COMMENT: It would be also wrong to think Archbishop Martin is a lone voice in the pontifical wilderness.
NOT
LONG ago I had dinner with a middle-ranking Vatican figure, very
familiar with Irish matters.
Some days earlier, Archbishop of Dublin Dr
Diarmuid Martin had appeared to criticise the Holy See when he had
lamented the “slowness” of the apostolic visitation process.
Knowing
that Archbishop Martin is a friend of mine, he asked me: “Why is your
friend so strident on this question [clerical sex abuse]?”
He then went
on to tell me that, as far as he could understand, Archbishop Martin had
gone “out of line” in urging the apostolic visitors to hurry up.
Simply, not the done thing.
Others
in the Vatican, journalists and clerics alike, who also know of my
friendship with the archbishop, often tell me: “I am sorry for that
friend of yours but he can forget the red hat [being made cardinal]
now”.
Or take the case of former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, the
man who was at the very epicentre of the US church’s sex abuse crisis at
the beginning of the last decade, accused of having gravely mishandled,
if not covered up, cases in Boston.
These days, he serves as high
priest in the Basilica of Maria Maggiore.
Furthermore, he serves on the
Congregation of Bishops, the key Vatican body which oversees church
appointments.
On top of that, he is a regular on the Vatican
diplomatic social scene, including the Pontifical Irish College and the
Irish and British embassies to the Holy See, often saying grace prior to
dinner.
For a man who was once just about the most controversial
Catholic prelate on the planet, this is hardly a sack cloth and ashes
existence.
So, does all of this mean that the Holy See still does
not get it when it comes to clerical sex abuse?
The answer, despite
appearances, is a definite “no”.
There are many people in the Holy
See, starting with Pope Benedict himself and working down to his senior
spokesman, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, who most keenly understand the
critical nature of the child abuse crisis.
However, as the above
might indicate, there are still those who are slow to comprehend the
full horrors, those who might in the words of the Taoiseach be
considered disconnected, dysfunctional and elitist.
The “cabals”
of which Archbishop Martin spoke on RTÉ two nights ago obviously exist,
both within the Holy See and the Irish hierarchy and they are capable of
undermining much good work.
Furthermore, the Vatican has been
terrified of the juridical aspects of the sex abuse issue for some while
now.
The idea that someone, somewhere might get to put the Pope on the
defendant’s stand or that the Holy See could be called on to pay the
worldwide clerical sex abuse damages bill tends to make Vatican
officials very unhelpful.
The Taoiseach may have been referring to this
sort of non-co-operation when he spoke in the Dáil of the Holy See
frustrating an inquiry “three years ago, not three decades ago”.
However,
it would be wrong to conclude that the Holy See is only concerned with
upholding its own power and reputation.
Just as it would be wrong to
conclude that Archbishop Martin is a lone voice in the pontifical
wilderness.
When discussing the sex abuse question in his
interview-book, Light of the World published last November, Pope
Benedict quotes only one authority on the subject, namely Archbishop
Martin.
In all probability, Benedict is not as “disconnected” as some of those around him.