The pope also pardoned his former butler, who was serving a prison term after leaking confidential documents in the Vatican’s most embarrassing security breach in decades.
The Vatican said that the Rev. Robert W. Oliver, a canon law specialist at the Archdiocese of Boston,
would be the “promoter of justice” at the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal office that reviews all abuse
cases.
Father Oliver was among the canon lawyers who advised Cardinal Law on
sexual abuse cases in Boston, the center of the church’s child abuse
crisis in the United States. He continued advising the Archdiocese of
Boston after the cardinal was forced to resign in 2002 amid an uproar
over revelations that the cardinal had kept abusive priests working in
parishes.
David Clohessy, who helps lead the victims advocacy group Survivors
Network of those Abused by Priests, said that appointment of “anyone
with ties to Law” was problematic.
“It just rubs salt into the wounds of hundreds and hundreds of Boston
victims when anyone associated with Law is given any kind of
responsibility or power or prestige,” he said. “On the other hand, we’d
rather someone hold that position who has had a lot of experience, even
if their track record is less than stellar.”
Father Oliver currently serves as a canon lawyer in the Archdiocese of
Boston and as a visiting professor of canon law at Catholic University
of America in Washington, D.C.
In a statement released by the Boston
archdiocese, Father Oliver said, “It is with deep humility and gratitude
that I received the news that the Holy Father is entrusting me with
this service to the Church.”
Father Oliver succeeds Msgr. Charles Scicluna,
53, who was promoted to auxiliary bishop in his native Malta. A
friendly canon lawyer, Monsignor Scicluna found himself in the eye of
the storm after being named promoter of justice in 2002.
The same year, Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the prefect of
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a decree that all
abuse cases should be sent directly to the doctrinal office.
But
bishops later said that the decree was not explained clearly and
confusion lingered over how dioceses should handle abuse cases.
After his resignation in Boston, Cardinal Law was transferred to Rome
and named archpriest of the prestigious Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore
and remained a member of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for
Bishops, responsible for naming bishops, until he retired last year.
When the scandal erupted anew in Europe in 2010, with cases emerging in
Ireland and the pope’s native Germany — including some that called into
question how Benedict handled an abuse case
when he was archbishop of Munich in 1980 — the Vatican issued new
guidelines, essentially telling bishops to report abuse cases to the
police.
Victims groups called the Vatican’s actions too little, too late.