Later this month, as every year since he was chosen to lead the world's Roman Catholics, the scholarly Pope Benedict XVI will preside at a meeting of his Schülerkreis — a group of his former doctoral students.
This
year, the issue for debate in the pontifical summer palace, overlooking
a volcanic lake near Rome, is the one he was elected to tackle: how to
reverse the galloping secularisation of Catholicism's European homeland.
The
discussion could scarcely be more timely, coming in the midst of a
crisis in relations between the Holy See and Ireland, a country where,
until a few years ago, official defiance of Rome was unthinkable.
The reaction in the Vatican to Enda Kenny's impassioned denunciation on 20 July
has been one of astonishment.
But, as the Holy See's temporary recall
of its ambassador, or nuncio, five days later showed, it is also laced
with indignation.
The pope's deputy spokesman, Father Ciro
Benedettini, gave the move a positive gloss, saying the Holy See needed
the nuncio back in Rome so it could frame its reply to the Cloyne report
"with objectivity and determination".
But his temporary withdrawal also
reflected what Benedettini tactfully called "surprise and
disappointment over some excessive reactions".
In diplomacy, the
recall of an envoy for consultations is a clear signal of disapproval
and L'Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference, was
unable to find a precedent for it in the vast annals of Vatican
diplomacy.
The pope's aides feel they have been unfairly attacked,
and some suspect a political motive.
One high-ranking cleric who spoke
on condition of anonymity noted Ireland was caught up in the euro crisis
and speculated that Kenny might have been seeking to distract public
opinion.
Others stressed the Vatican response, promised by the end
of August, would seek to heal the breach. But the signs this week were
that it would also include a vigorous defence of the Vatican's position.
No
one in Rome disputes that allegations of the sexual abuse of minors in
the Cloyne diocese were grossly mishandled by the bishop, John Magee.
But Vatican officials argue they are being pilloried for the actions of a
pastor who disregarded their instructions.
Ireland's prime
minister claimed that judge Yvonne Murphy's report contained evidence of
an "attempt by the Holy See to block an enquiry ... less than three
years ago".
Vatican officials say they can find no such evidence.
What the report does contain, they say, is criticism of the papal
bureaucracy's actions 14 years ago.
In 1997, the Congregation for the
Clergy, the department responsible for the priesthood, sent a message to
the Irish bishops criticising their attempts to create a framework for
dealing with sex abuse cases.
In particular, it objected to a
clause that went beyond the requirements of Irish law at the time and
proposed that: "In all instances where it is known or suspected that a
priest … has sexually abused a child, the matter should be reported to
the civil authorities."
The Vatican said that could be at odds with the
church's own laws.
Murphy's commission concluded that Rome's
objections gave individual bishops – including Magee – freedom to ignore
the bishops' guidelines.
But speaking on Vatican Radio on 19 July, the
pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, argued there was "no reason
to interpret the letter as aimed at hiding cases of abuse.
In fact, it
was warning of the risk of taking measures that could then turn out to
be challengeable or invalid from a canonical point of view".
In
any case, say other Vatican officials, even if the Congregation's
response was misguided, it was made before 2001.
That is when, in their
view, there was a sea change.
Pope John Paul II ordered all cases
of alleged sex abuse to be dealt with in Rome by the department then
headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as he was known then.
As he read
the paperwork, the future pope became increasingly appalled by what he
saw, and put in place an altogether more effective policy.
"Not to
recognise that there has been a learning curve and that things have
changed is stupid", said a senior Vatican official.
That may not
be the whole story, however.
In an interview with the website Vatican
Insider, the archbishop of Dublin, Cardinal Diarmuid Martin, said he
believed Kenny was not only referring to the 1997 exchange, but also "to
interactions – which I was unaware of – which took place with the
Vatican while the Cloyne report was being prepared".
He did not
elaborate.