The Pope resigns.

 

letter i wrote to Irish Times today.  Prob won't be published!

 

Sir,

Fr Patrick McCafferty describes Pope Benedict XVI as 'our beloved Holy Father'. Whilst we may all wish that an old man have a quiet and peaceful rest before departing this world, many will have experienced great pain during his reign as Pope and before that as head of the 'Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith' (CDF) (formally the inquistorial office of the Roman Catholic Church). It is unlikely therefore he will be described as either 'beloved' or 'Holy' or 'Father' by those he ignored, blighted and castigated in his efforts to roll back Vatican II and to hide clerical child sexual abuse.

His resignation has been called 'courageous', and 'a lucid act of self-awareness', but he did not show these traits when child sexual abuse by clerics knocked on the door of the CDF . Quite the opposite. In 2001 as head of the CDF he wrote to every Bishop requiring them to report every case of clergy sexual abuse to his department and to keep it secret. The letter was considered by many as an attempt to obstruct justice, protect clergy sex offenders and keep from civil authories priests whom the Church wished to support. The abuse of children and their needs were secondary.

Despite the continuing rethoric that the Vatican 'cares' about victims and is 'stamping out clerical child sexual abuse' worldwide victims are still pleading in courts for justice. Such victims have fought, some for many years, to be heard and acknowledged, whilst others have committed suicide as church solicitors, on behalf of the church, deny their experiences and vilify them from all angles. Many victims are in penuary, distress, and in despair. Living with shame and guilt the Church has failed to heal.

Pope Benedict's attemps at 'apology' to victims of clergy sexual abuse was always 'conditional', secret meetings with anoymous victims. always on his terms. Victims were carefully chosen by a coterie of insiders.

When victims went to Rome in 2010, Italian paramilitary police with guns, blocked a boulevard leading to the Vatican to prevent clergy sexual abuse victims reaching St. Peter's Square. In my wheelchair surrounded by these paramilitaries, with crossed arms, smiles on faces and impervious to our entreaty, I wondered what victims had done to be treated as criminals' and viewed as such a threat. It was a seminal moment in my perception of the Vatican's alleged 'care' of clergy sexual abuse survivors.

After the protest myself and Brendan Butler 'escaped' the cordon but were 'detained' for 45 minutes in St Peter's Square whilst our passports were taken and scrutinised. We were in St Peter's to pray for victims, not protest, since the protest at was, by then, over. But we were not 'allowed' to do even this in peace.

If a new Pope leads from a position of a 'preferential option for clergy sexual abuse survivors', and is able to convey a true humility, with a committment to transparency, openess, truth, integrity and justice we will have some chance to repair the damage of this papacy and the papacy of JPII. Much damage has been done, and it will take a Pope of vision, to encourage broken hearts and souls to try and enter again the community of the Catholic Church.

For me the damage has been irreparable and it is with utter sadness I remain outside the walls of this Church but not outside the love of Christ. I simply have no hope that the Catholic Church can do other than present a faith that fails the marginalised, the different, the raging, who comprise the hurt people now in abundance following the reign of Pope Benedict XVI.

Yours Sincerely

Dr Margaret Kenney