Catholic World Report

Editorial

The importance of Pope Benedict XVI’s speech to the Roman Rota about annulments.

By George Neumayr | March 2010 issue

As dust collected on copies of canon law in chanceries after Vatican II, scandals multiplied—grim proof that the widespread indifference to canon law reflected not the presence of “pastoral” concern but its absence.

Even at this late hour, as the aftershocks of scandal continue to reverberate down chancery corridors, many bishops hesitate to apply canon law, regarding it as somehow incompatible with “pastoral ministry.”

The victims of abuse, among others, would disagree. “Canon law, as an instrument of Church governance, declined hugely during Vatican II and in the decades immediately after it,” wrote Justice Yvonne Murphy, identifying one of the main causes of the monumental sex abuse scandal in Ireland.

Pope Benedict XVI is also drawing attention to the malign neglect of canon law and its faithful application. In late January, he delivered an important speech to the Tribunal of the Roman Rota on the dangers of “pseudo-pastoral claims” that distort a proper understanding of canon law.

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Pope Benedict XVI has harsh words for Irish bishops following summit on abuse

By Michael Kelly

Pope Benedict XVI has challenged Irish bishops to face up to the child abuse crisis with honesty and courage.

In a communiqué issued February 16 after a crisis two-day summit between the Pope, Irish bishops, and senior curial officials, the Holy See said the meeting “examined the failure of Irish Church authorities for many years to act effectively in dealing with cases involving the sexual abuse of young people by some Irish clergy and religious.”

The Rome meeting comes amid public anger in Ireland after two separate judicial commissions found that Church leaders had for decades failed to report allegations of sexual abuse against priests to the civil authorities. The reports also found that in many cases senior clerics put the avoidance of scandal and the good name of the Church ahead of the rights of victims.

Special Report

Recent judicial commission reports contain devastating findings about abuse and cover-up in the Irish Church.

By Michael Kelly

For almost two decades, the Catholic Church in Ireland has struggled to come to terms with a punishing litany of revelations about sexual misconduct by priests and religious. The crisis continues to envelop Irish Catholicism and recent judicial reports have led to the resignation of four bishops, public squabbling by members of the hierarchy, and a promise of structural reform from the Vatican.

In 1992, the enigmatic bishop of Galway, Eamon Casey, was forced to step down after it emerged that he had fathered a child with an American divorcée some 20 years earlier and was using diocesan funds to pay for the upkeep of his son. Bishop Casey fled to Ecuador and his scandal was to mark the beginning of a long dark night for Catholic Ireland.