Pontiff Speaks on Sex Abuse

Pope John Paul II, stung by the escalating sexual-abuse crisis rocking the Roman Catholic Church, declared Thursday that guilty priests have succumbed to “the most grievous forms” of evil and brought “grave scandal” to the church.

The pope’s remarks marked the first time he has spoken publicly on the issue since the furor erupted anew this year in the United States. Catholics, including bishops, had urged the pope to speak out.

But his fiercely righteous words, while welcomed, did not break any new ground and were unlikely to satisfy demands for new safeguards to protect minors.

The pope confined his remarks on abuse to one passage in a 22-page annual pre-Easter letter to clergy. He refrained from using the phrase “sexual abuse.”

John Paul’s message reflected a philosophical linchpin of Catholic theology: the power of evil to corrupt. The errant priests, he wrote, had succumbed “to the most grievous forms of the mysterium iniquitatis [mystery of evil] at work in the world.”

The pope offered no suggestions on practical ways to address the problem, nor did he comment directly on how bishops have handled the controversy. He limited his words to those of a chief pastor speaking to subordinate fellow priests.

“All of us, conscious of human weakness but trusting in the healing power of divine grace, are called to embrace the mysterium crucis [mystery of the cross] and to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness,” he wrote.

In related developments:

* Cardinal Roger M. Mahony for the first time publicly confirmed that a “few local priests” in the three-county Los Angeles Archdiocese have been removed from all ministries following accusations of sexually abusing minors. Mahony did not divulge how many clerics had been fired. Sources within the church have placed the number at six to 12. Mahony said “virtually all” of those involved “old cases, many going back decades.”

A spokesman for the archdiocese said Thursday that he could not be more specific.

* One of the nation’s leading Catholic magazines said the church hierarchy was incapable of investigating itself and said bishops had lost credibility. “No professional group--lawyers, police, accountants, doctors--is good at policing itself,” the editorial in the Jesuit magazine America said.

* A new poll said 75% of American Catholics believe that U.S. bishops are doing a “poor” or “fair” job in addressing the crisis.

Addressing Effect on Priesthood

While the pope said that the church “shows her concern for the victims and strives to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations,” he stressed the scandal’s impact on the priesthood.

“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,” the pope wrote.

He used virtually the same words in 1993 while in Denver for World Youth Day, declaring that the sexual abuse of minors had caused “suffering and scandal.”

Several experts on the Vatican regarded Thursday’s statement as evidence that the Vatican has failed to recognize the incendiary nature of a financial and moral crisis confronting the church. However, one prominent American Catholic praised the pope for a “historic” reform message.

Disclosures of reputed sex crimes by priests have rippled across the country following reports in Boston early this year that a priest who allegedly molested more than 130 boys had been transferred by superiors from parish to parish. New reports followed in Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, and Bridgeport, Conn., among other places.

A Florida bishop resigned after admitting that he had sexually abused a teenager at a seminary more than 20 years ago. There have been calls for the resignation of two of America’s leading prelates, Cardinals Bernard Law of Boston and John Egan of New York.

There have been other resignations and scandals in Europe.

In Ireland, the church recently agreed to a record $110-million payment to children abused by clergy over decades. Sexual abuse cases involving cover-ups have also been reported in England, France and Australia, among other countries. Other accusations have been lodged against a Polish archbishop.

Although sexual abuse settlements have cost the church hundreds of millions of dollars in the United States, critics have warned that the church’s moral currency is also being debased.

Father Richard P. McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, said Thursday that the pope’s remarks were “a totally inadequate response. It’s some acknowledgment of the crisis. At least it’s a fresh start. But if it were to be the only step, it would be totally inadequate. This crisis is far more serious than the pope’s advisors in the Vatican think.

‘Terrible Harm Done to Children’

“What’s reprehensible is the terrible harm done to children over so many years, and that it’s been covered up by bishops,” McBrien said. He said American Catholics--priests as well as members of the laity--are angry at bishops who run the 195 dioceses in the U.S. “They’re not angry at priests at the parish,” he said.

Ray Flynn, a former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican and one-time mayor of Boston, said the pope’s letter sent an unmistakable signal that abuse will not be tolerated.

“This historic message for reform in the way church leaders deal with allegations of sexual abuse by priests against children is not a suggestion but an ultimatum,” he said. “Changes and reforms will take place, and they will be universal,” added Flynn, who is now president of the Catholic Alliance, a nonpartisan advocacy group.

Cardinal Mahony’s newest remarks on the scandal appeared in today’s issue of the archdiocesan newspaper, The Tidings. They closely resembled the tack taken Thursday by John Paul II.

Both the pope and Mahony spoke of the scandal’s toll on the vast majority of priests who have never been involved in sexual misconduct.

“The unconscionable actions of a few priests locally and across the country have lowered a cloud of suspicion over all priests and over the entire church,” Mahony wrote. “It is a difficult time for all of us. But somehow, God’s grace is always able to bring good from any human failure, even shameful, sinful behavior.”

Mahony said the church was “passing through a time of purification.”

David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said Thursday that the pope’s remarks were disappointing.

“He seems fixated on the ‘bad apples’ and the notion of moral lapses, when in fact the real issue is the bishops’ inaction and insensitivity,” Clohessy said. “The first concern he expressed is expressed for his priests, and secondly for the victims.”

Mahony placed equal emphasis on protecting children and healing victims of abuse. But he acknowledge that the church’s credibility has been “seriously challenged and in many ways eroded.”

The editorial in the Jesuit magazine said the scandal is “even more difficult” for the clergy “not only because they are investigating their brothers, but also because their whole training urges them toward forgiveness rather than punishment.”

The editorial called for investigating committees in each diocese made up entirely of laypeople. It said that if a bishop failed to follow a committee’s disciplinary recommendations, the committee should be free to publicize its findings.

Thursday’s poll of Catholics by Le Moyne College, a Jesuit institution in Syracuse, N.Y., and Zogby International of Utica, N.Y., said 85% of Catholics believe that sexual abuse in the church should be handled by police and the criminal justice system.

The poll surveyed 1,507 U.S. Catholics from March 12-16 and has a reported margin of error of plus or minus 2.8%.

“The survey underscores and reinforces what we already suspected: that Catholics are disillusioned with certain elements of church leadership,” the Rev. Charles J. Beirne, Le Moyne College president, said in a prepared statement.

Another poll released earlier this week by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that 62% of adult Americans believe that church leaders have “mostly tried to cover up the problem” of clergy sexual abuse. The findings were based on a nationwide survey of 2,002 adults between Feb. 25 and March 10.

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Papal Letter Excerpts

The following are excerpts from Pope John Paul II’s annual letter to priests, released Thursday by the Vatican, regarding the sex abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican’s official English version of the letter includes some Latin phrases, which have been translated by Associated Press.

“At this time, too, 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 [mystery of evil] 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--conscious of human weakness, but trusting in the healing power of divine grace--are called to embrace the mysterium Crucis [mystery of the Cross] and to commit ourselves more fully to the search for holiness. . . .

“We know that the human heart has always been attracted to evil, and that man will be able to radiate peace and love to those around him only if he meets Christ and allows himself to be ‘overtaken’ by him. As ministers of the Eucharist and of sacramental reconciliation, we in particular have the task of communicating hope, goodness and peace to the world. . . .”

*

The Associated Press contributed to this report.