Pope Benedict XVI blames Pope John Paul II for the cover-up of abusive priests. At least that was one of just four public-relations tactics the Vatican used last week to distract the press from looking too hard at Benedict’s past, and his involvement in a mass international criminal cover-up. And we won’t even count the “blame the media for reporting on it” attempt targeted at the New York Times.
In just one week, the Vatican has made four different excuses for its abuse and cover-up scandal — an attempt to keep its so-called moral standing. Last Friday, the preacher of the papal household attempted to characterize the criticism of Benedict and the church as akin to anti-Semitism, which enraged Jews around the globe.
On Sunday at Easter services in the Vatican, Cardinal Angelo Sodano addressed the pope on behalf of the College of Cardinals and called the allegations “petty gossip,” which inflamed thousands of victims worldwide. My personal favorite was a little behind-the-scenes PR move in which “sources” told ABC News that the current pope is attempting to blame all of the abuses on a dead pope, namely his predecessor John Paul II.
In a far-reaching report on ABC’s “World News Tonight” last week, Brian Ross reported that, according to his sources at the Vatican, during the reign of John Paul II, a wealthy religious order called the Legion of Christ headed by Father Marcial Maciel paid off Vatican officials when it became known that Maciel was abusing members of his order, including teenage boys. The report went on to state that this created a rift between the Vatican’s then-Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano, and then-Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict), the latter of whom wanted to take action against Maciel but was stopped by Sodano and then-Pope John Paul II.
Almost reads like a murder mystery, doesn’t it? But putting it all together reveals the intriguing story of the admission of greed and cover-up of the abuse itself — not by any particular cardinal but by the collective leadership of the Vatican. According to what the Vatican sources said, the Vatican can be bought and it proves that the highest levels of the Vatican were involved in the abuse cover-up. Moreover, Benedict is accusing John Paul II of taking bribes.
Now for the clincher: Why pin it on Sodano and John Paul II? It’s unclear why they’d target Sodano, but John Paul is dead and can’t defend himself. Benedict seems to be willing to go to any level to blame anyone, including his predecessor.
But that won’t fly. Even if you believe John Paul took payoffs to protect pedophile priests, this proves Ratzinger’s complicity in this and other cases: The little information the Vatican “leaked” on the Maciel case revealed that Benedict was more concerned about the scandal it would cause the church than the victims. If he’d really been concerned about the victims, he would have spoken out/up at the time. On becoming pope, Benedict did get his way, though he merely removed Maciel from formal ministry. He did not defrock or excommunicate him. Even after learning Maciel was a serial abuser, had fathered up to six children and let’s not forget those bribes to Vatican officials. This seems to be a pattern for Ratzinger/Benedict.
Mark Segal is PGN publisher. He can be reached at [email protected].