Reflections, Reflections

Ratzinger Implicated In Sex Crime Cover Up: Did Pope Benedict XVI Obstruct Justice?

Breaking News by Dan Riehl

The signature of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is on a confidential letter defending the Church's right to conduct secret investigations into alleged sexual abuse cases and keep the information confidential up to ten years after the victims had reached adulthood. The letter was sent to all Roman Catholic Bishops in May, 2001.

The letter states that the church's jurisdiction 'begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age' and lasts for 10 years.

According to the Ratzinger letter anyone revealing confidential information from the investigations could be subject to discipline up to and including excommunication.

When approached for comment the Vatican press office had no comment as it claimed the letter was not a public document.

The letter is referred to in documents relating to a lawsuit filed earlier this year against a church in Texas and Ratzinger on behalf of two alleged abuse victims. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for the alleged victims claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.

If it's true, I hope they bring the Pope, the Vatican, and the whole lot of anyone else involved in this most horrendous type of criminal obstruction to Justice.

You know what I think was needed, run all these cardinals, bishops, and priests on those lie detectors. Even if these machines aren't totally reliable, it would be very interesting, nevertheless.

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Related:

Exhange of comments between Jack and myself on the Lay post. Jack wrote:

I'm not sure it's appropriate to call Law's position one of power. Sitting on a congregation may not have any power at all; it depends on the congregation. I couldn't follow the links, though, so I can't say, but for instance I once heard that Law works on ecumenism. That congregation would have little power at all; it only speaks with authority on what the Catholic position might be on certain issues, etc.

Of course, NCR routinely conflates "authority" and "power" all the time, and it typically sees "power" everywhere it can, especially when they want to remove the person in a certain position to replace him/her with someone who suits their political predispositions. — at least, that's how NCR was ten years ago, even 5 years ago, IIRC. Maybe they're different now, but I'd be really surprised.

OTOH, maybe Law is on some congregations that do have genuine power, and if he's on one that deals with issues like pedophilia, yeah that would be worrisome. I myself was disappointed to learn that Law is still a cardinal, but then again Mahoney's still a cardinal, too — indeed, he is still in control of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Why isn't NCR raising a stink about that? Perhaps because Mahoney has taken their side on some "political" issues?

BTW, the note on Mahoney is because Mahoney also suffered quite a bit of embarassment from the pedophilia scandal.
jack perry | Homepage | 04.21.05 - 12:13 am | #

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"I myself was disappointed to learn that Law is still a cardinal, but then again Mahoney's still a cardinal, too — indeed, he is still in control of the archdiocese of Los Angeles. Why isn't NCR raising a stink about that? Perhaps because Mahoney has taken their side on some "political" issues?"

Totally agree.

You know what I also ask, if someone else had been Pope in the past 20 years, would it have made a difference? To me, the Vatican is also culpable for hiding, hiding, helping abscond, using the most expensive powerful law firms to attack and silence victims, sheltering all their criminal priests, bishops, and cardinals.

They are only rivaled by homo activists, who lie about sexual abuse by homos just as much as the Church lied about it for its priests.

It's a disgusting circus.

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