ITALY: Abuse victims petitions for "compromised" cardinals to be excluded from Vatican meetings

Record ID: 334671

  • Title: ITALY: Abuse victims petitions for "compromised" cardinals to be excluded from Vatican meetings
  • Date: 4th March 2013
  • Summary: ROME, ITALY (MARCH 4, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF VATICAN POLICE TALKING WITH EACH OTHER CROSS ON CUPOLA OF ST. PETER'S BASILICA EXTERIOR OF VATICAN (SOUNDBITE) (English) VATICAN COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, GREG BURKE, SAYING: "Today was basically taking care of initial business, you know. The cardinals taking the oath and also setting up basically just the rules of the game. Probably the one main piece of news is that of the voting cardinals there are still 12 who have not arrived. They are expected to arrive tomorrow." ROAD LEADING TO VATICAN TOURISTS WALKING ALONG STREET (SOUNDBITE) (English) IRISH TIMES JOURNALIST, PADDY AGNEW, SAYING: "When they get around to talking there are going to be a lot of things to talk about. They are going to have to try and agree on what are the biggest challenges facing the church and then pick the guy that they think is capable of doing it. In layman's language that means finding somebody who is a good and a holy man, but he is also politically savvy." PHOTO OF ABUSE VICTIM ON DISPLAY NEWS CONFERENCE BY THE SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS (SNAP) PHOTOS OF VICTIMS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS (SNAP), DAVID CLOHESSY, SAYING: "Their presence in a visible way in selecting the next pope essentially taints the process. It's hard, I would think, for Catholics and it's certainly is hard for victims to have faith in this process knowing that many of the men involved are morally compromised. The second reason is because we believe that them staying home either voluntarily or involuntarily may have some deterrent effect." PHOTOS OF VICTIMS NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF THE SURVIVORS NETWORK OF THOSE ABUSED BY PRIESTS (SNAP), DAVID CLOHESSY, SAYING: "We believe that among the papal candidates, that no one who is in the Vatican Curia right now should be selected as a pope. That may sound like a sweeping judgement, it may sound extreme, it may sound harsh but let's face it, the current system isn't working - for children, for victims, for Catholics. This is a crisis that while it's exploded in much of the western world recently, it remains hidden in the overwhelming majority of nations on this planet." VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF VATICAN
  • Embargoed: 19th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Italy
  • Country: Italy
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA99O1Y4NRM9MQKX8ATDW1J4CUM
  • Story Text: As Roman Catholic cardinals on Monday (March 4) began preliminary meetings to sketch an identikit for the next pope and ponder who among them might be best to lead a church beset by crises, an abuse victims group called for "morally compromised" cardinals to be excluded from the process.
    The cardinals are attending gatherings known as general congregations, closed-door meetings in which they will get to know each other and decide when to start a conclave to choose a man to lead the 1.2 billion member Church.
    Pope Benedict left the Church in a state of shock when he announced last month that he would be the first pontiff in 600 years to resign instead of dying as pope. He formally stepped down on Thursday (February 28), leaving the papacy vacant.
    Vatican communications advisory Greg Burke said Monday's meetings were about taking care of initial business.
    "The cardinals taking the oath and also setting up basically just the rules of the game. Probably the one main piece of news is that of the voting cardinals there are still 12 who have not arrived. They are expected to arrive tomorrow," he said.
    High on the agenda at the general congregations will be the daunting challenges that will face the next pontiff, including the sexual abuse crisis that has rocked the Church and last year's "Vatileaks" scandal which exposed corruption and rivalries in the Vatican's bureaucracy.
    Irish Times journalist Paddy Agnew said that the cardinals will have a lot to talk about.
    "They are going to have to try and agree on what are the biggest challenges facing the church and then pick the guy that they think is capable of doing it. In layman's language that means finding somebody who is a good and a holy man, but he is also politically savvy," he said.
    The cardinals, numbering about 150, are expected to hold one or two meetings a day. The Vatican seems keen to have only a week of preliminary talks so the 115 "cardinal electors" can enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave next week. The exact date for the beginning of the conclave has not been decided.
    The crisis involving sexual abuse of children by priests continues to haunt the Church and has rarely been out of the headlines.
    One elector - Cardinal Keith O'Brien - quit as Edinburgh archbishop last week and pulled out of attending the conclave because of accusations that he behaved inappropriately with priests and seminarians in the past. O'Brien initially denied the allegations but issued a statement late on Sunday apologising because "my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal".
    In Rome, the Survivors Network of the those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called on other cardinals to withdraw from the meetings.
    A number of cardinals, the group said, are guilty or credibly accused of protecting child molesting clerics and should not be allowed to attend the talks for the sake of the church and to avoid causing more pain to sex abuse victims.
    "Their presence in a visible way in selecting the next pope essentially taints the process. It's hard, I would think, for Catholics and it's certainly is hard for victims to have faith in this process knowing that many of the men involved are morally compromised. The second reason is because we believe that them staying home either voluntarily or involuntarily may have some deterrent effect," the group's director, David Clohessy said.
    SNAP also wants to see a non-Curia member elected as the next pope. The Curia is the central governing body of the Catholic Church.
    "We believe that among the papal candidates, that no one who is in the Vatican Curia right now should be selected as a pope," Clohessy said.
    "That may sound like a sweeping judgement, it may sound extreme, it may sound harsh but let's face it, the current system isn't working - for children, for victims, for Catholics. This is a crisis that while it's exploded in much of the western world recently, it remains hidden in the overwhelming majority of nations on this planet," he added.
    The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected next week and officially installed several days later so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on March 24 and culminating in Easter the following Sunday.
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