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Vatican reacts on Pope inaction claims
by Michele Leridon, AAP March 26, 2010, 7:50 am
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The Vatican has hit back at new paedophilia revelations, defending Pope Benedict XVI against an allegation that he failed to act over a US priest accused of molesting up to 200 deaf children in the 1970s.

The Roman Catholic Church's morals watchdog then headed by the future pope was reportedly alerted twice by the archbishop of Wisconsin of the accusations against Reverend Lawrence Murphy.

Benedict, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, did not respond to the letters, and a secret canonical trial authorised by his deputy was halted after Murphy wrote a pleading letter to the future pope, the New York Times said, citing documents provided by victims' lawyers.

The Vatican replied on Thursday that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith chaired by Ratzinger had suggested "restricting" Murphy's public functions and "requiring (him to) accept full responsibility for the gravity of his acts."
The priest was accused of abusing hearing-impaired children systematically between 1950 and 1974, according to the Times report.

It quoted Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi as saying the congregation, which safeguards Catholic doctrine and morals, delegated the "tragic case" to the archbishop of Milwaukee in the late 1990s.

Its rationale was that "Father Murphy was elderly and in very poor health, and that he was living in seclusion and no allegations of abuse had been reported in over 20 years," Thursday's statement added, noting that Murphy died in 1998, four months after the congregation's instruction.

It said that some of Murphy's victims had reported the abuse to "civil authorities", who subsequently dropped their investigation.

The congregation, which Ratzinger headed from 1981 until 2005, was asked "how to treat the Murphy case canonically," the Vatican said, noting that Murphy was accused of soliciting sex from boys while hearing their confessions.
A Vatican watcher mocked the statement, saying: "From the canonical point of view (Ratzinger) followed the procedures."

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he told AFP: "This Nuremberg-style defence is completely inappropriate and cannot mollify public opinion."
The reference was to the 1946 Nuremberg trials of senior Nazis, who told the court that they had only followed orders.
"With old guys who are no longer in the field, this is how the Vatican always handled it," said another Vatican expert, John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter. "Through their eyes that was considered compassionate justice; to the outside world it looks like a free pass."
"Is it enough? It's probably not going to satisfy the critics," Allen said.
The new revelation follows months of predator priest scandals in Europe, including Ireland, Austria, The Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, as well as the pope's native Germany.

Two revelations in Germany concerned the pope and his brother Georg, the first having authorised lodging for a known abuser and the second having headed a boys' choir whose members had earlier suffered abuse.
Most of the cases coming to light in recent months and years date back several decades.

"There's a snowball effect," said analyst Bruno Bartoloni. "The victims are no longer ashamed to talk about the abuse, and the Church will have to radically change its attitude, which used to be to avoid scandal at all costs."
Benedict has continually spoken out and apologised for the "heinous crime" of child sex abuse by priests, meeting victims in the United States and in Australia.
As Cardinal Ratzinger he initiated a decree issued by Pope John Paul II in 2001 ordering bishops to report abuse cases to the Vatican and remove abusers from contact with youth.

But victims' groups have demanded a formal apology for the role of the Vatican.
On Thursday protesters from the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) called on the pope to publish secret archives on paedophile priest cases and hand them over to the police.

"The pope must immediately issue an edict obliging all the bishops of the world to turn paedophile priests in to the police and remove them from the priesthood," SNAP President Barbara Blaine told the ANSA news agency.