ABOUT THE CHURCH AND THE VATICAN

What's wrong with the headline? To begin with - the right chronology is 'First the US, then Europe...'; and 'sweeps' is a deliberate hyperbole meant to reinforce the media narrative of the Catholic Church as nothing more than a pedophile brothel run by unscrupulous conniving enablers, and an institution that has done not the least bit of good on earth....


First Europe, then the US –
now abuse claims sweep Latin America
By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent

Thursday, 22 April 2010


Are we surprised at this new tack? It was bound to come. Failing any new 'dirt' dug up about Joseph Ratzinger, just claim 'the scandal is sweeping the world', as if, surprise!, there are sex-offending priests in other places, too! It's all about keeping the momentum of the campaign going... Such as all the new to-do in the US about someone filing a new suit against the Pope and the Vatican... As annoying as it is, DUH!


The paedophile priest scandal currently enveloping the Vatican has spread to one of the most Catholic areas of the world following a string of new abuse revelations throughout Latin America.

Reports of priests raping or abusing minors have now emerged in Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Mexico and Chile causing growing anger [The Independent perhaps ran a poll in all the countreis of Latin America?] in a continent that is home to nearly half the world’s Catholics.

In Brazil, an 83-year-old priest has been arrested after he was secretly filmed in bed with a 19-year-old altar boy. The footage was broadcast on national television networks prompting a police investigation which led to the arrest of Monsignor Luiz Marques Barbosa and two other priests in the north eastern state of Alagoas. They have since been accused of abusing boys as young as 12 and have been suspended by their diocesan bishop.

The Catholic Church in Chile confirmed this week that there have been 20 alleged or confirmed cases of child abuse by priests. At a press conference yesterday, Monsignor Alejandro Goic, the head of Chile’s bishops’ conference, apologised and vowed to crack down on any priests who had abused children.

"There is no place in the priesthood for those who abuse minors, and there is nothing that can justify this crime," he said.

Reporters in Uruguay have also discovered that a priest who had been charged with raping three children in Bolivia had returned to his homeland and was living openly with full knowledge of local church officials.

Juan Jose Santana has been on the run from Bolivian authorities since May 2008. An Interpol warrant has been issued for his arrest but reporters from the La Republica newspaper tracked him down to his home town.

Asked if allegations that he had abused children were true, the newspaper reported that Santana said, "It's true. That's all I can say... You know something? I'm dead."

The Mexican church is already reeling from revelations surrounding the Legionnaires of Christ, a shadowy but powerful Catholic sect which was founded by the charismatic Maciel Degollado. Following his death in 2008 it emerged that the staunchly conservative theologian had a series of sexual affairs with men, women and boys in many different parts of the world.

This week the Mexican church has also been drawn into a potentially costly legal battle in the United States. An anonymous Mexican citizen has filed papers suing Catholic cardinals in Mexico City and Los Angeles, accusing them of purposely hiding the background of a Mexican priest accused of sexually abusing dozens of children.

Speaking at his weekly public audience in St Peter’s Square today, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about meeting abuse victims during his weekend trip to Malta, in what was a rare public statement on the paedophile scandal.

"I wanted to meet some people who were victims of abuse by members of the clergy,” he said. “I shared with them their suffering and with emotion I prayed with them, promising them action on the part of the Church."

So far the kind of widespread anti-Church outrage seen in European countries currently experiencing abuse scandals has yet to materialise in Latin America. But the drip of allegations are potentially damaging to an institution that is already trying to counter the growing influence of evangelical missionaries.

[The reporter has much to learn about the culture of the Hispanic countries. First, there's the machismo that is deeply rooted in them. Priests having mistresses and children out of wedlock have always been part of historical lore in the countries colonized by Spain and Portugal. Not that the natives want it to happen - it simply does not surprise them that it happens, when it happens. Father Maciel's Legionaries may have preferred to hear no evil, etc., about their founder, but that does not mean his libertinism was unknown to those Mexicans who thrive on celebrity gossip.

Equally deep-rooted and widespread is the culture of gossip - very little that happens with their priests and bishops, as with their local officials, is not known and whispered about by the locals. And all these 'revelations' now about man-boy relationships that involve priests would have been whispered about. What's new is that they are now in the headlines.

I don't know the extent of open homosexuality in Latin America today, but the macho culture also militates against the male victims of priests coming out into the open. The last I heard, 'maricon' - the Spanish term for a male homosexual - still was pretty pejorative and an affront to the malehood of anyone called that, not a badge of gay pride... Of course, a victim may have second thoughts if he sincerely wants to punish his abusers, and/or if he succumbs to victim advocates dangling visions of potential booty from the Church!... But I'd be interested to know what local people have done to priests who have been exposed as child-molesters]

Approximately 71 percent of South Americans consider themselves Catholic, down from 80 percent in 1995. The proportion of people who consider themselves evangelical or Protestant, meanwhile, rose from 3 percent to 13 percent in the same period.

Professor Manuel Vasquez, an expert in Latin American religion at the University of Florida, says the Catholic Church still has a “strong moral standing” in South America because of its history in confronting despotic regimes throughout the late twentieth century.

“That may insulate the Catholic Church from some of the dramatic anger that we’ve seen in Europe but it’s also a two-edged sword,” he explained. “The Church’s moral power comes through confronting governments on the issue of impunity. But if people believe the Church is now itself acting with impunity, it leaves them open to allegations of double standards.” [Ahem! In the Third World, double standards are hardly uncommon in any sector of society; in fact, it's probably the rule! And the people know it, and the more 'clever' ones simply seek to use it to their own advantage. .]