the suspicion of being one
like that too. Many priests declared that they no longer dared to extend
a hand to a child, much less go to a summer camp with children.
For
me the affair was not entirely unexpected.
In the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith I had already dealt with the American cases; I had
also seen the situation emerge in Ireland. But on this scale it was
nevertheless an unprecedented shock. Since my election to the Chair of
Peter I had already met several times with victims of sexual abuse.
Three and a half years ago, in October 2006, in my address to the
bishops of Ireland, I had called for them to bring the truth to light,
to take whatever steps necessary to prevent such egregious crimes from
occurring again, to ensure that the principles of law and justice are
fully respected and, above all, to bring healing to the victims.
Suddenly to see the priesthood so defiled, and with it the Catholic
Church herself, at the very heart – that was something that we were
really just beginning to cope with. But it was imperative not to lose
sight of the fact that there is good in the Church and not only those
horrible things.
Cases of abuse in the Church are worse than
elsewhere. Greater demands must be met by consecrated persons. Already
at the beginning of the century, as you said, a series of abuse cases in
the United States had become known. After the Ryan Report revealed the
vast extent of sexual abuse in Ireland, too, the Church in another
country was in shambles. “It will take generations,”said the Irish
religious priest Vincent Twomey, “to make reparation.”
In
Ireland the problem is altogether specific – there is a self-enclosed
Catholic society, so to speak, which remained true to its faith despite
centuries of oppression, but in which, then, evidently certain attitudes
were also able to develop. I cannot analyse that in detail now. To see a
country that gave the world so many missionaries, so many saints, which
in the history of the missions also stands at the origin of our faith
in Germany, now in a situation like this is tremendously upsetting and
depressing. Above all, of course, for the Catholics in Ireland itself,
where now as always there are many good priests. We must examine
thoroughly how it was possible for that to happen, and at the same time
what can be done so that something like that does not happen again.
You
are right: it is a particularly serious sin when someone who is
actually supposed to help people toward God, to whom a child or a young
person is entrusted in order to find the Lord, abuses him instead and
leads him away from the Lord. As a result the faith as such becomes
unbelievable, and the Church can no longer present herself credibly as
the herald of the Lord.
All this shocked us and very deeply upsets
me now as before. However, the Lord told us also that among the wheat
there will be weeds—but that the seed, his seed, will nevertheless
continue to grow. We are confident of that.
It is not only the
abuse that is upsetting, it is also the way of dealing with it. The
deeds themselves were hushed up and kept secret for decades. That is a
declaration of bankruptcy for an institution that has love written on
its banner.
The Archbishop of Dublin told me something very
interesting about that. He said that ecclesiastical penal law functioned
until the late 1950s; admittedly it was not perfect – there is much to
criticise about it – but nevertheless it was applied.
After the
mid-1960s, however, it was simply not applied any more. The prevailing
mentality was that the Church must not be a Church of laws but, rather, a
Church of love; she must not punish. Thus the awareness that punishment
can be an act of love ceased to exist. This led to an odd darkening of
the mind, even in very good people.
Today we have to learn all
over again that love for the sinner and love for the person who has been
harmed are correctly balanced if I punish the sinner in the form that
is possible and appropriate. In this respect there was in the past a
change of mentality, in which the law and the need for punishment were
obscured.
Ultimately this also narrowed the concept of love, which in
fact is not just being nice or courteous, but is found in the truth. And
another component of truth is that I must punish the one who has sinned
against real love.
In Germany the avalanche of discoveries of
sexual abuse started because now the Church herself went public. A
Jesuit preparatory school in Berlin reported the first cases, but very
soon crimes from other institutions became known, and not only Catholic
ones. But why were the revelations in America and Ireland not taken as
the occasion to investigate immediately in other countries as well, to
get in touch with victims – so as to eliminate any perpetrators who
might still have been at work?
We responded to the matter in
America immediately with revised, stricter norms. In addition,
collaboration between the secular and ecclesiastical authorities was
improved. Would it have been Rome’s duty, then, to say to all the
countries expressly: find out whether you are in the same situation?
Maybe we should have done that. For me, in any case, it was a surprise
that abuse also existed on that scale in Germany.
The fact
that newspapers and television reported extensively on such things was
in the service of indispensable information. The ideologically tinged
one-sidedness and aggressiveness of many in the media, however, took on
the form of a propaganda war that exceeded all bounds. Regardless of
that, the Pope made it clear: “The greatest persecution of the Church
comes not from her enemies without, but arises from sin within the
Church.”
There was no overlooking the fact that what guided
this press campaign was not only a sincere desire for truth, but there
was also some pleasure in exposing the Church and if possible
discrediting her. All that notwithstanding, one thing was always clear:
insofar as it is the truth, we must be grateful for every disclosure.
The truth, combined with love rightly understood, is the number-one
value. And finally, the media could not have reported in this way had
there not been evil in the Church herself. Only because there was evil
in the Church could it be played off against her by others.
Ernst-Wolfgang
Böckenförde, a former German constitutional judge, remarked: “The words
that Pope Benedict used years ago in the United States and now in his
letter to Irish Catholics could not be harsher.” The real reason for the
decades-long failure, he says, lies in deep-seated patterns of
behaviour according to a Church policy that places the welfare and
reputation of the Church above all else. The welfare of the victims, on
the other hand, automatically becomes a secondary matter, although
actually they are first and foremost the ones in need of the Church’s
protection.
Analysing this is, of course, not easy. What
does Church policy mean? Why didn’t people react formerly in the same
way they do now? Even the press formerly did not take up such matters;
the mentality back then was different. We know that the victims
themselves, too, feel great shame and do not necessarily want to be
thrust immediately into the spotlight. Many were able only decades later
to talk about what had happened to them.
It is important that we
first take care of the victims and do everything that we can to help,
support, and heal them; secondly, that such acts be prevented by the
proper selection of candidates for the priesthood, as much as possible;
and, thirdly, that the perpetrators be punished and be barred from any
opportunity to repeat such acts.
To what extent the cases must then be
made public is, I think, a separate question, which will be answered
differently in different stages of public awareness.
It is never
permissible, however, to steal away and to wish not to have seen it and
to let the perpetrator continue working. It is therefore necessary for
the Church to be vigilant, to punish those who have sinned, and above
all to exclude them from further access to children.
First and foremost,
as we said, comes charity toward the victims and efforts to do
everything good to help them cope with what they have experienced.
You
had spoken on various occasions about instances of abuse, last but not
least in the pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland that was just
mentioned. Nevertheless, there was an endless series of headlines like,
“Pope Silent on Abuse Cases”, “Pope Wraps Himself in Silence”, “Pope
Benedict Silent on Abuse Scandals in the Catholic Church”. Shouldn’t
some things have been said more often or louder in a world that has
become so noisy and hard of hearing?
Of course one may
wonder about that. Objectively, I think, everything essential was said.
After all, what was true for Ireland was not said just to Ireland. To
that extent the word of the Church and of the Pope was completely clear,
unquestionable, and audible everywhere. In Germany, at first, we also
had to leave it up to the bishops to speak. But one can always wonder
whether the Pope should not speak more often. I would not venture to
decide that now.
But ultimately you have to decide. Better communication might well have improved the situation.
Yes,
that is right. But I think that, on the one hand, the essential thing
really was said. And the fact that it applies not just to Ireland
actually was clear. On the other hand, the bishops, as I already noted,
have the first say. In that respect it was surely not wrong to wait.
The
great majority of these cases took place decades ago. Nevertheless they
burden your pontificate now in particular. Have you thought of
resigning?
When the danger is great one must not run away.
For that reason, now is certainly not the time to resign. Precisely at a
time like this one must stand fast and endure the difficult situation.
That is my view. One can resign at a peaceful moment or when one simply
cannot go on. But one must not run away from danger and say that
someone else should do it.
Is it possible then to imagine a situation in which you would consider a resignation by the Pope appropriate?
Yes.
If a pope clearly realises that he is no longer physically,
psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his
office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an
obligation to resign.
Anyone who followed the story in the
mass media during those days must have had the impression that the
Catholic Church is exclusively a system of injustice and sexual crimes.
It was immediately said that Catholic teaching on sexuality and celibacy
is directly connected with abuse. The fact that there were similar
incidents in non-Catholic institutions faded into the background. The
German criminologist Christian Pfeiffer reported that approximately 0.1
per cent of those who committed abuse come from the personnel of the
Catholic Church; 99.9 per cent came from other areas. In the United
States, a government report for the year 2008 lists the proportion of
priests who were involved in cases of paedophilia at 0.03 per cent. The
Protestant Christian Science Monitor published a study according to
which the Protestant denominations in America are affected by a much
higher rate of paedophilia. Is the Catholic Church being watched differently and evaluated differently with regard to abuse?
Actually
you have already given the answer. If you look at the real statistics,
that does not authorise us to look away from the problem or to minimise
it. But we must also note that in these matters we are not dealing with
something specific to the Catholic priesthood or the Catholic Church.
They are, unfortunately, simply rooted in man’s sinful situation, which
is also present in the Catholic Church and led to these terrible
results.
However, it is also important not to lose sight now of
all the good that comes about through the Church. Not to ignore how many
people are helped in their suffering, how many sick people, how many
children are assisted, how much aid is provided.
I think that whereas we
must not minimise the evil and must sorrowfully acknowledge it, by the
same token we must also still be grateful for how much light streams
forth from the Catholic Church and should make that visible. It would
lead to a collapse of entire sectors of social life if she were no
longer there.
And nevertheless it is difficult for many people
these days to stand by the Church. Can you understand why people
respond by leaving in protest?
I can understand it. I am
thinking of course above all about the victims themselves. That it is
difficult for them to keep believing that the Church is a source of
good, that she communicates the light of Christ, that she helps people
in life – I can understand that. And others, who have only these
negative perceptions, no longer see then the overall picture, the life
of the Church. All the more reason that the Church must strive to make
this vitality and greatness visible again, despite all that is negative.
As
prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, immediately
after the cases of abuse in the United States became known, you issued
guidelines for dealing with those cases. They also deal with
cooperation with the civil authorities and ongoing preventive measures.
This should forestall any cover-ups. The guidelines were made even
stricter in 2003. What conclusions does the Vatican draw from cases that
have recently become known?
These guidelines have now been
newly revised once more and were recently published in the final
version. Always as a continuation of the experience that has been
gained, so as to be able to respond better, more precisely and correctly
to this situation. Yet penal law alone is not sufficient here. It is
one thing to handle these cases in a way that is legally correct. It is
another thing to ensure as much as possible that they no longer happen.
To that end we authorised a major visitation of the seminaries in
America.
Here, there were evidently also instances of neglect, failure
to investigate carefully enough young men who did have a special gift
for working with youth and seemed also to be religiously inclined, but
who should have been recognised as being unsuited for the priesthood.
Prevention is therefore an important field.
Then there is the need for
positive formation in true chastity and in dealing correctly with one’s
own sexuality and that of others. Then theologically as well there is
certainly much to be developed and an appropriate climate to be created.
And then of course the whole faith community should also become
involved in thinking about vocations and promoting them and being
attentive to individuals.
On the one hand, to guide and support them –
and, on the other hand, to help the superiors discern whether or not
persons are suitable.
And so there must be a whole bundle of measures –
on the one hand, preventive, on the other hand, reactive – and finally,
positive measures in creating a spiritual climate in which these things
can be eliminated, overcome, and as far as possible precluded.
Recently
in Malta you met with several victims of abuse. One of them, Joseph
Magro, said afterward:“The Pope wept along with me, although he is in no
way guilty for what happened to me.” What were you able to say to the
victims?
Actually I could not say anything special at all to
them. I was able to tell them that it affects me very deeply. That I
suffer with them. And that was not just an expression, but it really
touches my heart.
And I was able to tell them that the Church will do
everything possible so that this does not happen again, and that we
intend to help them as well as we can.
And finally, that we keep them in
our prayers and ask them not to lose faith in Christ as the true light
and in the living communion of the Church.
SIC: CH/UK