APPEAL FOR TRUTH
by intellectuals, journalists, artists and personalities of civilian society, Christians or not.
The cases of pedophilia in the Church are, for all Catholics, a source of profound pain and extreme sorrow. Members of the Church hierarchy have had, in some cases, grave failures in discharging their functions, and we welcome the desire of the Pope to shed light on all these cases.
As members of the same Church, Catholic lay faithful take on, along with the bishops, the weight of the crimes committed by these priests and the shortcomings of their superiors. As Christ has asked us to do, we resolutely place ouselves alongside those who have suffered most from these crimes, namely, the victims, even as we pray for the sinners.
We wish with all our heart that all the truth be known, and that with the participation of all men and women of good will, everything that has made possible these offenses - which are also offenses against Christ - can be discussed calmly and fraternally within the Catholic Church.
At the same time, we regret the runaway media escalation that has accompanied all this. Beyond the right to information, legitimate and democratic, we cannot help but observe with sorrow, as Christians but even more as citizens, that many media outlets in our country (and in the West in general) treat these cases with partiality, lack of information, and even gloating.
By resorting to generalizations, the image of the Church in the press today does not correspond at all to that which Catholic Christians experience.
While reiterating our horror in the face of pedophile priests and our solidarity with the victims,
we call on the media to exercise an ethic of responsibility that should begin with a more deontological (dutiful) approach to reporting.
The phenomenon of media exaggeration is by no means limited to the Church, but we are sick and tired of such generalization.
We think of the many priests who carry, sometimes alone, the message of Christ with courage. We are with them.
We welcome the letter of the bishops of France to Benedict XVI, and we hope to see the Catholic Church emerge with calm and responsibility from this painful trial.
We want the truth on sexual abuses.
The events of pedophilia in the Church are a scandal. It is imperative that all the truth be told; that the victims obtain reparation and that measures be set in place to remedy the problem without bringing into question the sacred character of the priesthood, which has become the object of a false debate.
We want the truth about Benedict XVI.
Five years ago, one week before the death of John Paul II, Cardinal Ratzinger, who had prepared the meditations and prayers for the Way of the Cross on Good Friday, raised his voice on this very issue: In the Ninth Station, when Jesus falls for the third time, this is what he said: "What filth there is in the Church, especially among those in the priesthood who should belong totally to you."
Benedict XVI voluntarily took the risk of truth. He is the first Pope to frontally attack the problem, without making any concessions. Paradoxically, he is now the object of attacks seeking to cast doubt on him personally, attacks that are relayed with some complaisance by some part of the press. We support his voluntary initiatives in this regard and deplore thet attempts to implicate him personally.
We want the truth about the Catholic Church.
More generally, the media treatment that has been reserved for the Catholic Church since life issues have come into play does not reflect the reality of Catholic life at all. During the Holy Week of 2010, as Christians live through the ascent towards Easter - Crucifixion followed by the Resurrection - we call for support and solidarity with all Catholics, their priests and their Pope.
This appeal was launched at the initiative of François Taillandier (writer), Frigide Barjot (parodist), Natalia Trouiller (journalist and bloggre), Koz (blogger and lawyere), and François Miclo (philosopher).