Apostolic Nunciature In Ireland

Apostolic Nunciature In Ireland

N. 808/97

Dublin, 31 January 1997

Strictly Confidential

Your Excellency,

The Congregation for the Clergy has attentively studied the complex question of sexual abuse of minors by clerics and the document entitled "Child Sexual Abuse: Framework for a Church Response", published by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Advisory Committee.

The Congregation wishes to emphasize the need for this document to conform to the canonical norms presently in force.

The text, however, contains "procedures and dispositions which appear contrary to canonical discipline and which, if applied, could invalidate the acts of the same Bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems. If such procedures were to be followed by the Bishops and there were cases of eventual hierarchical recourse lodged at the Holy See, the results could be highly embarrassing and detrimental to those same Diocesan authorities.

In particular, the situation of 'mandatory reporting' gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature".

Since the policies on sexual abuse in the English speaking world exhibit many of the same characteristics and procedures, the Congregation is involved in a global study of them. At the appropriate time, with the collaboration of the interested Episcopal Conferences and in dialogue with them, the Congregation will not be remiss in establishing some concrete directives with regard to these Policies.

To: the Members of the Irish Episcopal Conference "“ their Dioceses.

For these reasons and because the above mentioned text is not an official document of the Episcopal Conference but merely a study document, I am directed to inform the individual Bishops of Ireland of the preoccupations of the Congregation in its regard, underlining that in the sad cases of accusations of sexual abuse by clerics, the procedures established by the Code of Canon Law must be meticulously followed under pain of invalidity of the acts involved if the priest so punished were to make hierarchical recourse against his Bishop.

Asking you to kindly let me know of the safe receipt of this letter and with the assurance of my cordial regard, I am [sic]

Yours sincerely in Christ,

+Luciano Storero
Apostolic Nuncio

(Follow this link for a pdf of the second letter.)

The revelations about abuse/rape by priests and members of Catholic religious orders are so frequent and often on such a scale that the public have become shell shocked to the point of ignoring them, however serious they are. What is notable about the cases so far is the huge amount of damages paid out (particularly in the United States and Ireland), the number of countries involved, and that so often men at the very top of the Church in the countries concerned are implicated. We know the Church is braced for further revelations, for example in Ireland where reports on archdioceses other than Dublin have still to come. All this points to a systemic problem, so further revelations can be expected. Until now, most of the revelations have come from Europe, North America and Australia - thanks to relatively free media. It is difficult to make a case that such wholesale abuse has been confined to such areas.

Pressure on the Vatican and the Pope himself became so intense last year that there was an attempt to divert blame away from Benedict to John Paul II, but presumably even this will become more difficult, the further he moves along the path towards sainthood.

Up to now, all we have seen from the Church is damage limitation.It has failed to come clean, for example not fulfilling its treaty obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, not releasing files of known offenders to prosecuting authorities, nor releasing victims of obligations placed upon them to be silent. And it continues to do everything in its power to minimise any financial penalty as penance for its misdeeds. In Ireland it negotiated a deal whereby it only bore around a tenth of the cost of compensation - and even that it hasn't paid. This intransigence has deprived the Church of any moral authority it ever had. It has had its chance time and time again to make amends but failed.

The key question is now what can be done to provoke the Church into tackling the problem with the seriousness it deserves. We believe the answer is through international organisations and the courts. A major obstacle for the courts has been to prove that it has been the Vatican itself that was the puppet master. These two letters from the Vatican and the Pope's representative that have recently come to light present the clearest evidence yet that the Vatican was not just complicit but calling the shots.

The letters make it all nigh impossible to pull up the Vatican drawbridge in future and heap all the blame for gross misdeeds on local bishops.As Prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine of Faith since November 1981, no one knows more about child abuse in the Catholic Church than the current Pope,Joseph Ratzinger. These letters prompt embarrassing questions about whether he could not have known (to put it no stronger) about these instructions to be obstructive to the secular authorities in reporting suspicions or releasing files.