Monday 25th of November 2024
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keeping-up appearances ....

keeping-up appearances ....

A week before Cardinal Timothy Dolan is set to leave New York for Rome, where his name is being floated as a contender in the conclave to elect the next pope, he was grilled for hours behind closed doors in a legal deposition concerning child sexual abuse by priests.

The lawyers deposing Cardinal Dolan represent hundreds of people who say they were sexually molested by priests in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, where the cardinal served for seven years before his appointment to the seat in New York in 2009.

The lawyers want to know whether Cardinal Dolan acted to stop lawsuits being filed in time against accused priests and the archdiocese, and whether he shielded church assets to prevent them being used to compensate alleged abuse victims.

Cardinal Dolan is one of two US cardinals being deposed in sexual abuse lawsuits this week who plan to travel to Rome next week to elect the successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The other is Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, who is expected to be deposed on Saturday. He has been under fire since the court-ordered release last month of 12,000 pages of church files revealing his role in shielding accused priests from the law.

The election of a new pope might begin sooner than expected, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

Pope Benedict ''is taking into consideration'' changing the rules, said the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi. He did not know whether the change would affect the timing of the conclave, at which 117 cardinals will elect the next pope.

Church law states that cardinals should wait 15 days after the papacy becomes vacant before starting a conclave so that the cardinals eligible to vote have enough time to travel to Rome. Because the pontiff announced on February 11 he would step down on Thursday, February 28, many cardinals have already begun travelling to Rome.

Cardinal Dolan has been much discussed as a possible candidate. The cardinal is a charismatic figure at ease in parishes as well as in morning talk show studios, and he left a strong impression in the Vatican last year with speeches promoting what the church calls the ''new evangelisation''.

But since moving to New York, he has been dogged by the legal cases in Milwaukee.

A spokeswoman for Cardinal Dolan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Abuse Cover-Up Claims Follow Papal Candidate

 

back at headquarters ….

 

Pope Benedict XVI resigned after an internal investigation informed him about a web of blackmail, corruption and gay sex in the Vatican, Italian media reports say.

Three cardinals were asked by Benedict to verify allegations of financial impropriety, cronyism and corruption exposed in the so-called VatiLeaks affair.

On December 17, 2012, they handed the pontiff two red-leather bound volumes, almost 300 pages long, containing "an exact map of the mischief and the bad fish" inside the Holy See, La Repubblica said.

"It was on that day, with those papers on his desk, that Benedict XVI took the decision he had mulled over for so long," said the centre-left newspaper. It said its article was the first of a series.

Panorama, a conservative weekly, did not speculate about the motives behind Benedict's resignation, but its story about the contents of the confidential report was broadly similar.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi refused to "run after fantasies and opinions" and warned reporters: "Don't expect comments or rebuttals of what is being said on this issue."

La Repubblica quoted a man described as "very close" to the authors as saying the information it contained was "all about the breach of the sixth and seven commandments" - which say "thou shalt not commit adultery" and "thou shalt not steal".

The cardinals were said to have uncovered an underground gay network, whose members organise sexual meetings in several venues in Rome and Vatican City, leaving them prone to blackmail.

The secret report also delves into suspect dealings at the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican's bank, where a new chairman was appointed last week after a nine-month vacancy, La Repubblica said, without going into details.

The newspaper said Benedict would personally hand the confidential files to his successor, with the hope he will be "strong, young and holy" enough to take the necessary action.

The authors of the secret report will not take part in the conclave because they are over 80 years old, past the age limit for the meeting. But Panorama said they were likely to inform other cardinals about what they have uncovered.

Their findings "will condition the conclave" as it will have to elect "a pope immune to blackmail, so that he can start the clean-up operation that (Benedict) entrusted to his successor".

Vatican Scandal Cited In Pope Resignation

 

all fall down .....

Three priests and a former priest in Scotland have reported the most senior Catholic clergyman in Britain, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, to the Vatican over allegations of inappropriate behaviour stretching back 30 years.

The four, from the diocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh, have complained to nuncio Antonio Mennini, the Vatican's ambassador to Britain, and demanded O'Brien's immediate resignation. A spokesman for the cardinal said that the claims were contested.

O'Brien, who is due to retire next month, has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights, condemning homosexuality as immoral, opposing gay adoption, and most recently arguing that same-sex marriages would be "harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of those involved". Last year he was named "bigot of the year" by the gay rights charity Stonewall.

One of the complainants, it is understood, alleges that the cardinal developed an inappropriate relationship with him, resulting in a need for long-term psychological counselling.

The four submitted statements containing their claims to the nuncio's office the week before Pope Benedict's resignation on 11 February. They fear that, if O'Brien travels to the forthcoming papal conclave to elect a new pope, the church will not fully address their complaints.

"It tends to cover up and protect the system at all costs," said one of the complainants. "The church is beautiful, but it has a dark side and that has to do with accountability. If the system is to be improved, maybe it needs to be dismantled a bit."

The revelation of the priests' complaints will be met with consternation in the Vatican. Allegations of sexual abuse by members of the church have dogged the papacy of Benedict XVI, who is to step down as pope at the end of this month. Following the announcement, rumours have swirled in Rome that Benedict's shock move may be connected to further scandals to come.

The four priests asked a senior figure in the diocese to act as their representative to the nuncio's office. Through this representative, the nuncio replied, in emails seen by the Observer, that he appreciated their courage.

It is understood that the first allegation against the cardinal dates back to 1980. The complainant, who is now married, was then a 20-year-old seminarian at St Andrew's College, Drygrange, where O'Brien was his "spiritual director". The Observer understands that the statement claims O'Brien made an inappropriate approach after night prayers.

The seminarian says he was too frightened to report the incident, but says his personality changed afterwards, and his teachers regularly noted that he seemed depressed. He was ordained, but he told the nuncio in his statement that he resigned when O'Brien was promoted to bishop. "I knew then he would always have power over me. It was assumed I left the priesthood to get married. I did not. I left to preserve my integrity."

In a second statement, "Priest A" describes being happily settled in a parish when he claims he was visited by O'Brien and inappropriate contact between the two took place.

In a third statement, "Priest B" claims that he was starting his ministry in the 1980s when he was invited to spend a week "getting to know" O'Brien at the archbishop's residence. His statement alleges that he found himself dealing with what he describes as unwanted behaviour by the cardinal after a late-night drinking session.

"Priest C" was a young priest the cardinal was counselling over personal problems. Priest C's statement claims that O'Brien used night prayers as an excuse for inappropriate contact.

The cardinal maintained contact with Priest C over a period of time, and the statement to the nuncio's office alleges that he engineered at least one other intimate situation. O'Brien is, says Priest C, very charismatic, and being sought out by the superior who was supposed to be guiding him was both troubling and flattering.

Those involved believe the cardinal abused his position. "You have to understand," explains the ex-priest, "the relationship between a bishop and a priest. At your ordination, you take a vow to be obedient to him.

"He's more than your boss, more than the CEO of your company. He has immense power over you. He can move you, freeze you out, bring you into the fold … he controls every aspect of your life. You can't just kick him in the balls."

All four have been reluctant to raise their concerns. They are, though, concerned that the church will ignore their complaints, and want the conclave electing the new pope to be "clean". According to canon law, no cardinal who is eligible to vote can be prevented from doing so.

UK's Top Cardinal Accused Of 'Inappropriate Acts' By Priests

exit, stage left .....

Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the top Catholic official in Britain, is stepping down a day after publication of reports of ‘‘inappropriate’’ behaviour in his relations with priests working for him.

O’Brien, an outspoken critic of gay rights, is alleged to have made unwelcome advances against priests reporting to him, the BBC reported.

The Vatican announced on Monday that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation.

‘‘The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has accepted on the 18 February 2013 the resignation of His Eminence Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien from the pastoral governance of the Archdiocese of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh,’’ a statement said.

The cardinal will not take part in the election for a successor to the Pope - leaving Britain unrepresented in the election.

Cardinal O’Brien said: ‘‘I do not wish media attention in Rome to be focused on me - but rather on Pope Benedict XVI and on his successor.’’

The cardinal missed celebrating Sunday Mass in St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, which marked Pope Benedict’s eight years in office, ahead of the pontiff stepping down this week.

The resignation of Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the wake of allegations of improper behaviour creates a crisis for the Church in Scotland, and represents a heavy blow to the wider Church as it battles to shore up its reputation ahead of the papal election or ‘‘conclave’’.

The conclave is already expected to be difficult in the circumstances created by Pope’s unprecedented resignation.

Britain’s Cardinal O’Brien Steps Down

vatileaks .....

Pope Benedict XVI will not give cardinals access to a secret Vatican dossier into leaked papal documents before they meet to elect his successor.

Pope Benedict, who on Thursday becomes the first pontiff in 600 years to retire, met the three cardinals who investigated the case known as VatiLeaks, the Holy See press office said on Monday. The investigation led last year to the arrest of the Pope's butler in one of the worst security breaches at the Vatican.

The pontiff thanked cardinals Julian Herranz Casado, Jozef Tomko and Salvatore De Giorgi for work that ''made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor in every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See''.

Still, ''the acts of this investigation'', known only to Pope Benedict, ''will remain solely at the disposition of the new Pope''.

In his final address on Saturday to the Curia, the bureaucracy that runs the Vatican, the Pope lamented the ''evil, suffering and corruption'' that defaced the church.

Last week, the Italian magazine Panorama and newspaper la Repubblica reported the Pope decided in December to resign after receiving the secret dossier, which allegedly detailed a network of sex and corruption in the Vatican and suggested some prelates' conduct made them vulnerable to blackmail.

A spokesman for the Vatican, Federico Lombardi, said the media reports did not ''correspond to reality''.

The dossier will remain secret, though the three cardinals who compiled it may inform their counterparts of its contents before the conclave to help them ''evaluate the situation and choose a new Pope'', Father Lombardi said on Monday.

The leaked texts formed the basis of a book portraying the Vatican as a hotbed of intrigue and the Pope as a leader undermined by his second-in-command, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The Vatican accused the media at the weekend of ''widespread distribution of often unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories'' in an attempt ''to exert pressure'' on the cardinals who will gather for the conclave.

VatiLeaks Dossier To Be Kept From Pope's Electors