"Purification" of sexual filth underway: Benedict gets tough

Sandro Magister (www.chiesa), "Abuse of Minors by Priests: An Assessment of the 'Purification' Underway," writes:

ROMA, November 20, 2006 – To the Irish bishops gathered before him at the Vatican at the end of October, Benedict XVI clearly said that this is a “time of purification.” It is a time of purification from the “filth” he denounced in the memorable Via Crucis at the Colosseum on Good Friday two years ago, shortly before being elected pope, a filth made up of the “many heart-rending cases of sexual abuse of minors. These are all the more tragic when the abuser is a cleric (1).”

Pope Joseph Ratzinger is very severe and demanding in this area, more so than his predecessor John Paul II. In the year and a half of his pontificate, he has not hesitated to use the lash even against churchmen held to be untouchable by the previous pope.

... The archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, 68, confirmed in an interview with “Avvenire” (2) that Benedict XVI, in receiving the Irish bishops (see photo), not only denounced the horror of abuse, but dictated to them “precise indications” on how to clean up – with sanctions that are sometimes more rigid than the ones handed down by civil tribunals.

This is a radical change from Benedict who, as Cardinar Ratzinger who was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in November of 2002, when the scandal in the United States was at its acme, minimized the number of guilty priests, saying it was “less than 1 percent” and attributing the exploding scandal to “the desire to discredit the Church.” But then, says Magister, in the autumn of 2004, "he changed course." He ordered the promoter of justice at the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, Charles J. Scicluna of Malta, to retrieve from the files all the cases concerning the sixth commandment. The order was that every case must be allowed to take its normal course. "In other words," writes Magister, "no one could be held as untouchable anymore, not even those protected by the then extremely powerful cardinal Sodano, and not even the favorites of the reigning pope, John Paul II." The death of John Paul II and election of Benedict did not bring to a halt the investigations ordained by the latter. On the contrary. In May of 2005, the first act signed by the new prefect of the congregation of the faith, William J. Levada of the United States, was precisely the condemnation of Gino Burresi, the Italian founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had been implicated in sexual abuse of young seminarians and followers. One year later came relentlessly the condemnation of Marcial Maciel Degollado of Mexico, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, likewise implicated, with a revocation of all public ministry and forced retirement to a life of prayer and penance. Magister adds, without comment: "Shortly thereafter, Benedict XVI dismissed the cardinal secretary of state, Sodano."