Unless the Church in Malta has a credible explanation for this snafu, the following appears to be another shameful and emblematic example of cavalier and needlessly stupid negligence on the part of local Church authorities in dealing with sex abuse charges against priests.... The Pope did his part when he was in Malta last year. Apparently, no one bothered to follow through with the nitty-gritty....
Maltese Church to set up tribunal
on sex abuse by local priests
after victims write to Vatican
by George Cini
VALLETTA, Malta, Jan. 9 (AP) - The Maltese Catholic Church will set up a special tribunal to deal with claims that three Maltese priests abused boys at an orphanage 20 years ago — but critics said the Church is still moving too slowly.
Victims of the alleged abuse have repeatedly urged quicker action, most recently in a Dec. 27 letter to the Vatican in which they said Church authorities and courts were taking too long to deal with the case. Local courts have been holding closed-door hearings on the allegations for seven years.
The Maltese curia said the tribunal will be set up following instructions from the Vatican. No date was set. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Sunday that those instructions had already been sent over Christmas.
"We hope that now the case can be dealt with speedily," Lombardi said Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI visited Malta last spring and had a private, emotional meeting with the alleged victims, who faced abuse in the 1980s and 1990s.
Lawrence Grech, one of the five complainants, said the priests involved ought to have been defrocked ages ago. "The court case has been taking far too much time," he said Sunday.
In a surprise move, the three accused priests filed a constitutional case Thursday claiming their right to a fair hearing had been breached because of the media exposure the case has garnered. This constitutional case is expected to delay proceedings further.
The Mediterranean island of Malta has 400,000 people, the overwhelming majority of them Roman Catholic.
Unless the Church hierarchy in Malta have undue - and improper - influence in the Maltese courts, it's the civilian court system that ought to take the primary blame for this seven-year delay. And how is it that the lawyers representing the victims have not raised a row about judicial delay all these years? Most important, why is the Maltese church only now setting up a tribunal to deal with these old accusations? Is that not totally unacceptable canonical negligence? Have they learned nothing at all from the past decade's experiences???? If they had to be prodded to do it, why did they not do so as soon as the Pope visited Malta last year?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/01/2011 00:30]