After Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope by the College of Cardinals, he chose as his papal name Pope Benedict XVI. It would have been more fitting if he chose to be called Pope Chapter VII, because his elevation to pope coincides with the church's bankruptcy with respect to moral authority. We can no longer ignore the mountain of evidence that the Catholic hierarchy deliberately chose to protect the church from embarrassment and whatever retribution justice would demand, rather than protecting the most vulnerable and innocent victims of heinous abuse. I'm also satisfied that when we seek to identify all the guilty parties in this despicable web of callous inhumanity, we find a metaphorical smoking gun in the hand that now wears the Ring of the Fisherman.
My indictment of the church is not based on the deplorable actions of some disturbed priests but rather on the deliberate cover up, done in the cool dispassionate light of day, by more senior church officials. When some bishops and cardinals learned of the abuse, they were forced to confront a choice. They could either do the decent thing and protect innocent children from being raped and scarred for life, or they could circle the wagons, essentially aiding and abetting the continued unspeakable abuse. The church opted for the latter. It's not hard to understand the calculus underlying this decision, but it is hard to imagine how anyone can be so cold hearted and indifferent to the suffering of children. Taking steps to defrock the offending priests, or even suddenly reassigning their duties so they are kept away from children (i.e. additional victims) would certainly raise questions and could ultimately cause trouble for the church. If the truth were brought to light the church could face damaging lawsuits, lose members and face diminished power even among the faithful who remained. Also, while this is admittedly nothing but my own conjecture, I suspect the biggest fear for the church hierarchy was that this could be, for some Catholics, the thread that when pulled unravels the entire garment.
As blind faith is extremely important to a religious organization, the church has an understandable interest in taking a page from the Wizard of Oz and presenting their clergy as something more magnificent than the mere men behind the curtain that they are. Since the horrific moral failings of some priests can hamper the church's ability to perpetuate that illusion, the church has an incentive to conceal the abuse and allow more children to be violated. If those on the altar were exposed as being every bit as flawed, or in the case of the offending priests far more flawed, than those in the pews, bishops and cardinals could have nightmares of Catholics saying things like, "Yeah right, this guy is telling me what my penance is for having impure thoughts about another adult? Maybe you should get Tiger Woods in here to tell me how to be a good and faithful husband!" or "Sure, it's easy for the church to condemn birth control - 10 year old boys don't get pregnant." While such sentiments would be unfair, they're also predictable, and from the church's perspective, they are apparently to be avoided at any cost.
To make matters worse, the Vatican continues to act shamefully, marginalizing or dismissing the agony suffered by the victims by characterizing the scandal as "petty gossip" or saying the outrage is contrived, and those pursuing this matter are only doing so because they differ with the church on its teachings. There is a perverse irony that something called the Holy See could be so blind. If a superintendent of schools who learned that a teacher had been accused of raping students had acted the same way as senior church officials, he or she would have no chance of remaining employed. Even hardened prisoners know that those who abuse children are the worst of the worst and no agenda or parochial interest (pun intended) should trump protecting such innocent victims. Until the church takes full responsibility for its actions, it will remain putrefied, rotting from the mitred head down.
