1

Professor Aubry

English 2150

April 2019

Clandestine Catholics

He raises his hand, and lifts his index finger, pointing above, claiming that God manifests through his worldly body. The words come from his mouth with the skill brought by custom and experience. He may have prepared his speech, or it might be an improvised version, perhaps a repetition of a repetition of the passage of the Bible that he has read and spoken about multiple times already throughout his life as a priest. The crowd that faces him in silence listens to him attentively; they are expecting answers, solutions, truths in order to appease their problems and doubts. His words greatly influence their life choices, their values, their conception of life and death, and they are blindly resting their attention and confidence—and, arguably, their lives—on this man. However, his personality is, most likely, ignored by them. His traits, preferences, experience, mistakes are unknown to the great majority—yet, they still trust him. He could be a virtuous man worthy of their confidence or he could be a depraved man that has systematically abused children. This is merely a reflection of the modus operandi of the entire Church: the personality of a priest is as secret as the essence of the . The world of the

Catholic Institution is mostly unexplored, but once someone is able to clear the fog and take a minor glance to the actual nature and system, a scandal is almost inevitable, for the lack of transparency and openness encourages the proliferation of an underground wickedness in the form of lust, corruption, and greed. 2

The most recent, continuous scandal of the Church was uncloaked in 2002 by the Boston

Globe’s research team Spotlight, which, in a thorough investigation, discovered a vast network of priest pedophiles in Boston (whose story was the inspiration for the award-winning movie

"Spotlight"). The journalists, Matt Carroll, Sacha Pfeiffer, Michael Rezendes and Walter V.

Robinson, began uncovering Rev. ’s abusive behavior: more than 130 people claimed to be victims of his inappropriate behavior—one of them was 4 years old the first time he was fondled (Rezendes). Geoghan had been accused of molesting children several times in the past, but the archdiocese, being acquainted with his inappropriate conduct, stated that it was not a

“serious” problem, and throughout the years covered him by transferring him from one parish to another and justifying his absences under the pretext of “sick leave.” The team, later on, received

13 names of other priests in Boston that had faced similar accusations; by continuing their investigation, they expanded their list to 70 priests from that city (Renzedes). By the end of the report, at least 271 members of the Archdiocese of Boston were accused of sexually abusing children (Renzedes).

At first, the problem was catalogued as a minor problem or as “isolated incidents” (as the

Boston Cardinal Bernard F. Law denominated it), but, with time, it was recognized as a

“systemic problem in the Boston Archdiocese” (The Boston Globe). However, as investigations proceeded, more cases were discovered and the “incident” became a national crisis, for soon after the release of the report in 2002, 815 victims were acknowledged in the United States. The scope of the problem continued to expand, and thousands of people in different countries have been encouraged to come forward throughout the years. A true, official number of worldwide victims of by priest does not exist, for the Vatican has strived to hide it. Data, nonetheless, may be found from research done with specific populations. It has been reported 3 that there are 3,600 victims in Germany by the New York Times (Bennhold and Eddy), 4444 victims in Australia by The Guardian (Knaus), and 100,000 in United States by the Bishop

Accountability Center—another number suggests 320,000. Almost daily, new reports are released exposing other data that intends to decipher the true scope of the problem.

However, the problem is not only becoming larger due to the ever-increasing numbers of cases and crimes, but it also has been gaining importance and receiving attention because of the involvement of prominent authorities of the Catholic Church. Recently, the highest-ranking catholic priest in Australia and ex-Treasurer in the Vatican, Cardinal George Pell, was convicted for abusing two children; additionally, the cardinal and of Washington, Theodore

McCarrick, was defrocked over abuse claims—making him the most senior Catholic figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times (BBC).

The magnitude of the problem reveals that there was a system, a pattern of practices within the Catholic Church that paved the way for the abusers and strived to maintain the despicable conduct under the shadows. The Boston Globe suggested that “for decades Church leaders kept horrific tales of abuse out of the public eye through an elaborate culture of secrecy, deception, and intimidation.” It is not true that the problems of sexual abuse did not exist before; instead, the Catholic Church was able to repress the information and keep it hidden by using its economic, political, and religious influence, as it has been doing throughout the centuries. In fact, these secretive techniques of the Church have been acquired with experience, for they have become almost a tradition: they have been part of the system of the institution and reinforced by the ideological foundation of Christianity.

One of the Church’s persistent habits that encourage secrecy has been the pope’s complicity. In the recent crisis of sexual abuse, the has been criticized not only for 4 his negligence in providing effective solutions, but also for his acknowledgment and concealment of the crimes, thus making him responsible. The victims are, generally, displeased with the way the Pope has been addressing the crisis. Headlines such as the Guardian’s “Pope

Francis has utterly failed to tackle the church’s abuse scandal” are very common, expressing the general sentiment of both: Catholics and non-Catholics. One major spokesman of this displeased group has been the Italian journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, author of the books “Lust” and

“Avarice,” in which he leveled fierce criticism to Pope Francis. The Guardian reported that

Fittipaldi argues that the pope has done “close to nothing” in order to stop the clerical abuse and that “the Vatican refused to give judges documents because it is considered a pontifical secret”

(Kirchgaessner). Despite the fact that Pope Francis has openly declared a policy of zero- tolerance of sexual abuse and paedophilia, he has admitted that “the global Catholic Church deliberately destroyed documents on priests who abused children.” Pope Francis has also been accused by the Italian Journalist for covering-up the crimes of, for instance, Cardinal Philippe

Barbarin of France. The pope declined to accept this cardinal’s resignation after he was convicted of “failing to report a known pedophile priest to the police,” according to The Morning

Call (Muschick). Although these accusations are strong, one of the one of the most powerful has been that of the Archbishop Viganò, who published a letter directed to the Supreme Pontiff asking for his resignation, according to The New York Times (Horowitz). The grounds of his request were that the Pope knew, at least by 2013, that Cardinal McCarrick was a “serial predator,” and that, instead of condemning the acts, Francis provided protection and impunity by moving him constantly from one parish to another and maintaining him in the high, powerful positions within the Church. Only by 2018, McCarrick was discovered and the Pope was forced to accept his resignation in order to maintain his favorable public image, argues Viganò. 5

The pope’s responsibility for the crimes of the Church is not exclusive to the sexual- abuse crisis; many pontiffs in the past had either committed the atrocities themselves or taken a passive role in order to cover-up the crimes of others. Pope Pius, who held the position from

1939 to 1958 was held responsible for covering up Church support to the Germans in WWII and of not doing enough to help those facing persecution by the Nazis. The conduct of other popes in the past has been even worse. Pope John XII (ruled from 930-964), was accused of homicide, perjury, sacrilege, incest and of turning the Vatican into a “whorehouse;” he managed to keep this information hidden during his reign. Also, Pope Boniface VIII (whose papacy went from

1294 to his death in 1303) had systematically abused of children and was able to carry on with this conduct by arguing that pedophilia “was no more problematic than rubbing one hand against the other.” Similarly, Pope Alexander VI (who was a pope between 1492 and 1503) was able to hide that he had more than 9 illegitimate children, that he had a mistress inside the Vatican, and that he hosted several orgies. Therefore, being able to hide crimes has become an implicit requirement for holding the Papal Office.

The second practice present in the Church that has facilitated the culture of secrecy has been its hierarchical, bureaucratic organization. By creating a system in which the multiple levels of authority translate into different levels of power, priests of lower ranks are controlled by the mandates of the superior ones. The Guardian reporter Catherine Pepinster claimed that “the clerical caste is one shaped by obedience and a deep fear of sullying the reputation of the

Church.” This has become a problem for the sexual abuse crisis because it has delineated the conduct of thousands of average priests and has led them towards the concealment of crimes.

The Vatican, indeed, does not aim to ruin its reputation, which is why “the Catholic Church is telling newly appointed bishops that it is ‘not necessarily’ their duty to report accusations of 6 clerical child abuse and that only victims or their families should make the decision to report abuse to police,” as reported by The Guardian (Kirchgaessner). There are other surprising documents that delineate the steps that the priest should follow once they commit reprehensible acts in order to avoid public outrage, and priests are not only impelled to follow them, but also obliged to (for the Vatican still has authority over them). One of said documents describes the procedure for priests that break celibacy vows and father children. An article in the New York

Times explains that the Vatican has confirmed the existence of such document (Horowitz). It is, then, through the hierarchical structure of the Church that the highest-ranking officials have managed to hide their own crimes by using their power to give orders of concealment or they have themselves hidden the crimes of their inferiors in order to maintain their reputation. Either way, such hierarchy is in great part responsible for all of the atrocities that the Catholic Church has made.

The hierarchical organization has precisely evolved in order to benefit the Church’s interests and protect it from any hazards. The Book A Concise History of the Catholic Church by

Thomas Bokenkotter describes the development of this institution. In the chapter “A Church with

Authority” the author offers an explanation for the bureaucratic system: it was initially created

(around the first century) in order to meet the crisis of a new group, the Gnostics, who made different interpretations of the Scriptures that conflicted with the basic doctrines of the Church.

As a solution, the Catholic congregations “realized the value of having a single person as an authoritative doctrinal spokesman” and decided to provide more power to some Churches over other, smaller ones (Bokenkotter 33). Thus, through an office conferred by appointment (not by the Spirit) and by granting the Church of infallibility—for “all other churches should agree with Rome as an unquestioned channel of pure apostolic doctrine”—, the Catholics created a 7 stronger system that equips the authorities of the Church with freedom to solve disturbances according to what they consider necessary and appropriate. This freedom is unlimited, for everyone else is meant to respect and agree to these decisions because they have been bestowed with absolute rightness and perfection. Bokenkotter later on explains that “the primitive Church only slowly organized itself and shaped its system of authority in response to a variety of situations that existed in different localities” (30). The hierarchy, then, is the product of the changes that it had to undergo during the many crises, and it has made itself invulnerable to any hazard that might threaten it; hierarchy is, precisely, the system that has developed by and for secrecy. If the Catholic authorities consider that the best strategy in order to solve a problem without affecting the power and reputation of the Church is concealment, as happens most commonly, the inferior ranks are left impotent with these “holy” orders. This system that has developed during numerous centuries is particularly dangerous, for it has provided high-officials sufficient power to give universal orders to the priests so that the information that it aims to maintain hidden is effectively kept underground.

A third practice of the Church that has allowed it to bury its misdeeds has been the way in which it has used its enormous economic power. During many decades, the Church dealt with the sexual abuse problem by paying for settlements and creating a network of psychiatric hospitals where the priests with problems may scape to without being noticed. At first, the

Boston Globe estimated that the cost had been $50 million; however, NPR recently stated that this crisis has cost the Church $3 billion dollars. This is money that was meant to aid the sick, to provide shelter to the homeless, and to support the vulnerable; instead the Church redirected its funds to protect the troublesome priests. The misuse of money has been part of the Church throughout its history, and its wealth has granted it much liberty. During the time of the strong 8

Papal States, the church was not publicly reprimanded precisely due to its enormous wealth. This was precisely, the time of the worst priests—among them, Leo X (1475-1521).

A fourth, and arguably the most powerful, practice that the Church uses to justify and, therefore, avoid criticism has been its spiritual power. A common practice among the pedophile priests was telling children that his actions were God’s will; and the kids, therefore, accepted it obediently. By using the name of God, priests grant themselves a divine, unquestionable right.

“We saw Catholic priests weaponizing their faith, using their faith as a tool of the abuse, and all the while the bishops, the , the cardinals covered it up,” said state Attorney General

Josh Shapiro said at a news conference. Disputing against God’s will is not something that vulnerable children are instructed to do. Despicable deeds justified with God’s will has also been part of the past. In fact, the worst crimes of the Church have been performed under these grounds. The Crusades, which took place between 1096 and 1291, were ruthless and destructive wars between Christians and Muslims for the territory of the Holy Sites. The violence and bloodshed were encouraged by the popes, who argued that this war was God’s will and intended to spread His teachings, and to avenge the blasphemous acts against Christianity.

All of these practices of the Church have not only been the result of human flaws, or a misinterpretation of the teachings of Catholicism; instead, they have been caused by teachings of this religion (mostly compiled in The Catechism of the Catholic Church), which have (1) sowed the value of secrecy, (2) granted privileges to the officials of the Church, and (3) encouraged a docile characters in the followers of the religion.

Firstly, the abundant appraisal of secrecy, hiddenness, mystery, silence and other counterparts said Catechism is remarkable. The very life of the divine figure, Christ, is a mystery. The first lesson of Christ, the catechism says, was silence: “May esteem for silence, that 9 admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us” (art. 533). The first 30 years of his life were, except one or two brief moments, unknown. Also, God presents himself as a hidden

God to Moses by saying “I am who I am.” The Catechism explains: “this divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery,” for God never unveils his name; He does not reveal his identity nor provides further information concerning His nature. Therefore, the highest, most excellent being, God, is a Mystery. In fact, its nature as a Holy Trinity is catalogued as a mystery. There are many other fundamental beliefs are described as “mysteries”; they are all divided into four categories, each containing five different mysteries: Joyful, Sorrowful,

Glorious, and Luminous. All of this situates uncertainty as a high, acceptable value and dishearten the inquisitive spirit, suggesting that it is proper that some things remain unknown—a teaching that is convenient for the secrets of the Vatican.

Secondly, the Catechism also explains the features attributed to the Church:

The Church is both the means and the goal of God's plan (...) The Church has been manifested as the mystery of salvation by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. (...) The Church is both visible and spiritual, a hierarchical society and the Mystical Body of Christ. She is one, yet formed of two components, human and divine. That is her mystery, which only faith can accept. The Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men. (art. 778-780)

Additionally, the Catechism describes that the priest “possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself” (art 1548). All of these attributes of the Church and its officials are considered to be at a higher level because and are provided with divine qualities by being the representation of God on Earth. In this way, they make themselves superior to the average person. The private interests of the priests may be presented as God’s will, which provides a powerful justification of the acts performed—even if they are wicked. 10

Finally, the Catechism also describes the type of behavior that is encouraged in the followers of Christ. The first of the Theological Virtues is faith. The article 1814 of the

Catechism asserts that “by faith man freely commits his entire self to God. For this reason, the believer seeks to know and do God's will. The righteous shall live by faith.” Therefore, the

Catholic believer is encouraged to trust blindly God’s plan (executed through the Church). Thus, the followers of Christ are expected to accept the decisions of the Church with obedience and complaisance—or faith—, as thousands have done while witnessing the mistakes of the Church.

It is clear, then, that the wickedness of the Church is embedded in its most profound roots, and that, due to the practices of the Church and the fundamental teachings of Catholicism, such corruption is apparently inevitable. What has made the problem so characteristic of this particular religious community and institution has been the fact that all of the ingredients for disaster are present. A doctrine that has the potential of being used to foster secrecy, when practiced by an institution that has been made itself strong through giving economic, bureaucratic and spiritual power to its authorities, becomes dangerous. With the particular organization that the Catholic Church has evolved, the features of the secretive, mysterious doctrine are used as pretext for the perpetrations of atrocities. This Church has developed a form interpretation that allows it, regardless of the way, to endure.

For this reason, there are current social movements that are pleading for a radical reformation of the Church in an attempt of providing a form of execution of the doctrines of

Christianity that does not culminate in evilness. Among the petitions are “the end of an all-male autocracy,” the end of celibacy, and the dismantlement of the hierarchy. The New York Times has published different articles that read “Why the Priesthood Needs Women” and “Reforming the Church.” In the current, open world it is becoming harder for the Church to conceal its 11 secrets, which means that it might be the end of the Church as we know it. This tremendously powerful institution that has thrived for two millennia—outliving the greatest scandals, wars, kings, empires, economic practices, and political systems—might finally be approaching to its twilight.

12

Works Cited

Argento, Mike. “Lies and Cover-Ups: Catholic Church in Pa. Had 'Playbook' to Keep Priest Abuse

Secret.” The York Daily Record, York Daily Record, 17 Aug. 2018,

www.ydr.com/story/news/watchdog/2018/08/16/pa-priest-abuse-how-catholic-church-covered-

up-widespread-clergy-abuse-grand-jury-report-ag/1002107002/.

Bennhold, Katrin, and Melissa Eddy. “In German Catholic Churches, Child Sex Abuse Victims Top

3,600, Study Finds.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/world/europe/german-church-sex-abuse-

children.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases.

Bokenkotter, Thomas S. A Concise History of the Catholic Church. Doubleday, 2005.

“Catholic Church Child Sexual Abuse Scandal.” BBC News, BBC, 26 Feb. 2019,

www.bbc.com/news/world-44209971.

Gjelten, Tom. “The Clergy Abuse Crisis Has Cost the Catholic Church $3 Billion.” NPR, NPR, 18

Aug. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/08/18/639698062/the-clergy-abuse-crisis-has-cost-the-catholic-

church-3-billion.

Horowitz, Jason. “Pope Francis Long Knew of Cardinal's Abuse and Must Resign, Archbishop Says.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 Aug. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/08/26/world/europe/pope-ireland-sexual-abuse-letter-

vigano.html?module=inline.

Horowitz, Jason, and Elisabetta Povoledo. “Vatican's Secret Rules for Catholic Priests Who Have

Children.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 18 Feb. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/world/europe/priests-children-vatican-rules-celibacy.html. 13

Kamerman, David. “Scores of Priests Involved in Sex Abuse Cases - The Boston Globe.”

BostonGlobe.com, 31 Jan. 2002, www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2002/01/31/scores-

priests-involved-sex-abuse-cases/kmRm7JtqBdEZ8UF0ucR16L/story.html.

Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. “Catholic Bishops Not Obliged to Report Clerical Child Abuse, Vatican

Says.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 10 Feb. 2016,

www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/catholic-bishops-not-obliged-report-clerical-child-

abuse-vatican-says.

Kirchgaessner, Stephanie. “Pope Has Done Almost Nothing to Halt Sex Abuse, Author Claims.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 16 Jan. 2017,

www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/15/catholic-church-not-done-enough-to-tackle-abuse-

claims-new-book.

Knaus, Christopher. “4,444 Victims: Extent of Abuse in Catholic Church in Australia Revealed.” The

Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 Feb. 2017, www.theguardian.com/australia-

news/2017/feb/06/4444-victims-extent-of-abuse-in-catholic-church-in-australia-revealed.

Mcdermott, Alice. “Why the Priesthood Needs Women.” The New York Times, The New York Times,

23 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/opinion/sunday/women-catholic-

priests.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article.

Muschick, Paul. “Paul Muschick: Here's Another Example of Pope Francis Being Weak against Priest

Sex Abuse.” Themorningcall.com, 21 Mar. 2019, www.mcall.com/opinion/mc-opi-cardinal-

barbarin-resignation-pope-francis-sex-abuse-muschick-20190320-story.html.

Pepinster, Catherine. “Pope Francis Has Utterly Failed to Tackle the Church's Abuse Scandal |

Catherine Pepinster.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 26 July 2018, 14

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/26/pope-francis-catholic-church-abuse-scandal-

failed.

“Records Show a Trail of Secrecy, Deception - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 1 May 2012,

www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2012/05/01/bgcom-inv-clergy-

side/gCUuvYojnYSuIvbwyzHayJ/story.html.

“Reforming the Church.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 Dec. 2018,

www.nytimes.com/2018/12/30/opinion/letters/catholic-church-sex-

abuse.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Roman Catholic Church Sex Abuse Cases.

Rezendes, Michael. “Spotlight Church Abuse Report: Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years - The

Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2002, www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-

reports/2002/01/06/church-allowed-abuse-priest-for-

years/cSHfGkTIrAT25qKGvBuDNM/story.html.

Rezendes, Michael. “Spotlight Church Abuse Report: Church Allowed Abuse by Priest for Years - The

Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2002, www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-

reports/2002/01/06/church-allowed-abuse-priest-for-

years/cSHfGkTIrAT25qKGvBuDNM/story.html.

Rocheleau, Matt. “At Least 271 Clergy Accused of Child Sex Abuse in Boston Archdiocese - The

Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 6 Nov. 2015, www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/06/least-

clergy-have-been-accused-child-sex-abuse-boston-

archdiocese/5cKpjVOPhEh7IYnCwRqIJI/story.html.

“The Scandal and Coverup - The Boston Globe.” BostonGlobe.com, 26 Oct. 2015,

www.bostonglobe.com/news/special-reports/2015/10/26/bcom-

spotlight/Lpj4dYVIppnWLVqEzyr5bK/story.html.