Last week, the Vatican published a 450-page report titled the ‘Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017)’.
For the uninitiated, the document could have been titled: ‘How on earth did a serial sex abuser such as Theodore McCarrick become a cardinal?’
Until he was kicked out of the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in 2018, McCarrick was an important prelate of the Church in the US and a world-famous figure.
The rumours that McCarrick was a practising homosexual with a preference for seminarians had been doing the rounds for decades. Many were invited to his country house and many would find it difficult to say no to such an important person.
When McCarrick was going to be appointed Archbishop of Washington, reports were filed about him in this regard.
McCarrick wrote directly to the Secretary of Pope St John Paul II strongly protesting his innocence. It was a time when the pope was suffering a lot because of Parkinson’s, so the matter was decided by his collaborators who preferred to believe McCarrick than his accusers.
Pope Benedict trusted the ‘investigation’ done during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and did not take action. Pope Francis adopted the same attitude until another case of abuse of a minor surfaced.
That was the end of McCarrick. He was, among other things, kicked out of the College of Cardinals.
Pope Francis wanted to know why and how all this could happen. He could not accept the clericalist culture that dominated the Church as a result of which the accounts of priests (and, more so, of bishops and cardinals) were given more credence than those of ordinary human beings called the laity.
Francis is dead set against the belief that the ‘honour’ and ‘reputation’ of the institution should be considered more important than the pain and anguish of the victims.
In his Letter to the People of God, in August 2018, the pope wrote, with regard to the abuse of minors: “With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realising the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives.”
The publication of the report is in itself a formidable commitment by the Church that there should be zero tolerance when it comes to abuse. Moreover, following its publication, the pope renewed his commitment to eradicate abuse.
The Church in Malta was among the first local churches that, years ago, published a very clear policy to eradicate abuse
Just two days after the Vatican report, the Safeguarding Commission of the Church in Malta published its annual report, giving a breakdown of the reports of sexual abuse received, investigated and passed on to the civil authorities for possible further action to be taken.
The Church in Malta was among the first local churches that, years ago, published a very clear policy to eradicate abuse. The latest report shows that the resolve to punish abuse and to create a safe environment for minors and vulnerable adults is as strong as ever.
It could not be otherwise in an archdiocese headed by one of the stalwarts against abuse in the universal Church: Archbishop Charles Scicluna, also Adjunct Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Described as the Vatican’s top sex crimes prosecutor, the well-respected Scicluna is at the forefront of the pope’s battle to protect minors against abuse by priests.
The result of his work both in Malta and abroad continues to lend credibility to the Catholic Church’s efforts in this crucial area, on which so much of its reputation depends.