VATICAN CITY — Addressing the sexual abuse crisis from the seat of the before thousands of white-robed priests, on Friday begged forgiveness, saying the church would do “everything possible” to prevent priests from abusing children. We, too, insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again,” Benedict told thousands of priests and the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square for celebrations marking the end of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest.
The pope did not outline specific actions that the church would take to combat abuse, as many had hoped — and as Benedict had pledged at an audience in April. Nor did his remarks go much beyond what he had already said in a letter to Irish Catholics in March and in a private meeting with victims of sexual abuse on Malta in April. But it was the first time that Benedict had asked forgiveness for the crisis from St. Peter’s Square, the heart of the church itself, and on an occasion focused on priests.
The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,” or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.” “And so it happened that in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light — particularly the abuse of the little ones,” the pope added.
He said that in admitting and training men for the priesthood, “We will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers”…
So this has been the Year of the Priest? I guess we should’ve known that – since Priests have been all over the news. I sure don’t find much in this article to be excited about. The notion that the Devil is lurking in the crowd trying to drive God out of the world isn’t exactly the kind of hypothesis that’s going to do much for the widespread problem of pedophilia among the Catholic clergy. Garden of Eden formulations of the problem haven’t done much so far [like since Creation].
First, the Pope is not looking at the problem of pedophilia for what it is. Pedophiles are sexually attracted to children, not to others who are capable of making consensual decisions about sexual activity. So any ideas they have about mutuality are fantasies in their own mental lives, not reality. Likewise, it’s not good for children – that is self evident to anyone who has dealt with abused children. So the Pope is talking about the problem as if the pedophile Priests are giving in to something like lust, rather than specifically drawn to children. Maybe that lust thing happens at times, but heterosexual Priests likely choose women, and homosexual Priests likely choose homosexual men – willing partners. That’s not the story that fits with pedophiles. While pedophiles may believe that they are having consensual sex, the truth is that they are seducing children and causing harm.
The Pope’s idea that he’s going to "weigh the authenticity of their vocation" is ludicrous. Pedophiles are a big problem, in part, because their presence is usually undetected. They routinely don’t look like what they are. Married men, church workers, therapists, child care people, coaches, etc. They’ll do absolutely fine in any process that "weigh[s] the authenticity of their vocation." No problem. It’s standard operating procedure. Likewise, they almost always have the fantasy that they won’t get caught because they believe their victims really want to engage in sexual activity with them [even when they resist].
And then the Pope does that thing that has plagued Catholicism through the centuries. He sees the forces of evil as being outside the Priest himself, even outside the Church. It’s Satan, and the motive is a cosmic war with God. It’s not that pedophiles are either entering the clergy to have access to children, or in a failed attempt to escape their sexual interests, they are being seduced themselves by the Devil. In the Pope’s scenario, the Priests are the victims "in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers."
Thanks for printing the longer excerpt. I only saw brief quotes in the paper — Washington Post is what I had in my D.C. hotel this morning. There is something else here that’s really disturbing.
“The pope said the Devil was behind the scandal, saying it had emerged now, in the middle of the Vatican’s Year of the Priest, because “the enemy,†or the Devil, wants to see “God driven out of the world.â€
He betrays his mind-set again. The problem, as he sees it, is that it emerged; not that it happened. He’s giving lip service to condemning the abuse, but read between the lines when he says something like that. Does he mean it would have been less of a problem if it had emerged next year?
… and he is using a disguised form of the passive voice, “it emerged,” as if “the abuse” had a mind of its own – rather than “the Priests abused…” For that matter, by speaking of this year, he’s implicitly denying that it has gone on for years [if not centuries]…
Many years ago when I was a postulant in the convent, our mistress of postulants Sr Anselm told us a story about a nun in our order who used to start laughing and making strange noises just as the most sacred moment of Mass when the priest changes the host into the body of Christ. Sr Anselm said that the devil made her do it. I started to laugh and boy did I get into trouble. I told her that the nun probably had an illness or something like Tourette Syndrome.