Pope Benedict XVI and his key advisers are facing a long, hot summer of problem-solving and strategizing. A raid by Belgian police on the archdiocesan headquarters and residences near Brussels on June 24 left Vatican officials stunned and illustrated just how much the sexual abuse crisis has lowered the church’s standing in the eyes of some civil authorities. The country’s bishops were held for nine hours as police confiscated files, computers and cell phones. The ultimate affront came when the police drilled into the tombs of two dead cardinals and inserted cameras to look for supposed hidden documents. None were found. The police action brought sharp criticism from Pope Benedict, who was careful, however, to defend the right of civil authorities to investigate priestly sex abuse. Four days later, the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling in Oregon that said the Vatican did not have immunity from potential liability for the actions of a priest accused of sexual abuse.
Vatican Faces Civil Challenges
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
The bishops’ statement followed the slayings of two Jesuits and a person they were protecting in their parish—a crime attributed to a local crime boss in a part of the country dominated by drug cartels.
The documentation, published amid renewed debate about the legacy of the World War II-era pope, contains 2,700 files of requests for Vatican help from Jewish groups and families.
One month after Uvalde, we are growing numb to gun violence. Even so, we must resolve to comfort the mourners, to beat guns into plowshares, and to say “never again” and mean it.
As pandemic restrictions have eased, most parishioners have returned to in-person Masses. But some would prefer the option for virtual services to remain.