by Pamela Hansen

Isn't it rather ironic that some in the Catholic Church are crying witch hunt, claiming that the Church is being persecuted and conspired against, in response to the deluge of international bad press because of its appalling handling of children abused by Catholic priests.

I will no doubt be facing a witch hunt after this piece is published, but here goes.

Pope Benedict is not getting any respite despite the volcano eruption in Iceland, which brought most of Europe's airlines to a halt, hogging the front page news.

And although not holding the front page, the death toll from the earthquake in the remote region in western China is still rising and rightly getting media attention, yet still news stories on the Vatican's abuse scandal abound.

The UK Times, Irish Times, Voice of America, Euronews and Expatica in The Netherlands all carried online stories on the Vatican's continuing crisis in the last couple of days.

"Pope's visit to Malta overshadowed by paedophile priest scandal" "“ Richard Owen, UK Times and "Abuse scandal ratchets up pressure on Vatican as Pope Benedict visits Malta "“ Irish Times, Paddy Agnew, both in Rome yesterday.

And on Friday "Pope Heads to Malta, Where More Sex Abuse Victims Await" Voice of America "“ Sabina Castelfranco in Malta, "Malta abuse victims demand to meet Pope" "“ Euronews and "Sunny Malta "“ for those abdicating responsibility?" "“ Expatica item in this week's press review.

Earlier in the week, Fr Timothy Radcliffe OP, writing in The Tablet, said some people in the media do, without any doubt, wish to damage the credibility of the Church.

Yet, he acknowledges "But we owe a debt of gratitude to the press for its insistence that the Church face its failures. If it had not been for the media, then this shameful abuse might have remained unaddressed."

Why would some in the media want to damage the credibility of the Church? To quote a cliché "there is no smoke without fire". The damage to the Church's credibility lies with the way it conducted its business in relation to all the children abused by its priests.

If the media is right in "its insistence that the Church face its failures", it cannot then be accused of persecuting the Church by doing so!

Locally, we had Father Joe Borg, a Times blogger who thinks he is so clever by narrowing down the persecution to the journalists with "cheek". Although I would agree that some in the media exploit the sensational, I suppose he is not including his buddy Lou Bondi and the production company he (Lou) co-owns "“ Where's Everybody.

By the by, isn't interesting the way the victims in Malta, guided by Lou, have suddenly become very meek and accommodating. "We are very happy that our cries are now being heard by the church authorities, locally and at the Vatican. We are also very grateful that this good news is coming on the eve of Pope Benedict's XVI visit to Malta.

"All of us welcome the Pope to Malta with open arms and augur that his visit will leave the desired results," Joseph Magro, one of the victims of abuse, was reported as saying

 

 

 

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