Scandals involving priests who have sexually abused children have been a source of many problems for the Roman Catholic Church. Arguably worse than the sexual abuse, however, are the cover-ups and conspiracies of silence that have been found in the highest reaches of the Catholic hierarchy - even perhaps up to Pope John Paul II. What did the pope, John Paul, have to do with all this?
Under John Paul II, local bishops’ power and authority had been limited; he often acted as though he were the bishop of each diocese while the actual bishops are little more than his assistants. By treating the bishops as “middle managers,” that’s exactly the sort of management style that John Paul encouraged — and with disastrous consequences.
Jason Berry and Gerald Renner write in Vows of Silence:
- “The greater problem was the bishop’s pathology of lying and John Paul’s failure to confront the sexual secrecy honeycombed through ecclesiastical governing. The Roman Catholic hierarchy showed no maternal grace. Bishops and cardinals, lacking children of their own, had coddled child molesters in a weird parody of incest.”
Consider Pope John Paul’s first statement on the reports of child molestation by priests:
- “As priests we are personally and profoundly afflicted by the sins of some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of ordination in succumbing even to the most grievous forms of the mysterium iniquitatis at work in the world. Grave scandal is caused, with the result that a dark shadow of suspicion is cast over all the other fine priests who perform their ministry with honesty and integrity and often with heroic self-sacrifice. As the Church shows her concern for the victims and strives to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations, all of us...are called to embrace the ‘mysterium Crucis’ and to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness.”
As John Cornwell points out with regard to the above, John Paul showed more concern with the effect the scandal has on the church than the effect on the children. He was “afflicted” by the sins of other priests; merely “concerned” for the victims. Priests betrayed their vows of ordination, but there is nothing here about any other betrayals — like trust that a child has for their priest.
And what exactly is the cause of these problems? Pope John Paul II identified the sexual abuse of children as a form of “mysterium iniquitatis,” or “mystery of iniquity.” This is a term taken from a passage in the Bible dealing with the apocalypse. As Cornwell puts it, “It gave the impression that these men did not set out to abuse and deprave the young, but that they were enticed by this “mysterium iniquitatis” in the realms of the powers of darkness... Responsibility was thereby partly shifted from the individual to the presence of Satan in the world.”
It can also be noted that John Paul’s analysis of the situation was taken up entirely by a focus on a “bad apples” explanation. Aside from the workings of Satan, all we have are a few bad priests — gay priests primarily, but still just a few bad apples messing things up for everyone else. There is no indication that larger, structural causes are even contemplated, much less in line to be addressed.
One of the problems that has developed out of the crisis has been the situation of gay priests. Pope John Paul II had censored any discussion of what role priestly celibacy may have played in the actions of the accused priests, but not so with homosexuality. Statements from Vatican officials have expressed strong disapproval of the very existence of homosexuals within the priesthood — the presumption being that the sexual abuse problems are caused by gays and that if they disappear, then so will the problems.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls has suggested that it is time to rid the church of its gay clergy and has said that “people with these inclinations just cannot be ordained.” Monsignor Andrew Baker of the Congregation of Bishops has said that if a man is gay, “then he should not be admitted to holy orders, and his presence in the seminary would not only give him false hope but it may, in fact, hinder” the needed therapy to overcome his urges.
Lest it be thought that such comments do not reflect the thinking of the highest reaches of the Roman Catholic Church, on September 5, 2002, Pope John Paul II stated that: “It would be lamentable if, out of a misunderstood tolerance, they ordained young men who are immature or have obvious signs of affective deviations that, as is sadly known, could cause serious anomalies in the consciences of the faithful, with evident damage for the whole Church.”
