LISBON, Portugal – In his most thorough admission of the church’s guilt in the clerical sex abuse scandal, Pope Benedict XVI said Tuesday the greatest persecution of the institution "is born from the sins within the church," and not from a campaign by outsiders. The pontiff said the Catholic church has always been tormented by problems of its own making – a tendency that is being witnessed today "in a truly terrifying way."
"The church needs to profoundly relearn penitence, accept purification, learn forgiveness but also justice," he said. "Forgiveness cannot substitute justice," he said… In a shift from the Vatican’s initial claim that the church was the victim of a campaign by the media and abortion rights and pro-gay marriage groups, Benedict said: "The greatest persecution of the church doesn’t come from enemies on the outside but is born from the sins within the church."
Previously, he has taken to task the abusers themselves and, in the case of Ireland, the bishops who failed to stop them. Benedict has promised that the church would take action to protect children and make abusive priests face justice. He has started cleaning house, accepting the resignations of a few bishops who either admitted they molested youngsters or covered up for priests who did.
Critics are demanding more. They recall that while Benedict has scolded his church and accepted some bishops’ resignations, none of them has been actively punished or defrocked, even those who admitted molesting children…
In clinical situations, the reason that unearthing the unspoken past doesn’t make the victim feel better is obvious. It doesn’t change the fact that the trauma happened, and ithat t had a profound impact of much of the person’s life. In fact, in most traumatized people, the [often unconscious] repairative fantasy, the thing that would actually help, is that the trauma had never happened in the first place. That’s obviously the one thing that can never happen. It’s the mind’s attempts to "unhappen the past" that often causes a lot of the problems. So, when a patient chooses to confront the abuser, it’s important to thoroughly explore motives and expectations. For many, such a confrontation is a good thing in that it means they are ready to accept that their life was indelibly changed by their traumatic experience, a way to get beyond their own denial.
I bring up the clinical experience because I think it’s relevant to what has happened here. The Pope has finally done the right thing. I say "finally" because the Vatican’s response to date has been unsatisfying to everyone. But I doubt that his acceptance of the church’s responsibility will change things in the near term. What it can do is open the door to some much needed reform in the church itself. What it will do is force Catholics around the world to develop a new relationship with the Vatican and the clergy – their fallible church. And the victims will be confronted with the full impact of the betrayal they likely feel. So it’s a beginning, but hardly a solution. As it is popular to say, the Pope’s acceptance of responsible marks "the end of the beginning."
You’re absolutely right.