Vatican invites 203 cardinals for talks on sex abuse by clergy
By Dario Thuburn, Agence France-Presse November 9, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI has invited all the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church for unprecedented talks next week on cases of sexual abuse by clergy -- a move greeted with skepticism by activists.
"The Pope has invited the members of the college of cardinals... to a day of reflection and prayer," the Vatican said in a statement Monday. "The Church's response to sexual abuse cases" will be one of the themes of the meeting in the Vatican, formally known as a consistory, it added.
The talks on November 19 come as Benedict grapples with the Church's most profound crisis in years, following thousands of abuse scandals across Europe and the United States and accusations of a cover-up by senior clergy.
The abuse discussion will be led by U.S. cardinal William Joseph Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body in charge of Church dogma that was presided for more than 20 years by the current pope. Levada, a former archbishop of San Francisco, is seen as a conservative stalwart and has been criticized in the United States by victims of sex abuse by priests of covering up Church crimes instead of exposing them.
Barbara Blaine, head of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), reacted cautiously to the Vatican announcement.
"We'll only know if this is a good development when we see action resulting from this meeting. To be swayed by mere talk is to betray vulnerable children and wounded adults," Blaine said in a statement.
"It takes decisive action to oust predator priests and complicit bishops. And when it comes to abuse, this Pope, like his predecessors, has shown little commitment to real action," she added.
The consistory is set to bring together the Church's 203 cardinals, including 24 newly-appointed ones.
Consistory meetings are usually held behind closed doors and allow the pontiff to consult with the cardinals on key aspects of Vatican policy. Benedict's predecessor John Paul II summoned all the American cardinals to the Vatican in 2002 amid widespread outrage following revelations that abuse by clergy in the United States had been hushed up.
Benedict has apologized for the abuses, tightened Church rules on abuse and met victims during visits to Australia, Britain, Malta and the United States.
The Pope also held talks with the bishops of Ireland earlier this year after the publication of a report detailing hundreds of cases of abuse.
World's cardinals gather for sex abuse talks
By Michele Leridon, Agence France-Presse November 17, 2010
VATICAN CITY — Cardinals from around the world will hold an unprecedented meeting in the Vatican on Friday to discuss the issue of sex abuse by priests, but officials are playing down hopes for any major outcomes.
"The Church's response to sexual abuse cases" will be one of the themes at the meeting to be led by a U.S. cardinal following an invitation from Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said in a statement ahead of the closed-door talks. It will be the first time the cardinals meet to discuss the issue. Around 105 of the world's 203 cardinals — who have a key role in the Roman Catholic Church because they vote on new popes — are expected to take part.
The publication in Ireland last year of a shocking report that documented hundreds of cases of child abuse by priests and systematic cover-up efforts by senior clergy has plunged the Church into its worst crisis in many years. The revelations have been succeeded by a number of scandals across the United States and Europe, including in Germany — the pope's homeland. Benedict has condemned the crimes with growing intensity, has met with victims and has tightened Church rules for dealing with abusers.
Special envoys from the Vatican have also been dispatched to Ireland to meet with victims and examine procedures for preventing abuse, with the Vatican saying the mission will help the Church "purify itself". But campaigners say the Catholic Church has not done enough to punish those who covered up for abusers.
Only last month, dozens of abuse victims held a rowdy protest in front of the Vatican, calling for the pope himself to be put on trial. Friday's discussions will be led by U.S. Cardinal William Joseph Levada, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the body in charge of Church dogma that was led for more than 20 years by the current pope.
Levada was previously the archbishop of San Francisco. Barbara Blaine, head of the U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), has reacted cautiously to the Vatican meeting. "We'll only know if this is a good development when we see action resulting from this meeting. To be swayed by mere talk is to betray vulnerable children and wounded adults," Blaine said earlier in a statement.
"It takes decisive action to oust predator priests and complicit bishops. And when it comes to abuse, this Pope, like his predecessors, has shown little commitment to real action," she added.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi played down expectations. "It's a communication, information, clarification, reflection on some questions but not a very thorough examination," he said, adding that there would be little official communication from the Vatican after the talks. "When we think about the relatively limited time during the day and the multiplicity of subjects that will be broached, we should not expect reports from the college of cardinals on these themes," he added.
Cardinals are also expected to discuss the controversial topic of conversions to the Catholic Church of Anglicans disgruntled with the Church of England's acceptance of women priests and gay marriage. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the leader of the world's Anglicans, will also be in Rome for a conference on Christian unity and is expected to meet Benedict on Thursday, his press service said.
The issue has become particularly heated after the conversion of five Church of England bishops announced earlier this month in response to a Vatican offer made last year — a move that Williams reacted to "with regret". The cardinals' meeting will be followed on Saturday by a formal consistory in which 24 new cardinals are due to be formally recognized. The list is dominated by European clergy but there will also be cardinals from Brazil, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt and Zambia.
Priest charged with multiple sex-assault charges back in court in January
Postmedia News
QUEBEC — A Quebec priest facing multiple counts of sexual assaults against 11 boys who attended a private Catholic school in the 1980s will be back in court early next year.
Raymond-Marie Lavoie, 70, was a teacher at the Seminaire St. Alphonse, in Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre, just outside Quebec City, when the assaults are alleged to have taken place.
Lavoie was expected to enter a guilty plea Monday.
However, the Crown prosecutor said the defence asked for more time to continue working out a plea agreement.
The case was put off to January 31 for the preliminary hearing, but defence lawyer Serge Goulet told the judge his client could be back in court before that if a deal is reached.
Lavoie was first arrested in December 2009 and faces charges of sexual assault, indecent assault and gross indecency against a victim who was 12 years-old at the time of the alleged crimes.
Surete du Quebec launched an investigation and eventually found other alleged victims: all boarders at the college in the 1970s and 1980s, who were between the ages of 12 and 15 at the time.
Aside from the criminal accusations, Lavoie is facing a potential class-action lawsuit.
Priest held in Spain for possession of child-sex images
Agence France-Presse November 12, 2010
MADRID - A priest in Spain has been arrested for alleged possession of some 21,000 computer files containing child pornography, Spanish media said Friday.
The 52-year-old, who was not identified, was detained on Wednesday and has been released on bail by a judge, who ordered him to appear before him every two weeks, the media said, quoting prosecutors. He was held after police found computers files containing pornographic images of children, in his parish church of Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion in the eastern town of Vilafames. The 21,000 files occupied some 600 gigabytes of space. The diocese in which the church is based, Segorbe-Castellon, said that, after talking to the priest, it had decided to suspend him from his duties, the newspaper El Pais reported in its online edition.
He has been arrested "for an alleged crime of child pornography via the Internet", the paper quoted a statement from the diocese as saying. "If the accusation is true, this is something that hurts us deeply, that we sincerely regret and that we reject unreservedly." The diocese expressed its "total readiness to clarify the facts before the courts". At the same time, it will offer the priest "the necessary means for a fair defence".
Spain has thus far largely escaped the paedophile scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in other parts of Europe and the United States.
664 abuse cases reported to German church hotline
Published: November 24, 2010 1:07 p.m.
Last modified: November 24, 2010 1:14 p.m
BERLIN - Germany's Roman Catholic Church says self-described victims have reported 664 cases of sexual abuse to its hotline, 432 of which were allegedly committed by priests or monks Germany's Bishops Conference said in a statement Wednesday its psychologists and other experts have also had in-depth conversations with some 3,400 people in the first six months of the hotline's existence. It said 664 people confirmed the abuse allegations in a follow-up survey, and more than 80 per cent said they had been repeatedly abused. It said almost one in ten was seeking legal advice, and 6 per cent asked about financial compensation. The hotline began operating March 30 when a widening abuse scandal — with most reported cases dating back decades — rocked the Catholic church in Germany, Pope Benedict XVI's homeland.
Archbishop: AIDS is Justice; Pedophile Priests Should Be Free
Friday November 19, 2010
When Andre Leonard was picked to be Archbishop in Belgium, I wonder if anyone foresaw the controversy he would cause? Probably -- his views were well known by the Vatican and when he causes a stir with this comments, it's only because he's accurately representing the Vatican's real positions on various issues. His "crime" is, if anything, the fact that he doesn't pretend that Vatican policy is more humane than it really is.
Archbishop Andre Leonard is, for example, simply being an honest representative of the Vatican when he declares that AIDS is God's punishment for promiscuity and pedophile priests shouldn't be punished for raping children. It all makes sense, you see, that promiscuity deserves to be punished by horrible illness whereas child rape doesn't deserve to be punished at all.
Leonard last week published a five-page response to his critics, but refused to back off from his view that AIDS is punishment for a promiscuous lifestyle. Writing on his archdiocese's Web site, he drew parallels with people who continue to smoke despite seeing clear health warnings on cigarette packs.
Leonard took charge of the Belgian church just as a long-simmering sexual abuse scandal began to surface.
In April, the then-Bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, retired and admitted that for years he had abused a nephew. In June, police raided Leonard's offices looking for clues. There is no suggestion Leonard is involved in a coverup, but his subsequent defense of retired pedophile priests couldn't have come at a more sensitive time.
"If they are no longer priests, have no more (church) responsibilities, I doubt that taking some kind of vengeance ... is a humane solution," he said on Belgian public television in October.
"Do they really want a priest, aged 85, to be put in stocks and publicly humiliated? I think most victims don't want that."
Source: Yahoo
It's important to understand that Archbishop Andre Leonard's predecessor, Godfried Danneels, was relatively liberal and this made him unacceptable to the Vatican's leadership. Danneels rejected the Vatican's decision to oppose condom-use in AIDS prevention and he didn't work against the legalization of same-sex marriage in Belgium.
The liberalism of people like Danneels won't be tolerated by the Vatican anymore. If Danneels had raped a few children then maybe things wouldn't have been so bad, but the crime of being a liberal is much worse and that's why his replacement has to take a much stricter and more authoritarian line. Catholics in Belgium can't get the idea that they have a right to marry whom they want, to decide when their lives should end, whether to wear condoms or not, or whether their priest should be spending so much "private time" with the kiddies.
That's for the Vatican to decide for them.