Priest’s demotion fails to mollify victims

Re “Vatican Sanctions Accused Priest,” May 20

That Pope Benedict XVI removes the “filth” of sexual abuse with a simple demotion of a sinful priest hardly seems newsworthy. However, when taken with the photo of John Paul II blessing the same accused child molester, one must acknowledge the progress of the Catholic Church.

RICHARD BAKER

Beverly Hills

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I disagree with the sentiments expressed in the editorial, “Penance and the pope” (May 23). I think it unfortunate that Pope Benedict XVI has sent such an ambiguous and disingenuous message to the people of God, especially to victims/survivors of clergy sexual abuse, after so many years of prevarication by the Catholic Church’s hierarchy, including the high praise bestowed on Father Marcial Maciel Degollado by the late John Paul II and highly placed friends within the Vatican.

While I may be inclined, at this late date, to agree with the forgoing of a formal canonical trial, the documented evidence of Degollado’s canonical crimes has been around for years. Some of the substantiated charges against him even incur automatic excommunication. So, while some accommodation is being made because of his advanced age and infirmity, one can still spend one’s remaining life in prayer and penance both excommunicated and laicized. Justice and charity demand nothing less.

M. IMMACULATA DUNN

Valley Forge, Pa.