He comments on the case of Rev Carlo Capella. The priest was imprisoned in Vatican City for possessing and distributing child pornography, yet he has returned to work in the Holy See’s diplomatic service — first without an official title, and now with a formal senior designation.
An official labelled the scandal as 'an act of mercy'.
Lawler asks: “Mercy? Not mercy toward the teenagers who were exploited by perverts to provide the images that were found in Rev Capella’s extensive collection. Not mercy toward the faithful Catholics who, doing their best to uphold the honor of the Church against increasingly caustic critics, have found themselves once again defending the indefensible.”
Lawler recalls that Rev Capella was not handed over to secular prosecutors and that “the Vatican” resisted an American bid for his extradition. Capella was allowed to flee back to Rome, where he evidently expected more sympathetic treatment.
In the canonical trial he was demoted from “Monsignor” to “Rev,” but remained an active priest.
Lawler explains why the treatment was lenient: “For the same reason that Marcial Maciel escaped scrutiny for years, the same reason that Cardinal Law was named archpriest of a Roman basilica, the same reason that Theodore McCarrick was sent abroad as a Vatican envoy, the same reason that Rev Capella is now back at work: Because the Secretariat of State takes care of its friends.”
He has another more sinister explanation: “Maybe so many Vatican officials have been morally compromised, over so many years, that no one is prepared to attack the problem; everyone feels vulnerable, and thus determined to keep the lid on. Maybe sexual misconduct is so widespread that—despite their public protestations—Vatican officials still take it lightly.“
It is abundantly clear to Lawler — and not just in cases of clerical abuse — that the Secretariat of State writes its own rules.
Picture: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk CC BY-NC-ND, #newsMrkjuniudl
No comments:
Post a Comment