If there is any dissident bishop in the world who would fault Benedict XVI for his approach to dealing with the pedophilia scandal among some priests in the Catholic Church, he has had the good sense not to speak up in public so far - knock on wood!
Even the Pope's most well-known ideological opposites like Cardinal Lehmann in Germany and Cardinal Martini in Italy have spoken up for him lately. It should be the equivalent of a ringing box on the ear of liberal media (and an indication of how wrongly they are treating Benedict XVI) that these two bishops - who have long been media darlings because of their liberal tendencies that put them at odds with Church orthodoxy - are decidedly not on their side this time!
Cardinal Martini: 'Attacks against
the Pope are ignoble and false'
From an interview
by GIANNI CARDINALE
This is part of a much longer interview for the January 2010 issue of 30 GIORNI magazine which has just come out.
These have been stormy weeks for the Church because of the pedophile scandal. How do you evaluate the situation and what is the Church alled on to in these circumstances?
All of this can certainly help the Church, in all humility. But we must remember Jesus's words. These are serious crimes, and "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea" (Mt 18,6).
But this does not mean there has not also been great hypocrisy. There is total sexual freedom todsy, and advertising uses sexual motivations even for children.
Benedict XVI and Cardinal Martini in 2007, the year they both tuned 80.
How can we defend the Pope from the attempts to implicate him in connection with these offenses?
The Pope does not need to be defended because it is clear to everyone that he is blameless, as well as his sense of duty, his wish to do good. The accusations against him these days are ignoble and false.
It would be good to see all men of goodwill solidly with him to sustain him in his difficult task.
In his letter to the Catholcis of Ireland, Benedict XVI asked for fasting, prayer, reading Scriptures and recourse to the sacrmanet of confession "to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland"....
These are valid not only for the communities where these terrible things have happened but for the whole Church.
But for the offenders in these cases, in which there is a perversion and an interior compulsion to it, they would also need psychotherapeutic attention. They have to understand the reasons for their compulsion, how they can dominate it... The other means have nothing to do with this specific aspect.
You are often portrayed as a scourge against the inadequacies and limitations of the Church. Do you recognize yourself in that role?
The Church, considered in its totality, is full of holiness and interior strength. The media doggedly pursue certain episodes, but around the world, there are all the loyal, good and devout Catholics who live their lives quietly.
I am very grateful to the Lord for this among other things - that he allowed me to live at this time. I would never have wished to live during the Protestant Reformation, or the Great Schism, or the Western Schism when there wre two Popes, one in Rome and one in Avignon.
Today, [other than the media image], the Church is giving a beautiful demonstration of herself. There are limitations and shortcomings but these are inevitable, and they too are part of the mysterious design of God's will.
Cardinal Lehmann: 'Who can surpass
the Pope in clarity and decisiveness'?
In a very long and substantial essay for the April 2 issue of
Frankfuerter Allgemeine Zeitung, Cardinal Lehmann offers an analysis of the root causes of pedophilia and of the psychology of pedophiles, as well as the conditions in the Church itself over the past several decades that allowed the pedophilia crisis to develop. He says this about Pope Benedict:
Doubtless we in the Church have paid too little attention to the spirituality of a renewed Church (post Vatican-II), especially when it has turned more towards the world. And that is why there are so many deficits and a lack of sensitivity, especially in dealing with pederasts and their enablers. Here is where the 'world' in its Biblical sense has intruded deep into the Church.
That is why we need today - and Pope Benedict XI has always made this clear - an unconditional self-purification on all levels. It was not just in the letter to the Irish Church that the Pope has denounced with the most explicit clarity this 'detestable crime' and 'grave sin'. In this matter, who can surpass him in clarity and decisiveness?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 03/04/2010 14:02]