Exactly right.
I think it's a mistake to focus exclusively on "What did the Pope know and when?" The fact is, everybody knows and has known for some time that there's an extremely serious, widespread and long-lasting pederasty problem. Some people know it generally and some with a good deal of specificity. So the first question is what, given that knowledge, any given person has done to rectify the situation within the limits of that person's ability. Francis gets an F however you slice it.
That's not to say that the accusation is trivial, which it's obviously not. The more specific the knowledge, the more responsibility to act on it. If the accusation is true, Francis' responsibility was maximal, which means his moral abdication was maximal.
7
hey ross, how about your thoughts concerning the new reports of abuse in Pennsylvania. tell us where you really stand on such matters and why that leads to trashing the Pope.
12
As a non-Catholic, but avid NYT reader, I find it amazing that the fact that the "conservatives" are blaming the extensive, world-wide sex abuse that occurred for decades (at least) on too many gay men being in the priesthood. Excuse me, but the victims of abuse by Catholic priests is well populated with women who were assaulted as girls. Why are reporters swallowing the "conservative" line that the whole problem is queer pedophiles? That is classic anti-gay slander.
45
The bulk of the sexual abuse by Priests happened under John Paul II. Please refer me to all the articles by Ross Douthat calling for his removal. [crickets]. Yeah, that's what I thought.
56
How can you say he's failing when you don't know what he knows. It's your speculation. You are what's wrong with journalism today.
16
The catholic church is a corrupt criminal enterprise. The only solution is to fire all the leaders, jail the pedophiles and their enablers. Anything short of this will fail to cleanse this disgusting institution.
9
This is so much inside baseball. I was stunned by this news story over the weekend, thought that a NYT columnist would enlighten me, and then halfway through realized I just don't care and reaffirmed my sense that the Catholic Church is an anachronism that few would miss if it went away. Womp womp.
10
All of this, every bit of this very unfortunate mess, makes me glad I’m no longer Catholic.
15
Of course the leadership in the corrupt Catholic Church knew....they all knew. This very public sexual abuse scandal has been going on for decades. People need to back to the 60 Minutes report by Mike Wallace on the abuse in New Mexico. This was years and years ago. The corrupt Catholic Church response? It was a one time occurrence. Not systematic. Now see where they are.
3
The catholic church needs leaders who know the difference between superstition and reality. Good luck with that.
The pope's accuser confuses homosexuality with pedophilia. The two have nothing to do with each other, as anybody with a basic understanding of and belief in science knows.
Dan Kravitz
19
The comments of readers provide an extremely useful forum. Thank you, readers.
9
Frrom Roman Catholic point of view (not mine) Douthat’s conclusion is surely the only proper one. Politics is a game you can seldom win at with clean hands. And church politics is no exception. When your hands are dirty you’ve got to wash them.
6
It saddens me to read the comments condemning the Catholic faith of millions, a faith based on Christ the redeemer and not destroyed by sins and weaknesses of some religious representatives. The crimes and depredations have been committed by a minority of sick people exploiting a clerical culture and privileged position. That culture must change. It seems, on the surface anyway, that most of the offenders are homosexual, but blaming all gays for the bad behavior of some is simply stupid. Historically, such pedophiles and ephebophiles were severely punished, while in the 20th century psychologists and counselors seemed to provide a hopeful and humane response. We still do not know enough about causes of this behavior- and Heaven only knows how widespread it is in developing countries. Nonetheless, Bishop enablers should be removed, predators must be prevented from damaging kids and young adults, celibacy requirements should be examined,and lay people should assume leadership and serve Christ’s Church. The majority of priests are decent men who are as enraged , disgusted, and sorrowful as the rest of us. Helping the victims achieve justice and healing is our first responsibility as we move forward, and that is not up to Pope Francis alone. How sad that the hyper Conservatives in the Church are exploiting this tragedy to advance a retrograde agenda which contributed to causing the original crisis.
8
Wow! Douthat clearly describes an ongoing problem in the Church and demonstrates his own efforts to add to it.
7
There is NO ONE within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church who has not known about the prevalence of sexual abuse of minors, other priests, nuns, etc. for at least 50 years. No one, least of all this Archbishop. The motivation for this letter and cowardly disappearance is purely political, to remove a Pope who says that divorce is not a sacrament crime, that a gay child is cause for conversation not conversion, that an abortion is the least desired outcome of a pregnancy, but sometimes medically necessary and ALWAYS the woman's choice.
The Archbishop if being the Fox news of feckless "Catholics".
11
Beware the new convert to any cause. They are anxious in their conversion and need to prove their place by being a steadfast vote for 'order'.
The author has previously made plain his position in "To Change the Church..." Francis has gained the enmity of many with attempts to smooth the rough edge of the board. Fingering the parchments in the bowels of the Vatican, they wail over his apostasy.
The latest statement from Archbishop Viganò concerning the Nienstedt investigation is a melange of "I did this..he didn't do that..papers in the Nunciature..." This is, of course, a result of post facto rewrites to make his scenes in the play 'read' better. And grand, deep conspiracies of a gay cabal are perfect for diversion.
FIFA executives made a genius move to make every FA, one federation, one vote in chambers. Thus, they could give a 'training center' to Montserrat (population 5,000) and get the same bribe for the Euro as millions to Germany. They learned the trick from the Holy See. New Bishops named, who would be eternally grateful to the namer!
It's all high school class politics on a larger and much more expensive playground.
7
The real basis of the problem is an organized homosexual alliance within the priesthood , which a progressive like Francis needed to advance his progressive agenda. The problem is also being ignored by progressive media , who will not surrender their political correctness in the face of truth. Over 70 percent of the victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy were post pubescent males , not children or females. The facts are clear, the problem is obvious , and it is being strenuously ignored .
I would like to see a column on how your life actions conflict with Catholic teaching, and how you retain your
Catholicism. A how to article.
3
This world will never be truly free until the scourge of religion, with its pagan, myth and superstition based roots, is wiped from the face of the earth. There may be a creator, but Christianity, its god, and its bible, are all products of first century paganism, and it's associated myths and superstitions.
Christianity, with its stupid, unrealistic sexual hyper-repression, is directly to blame for the abuses perpetrated by these hundreds of Catholic leaders, and these types of abuses will never end, until the repression stops.
Until Catholicism is relegated to the dustbin of history where it belongs, the pope needs to step up to the plate, and start excommunicating the thousands of sexual offenders under his watch. At this point, it is obvious he only intends to pay lip service to the issue, and has no intention of taking any serious action, and that is a crime, for which he should be prosecuted.
7
The letter is a political attack and should be ignored as such. Period. Francis is responding exactly as he should to something that is basically worthless. What letter? Benedict lives in a Villa in Rome with his boyfriend. Seriously.
6
Reading this latest condemnation by Ross Douthat is enough to turn one into a happy heathen. His tone on occasion is enough to cause some believers with doubts to turn away from the church.
A Catholic civil war is taking place in the Vatican where it belongs. In the meantime, the readers of the times we are living and praying might benefit from having the views of another author of politics, moral values and higher education in a weekly exchange with Douthat.
3
Attacking Pope Francis at the behest of Bishop Vigano is like taking advice from Iago: malevolent. Vigano’s accusations received global attention. Like Trump, Vigano is a symptom of the disease that afflicts the people, Like Trump, he relies on resentment, lies, and the very traditions that have led to the perpetual scandals and corruption within the Church: privilege and impunity. “Conservatives” want to restore Catholic privilege and end any submission to civil authority and falsely portray Francis as scandalous while it is the “Conservative” cabal that kept an iron grip on shielding sexual deviants and moving them from place to place where they violated more children. “Conservatives” think it better to avoid embarrassment than to reveal extensive perversion and corruption. It was “Conservatives” who created the pedophile priest disgrace.
Douthat has embraced the “Conservative” Vigano, predictably. He has always fought to preserve celibacy, and refusal to forgive divorced Catholics because of....tradition? Murder, pedophilia, rape can be “absolved” but not divorce? Statistically over 50% of all “celebrate” priests are sexually active, making them vulnerable to blackmail by prelates to prevent them from exposing pedophiles? Why is sex the only sin among Conservatives?
12
The Catholic Church has a 2000 year history of corruption. Crusades, slavery, genocide, child molestation, and on and on. It is a corrupt earthly political and economic organisation whose primary purpose is to maximise its own power and wealth. It has tried for all of those 2000 years to maintain a monopoly over its sole product - "god".
This article proposes that we should take sides. They are all corrupt.
6
Among the ugliest aspects of this crisis is the not-so-subtle effort to blame pedophelia on homosexuals within the Church. Equating the two is a trope and pointing the finger at homosexuals is itself another form of coverup and moral failing.
14
"Archbishop Viganò, who blames gays for the child abuse crisis that has destroyed the church’s standing in many countries, dedicated entire sections of the letter to outing cardinals who he claims belong to what he characterizes as a pernicious “homosexual current” within the Vatican."
You first have to cleanse this statement.
Inclusion or exclusion?
1
Being an atheist, I do believe that religion plays an important role in providing moral order and existential meaning to the mass of humanity, which is why I read the scandal with mixed feelings. Do the conservative bishops sincerely think that their brand of catholicism is winning the future? Pope Francis is not a saint and his failing is made glaring by the accusation, but he has a big heart, which is more than most bishops and archbishops can boast of. Forcing him to resign would be a suicidal attempt of the Roman catholic church.
2
Mr. Douthat describes an insiders’ fight that sweeps up the innocent and the guilty in a maelstrom of vice and corruption. Liberals and conservatives fight over dogma with one side wanting to pull the Church towards the present and the other wanting to return to past times of clerical glory and influence. Sexual abuse is the larger crime but gets either ignored or only involved as a weapon. Meanwhile, the abusers remain and their victims lack justice.
Sounds like much that passes for politics in Washington. Trump deflects with outrageous tweets, but keeps trying to rule by decree. He does not care who gets hurt. Whether its coal miners or minors dragged from their parents, as long as he gets his tweets in the Fox crawl, he’s happy. Democrats rail at the abuses but are powerless to stop the authoritarian juggernaut. Their only hope is an actual alliance with voters to gain a majority in the House.
Both the Church and Washington are ruled by elites that act as though they are unaccountable to the people. No wonder the Church hemorrhages parishioners and our elections lack voters. In both cases the crimes continue, apparently without pause. Both institutions are governed by unrepresentative leaders who thwart the will of the people for the sake of. . . . Hmm, ideological purity?
None of these hands are clean.
2
Is this an apology for the wrong doings of "Saint" John Paul II? After all, he was the Pope responsible for making Mccarick a Cardinal despite a history of documented wrongdoing dating back many years. Blaming Pope Francis for Mccarick misses the point. JPII promoted Mccarick, and Benedict quietly sanctioned him (maybe?) at a time when he should have stripped him of his red hat and made a public example of him.
Francis should purge the corruption, but that is made harder by the likes of Cardinal Burke and Vigano and other conservatives whose message is not so much one of fixing the broken institution than one of pushing the liberal guy out of power.
The Church faces a problem created by both liberals and conservatives. It will require unity and common commitment by all of its leaders to fix this. The serious split in the leadership and the desire by many to align the American Catholic Church with political extremes (conservative or liberal) has contributed to the problem. It is time to clean house and that means getting rid of both Wuerl on the left and Burke on the right and find a new generation of leadership.
2
A lot of this reminds me, oddly enough, about the time when homosexuals were denied security clearances and purged from the government. The idea is that they were security risks and could be blackmailed.
This, of course, was mainly true because homosexuality was criminalized. You can't blackmail someone for something that is out in the open.
So, will the Catholic Church come to grips with the fact that prohibiting all forms of sexual contact for the clergy forces that sexuality, for some, into wildly inappropriate forms and distorts the whole enterprise because of the need for everyone to hide everything? The second coming will come sooner.
1
Mr Vigano has known about this mess for over three years. Why did he not expose it as soon as he found out about it? What was he waiting for? By his own logic, he should resign.
11
Though the long career of the former cardinal McCarrick has encompassed at least the terms of three Popes, including John Paul II, now the once blind and deaf conservatives are ready to attack Pope Francis, who is finally, for the first time, trying to find remedy and connect with the victims.
Poor Francis has chosen the wrong name for the Vatican Curia and apparently also for the conservative ideologues too.
Indeed Francis of Assisi did live outside the Vatican and opposite to its culture and costumes.
Encouraging Pope Francis to be "zealous" and "uncompromising" in his pursuit of the truth and in rooting out sexual deviants is not enough. It is barely a start.
The Catholic Church has had decades to do this, and has failed abjectly to do it. It is clearly beyond the powers of any one Pope to clean up this mess.
The legal and political system in countries around the world is also culpable, in part no doubt due to the political power that the Catholic Church holds over secular leaders. Simply put, there is too much resistance to doing the right thing from a legal perspective, to investigate, identify, and rid the Church of those who would abuse the trust of parishioners while abusing their children. It is clear that the Church can't, and won't, do so by itself.
This isn't about freedom of religion or the separation of church and state. It is about upholding the law, adhering strictly to a code of decency, and protecting our young and other parishioners from predator priests who have run rampant for decades. It is about those within the Church hierarchy who continue to turn a blind eye to such abuse. It is about an end to priestly celibacy, and about allowing priests to marry.
The time has come to clean up the Catholic Church. Since the Church itself won't do it, the rest of us need to do it. We owe it to the children whose lives have been and are being ruined. Nothing less will do, including relying solely on a Pope.
The question of "what do Pope Francis know and when did he know it" is besides the point. Clearly, every American Catholic Bishop and Cardinal knew about the abuses that took place in their diocese. While the Pope is clearly the top dog responsible for the entire organization, underlings trying to pin sole responsibility on the Pope smells of politics.
3
Carlo Maria Viganò exemplifies the hypocrisy of the Right Wing in the church. When Pope John Paul II reigned, the Right demanded strict adherence to the teachings of the Pope; they condemned questioning liberals; they demanded the excommunication of prominent Catholics who did not follow all the Pope’s teachings; and, they enshrined papal supremacy.
Now we have Pope Francis, a progressive, and the Right does everything it can to criticize and demonize him even going so far as to coerce him into resigning.
Is it any wonder that Dante placed hypocrites in one of the Inferno’s lowest circles.
3
I don't know where Trump gets his ideas. Who in US politics is pressing for strict enforcement of "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" on that sainted body?
It is shocking to hear all the supportive voices of Francis in these comments. They can only be compared to the universal condemnation from the gallery on any other subject related to the Church. One can only conclude that Francis is with this demonic crowd and against Christ.
The first amendment says two things about religion: Congress has no right or power to endorse or financially support it, and no power to intervene in the informed voluntary participation in it.
1
Disclaimer, I am a retired Presbyterian minister, married to a Roman Catholic of great faithfulness.
The problem with the church is very simple. It is criminally and morally bankrupt. Pedophiles seek places where they can have unaltered access to children. The church can stop this.
We have had a few instances of pedophilia in the Presbyterian Church, but few. We protect children with policies and vigilance. When abuse occurs we confront, cooperate and separate.
We Presbyterians also train and educate clergy and lay persons in vigilance. We report.
All the stories of years of abuse are more than a stain, they are an outrage. Honest clergy and committed laypersons should rise up tonight and start the new purge of the stain.
2
A commentator made the point that celibacy is not required in the Bible. Why are priests celibate then? We have evolved from the days when "good" Christians roamed the streets flagellating themselves. Self-punishment is a very old Catholic tradition, but the world no longer sees it as an admirable trait. Sex has it's proper place in life, but I suspect it's those who never have sex who think about it all the time. Celibacy certainly does not seem to be leading many of its priestly adherents to a place that is good.
2
The solution to the corruption at the top is obvious and needs no further discussion. However I think devout Catholics should examine not their faith in God but look at the history of the Church from Christ through Constintine. I know from talking to many believers that people have no knowledge that the Church debated and argued about the divinity of Christ for three hundred years before Emperor Constintine. With Constantine Christianity became tolerated and he ended the persecution of Christians. The Church as we know it today stems from the political actions of this man second to Christ himself.
The question then is are the spiritual beliefs of Catholics really authentic or the result of political calculations and the spiritual beliefs of one Emperor.
Peter Isely, founding member of Ending Clergy Abuse, got it right: he noted that Pope Francis is beginning to “correctly describe” the problem. And that is all the Pope has done.
The Catholic Church has not identified concrete actions it will take to truly help and heal the damage to those who have been abused by priests and others 'in control' within the catholic church. Despite establishing a commission to look into the problem and address a backlog of cases, Pope Francis has still not established any protocol for handling sex abuse allegations for the Catholic Church as a whole.
The Pope also fully supports Cardinal Wuerl, who said a week or so ago that he didn’t think the church’s nonchalant actions regarding sexual abuse of children “is some massive, massive crisis.” Wuerl has presided over agreements banning victims from speaking.
This issue goes to the top of the church.
Some day, the church will have a leader who will attack the church's history of denial, burial of accusations, and history of abuse head on, directly, without flinching, and without fear.
Some day, the church will have a leader who will call for the immediate removal from the church and immediate prosecution through the criminal justice system of any priest, nun, church employee, or church volunteer, who is credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors or adults.
1
@Ed, under the "free exercise" clause of the first amendment, people are allowed to voluntarily subject themselves to anything in the name of religion. Thus it is arguable that none of the victims of abuse by the church have cases against it.
Douthat’s call for moral purity in a “human” institution, while noble, is a bit naïve. When one starts with the premise that we are members of a Church of sinners, any and every perversity is possible. This sense among some that there never can be any moral nuances in how people think, behave, or talk is a rather self-righteous viewpoint. Neither liberals or conservatives can argue that they are as pure as the driven snow, because we are human and sinners!
I agree with Douthat. Francis must stay. And I am willing to give Francis some slack because he may not and could not be quite as knowledgeable about all the players and their sins in our vast worldwide Church. The moral self-righteousness of so many Catholics nowadays would be belied by each Catholic’s honest examination of conscience. I’ll stick with Francis because his style is real.
1
Comments calling for resignations across the board are emotionally cathartic, yet ignore the fact that the vast majority of priests and bishops are not pedophiles themselves. That being said, the time has come for a significant renewal in the Church. I support the idea of Vatican authorized investigation that is predominantly undertaken and managed by lay people with forensic skills to first understand the scope of the problems and who participated in the actions and as importantly the cover up of these actions. Then serious and credible pastoral leaders must evaluate the roots of both the both predatory behavior and the cover up. They should receive the authority to rigorously and faithfully pursue serious accountability for past actions. Simultaneously install and implement similarly rigorous approaches for evaluating the character of prospective ministers and priests, investigating and handling credible accusations of predatory behavior including communication with legal authorities where children are concerned. Finally, there should be year of clerical and ministerial fasting and penance and re-dedication to the call to service that is the heart of the Faith.
2
Non-Catholic. Wife is. Spent scores more holidays in mass than Sabbath at the temple. Gives one time to reflect. Recently, John Shnatter, was forced out as Chairman of Papa John's for uttering a single, forbidden word in civilized American society. Consider if 300 PA McDonald's franchisees were accused of the crimes of which the Catholic clergy in PA are accused. Consider if the President of McD's was told about this years ago. Consider if the same thing happened within McD's in other states, cities, countries. Would McD's continue to exist? Would the Presidents and Chairmen and franchisees and regional managers who knew but covered it up be in jail, let alone still employed? Douthat's reasoning cannot escape his faith. Cleansing McCarrick "doesn’t mean that the pope should resign — not even if Viganò is fully vindicated. One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough." One per millennium? Equivalent to: Nixon was corrupt. Enough for a few centuries, so Trump gets a pass. The abuse, the cover-ups, the immunity from prosecution - the worldwide web of criminal conduct of the Church are mind-boggling - for self-preservation, careerism, power: all the same drivers we see behind the corruption of our own politicians. The Church cannot be left to investigate or punish itself. It's hard to know where to begin to adequately describe the hypocrisy and the evil acts that have been perpetrated by this organization- not only regarding this scandal, but throughout the centuries.
3
Anyone can have an opinion. But if one is employed by the NY Times to publish their opinion, as is Mr. Douthat, he has been given a unique opportunity - and responsibility - to help shape public opinion. This responsibility should be taken very seriously.
There is a great deal in the life and spirituality of Pope Francis that Mr. Douthat cannot possibly know. There are likely a great number of details about the scandal scenario that he doesn't know. For example, does he know that Viganò, while papal nuncio, ordered clergy in Minnesota to stop the investigation of sexual misconduct by a priest? And was retired shortly after this?
I do not know if Viganò was right or wrong in doing this. But I bring up the point because in situations as complex and contentious as this, we cannot possibly know all of the facts. And neither can Pope Francis.
Yet Mr. Douthat writes as though he knows them all - why each pope and cardinal did what they did. It is incredibly sad that there is so much child sexual abuse in the world and that ANY of it occurred because of Catholic clergy. But we know it is so. Our challenge now is how to remove the guilty, repent of our individual and institutional sins and reform our Church in a meaningful way. This is not an easy task.
Mr. Douthat, stirring the political pot is not constructive. Pray. Or if you don't believe in prayer, offer help to someone who is suffering. Do something to put more positive energy in this beautiful world of ours.
2
In March 2010, Mr. Douthat wrote “ Now the scandal has touched the pope himself. The most serious charge against Benedict XVI is that he allowed a pedophile priest to return to ministry while archbishop of Munich in 1980.” He concluded this essay saying “Popes do not resign. But a pope can clean house. And a pope can show contrition, on his own behalf and on behalf of an entire generation of bishops…”
Today, he calls for a Pope Francis to resign on the basis of a letter from a disgruntled employee. Clearly, Mr. Douthat holds liberal Popes to a different standard.
As quoted in the NYTimes yesterday, Fr. James Martin said “Unfortunately some Catholics are using the suffering of children to advance some of their own ecclesial agendas, such as attacking Francis.”
It is not just unfortunate. It is shameful.
4
@JoMu: If you read this op-ed to the end, you;ll see that Mr. Douthat DOESN'T think Francis should resign:
"But this doesn’t mean that the pope should resign — not even if Viganò is fully vindicated. One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough. That cop-out should not be easily available to pontiffs confronted with scandals, including scandals of their own making, any more than it should be available to fathers.
Instead the faithful should press Francis to fulfill the paternal obligations at which he has failed to date ..."
I almost never agree with Mr. Douthat's analysis in his columns, and this one is no exception. The surprise is that he didn't agree with the call for Francis's resignation, since it came for the reactionary corner of the church with which Mr. Douthat aligns himself.
5
May I respectfully suggest actually reading the article before making your accusations of hypocrisy? Mr. Douthat explicitly does NOT call on Pope Francis to resign. Looks like you were too busy pursuing your own agenda. Shameful!
3
He does not. He clearly says he believes Francis must stay on and clean house, again. Criticism of others’ opinions is perfectly acceptable, but please make yourself familiar with what you are criticizing.
2
No, Ross; I like Francis, but he has to quit. At the most he can set some future date and clean the Church during that period. But he has to go.
1
From what I have read and heard it was well known that
McCarrick forced himself on his own Seminarians.
For that alone he should be laicised.
Is it that difficult of a matter to find out whether Benedict XVI learned about McCarrick's deeds and
ordered him to be sanctioned ?
If Benedict did and then Francis ignored or lifted those
sanctions then it seems to me that Francis should step down.
If neither Benedict or Francis knew - what is going
on in the Church that allows such ongoing behaviour to
go un-reported ?
In the arguments following one faction vs. another, trying to blame either liberals or conservatives and so forth we are losing sight of the bottom line. The bitter truth is that the Catholic church today is an international criminal conspiracy dedicated to the concealment of sexual abuse. It has shown that it cannot be trusted to root out the perpetrators despite protestations to the contrary. It is time for civil authorities to step in and prosecute the guilty. Hopefully, a new hierarchy would emerge, one that would be worthy of the faithful.
2
@DK in VT: Government has no business supporting or endorsing any faith-propagating activity, but it cannot deny anyone the right to voluntarily subject themselves to it by informed consent.
From The Tablet: In a further development, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of Benedict XVI, has rejected the claim that the Emeritus Pope has confirmed the allegations of former Vatican diplomat Carlo Viganò. "Pope Benedict has not commented on the 'memorandum' of Archbishop Viganò and will not do so," Gänswein told the German newspaper Die Tagespost. The claim that the emeritus Pope had confirmed the statements lacked any foundation. "Fake news," said Gänswein.
4
The Pope has kept quiet about his time during Argentina's Dirty Wars with thousands of desaparecitos. We will probably never know the truth about his role, but his silence speaks volumes. His failure to address the current charges against him make one wonder how extensive was the cover up. The Vatican is still a mysterious group of secretive men. They need to bring women into the fold and elevate their status. While it won't stop the pedophilia, it keep the church more honest and moral.
3
I find it very odd that of all the articles and thousands of comments on those articles, not one has mentioned the historically documented facts of atrocious corruption and horrific barbarism perpetrated by the Roman Catholic Church going back to even before Medieval times. Has everyone forgotten the corruption and debauchery of the Medici Popes? And what about the Inquisition when the Church condoned thousands (if not millions) of women being burned at the stake? The institution of the Church survived all that. Why would it surprise anyone that in modern times they would have the arrogance and hubris to believe they could also cover up and survive a bit of scandal over some pervert priests who couldn’t keep their hands off children and teenagers?
4
Sounds like your calling for a Catholic reformation to root out corruption. Wouldn’t be the first time. Maybe Francis should take a look at his namesake for guidance?
2
A previous commenter noted that most of the abuses occurred under the regime of Ross's hero, John Paul II, and that Vigano and his ilk are part of a conservative movement bent on discrediting Francis. And who were no doubt complicit in this entire sordid mess.
So true. This is not about rallying to reform.this is about rallying to return the church to an era of 'father knows best and don't you dare question it.'
I'd like to ask Ross how he feels about the soft landing his hero gave to Cardinal Law in Rome, thus enabling Law to escape any legal liability and avoiding the kids whose lives were ruined by his actions. I have grown mighty tired of his sanctimony when he refuses to see the whole history of the church, but instead proof texts to reinforce his narrow and classist agenda.
4
Mr. Douthat, "cop-out" is a rather facile term for resignation, wouldn't you say? We don´t know all the reasons behind Pope Benedict's resignation.
Want to fix the Catholic Church? Burn it all to the ground. Then rebuild it to be more just and actually follow the lessons of Christ.
No more patriarchy. No more "Princes of the Church." No more money grubbing. No more crusades against things like a woman's right to choose, LGBT people, and the equality of all people.
Allow women to be priests, allow priests to marry either opposite sex or same sex, no more cover ups. If a priest or other member of the church commits the crime of harming children and teens that priest is to be cast out and handed over to law enforcement.
Build the Church on humility and service.
Christ laid it all out in his teachings, yet the Catholic Church is far from a Christ like institution.
10
Maybe it's time for the narrative in the 1968 film "Shoes of the Fisherman."
1
There are many good reasons to question Vigano's account of events and to question his credibility. There is also good reason to question Douthat's opinion: he repeatedly expresses an intellectual disdain for reforms Francis initiated in today's Church and its liberalization in any number of areas including a more welcoming attitude to gay Catholics and seminarians and his message to Catholics to help--not hinder--refugees, the poor and the vulnerable. These messages of love are messages that seem to openly disturb politically conservative Catholic (and non-Catholics) and they can't seem to embrace the idea that the founder of it all, Christ, lived among the wretched and poor and constantly upset the applecart of the comfortable, the monied, the establishment, even the theorists.
Having said that, there is no more important matter crying out for resolution in the Church than the sexual abuse of children. Pussyfooting around the issues related to sexual abuse by priests was never right. If there is credible evidence of priests sexually preying upon and abusing anyone, that priest should be identified to the state, investigated by the state, prosecuted where evidence calls for it, and, if convicted, sent down to the cells like every other convicted sexual predator.
Ridding the Church and the world of sexual abusers and making victims whole can't be delayed. It won't matter who the Pope is if this isn't done now, because the Church will dissolve from its own sins.
3
What the Pope knew is what everyone in the Catholic hierarchy knew - the church has been sitting on decades of abuse and worse.
It is the misfortune of Pope Francis that the bill is coming due during his reign. There are those who would bring him down - yet who among the cardinals does not have a comparable burden? It is a test of character as well as faith.
A great test is also a great gift. What Pope Francis does going forward will define the church for decades, perhaps centuries to come. It will demonstrate his character - and that of the church going forward.
If there is one thing he could do, it would be to address the built-in authoritarian patriarchy the church has been for centuries by allowing women to take their place as leaders in the church.
He could go farther by making celibacy voluntary rather than mandatory, and allow for married clergy. He could acknowledge that sexuality is not necessarily defined by anatomy. He could end the ban on contraception.
It is a paradox of the Catholic Church, that its emphasis on humans as sinners in practice fails to acknowledge that sin can be found on both sides of the confession booth. It remains to be seen if the inherently authoritarian church can deal with the acknowledgment that it is not perfect and that it too must answer for its sins.
2
I am disinclined to put much faith in what Vigano has to say. As I recall Vigano was the person responsible for giving Kim Davis the opportunity to meet Pope Francis. It was an obvious and petty attempt to make Francis look like a hypocrite. The pope had already expressed tolerance for homosexuality. To deliberately bring Davis into his presence with journalists and cameras was inexcusable. My only advice to Francis would be to say: The church is in a mess, how can we best deal with the mess to the benefit of all the faithful?
6
Mr. Douthat should call for ordination of women and end of celibacy of the priests along condemnation and punishment of pedophiles and who ever provide them with cover. Anything less than that is an attempt of the conservatives catholic bishops, their American wealthy conservative backers and commenters like Mr. Douthat to silence, neuter or replace Pope Francis, who admittedly has not been effective in route out the sex scandal plaguing Catholic Church, but has been a moral voice for social justice and defender of the poor on this planet.
1
The proposed solutions to this outraging tragedy are all over the place. I find : " Don't give them any money ." to be wrongheaded. I left the church over this truly soul searing, horrible series of revelations-so truly evil and I can still hardly stand to think of the suffering of the thousands of victims. And I have known some and have heard their stories.
But there are ways in which the church continues to do good. Catholic Relief Services helps with victims of wars, famines, natural disasters. Covenant House rescues homeless teenagers from sex traffickers-I do know that there was a problem of the same nature there in the past though,- In many cities the church is on the front lines for refugees and immigrants-from blankets and coats and food to lawyers and education.There are schools and hospitals all over this country who serve the poor well. I'm never be willing to be a Catholic again but I continue to support these kinds of efforts with money and time. I went to Catholic schools for 12 years. No one ever bothered me. One priest memorably had a torrid affair with the beautiful young widow who worked in the church office though. I knew another in later years who fathered a child with a college student. They wanted to marry. His order, citing a shortage of priests, browbeat him into staying.
We were much more afraid of the nuns and later learned that they'd been sent to our isolated not air conditioned city for " sins of pride and temper."
Without women's support, the RCC would collapse. Women bring their husbands and children to Sunday mass. Many men would not attend, if not for their wives' influence. Many more women than men volunteer their time working on church projects (teaching Bible studies, directing youth groups, running food and clothing drives, raising money for repairs, cleaning, bookkeeping -- and so much more). Yet women are banned from the priesthood and are told contraception is a sin. Women, it's time to force a Roman Catholic Reformation! You are the equals of all men (priests included). You are the foundation of the church. If the RCC does not appreciate you, move on. Find a Protestant church or other church that does.
8
I just read a very compelling reconstruction of real events in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, by-line Andrea Tornielli. It is clear from the tone that Tornielli is defending the pope, but, similarly to what happens today with Trump, he has an easy time doing it because he focuses on facts, not on hearsay or malevolent rumors. If anything, it seems, from the extensive narration of the sequence of events, that the responsibility for indifference and maybe covering up, goes back to JPII and Benedict.
I would recommend that Douthat ask someone to translate the piece for him. Actually, it would be useful if the NYT bought the copyright and give its readers good quality information.
1
One of the reasons that the church is being run with such impunity is that it is subsidized by all of us through taxpayer subsidization. It is high time to eliminate all tax deductions for all religious entities. (especially ones that are nothing but political fronts - 501c4's)
Prey on your own dime.
8
Based on the reported facts, there appears to be probable cause sufficient to support an indictment against McCarrick. His abuse of minors is a common law crime in any state. Why has he not been indicted, extradited and tried. Is there no prosecutor who will vindicate the rights of the children. He should not be allowed to live out his life in relative comfort when he deserves to spend the rest of his life in an American prison. As to Vatican politics, who cares
2
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" Maybe that is the message from Jesus to the bad guys that betrayed him. This time it took place on the road to Ireland. The priests and bishops that did terrible things were blinded not for three days but during many years.
We remember that Jesus told to Saint Francis one day: "Go and repair My House, which as you can see, is falling into ruins" He created the "Regula Primitiva: To follow the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in his footsteps".
Pope Francis please don't resign. We have received many blessings during the last few years, for example your kind support to the Peace in Colombia, your wonderful words about immigrants, and many more. You are not alone. Yes, purge the corruption.
2
Mr. Douthat, you are partly correct, but burdened by your religious conservatism, too timid in your suggestions. Yes, this Pope has not done enough, and neither did his predecessors. All of the combatants in your church's civil war have dirty linen.
Your church has plenty of villains to go around and contra Vigano, and his little plotters many of them were and are on your church's right and far right. So, your solution is, kick out the pedophiles, the abusers of seminarians, and the enabling prelates. Good and necessary, but hardly enough. No mention of bringing in the police, even in places where due process is in the cards.
No mention of changing the culture with optional married priests, and more importantly ending clericalism and giving both priests and lay people more real power and input vis a vis bishops and Cardinals. No really bold statement acknowledging that perhaps schism is the appropriate outcome so that the ultra-traditionalists can have their smaller, "purer" church, and your other RC of Francis and his followers the church they want. Yes Christianity is divided enough but sometimes as in 1054 with the East, it becomes necessary.
2
What did every pope before Francis know?
8
Here's the problem with Ross Douthat: He's a CONVERT, which means he's holier-than-the-Pope, and stricter than the Pope (ANY pope, ever!). And he's so very sure of what the church should be & how it ought to get there. He's a hard-line super-conservative - perhaps he's representative of Vigano and company - but Douthat is NOT representative of the majority of US Catholics; he's not even close!
I think Douthat should humbly take a seat in the back and pipe down. Those who were raised Catholic since infancy have a perspective & a depth of understanding that Douthat can never hope to approach.
17
All Catholics the world over should cut the Vatican off, financially. The Vatican should be shut down. Everyone who lives and works there should leave the place within a week. Pope Francis, all Cardinals, all Bishops, and all other higher-ups should resign, effective immediately, throw their fancy garb and other luxuries in the garbage and all their booze down the toilet, turn themselves into the Italian police within 24 hours , confess to having aided and abetted practically innumerable serious crimes, and refuse legal representation until every victim of sexual abuse the world over has received the equivalent of 2,000,000 USD from the Vatican's coffers. The place is a monument to opulence, grandiosity, self-aggrandizement, and corruption. It is also a snake-pit.
5
The Catholic Church has been around a long time, it'll weather the present storm. All that's needed are some cosmetic reforms and a little more discretion on the part of 'naughty' people; maybe a memo sent round about the difference between 'sin' and 'crime': For sin you can only go to Hell, but for crime you can go to jail. There's something good in everything. I always thought my chances of getting into Heaven were pretty slim, that all the available places were already nailed down by priests, but in view of recent revelations it looks like there will be practically no priests there, so there should be plenty of openings. In fact, the bar being lower than I thought, I can probably increase my level of sin and still get in. The money I was going to give to charity I think I shall now spend on a new sports car.
2
I trust Ross Douthat to judge the Church every bit as much as I trust an 8 year old with X Box 747 Simulator to fly me to Orlando.
14
The Catholic Church should replace altar boys with consenting adults who can say no.
6
The more Vigano carries on about homosexuality, the more I wonder about Vigano's own sexual orientation.
14
Are there any leaders of this cult that didn’t know of the abuse? Funny little men prancing around in purple robes and golden baubles preaching about morals. The deranged followers of religion and their hypocrisy.
10
Viganò is to the Catholic Church on Francis' cupability as Comey is to the FBI and re-opening Clinton's email allegations.
Two weeks running, and not a single word from the NYT Catholic opinion writer on the Pennsylvania grand jury findings of rampant abuse by the church. How much longer will you be silent Ross?
9
Thank goodness this issue has nothing to do with gays. Can you imagine if it did? Every comment about priests would be labeled homophobic. Mmm let me think about again.
1
Strange to me that Cardinal Vigano has come out so strongly against Francis for the same crimes and sins that he himself worked to cover up in the past. What is needed in the Church is a reckoning and a Third Vatican Council. Penance is required. Its well past the time for the Church to allow priests to marry and allow the ordination of women. I doubt this will happen as the notion that homosexual priests will ask to marry will send archconservative hypocrites, like Vigano, completely over the edge. Conservative and Liberal prelates are all equally guilty of a horrendous betrayal. Shame on them all.
1
Secrets, collusion, white men with all the power and prone to molesting people, refusal to identify offenders for political reasons, hoarding of wealth, misogyny, extreme conservatism, obsession with controlling people’s sex lives, narcissism, homophobia, infighting.......
I have trouble differentiating my religion and the Trump administration these days!
4
I am 78 years old and no longer practice Catholicism. And sadly my children and most of their Catholic friends have not just drifted away from Catholicism but run away. They are all very bright and caring younger people who use their god given common sense and follow the golden rule. Shame on the RC Church for being so caught up in 15th Century doctrine and not looking at what makes sense in the world today and the corrupt pedophile scandal propagated by the Vatican and American priests and bishops is reason enough to leave.
The church needs to select priestly applicants from the normal population including married men and women, not just the somewhat skewed group which has caused this huge pedophile problem and the lying corruption now in place
11
To answer the piece's title question :
OF COURSE HE KNEW !
In France, we've known about Catholic priesthood being invaded by pedophiles for decades and decades ! When I was a child, and that was 50 years ago, the joke to kids going to Sunday School was : "don' forget your concrete pants".
Of course he knew.
But of course his conservative adversaries knew, too.
And what did THEY do ?
7
Perhaps your memory is fuzzy. Catholics do not go to Sunday School.
Trump will pardon the Pope. Not to worry.
1
I went to Catholic Univ way back when. My Dad studied with the Jesuits for 14 years until my va-va-voom Mom walked into his parish.
I know the culture. As college kids. my (gay) soulmate and I would hang out at the Shrine cafeteria, where we could HEAR Catholic priests the next booth over chatting about their sexual conquests.
My soulmate being a young gay hunk was often the object of Catholic U clergy.
All of this is BAKED into church culture. No kid gets over sexual abuse. I know firsthand.
To call these offending priests criminal and predatory isn't strong enough. There are no words for the lives they ruin (and crack jokes about in the Shrine cafeteria).
Consider this: perhaps the pope isn't responding well out of shock.
And perhaps - just perhaps - those accusing him are just like the sleazy and deeply hypocritical men of the cloth at Catholic.
I don't know.
What I do know is that journalist Charlie Sykes was spot on when during last week's appearance on Bill Mahrer's show he declared that the Catholic Church "...needs an enema."
3
A celibate man isn't automatically a pedophile. Homosexuals aren't automatically pedophiles.
The priesthood was attractive to pedophiles because it has been so protected and puts so many potential victims close at had where they can be groomed, and controlled. But pedophiles are sociopaths and criminals. Being celibate does not make you into a pedophile. Neither does being a homosexual. There are historically a lot of pedophiles who were "heterosexual", married and have/had children. So let's have some perspective and just hope the Pope decides to cut out the disease in his religionis corpus.
10
I have been saying this to anyone that will listen.
2
It’s a cult of men ... what could go wrong ? The horrific soul killing damage that was allowed to be covered up should make every Catholic person say ... no more ! Your first obligation is to protect the children and your families from a very sick and depraved institution. They covered up sexual abuse and cruel depravity for decades inorder to keep power and the money rolling in. This would still be continuing if they hadn’t been discovered and reported. The pope enabled the abuse of hundreds if not thousands of victims in order to protect his sexual, predator friend. The church needs to allow laymen to serve and get rid of the sick all male hierarchy. Protect children first not a depraved and power hungry institution.
'Burn it down', not literally, but with other actions. As a Catholic, I'm disgusted. It's beyond mafiosa dimensions. Doing evil sexual deeds to little kids over decades! is beyond the scope of any human understanding. In regular courts of justice, these pedophiles would be serving long prison terms!
This is the Catholic #metoo movement in our history. Bring in women clerics! Appoint nuns who have been in servitude to men Jesus wouldn't have walked with! Burn it all down, give away the Vaticans gold to the poor....and yes, kick out Francis.
1
So, the progressive reformer is just as bad as the old school because the institution didn't about-face overnight as soon as he took the helm?
No, of course there's no false equivalence being suggested.
3
I never thought I would need to comment on the Catholic Church. But something is beginning to stink in the US and Rome. We need honest and current thinking Church leaders who will open the door to married and women priests and not restrict their applicants from a group who has deviant behavior far outside the norm. Our recent Popes and Pope Francis are out of touch and they need to re examine a whole lot of their 15th Century thinking
1
Fascinating Gothic intrigue. But can the problem ever be seriously addressed until they let the priests marry already? Of course not. Weird how the word "celibacy" is never even mentioned in all this gruesome back-and-forth.
Ross, they are ALL complicit. All of them.
So don't pick Cardinal Burke's or Vignano's side, unless you are ready to jettison a whole lot of Cardinals. Me? I am ready to jettison all of them, and elect a new set from randomly selected parishes globally.
I have more faith in Pope Francis actually facing down this evil, finally, than I have in Burke, Vignano, or legions of others. Because I feel at the bottom Francis has seen the evil of it all. For the politicos in the Vatican? At the bottom the have seen the opportunity.
Never have I felt as cynical or totally disrespectful of the "men of God" in my Church.
3
The faithful, no doubt, should do all the things that Mr. Douthat says they should do in the final paragraph of his column. But before, during, and after, they should call the cops, because a very great many clerics have committed a very great many crimes, and a very great number of victims of those crimes are minors.
The Vignano story is being more discredited by the hour. Ross is one of the last people who should be making an argument of ideological favoritism agains Pope Francis. Any "conservative" US Catholic who thinks Pope Francis should resign but Trump shouldn't is not worth takinig seriously.
5
The Catholic Church, and this column, are a convoluted mess that defy comprehension and leave me exhausted trying to follow it. A flow chart or Venn Diagram seems necessary to follow all the players, allegiances, and actions in this long unending tragedy.
There's been intrigue in the Vatican forever; it's bad and getting worse. I wish they'd just go away; the world needs not all these byzantine machinations.
Fortunately, I'm an atheist. My concern is for a billion nice people who've been jerked around for decades while their needs mostly are ignored by a group of conniving men in silly robes.
5
Not "that bad (at this point the cardinal mostly stood accused of imposing himself on seminarians, not teenage minors)."
I was wondering what the acceptable level/age for forced sex was.
Thanks for clearing that up.
YIKES!
1
Oh come on Ross Douthat!
The Church hierarchy has known for decades that there are many pedophiles and rapists in their priesthood. There is a long history of shutting people up by either bribes of threats. One does not become Pope with being a politician, so every Pope knows what was and is going on. To claim that all this is news is just lying to try to protect the reputation of the Church. If the Church really cared about this issue, it would turn these predatory priest over to the civil authorities instead of hiding them in places where the civil authorities cannot arrest them.
4
Why do so many people think that allowing priests to marry is going to stop the systematic pedophilia? I’m so perplexed by this. If celibacy was the issue than the pedophile priests would not be preying on children but rather would be having sexual relations with other consenting adults. Pedophilia is a whole other horrific animal.
Additionally allowing priests to marry isnt going to have any effect on the criminal secrecy and complete corruption that is rampant in the RCC.
I simply do not understand why people think this is a solution.
5
@Elle People think this is a solution, at least in part, because it would vastly widen the pool of men eligible to become priests. The current system appears to concentrate the numbers of men with various sexual issues into the profession, whether because it affords some of them opportunities they couldn't find elsewhere, or just provides a very deep closet to hide in.
It's more about what Pope doesn't know.
Like the power of a situation over someone's disposition.
This church has gotten into a shame spiral frame of mind. Brene Brown's work in vulnerability and shame is what I focus on here.
It couldn't have started that way, it wouldn't have spread so well, but power can corrupt, and ignorance is obvious.
These guys are operating out of the middle ages.
We work better when we work together, gender wise, and gender is a spectrum: black and white thinking is a distortion that comes out of our primitive brain. Sometimes you gotta remind that powerful part of your brain that different isn't necessarily deadly.
You know who would make a great Pope? Carolyn Myss.
The church needs to study human development, social science, philosophy. Build it's character on higher ordered thinking.
The 7 core world class leadership qualities are partnership, diversity, vulnerability, commitment, accountability, acknowledgement and integrity.
If you listen closely to Pope, you hear the shame/blame frame of mind. Asking for forgiveness? that's weird. He is in power so amends, reform is appropriate.
A healthy organization creates a situation that inspires greatness. The church is lazy - just thinking it can tell people what to do. As if we couldn't create a world that saves all the babies. Make the world safe for women and there will be fewer abortions. Telling people not to have an abortion, isn't where the church started. Look at what Constantine said about it.
2
First of all, I am not a Catholic. Perhaps that colors my views on that branch of Christianity, but how are we to think of a group of celibate men who have forsworn (all forms of) sex and who have pledged their lives toward the continuation of a group hallucination based upon the myth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who, by historical accounts from diverse sources, was a living human being?
Does this idea sound like an idea that should be among us today; a regime that has built an unbelievably rich, social movement that has promulgated purges of infidels (those who believe differently), holy wars and other atrocities?
The only way to stop this predation is to renounce the whole idea.
2
John Paul was pope for a very long time, and built the corrupt systems of protecting priests. He was also very conservative. Besides these sins, he went to Africa and told them not to use condoms when AIDS was advancing widely throughout the continent.
In Omaha, three of my cousins were molested by a priest while John Paul was pope. It's a Catholic town that deserves its own investigation.
As a recovering Catholic, I am done with this church.
4
Whosoever considers himself 'Holier than Thou', has a terrible price to pay, given that arrogance in believing one is better than the rest always borders in ridicule, especially when, and that's the norm, one falls from the self-build pedestal of stupidity. And religious figures are not immune, however Trumpian times we are living in. Although it was said before, any individual in a position of authority and trust requires supervision, sensible regulation of all activities where susceptible youngsters are at risk. It sounds as though even the Pope is not immune (by looking the other way).
1
You all are clueless. Francis is the last, best hope of the Catholic Church. If he can't, or doesn't, reform the Church its doomed as anything but a rump religious caucus. Forget the politics, you need to be defending the guy, even if he's not a saint like John Paul. (Pause for laughter)
Younger American Catholics of my acquaintance, even conservative ones(and Trump supporters) are not about to let their kids have anything to do with the Church, especially priests, and this has already happened in Europe. Latin America will be next.
Of course being from Philadelphia, I'm biased but if Francis falls, the Church will be left like the Republican Party (will be left) after Trump; a flaming ruin.
3
Francis hasn't been pope for very long. Maybe he *is* dealing with it.
1
The ROMAN CATHOLIC church needs to make a big change in the staff called Priests. The POPE need to require that ALL male staff be married to women and they must have children or adopt children. Woman must be ordained and the same for them. This is a simple change and the PROTESTANT traditions from Martin Luther almost have this condition. So far there is no child abuse reported in that tradition so they must be at least closer to getting it right. The pope would then need to hand the reigns to someone who can fit that bill along with replace every single priest unless they want families and produce a normal healthy relationship including marriage.
1
No reform of personnel or policies will relieve the Catholic Church of the spreading infection within it. Pedophile priests are merely a symptom. The disease is in the the Church's doctrine. It has been there and growing at least since the Church was subsumed by the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine, and strayed form the teaching and example of Jesus of Nazareth to embrace the doctrine of violence of the almighty state. It still embraces violent government--with a death grip. Its own.
1
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò lives in a glass church; he's casting the first stone when his entire career he has consorted with the very church officials he now accuses Francis of tolerating?
Just to be clear, Vigano is part of a seething Tea Party faction within the church that prefers the past to the present. Like Trump acolytes, conservative Catholic leaders would prefer a Pope that enforces medieval doctrinal authority and turns a blind eye to the festering corruption and complicity of senior Church Fathers.
No one expected Benedict to quit, least of all the Vatican bureaucrats who are the "Deep Church". And no one expected Francis with his focus on an open-hearted church that welcomes without judgment, condemnation, homophobia, hypocrisy and exclusion. That's the destination Francis wants the church to reach.
The same cabal that took over GOP has some big dogs in this fight. Their church is anti-woman, anti-abortion, anti-separation of church and state, anti-democratic, anti-tolerance. That's not Francis' church.
Last time I checked, Francis reports only to the head office, not self-serving provocateurs like Vigano and his cronies.
3
To be a cleric in this cult requires any man (no girls allowed) to have a perverted, a corrupted worldview to gain membership to begin with.
One has to check their brain in at the door, and swallow wholesale a kaleidoscopic array of shear nonsense on offer by this cult. I really don't care what this or any pope, bishop, et al who in effect are debating how many angels fit on a pinhead. I could care less about internal rivalries, battles, etc.
Facts are not conservative or liberal. Facts don't care if you don't believe them. Catholicism became a fact free zone centuries ago. This cult needs to go extinct.
After years of indoctrination in catholic parochial schools, I have first hand exposure. I knew as a teenager to steer clear of this cult.
1
Coming from you Ross, this op-ed is not surprising. Since the time Pope Francis was venerated you disagreed with his inclusiveness, humility and a lack of blind dogma. You found him too liberal, too forgiving. So now when he is vulnerable you are sowing seeds of doubt just like those conservative bishops who want him to resign and quit and shape the Church according their dogma, exclusion of people closed to any change. This is nothing but politics. A pedophile is a criminal, a homosexual who preys on the weak. But homosexuals are not pedophiles. The issue is about criminals in the church, not inclusion or exclusion of homosexuals. Different issues. Period. They have no concern about the hapless, helpless victims whose lives have been ruined.
1
Saying that priests commit pedophilia because they can't get married is pure fantasy. I know Catholics want to identify a reason and a solution for this systemic horror show, but that reason is flat-out bunk. The actual reason is quite simple: Pedophiles seek out opportunities and pathways to commit their crimes. The solution is also quite simple: Require all existing priests and all aspiring priests to take a lie-detector test. I understand there are Catholics who want their priests to be able to marry (and for women to become priests), but don't piggyback that desire onto this tragedy - that would only cover-up the true cause and lead us to a false solution.
1
"...at this point the cardinal mostly stood accused of imposing himself on seminarians, not teenage minors..." What did the cardinal do to the seminarians, exactly? Molest them? Rape them?
Why aren't all these crimes being investigated by the police? Why aren't people going to jail?
1
Douthat has something when he talks here about conservative and liberal wings of the church scrambling to protect themselves. I wonder what he thinks about how Vigano's letter was composed--by Marco Tosatti, a journalist who has written for La Stampa but now writes for conservative blogs and newspapers. I am not suggesting that the background of this journalist in any way exculpates Francis, but it is something to consider. There are plenty of hateful, radical conservative Catholics in the U.S. who would love to see Francis go away.
2
The cats in the Vatican gardens know why Benedict resigned - precisely the "filth" so called by both he and Francis. Both Benedict and Francis have acted - but it became too much for Benedict to handle. However, if there is a real culprit Pope it is John Paul 2, who refused to do anything about this even though it was happening all around hm. His protection of the disgusting Marcial Maciel being perhaps the most egregious of his crimes. Ross, how about writing about all the crimes under John Paul instead of the endless Francis-bashing?
5
We are into schism territory. That’s a good thing for the Church!
From the outset of the Francis papacy, Douthat has stood with the conservatives in the Church , who are now rallying to attack the Pope. Francis has tried to turn a huge institution like the Church from a conservatism of 27 years of John Paul II ( JPII) followed by 8 of Benedict, who as Cardinal Ratzinger had been JPII attack dog. Under their leadership were appointed most of the bishops charged with covering up the pedophilia scandal, in PA and elsewhere in the United States as well as ones like Chaput of Philly and Denver , who have vehemently resisted legislation relaxing the Statute of Limitations on child sex abuse cases.
These prelates have been Douthat's heroes. In fact Archbishop Vigano, the former papal nuncio, making the McCarrick cover-up charges against Francis, did himself , while Nuncio, cover-up the charges against the former Archbishop Ninenstedt of Minneapolis , that he had had inappropriate contacts with seminarians, similar to the charges against McCarrick .
Douthat makes no mention of this as Ninenstedt was a darling of the conservatives having spent thousands of dollars of church money in an unsuccessful effort to stop same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Francis sacked Ninenstedt , and then sacked Vigano in 2016 in part because of his cover-up.
I , as a life-long Catholic, am offended that the Times has a reactionary like Douthat as their commentater on Catholicism. He along with other conservatives are fierce opponents of Vatican II reforms.
2
Let us hope that the cults recedes over time. They have not served humankind but used them like beast of burden. I am not sure there is a fix for what is actually a hoax. Once upon a time humankind was ignorant of their surroundings. Because they were ignorant, any imaginary explanation could be viewed as correct since knowledge to argue against such a thing was not available. We don't really need these imaginary explanations of reality anymore. Sure, we are not all knowing, but we know enough not to need the cults. They have never really been committed to morality, or kindness, or charity. More often they are just businesses that have sold the suckers a fake reality.
It is not surprising what is going on in the Catholic Church, just like it is not surprising that many other religions have different dysfunctions. Their whole set of beliefs are not real. When you don't deal in facts your just another manipulator or manipulated. No different than the cult of Trump or any other cult.
2
Gee, Ross. Don't you think Vagano has other motives here. Do you seriously believe that ANY senior member of the RCC has been unaware of these scandals in the past few decades? Yet he never spoke about it until Francis was Pope. This guy has his own ultra-conservative agenda. If Francis knew about this and did nothing, shame on him. But thinking Vagano is acting out of pure motives is delusional. The ultra-conservatives want to depose Francis and put another Neanderthal on the Papal throne
1
Believing Mr. Drouhat's twisted facts will return the foxes to the henhouse. Conservative prelates will restore concealment and equivocation. A few priests will be martyred and the abuse will continue unabated.
3
Ross Douthat, an extraordinary thinker and writer, perhaps more wittingly than he volunteers, highlights disturbing similarities between the throes of the Catholic Church and those of the Republicans. I.e. in the end, ideology trumps (sic) all. Nevertheless, it is as morally impossible as it is physically impossible to place Pope Francis and Donald Trump at the same point on the globe.
Rather what stands out in stark relief from a comparative analysis of the current travails of Washington, DC and those of the Vatican are the historic frailties which inherently plague human nature. Anthropologists might argue that greed and power tendencies find their roots in basic biological survival mechanisms, but such arguments cannot preclude the moral overtones of excess and abuse.
If there is a lesson to be had from all this, it may well be that we fooled ourselves once when we allowed ourselves to indulge in the fantasy that the Great War (WWI) was the end of all war, and now are discovering that we've fooled ourselves again in the belief that this time victory in WWII, followed by a "successful" terminus to the Cold War, finally rid our world of global strife. It may be that human nature itself ultimately proves to be the condemnation of the human species.
1
I do not believe in religion, but I have some sympathy for Pope Francis and I would like him to succeed.
I have to say though that it seems to me that his instincts are not in the right place.
I base this on the well documented, and already resolved Chilean case. When the Pope traveled to Chile in January of this year, he was approached by victims of a well known priest(A). These victims complained that another priest(Z), recently elevated in the Chilean hierarchy, was guilty of having known about the abuses and having done nothing.
Pope Francis dismissed unapologetically the victims complaints and did nothing, until the stink forced him to apologize and send an investigator back to Chile.
The investigator eventually recommended the removal of priest(Z).
I hope that Francis has learned from this fiasco and becomes a better agent of change.
I agree with this article and Douthat's point of view up to, but not including that the Pope should not resign. If Pope Francis is unwilling or unable to route out all the corruption and crime in our church, then he should, indeed resign.
Who still believes that Catholicism or for that mater any religion is interested in the Truth? If he didn't know, he didn't want to know. He is nothing more than the head of a mystical belief system. Once you go down that road, the Truth doen't really matter. I know he might make people feel better or something to that effect. But this guy does not have the Truth and was never really interested in it anyway.
4
If Pope Francis were to prioritize ending the corruption in the Church that allowed wide spread abuse to persist, he may lose high ranking supporters, but he would also lose high ranking detractors. This would give him the political capital to liberalize the Church. When you prioritize people over ideology, you can accomplish much more.
6
I am a non-Catholic looking into the Church from the outside, but my personal contacts with clergy over the years lead me to hypothesize/suppose/intuit that gay men are a majority in the priesthood.
I further assume that this state of affairs is rooted in a culture that is many generations, and probably many centuries old.
So let's say you are heading a church in which this how things are. And let's say you are a reformer, in need of allies. Is not "who am I to judge?" about the homosexual issue the only sane and realistic response? A general needs at least some troops, lest he become Don Quixote. For this reason, I am inclined to cut Pope Frances some slack.
Parenthetically, I wonder how many, in the cohort of conservative clerics supporting the current attack on Frances over the homosexuality issue are themselves closeted gay men.
9
No one - not Viganò, not the Pope - rises to the top of this hierarchy without not only knowing but defending the deep sin of the institution. Not weakly defend, but vigorously defend, with coverups.
7
What the Pope knew doesn't matter. Most of the upper echelon of the church has known what's going on for decades. This pope appears to be the first to acknowledge it and to take decisive action. The allegations against him are nothing more than a political hit job by the Trump arm of the church.
16
I agree with Mr. Douthat's call for the Pope to stay in office.
As long as he remains he'll stand as a reminder of the clerical abuse and cover ups, the church's failure to account, hopefully keeping the issue alive and from being swept under the carpet again.
1
The NYC Catholic parishes I belonged to in the 50s and 60s typically had 5 priests at a given time. That means that each time a predator was unmasked, 4 priests remained silent. It can be reasonably assumed that most priests over the age of 60 today knew of but did NOT do anything to stop pedophiles. It is almost certain that all of today's bishops, archbishops, cardinals, and popes knew, and either did nothing or pushed the abuse on. Other religions are not immune from this problem but their lay members have a say in the selection of the clergy. The Catholic Church assigns priests to parishes and tolerates no dissent from parishioners.
17
What Did Pope Francis Know?
Why even ask?
He knew everything.
Everybody knew everything.
Especially, Viganò and his coven knew everything. Have known all along. So why the big hoo-hah right now?
Why is Ross tripping over his cassock to get the word out in public?
Because, like our Republicans here in Sin City, DC, conservatives see their main chance and they'll brook any discomfort, any uprising, any institutional destruction to grab it.
In the process they have shown themselves, Ross has shown himself, to be anti-church, barely Catholic, dismissive of dogma and tradition, concerned only with getting what they want.
Which is a shame, because Ross, Viganò, and the rest are far more responsible for this mess than Francis.
They were in power when this broke. The remained in power and set the standard for acceptable behavior. Now, as if they come newly to the scene and are appalled by what they see, they seek to hang this mess, their mess, on Francis.
He has been timid. He has been tardy. But he is showing signs of realizing how deeply awful, how damaging this tragic history has been. He appears to be feeling his way toward a meaningful change of both church doctrine and behavior.
Which is far more than Ross, Viganò or the conservatives have ever done, or would ever be willing to do.
Which is why they are so very eager to stop him.
15
I as well as my 8 other siblings were raised Catholic and attended catholic school both in South America and the US. I stopped practicing catholicism years ago after my first trip to the Vatican and after the crimes committed against children were first reported in the early 2000s.
The last 25 years of my life I have spent them un-programming my mind of all the non-sensical dogma I was subjected to by this institution and my parents.
My guess is that these crimes will continue to happen until a parent of a victim decides to take matters in their own hands OR law-enforcement stops playing footsie with church leaders and see them for who they really are: a human trafficking , criminal enterprise and subject them to a worldwide RICO investigation.
7
Pope Francis may be modernizing the church but he should resign. He can't ignore the rapists. He is guilty of trying to cover up and discredit the victims in Buenos Aries when he was Archbishop. He viciously attacked the victims in Chile this year. There is probably no bishop who is not tainted by being a rapist himself, or covering it up. They should all resign but who would appoint new ones? Some are brushing aside old claims because they happened long ago, but to the victims, a rape is still a rape even 50 years later no matter their age. It was always wrong. Times are not different.
It would be better for the church to have Popes serve for shorter terms. It was stuck with John Paul 2 for far too long. Part of the time, the future Pope Benedict was running the church. I believe he resigned because he thought a major scandal was about to be uncovered.
In fairness, every religion, boarding school, camp, nursing home and various other institutions have their share of sexual predators, but only the RC church had the hierarchy and power to make it a global problem at the same time suppressing investigations by civic authorities.
The Pope is guilty and should resign, but there are no electors with clean hands. Maybe Francis is the last Pope.
3
It matters not whether sexual predators are liberal, conservative, homosexual or not. What matters is that the church has protected known predators for all the long centuries of its reign to protect its power. The church is not the only powerful organization willing to sacrifice the powerless to protect its own and its power. Our Congress has behaved in much the same way. It is not that priests have been abusing children. It is that the powerful people above them have turned away from their abuse and protected them when that abuse is revealed. The corruption sits, as it always does, at the top.
7
Within Vatican circles, Archbishop Vigano has been open for many years about his anger towards the Church because his "talents" have never been recognized and rewarded with an elevation to Cardinal . . . it's the very clericalism that Pope Francis is fighting against.
10
Does anyone remember Cardinal Cushing of Boston, who fled to Rome when the stories o abuse came out. Once there he was rewarded with a prestigious post for protecting the Church not the children.tryingto change the Church is like trying to an aircraft carrier. The people who are criticizing Pope Francis are the ones who have fought making the Church accountable.
6
@K D that was Cardinal Law. YOu're way out of date.
1
"caught on tape trying to persuade a young victim of sex abuse not to go public"
This was the policy of nearly the entire church hierarchy. Who would there be left for Pope Frank to appoint? Hopefully, times have changed enough that Francis can take a harder line on predation. In the mean time, if Francis should resign, so should Catholicism.
4
I thought Mr. Douthat was fair and accurate in trying to parse possible decisions. And I agree, somewhat, with those who do not believe some accusations. They are not necessarily condoning or knowingly ignoring the behavior. But due to the power differential between possible victims and predators, we have to give accusers the benefit of the doubt and due process. Churches should report accusations to the police or to the department of social services.
Pope Francis should stay, ask forgiveness for any mistakes he has made and do the right thing.
2
It's beyond time to "ask forgiveness". Throw that line out to the millions of adults whose lives have been hellacious due to these predator priests. And Francis, dear sweet Francis, has been the chief "forgiver (gag) in power". Too little too late. He's responsible by secrecy.
1
I can think of any number of exorbitantly sound reasons not to purge a chief executive of a faith-defined institution, not least because it would represent a stunning defeat of the faith. At the same time, if his infallibility remains the impasse which may not be raised, then it is past time to reassess the faith.
Many Catholic clergy and officials are guilty of the crimes of failing to report their knowledge of the sexual abuse of children. This may be true of pope himself. Anyone within the church that has produced or read a document relating to the sexual abuse of a child but CHOSE to place that document in a file cabinet rather than report what they knew to police is an accessory after the fact, plain and simple. It is a criminal act. And in most states, clergy, like teachers and medical professionals, are mandatory reporters. People in such professions have a legal obligation to report their knowledge of abuse of children. It is not just the abusers who are legally liable. It is also their enablers.
Articles like this often gloss over this point. It is ludicrous that till this day, the punishment for covering up these crimes is nothing more than sanctions imposed by the church instead of vigorous prosecution within the criminal justice system. It is high time that prosecutors start rooting out not only the perpetrators of sexual abuse but also those who have covered it up.
4
The situation of Francis could be the results of a religious person once again believing and acting as if God will magically solve their problems. Churches have been doing this for over a thousand years and they will continue doing it until enough members realize that it is up to them to make a difference. Jesus calls people to action and not to belief.
4
The leadership Roman Catholic Church (RCC) still tries to influence public policy in the US and elsewhere. One issue for the public, whether RCC members or not, is whether this organization is to be allowed to continue to try to influence issues beyond its own church doors.
The hierarchy of the RCC has demonstrated that it is willing to flaunt the laws and moral norms of the countries in which it operates, at times invoking the sovereign immunity of the Vatican city-state. The influence that the RCC tries to have on public debates must be understood to originate in a enterprise whose motives are an admixture of politics, a theology, a disdain for non-clergy and a disregard for the laws of host countries. Analyzing and managing RCC activity is something that each citizen can assist in and, hopefully, limit damage by that organization going forward.
4
HOW can anyone possibly believe in this ridiculousness anymore! I don't understand.
5
Sanctimony in the NY Times reaches ever new heights.
Disclaimer: I am not a Catholic.
However, I don't believe Pope Francis should be removed from office on the basis of not acting on the sexual abuse of priests.
If in fact, he is to be a proper judge of events, he needs to have the freedom to exercise judgment. He has various facts at his disposal. He should be given the option of choosing to act or not based upon the totality of what he knows.
And not second-guessed by every politician or journalist-pundit who wants to profit from an alternate reading.
This sanctimony fits into a trend in current US politics.
Nobody in a position of authority has any option to exercise judgement.
This has happened in many cases, including the trial of Jerry Sandusky. Yes, Sandusky was judged guilty. But his boss Joe Patero evidently did not believe the allegations of misconduct when they were first presented.
He paid for his misjudgment by having his career destroyed as it neared its end. And the president of his university got a prison term for not believing allegations before the trial.
The implications are chilling. If a person is accused of a child sex crime, nobody dare do anything that might protect his rights of the accused. Because we always believe accusers on events that happened decades ago. And we cannot imagine improper motives for making accusations.
Henry VIII executed many close associates and got most of them to admit to crimes they didn't commit.
104
@Jake Wagner
If by "exercising judgement" you mean ignoring repeated red flags, and allowing child predators to continue their predation, then maybe what's needed is a bit less exercise.
1
@Jake Wagner So we are not to believe the accusers? Perhaps opinions like yours are why the accusers have found it so difficult to come forward. How many accusers did Sandusky have?
@Jake Wagner Are we reading the same article? "... this doesn’t mean that the pope should resign"
If you had ended this column with no matter how many heads will role on BOTH sides, it may have offered me food for thought, Mr Douthat.
This column is welcome to us Catholics who don't have an understanding of the Vatican. There is a long history of the Church over millenia and some activities beg undersatnding. Today we have to address the predatory aspect of any who claim to be OK. They have no place in the Church and should get out and give the rest of us a clear view of a way forward. I encountered a predatory formaly establiehed counselor at a boy's camp in the middle 50's and was able help the camp clear him out. He was a trusted man but it took an ethical boy and me to out him. It took the authorities only two hours for him to be gone. This is the stuff of the problem all along it seems.
3
Vigano's charges against Pope Francis are, at this point, a storm in a teapot. The crimes of all levels of the Church hierarchy go far back before Benedict XVI. This is nothing but an attempt to use the situation to further his own power agenda. Corruption, greed for power, has rendered the Church a brittle shell that will soon crumble into a heap of dust.
2
I don't understand this. I'm not Catholic but I thought Catholic's believed the Pope was infallible. I though Catholic's believed the Pope was elected from divine inspiration to the College of Cardinals? If that is the case, how can they now question the Pope? Wouldn't his policies and opinions carry the force of God?
Since there is now open warfare over this Pope and his policies, all I see are a bunch of elderly men vying over power and riches.
4
Incorrect. The Pope’s infallibility only extends to his doctrinal statements proffered from the seat of Peter, not off the cuff on an airplane.
2
The argument that celibacy is the reason for sexual predation is absurd. These men are deviants and should be treated as such. The church is a collection of pompous old men prancing around in costumes feeding off the fears of the faithful and the pathetic . The good works that are accomplished around the world (mostly by nuns) can be achieved without the self serving hierarchy of the corporate church. Being a good person or a good catholic does not require us to worship these miscreant men. They have violated all of the precepts of their religion. They have lied, cheated, and betrayed everyone in all the worst possible ways. This organization is rotten from the top down and the sooner it disappears the better.
2
@Biggie Smalls The nuns don't get off the hook either They were not seual predators that we know of but they spent their days instilling fear in youngsters and tortured pregnant teenagers and took their babies
How to be civil? how to be civil! Because I am not Catholic,
though was married to one many moons ago and we never
got near the church again and divorced happily a few years
later, guess my bride instructions did not take. So because
I am not Catholic and an atheist to boot it is easy for me to
rant against the Church. All this muttering and exposing and
jockeying around for positions in the top of the heap is making me so sick to my stomach. ( also lately have been doing research into the life of a Catholic Nun who deals
with priest molesting for an acting class, so I am quite raw
and angry at the specifics I am uncovering!) In the name of heaven if there is one, the people who covered up and the predators, get rid of them and get help for all of course and
monitoring systems in place for the child predators. It is the only humane thing to do. The people in the Catholic church are the real church, so many good and kind ordinary people, how many times do they have to be betrayed. Think of those poor boys who ended up hanging themselves in good old Catholic Ireland. Dead infants and tortured orphans and haunted unwed mothers. That Catholics should have to wait and hope for an end to this evil is unconscionable. Grown men in gowns and power and caps holding the innocent hostage. What hubris, what cruelty! Civil enough?
4
If the Conservatives within the Church think they can twist this situation around to make themselves look like heroes they are deeply deluded. But then delusion is largely the root of the mess of "celibate" clergy sexually abusing left and right.
5
Your article is clever. While you are not exactly horrified by the way in which the conservatives have chosen to highlight their disagreements with Francis on his 'pastoral' papacy, you seem to take their side in this somewhat hysterical analysis. By all means keep the Pope until God calls him to judgement (like Saint John Paul II), but let all the other heads roll. Whose heads? The liberals? Wuerl, Tobin, Benedict XVI? Do you really think that celibate homosexually inclined priests are in the way of meaningful reforms? No, I agree McCarrick should not have been a priest let alone a Cardinal any more than the cast of characters you mention in your article including the darlings of Saint John Paul II. Try this thought experiment: by next week every celibate and non celibate homosexually inclined priest resigns his ministry. The immediate effect will be that Catholics around the world will be hard pressed to find a priest to say a funeral mass or hear their confession. The remaining 'straight' clergy, assuming they remain sober, will start lobbying for women to be ordained. That will surely solve the problem.
6
The conservatives are having a field day with Vigano's letter. But the question that should be asked is: What did John Paul II, now Saint John Paul II, know?
John Paul II ordained McCarrick as a bishop, and eventually appointed him to Washington, DC, eventually making him a cardinal. Of course, John Paul II was a hero for Catholic conservatives, as was Pope Benedict.
Much of this current outrage by conservative has to do with Pope Francis's search for ways to provide a "place at the table" for those that they judged to have not "played by the rules"--e.g., gay Catholics and those Catholics that were divorced and remarried. Conservatives want to continue making these folks persona non grata in the Catholic Church.
The conservatives see all this as an opportunity to bring down a pope that they detest. Understanding the motive for the conservative outrage does not require a degree in rocket science.
7
Reading Vigano's letter, and reading conservative columnists (such as Marc Thiessen and Hugh Hewitt in the Washington Post), it's hard not to see a coordinated effort by right-wing Catholics to exploit the current (serious and wholly self-inflicted) crisis to purge bishops (including the pope) who were on their hit list already. This is as unseemly as it is transparent. Douthat (with whom I almost never agree on things Catholic) is recommending a more fair approach.
8
Hypocrisy writ large. It is the conservatives in the American church who tolerated and protected child abusers. Now they are screaming for Pope Francis to be their sacrificial goat. Once again American bishops are putting politics ahead of protecting their flock. The faithful know better.
5
For once, I agree wholeheartedly with Douthat. The fault for this horror lies on both sides of the liberal-conservative divide, not as the vengeful ex=Nuncio suggests, on a cabal of homosexuals, whom he identifies as liberal. For centuries, the cabal has been the hierarchy, seeking to protect itself by covering up predators, regardless of sexual orientation.
Example: A priest whose masses I attended had an affair with his younger, vulnerable secretary. I can't recall a priest whose sermons railed more against "fornication". His bishop moved him to the boondocks. The Boston Globe and the Pennsylvania AG investigations reveal numerous instances of a predator merry-go=round.
If the Pope doesn't act to purge the clergy of predators and enablers, he will be known as Francis the Gullible.He came with a mission, to bring the Church back to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount; now he is called to sweep the refuse from a defiled temple.
A purge won't address the fundamental problem, a clergy which set itself above the salt of the earth to which it ministers. The time has come for the Pope and what is left of the Vatican to reverse a long ago decision to prohibit married clergy in the Roman rite. What better way to replace pedophile priests and enablers than to extend the call to all the church.
The prohibition against women, allegedly rooted in scripture, is tougher. But a universal church's clergy should be open to the majority of its members.
4
This is a great moment for the Catholic Church. It will motivate the Church to accept homosexuality. For centuries, Christians executed homosexuals. Iran does so today. But since the Pope is infallible, he can declare that homosexuality is part of the glorious variety of the Creation. It has always existed, everywhere on earth. It should be recognized.
Recognizing the legitimacy of homosexuality should lead to the acceptance of gay marriage by the Catholic Church and by all Christian denominations.
Eastern denominations of the Catholic Church, unlike Roman Catholics, permit married men to become priests. It would be easy for Roman Catholics to join their Eastern denominations and do the same. And of course, once gay marriage is accepted, and once priests may marry, there can be gay married priests.
The Catholic Church is led by an infallible Pope. Pope Francis can change the world.
3
@George Jochnowitz
When we talk about gay marriage, we have to remember that there are other issues in which there are marriages that do not conform to the traditional Judeo-Christian definition of marriage. The Supreme Court's decision on same-sex marriage implied categorically that the traditional definition of marriage no longer applies. There are approximately one and one-half billion Muslims in this world, and Muslim men are allowed to take four wives. What happens when a Muslim man enters the US as a legal immigrant with more than one wife? To deny the legitimacy of his multiple wives is egregious religious discrimination! This will be the next marriage issue to confront the Supreme Court, and it was Scalia who predicted it. The next "modification" to the US concept of marriage will be polygamy. It is not a matter of "if" but "when."
Corruption at the top of the Catholic Church. Same as it ever was; and apparently, same as it will ever be.
2
I am a lifelong, practicing Catholic, and I am appalled by the letter writers who state that celibacy and homosexuality are what lead to the sexual abuse of children. The blanket statements of, "Oh, just let straight priests marry women, let gay priests marry men, let women become priests. That will help things." make my blood boil. While I agree with and endorse all three of those things, what leads to the sexual abuse of children and young adults is pedophilia. Marriage and female priests will not "solve" or "fix" this illness/proclivity. Also: Women can be pedophiles, too.
246
@UES
I'm a former Catholic who went to a Jesuit University after leaving the Church. I think that Marriage and female priests won't completely solve or fix the problems in the Catholic Church. Positions of social trust and power draw people who want trust and power for both good and nefarious reasons.
I do think that a lot of good people don't join the clergy because they are not allowed to in the case of women, or because it requires them to deny themselves their sexuality, or the opportunity for a family life. Creating a greater diversity of lifestyles and people in the clergy would both increase the number of priests available in any given church, and probably decrease the ability of predators to go undetected.
I guess, the thought that I always have is this: if you stopped allowing school teachers to have sex or get married- what would the changes in the pool of people who become teachers look like? I don't think I'd like those changes.
2
@UES
Save boiling your blood for more important issues. The requirement of celibacy and not allowing female priests has definitely contributed to this problem. Sexually frustrated and immature priests may turn to young people not because they prefer them, but because they are the low hanging fruit. Allow married and single men and women to be priests and the problem will get much better.
@UES The usual argument in favor of priests marrying and having women priests is that it will create a more normal population and reduce the number of pedophiles that try to slide into the priesthood.
Vigano is attacking the Pope for generations of clerical abuse of the faithful, especially the foul domination and sexual exploitation of children.
Pope Francis is fallible and hasn't gone far enough: but his respect for human beings, and simple acceptance of gay/lesbian people as people - is what challenges Vigano and the like.
The latter's insistence - the insistence of the so- called conservative wing -- reads like a screed against recognizing child sexual abuse in secular society decades ago: it is caused by homosexuals, who are all bad and anxious to snatch little children off the streets.
The Vigano types are like abusive fathers and husbands who insist that nothing was their fault. Just find the homosexuals. Burn them . . . they used to do that .
Blaming problems of the Church on the one person -this Pope - who seems open to dialogues with real people - because he acted LIKE them in certain situations - is the height of hypocrisy - and a sign of the lack of love that they signify.
Francis may have shared their biases, but has sent signals that he can learn.
4
The Catholic Church has no one but itself to blame for it's troubles. Just like at other institutions like Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State elites in position of power sought to protect the institution and by extension themselves. Had any of these people acted honestly and responsibly the damage done to so many would have been much less.
5
Nothing new..just finished reading about the pope and Mussolini.
2
The entire Catholic Church has failed. And that includes ALL the hierarchy, not just the "liberal" ones you despise. Rev. Vigano ALSO knew, and did nothing. Using this perfidy against innocents as a political wedge to change the petty politics of this failed institution is beyond contemptible, even for an institution which has earned contempt in spades.
5
Ross should do his homework, but he's so ready to convict Francis that he doesn't bother. Jesuit priest James Martin has already said he was at a mass where McCarrick presided and Benedict was in attendance, so that claim that Benedict is somehow the hero here--unlikely on the face of it--is just not true. There's more to come out about how this letter is a team crock-up of the usual reactionary forces--who somehow think it is homosexuals among priests who are the real problem, not the culture of entitlement that conservatives want to preserve. It's the cover up, and conservatives were in power for a long time before Francis. These allegations go back more than 40 years.
16
Right wing Bishops and Cardinals see this as their opportunity to bring down Pope Francis whom they believe is too Liberal. I hope that these Bishops along with all Bishops and Cardinals are investigated for what they knew and when they knew it.
As for Pope Francis: anyone who is or was in the clergy had heard as hearsay at least of the goings on. Benedict on the other hand had detailed, factual knowledge as did JP2. The latter was close friends of Fr. Marcial Maciel who founded the Legion of Christ Cult and was exposed as a notorious pedophile and sex addict in 2006 when finally defrocked. Benedict allowed his Cult to continue.
6
If you think like a politician, this understanding makes sense. But for Catholics who don't see theology as ideology, it's much more complicated.
When the Reformation happened, the Church immediately responded with reaffirming its somewhat moderate beliefs at the Council of Trent and encouraged new religious orders such as the Jesuits to experiment and interact with the laity more. This didn't last for long. Most church leaders responded with an iron fist, cracking down on any deviation from the most traditional understanding of Catholicism. Then came Vatican II which opened up new roles for the laity and condemned authoritarian leadership in the Church.
Abusers, by their very nature, depend on the pre-Vatican II Church structure to suppress the truth, where pastors are practically worshipped. The Civil War isn't between traditionalists and liberals, but between pre-Vatican II and post-Vatican II Catholics. The former respond to sexual misconduct and liberal beliefs with a consolidation of clerical control. The latter responds by allowing the laity to experiment and take control.
Pre-Vatican II believers (whom I think Douthat represents) run counter to Catholicism's core values. And not only are they ruining the Church, but they're dominating. My priest (who is definitely NOT liberal) is horrified that our diocese keeps sending new priests to increasingly traditional seminaries. The witch hunt against the laity that will result will destroy the America Church.
1
Mr. Douthat writes: "During the Catholic Church’s synod on the family in Rome in 2015, a rough-and-tumble affair in which Pope Francis pushed the assembled bishops to liberalize Catholic teaching on remarriage and divorce ..."
This is a deliberate misstatement of what the pope was doing.
He was not pushing to change any teaching on remarriage and divorce. He was saying that a more compassionate and merciful RESPONSE was needed to persons who had remarried, and that they should, after reflection and conversation with their local priest, perhaps be allowed to receive Communion again. The issue was Communion, not remarriage.
This is the kind of irresponsible commentary that Douthat consistently engages in, and it provides a warped picture ("fake news") to people both inside the church and out. One sees evidence of that in many of the comments here.
14
I’m not a Catholic, but I am an academic and a philosopher. I typically read Ross Douthat’s long analyses of the Church’s doctrinal struggles with bemusement, wondering how anyone outside the Church can be expected to care. I especially wonder at his distaste for Pope Francis, who largely seems to me just what the world needs. But I cannot think like a Catholic.
Nevertheless, in the context of the long abuse by priests of their children, and the astonishing cover up by higher officials, Douthat expresses something of profound importance to the world we live in, Church and all. In general, institutions and those who possess power in them, care more about protecting their institutions than their members, the most vulnerable and even in some cases the powerful.
This goes for the Catholic Church and for other religious institutions. It also goes for schools and universities, local and national governments. even informal groups, and also families. Where these institutions exist to attend to the most vulnerable, they first attend to their own reputations and guard themselves against what might tarnish them.
The test of a society and its institutions lies in how it protects its most vulnerable members. Children, of course, but also workers low on the totem pole. Pope Francis has repeatedly turned his attention to these vulnerable people. Perhaps he can acknowledge how he has been complicit, as a model for other social organizations.
7
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." The Catholic Church must decide whether they are a political or religious institution. If they are religious, then they have the obligation to honor and adhere to the tenants of their own faith, which means that anyone and everyone tainted by the many sexual and child abuse scandals needs to be removed from power, excommunicated and/or punished, depending on the severity of his/her involvement. If the Church is political, then they can go on being essentially a club for people who like the Catholic rituals but club members should probably watch out for a lot of bad actors who will be protected by the club's leaders.
I find the parallels between the Church's corruption and our own government's corruption striking. With our own government, one has to commit a truly heinous offense while also betraying a key loyalty for members of one's own party to seek justice for crimes. This is seen in Governor Cuomo's commission to root out corruption that lasted all the way to the point when that commission decided to investigate Cuomo, in the Democrats' full throated defense of Bill Clinton even though it's true that he did in fact lie under oath, the Republicans' defense of Reagan during Iran/Contra and of course, the "crime of the day" committed by the Trump administration. And that doesn't even touch on the general corruption and cronyism that persists in our government.
1
My grandparents were devout Catholics all their lives, which made me hold a mostly positive view of the Catholic church, even though I am not a Catholic.
Until, of course, all the horrible abuses and the church's longstanding policy of cover-ups came to light.
Now, seeing sentences like 'the accusations are nonsense because it's coming from the anti-liberal side' being thrown make my distrust of the church and the people there even stronger.
"When a liberal covers it up, it's okay." craziness should be shared among like-minded people. Don't embarrass the humanity.
Homophobia and control over women's bodies are a form of sexual assault.
10
A fine explication of intra-church factional maneuvering, but in sixteen paragraphs not one word on the effect of all these abuse scandals on the faith and morale of Catholic lay people. Ireland and so many other countries are now "post-Catholic" because of disillusion and disgust over decades of revelations about clerical abuse.
Year after year the outrages continue, and they are never effectively dealt with by the church leadership, and secular law enforcement is hampered by church obfuscation and statutes of limitations.
With this sordid spectacle showing no signs of resolution, the Catholic Church deservedly continues losing members in droves, which is a tragedy for an institution that traces its lineage back to Saint Peter, to whom Jesus thrice said "feed my sheep"
5
By 'filth', I presume you mean, as Benedict did, 'homosexuals'. As well as, yes, child predators, but the Church makes little distinction between these two groups.
Sin is SIN, right?
The solution is really pretty easy, Ross ... bring in the cops and let them sort it out.
2
For 35 years, American Catholic conservatives like Douthat were all reverential about the authority of the Holy Father. Without the Pope to speak for God, belief itself is lost, we were told.
But now that the Pope is insufficiently committed to persecuting gays, to extinguishing free thinking, to banning abortion and discouraging contraception -- all of a sudden the Catholic conservatives have lost their lust for the authority of Rome. In fact they're supporting Vigano's palace coup!
I think Ross and conservatives should think hard before they proceed along these lines. The Church has already lost much (maybe most) of its moral authority in the world and it's not getting it back, not in our lifetimes.
If the bishops and cardinals devolve into open warfare between conservatives and everybody else, the little authority that's left will just evaporate. And what's the value of a conservative occupying St. Peter's throne if nobody listens any more?
I think Conservatives might be better served if they follow what would have been their advice to liberals outraged by Benedict: shut up and pray, and maybe the next Pope will listen to you.
Kicking the Pope when he's down, bringing about a schism isn't going to help the church's fortunes any.
6
This pope has done more than anyone to root out corruption in the church. It's people from the reactionary faction, among whom I count Mr. Douthat, who have stymied him at every turn.
It's rich that Douthat now criticizes him for not doing more.
4
I'm not a Catholic nor do I envy them in having to deal with one of the most corrupt and criminal religious institutions in history. That said, Pope Francis is the best chance the church has to redeem itself. I can understand why so many are avid to jump on the blame wagon (even after remaining quiet so long) in an attempt to remove an authentic Christian and reformer like him from his position. I hope they fail. He, and the Liberation Theology that shaped him are the last chance for legitimacy the Catholics have.
1
@Al M And that hope depends so much on his apparently chosen successor, Konrad Krajewski, being elected Pope.
This column is disturbing on many levels. Not a peep from the NYT resident Catholic moralist on the recent grand jury report of rampant sexual assault in the Pennsylvania dioceses. Nor does he even mention the Pope's visit to Ireland where he was greeted with tepid enthusiasm.
Ross appears to be way more concerned about the internal clerical sword fights about divorce, homosexuality and who can receive communion rather than the physical and emotional abuse of children and unmarried mothers that was tolerated and covered up for decades. The Catholic Church has blood on its hands, and all we hear from Ross is the internal power struggles. "Sanctity of life" ? For whom?
9
The Pope will do what all popes do - cover up, stonewall, obfuscate and move people around. No priest will be fired, they will just be "retired" to live a live of ease on the congregations dime. They take care of their own - that is rule number one in this gang.
A better solution is for people to just leave this corrupt and criminal organization. Leave the old men to themselves and see if they can get by without the handouts.
2
Where is Christianity in all this history of disgusting behavior? Where are the principles Christ Jesus taught and these men committed to practice and teach? Where does it say in the Bible it is ever ok to abuse children or adults in any form? Thou shalt not steal: Don't rob anyone of his/her innocence and freedom. Thou shalt not kill: Don't kill another's joy, innocence, love for life. Don't commit adultery: Don't mix your faulty addictive reasoning with the pure perfect design of God's creation. Love God with all your heart. Doing so, you will find replaced the feelings of any lack with the desire to be the best you can be. And love our neighbor as yourself. This is your prayer to be a contributor to the unlimited blessings for all mankind. Inconceivable, but these stories of abusing Catholic priests reveal their denial of the 1st basic tenet of the Christian faith: God is Love.
1
@Marian. Thank you for your remarks Marian! As a practicing Catholic, I felt so defeated with what I've been reading, until I got to your piece.
1
Another thing the Catholic church needs is for every accused priest who is still alive to be indicted and ideally to await trial in jail.
3
Maybe it's time for some women to take charge.
7
Fundamentally, the church faces two issues. The first issue is corruption related to the church hierarchy covering up wrong doings of their ranks. I do not think that any large human organization can eliminate corruption. However, the best practices of limiting this rot are well know. Exposure and Truth are effective disinfectants against corruption. Let an independent commission investigate the allegations of Archbishop Vigano. Publish the report and let the chips fall where they may. Second, it is more important to ask why child molestation cases are particularly prevalent in the Catholic church but much less so in other Christian denominations? The nearly unique celibacy rule of the Catholics is likely the underlying cause. While I do not have concrete proof of this conclusion, the church should study this problem objectively and a statistical significant conclusion is possible. If the study would indicate that most clergies are not super-human and cannot be celibacy all their lives, is this tradition so important that it should be maintained while endangering children? Is celibacy so important that the Catholic church should risk massive defection to maintain a tradition that is not required by the bible? In the spirit of reform in the church, eliminating this root cause of crime against children may be the first order of business.
113
@Peter: Put this in your pipe and smoke it:
Insurance Underwriters and the John Jay Criminal College report on the Catholic Church state that Catholic clergy are no more likely to abuse children than the clergy of other religions - See an underwriter's comments below - this is statistical and based on facts:
“There is no plausible evidence that Catholic priests are gangs of sexual predators, as they are being portrayed,” said Pennsylvania State University Prof. Philip Jenkins, eminent religion and history scholar, and a non-Catholic who’s studied the church’s abuse problems for 20 years.
Jenkins said there has been no formal study comparing denominations for rates of child abuse. However, insurers have been assessing the risks since they began offering riders on liability policies in the 1980s. Two of the largest insurers report no higher risks in covering Catholic churches than Protestant denominations.
Wisconsin-based Church Mutual Insurance Co. has 100,000 client churches and has seen a steady filing of about five sexual molestation cases a week for more than a decade, even though its client base has grown.
“It would be incorrect to call it a Catholic problem,” said Church Mutual’s risk control manager, Rick Schaber. “We do not see one denomination above another. It’s equal. It’s also equal among large metropolitan churches and small rural churches.”
2
@Peter
Celibacy has nothing to do with child molestation. The question to be asked is why the priesthood is attractive to perverts. get rid rid of alter boys and start using adults instead or do adults not qualify if they are sexually experienced. I am not catholic so I'm not sure why adolescent males serve this function in the celebration of mass.
@Peter, Or could it be that pedophiles are attracted to the church because of its long history supporting pedophiles. Yes, supporting them: ignoring their crimes, hiding their crimes, and moving them to new communities when knowledge of their crimes begins to surface. Astonishingly, there were even rings of pedophile priests they could join who passed children among themselves. If you are a pedophile, committing child sex abuse on your own is far more perilous than becoming part of a huge institution that enables and covers up your criminal behavior. Maybe celibacy drives some priests to rape children. But maybe some people become priests because know it will help them get away with raping children. I don't know if that is true, but it seems like a possibility that should be investigated.
1
it must be embarrassing for adult Catholic men for all these revelations to continue year after year. Hundreds of thousands of them must have been abused and they still keep it secret. Because of the shame.
3
Douhatt has never liked Francis. Glad I'm a protestant
1
Priests, bishops, and popes come and they go but the 2000 year old criminal racket that is the Roman Catholic church continues on without end.
4
Douthat’s 6th paragraph begins, “As yet none of the Vatican’s figures named in the document have stepped forward to either confirm or deny the meat of Viganò’s account.” He then goes on to create a “scenario” and manufacture evidence (his own unsubstantiated speculation) in support Viganò’s account. The entire column is deceitful. A fantasy sleuthing by a conservative critic of the Pope - a proponent of Benedict, who did nothing of value. The only honest statement is that the Francis should purge corruption. Yes, he should purge the pedophiles, thieves, and the obsolete man made doctrines and dogma. The Church needs liberalization or all that will be left is Douthat and empty pews.
4
Very nicely balanced column. I certainly believe that Mr. Douthat is one of the conservative Catholics but he is not willing to defend conservative predators.
But the phrase that really stood out in my mind was "post-Catholic Ireland". This should send a chill down the spine of any practicing Catholic. As a recovering Catholic of Irish heritage I am delighted that my ancestral country has thrown off its Catholic shackles.
3
Purge Corruption? ...Doubt it. Look no further then the Hierarchy of the Archdiocese of NY.
3
Francis new everything and therefore he should resign his office as the previous pope did. Or he could apologize to the clergy and all catholics.
Here's the the real problem for "Lay Catholics:" You all have absolutely no power to do anything about what the Pope does, or a cardinal or an arch bishop or a bishop or a priest or anyone in the "hierarchy" of the church. The "Church" is for THEM, no YOU. THEY benefit from all the money given to it not YOU. YOU get NOTHING, except the effects of their utter corruption and criminality - including these most recent scandals, which are simply more recent and nothing new for this organization. Indeed, it is just business as usual and the response of the "Church," ie, the hierarchy, will be to do what they can to minimize the threat. That is, cover it up, stonewall etc as they have for centuries.
They ONLY power the Lay have is to LEAVE and STARVE the criminal organization you "belong" to. That is your ONLY recourse. Anyone staying is simply enabling the corruption and criminality. You show your choice by what you do. Those who stay are part of it. Those who leave reject it. Simple as that.
5
Please, don’t blame solely the Pope and the Catholic Church but spread the responsibility to the reckless parents for the horrific tragedy and molestation of their children.
Those parents left their children alone with the complete strangers and even told the kids the individuals in the long robes are some superb beings in direct connection to the Almighty.
Those parents were previously brainwashed that the clergy is somehow more faithful, just, fair, and that they should be in charge of training and educating the unprotected children.
The whole system is set up upside down. It’s the parents that should be in charge of installing the proper moral values in their children, not the clergy, the state, the elected officials, the Hollywood directors or the teachers…
1
Douthat's a coup conspirator agitating for a right-wing putsch in the Vatican curia. As a steadily recovering Catholic I have no dog in this fight - as far as I'm concerned it's a contest to control a decrepit, corrupt corpse of a cultic power institution. I love the smell of fratricide in the morning...
1
It's getting to the point where people do not want to be associated with the Catholic Church. Some in my family have pulled their kids from Catholic School because they are disgusted by the its leadership. What kind of institution continues with business as usual dogma and policy when such far-reaching evidence of systemic abuse is uncovered? Whatever the pope knew or didn't know, many are not waiting to find out. The Catholic culture is obsolete, corrupt, abusive and misogynistic. Rationale minds leave.
2
Is Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano without sin in casting this stone against Pope Francis? I don't remember him being a vociferous advocate for the thousands of abuse victims.
13
For as long as the Church remains fascinated with the private sex lives of its adherents, it will continue to attract a disproportionate amount those who are struggling with their own sexual demons and are unable to resolve these struggles in an adult manner.
It is not clear to me whether the Church can gradually reform its practices to be in conformity with real human needs so that it does not restrict its pool of applicants so as to concentrate so many in such a dangerous way. Cloaking them with priestly vestments and then shielding them from the law when they act out is a sin up there with murder.
Expelling known offenders from the Church accomplishes nothing more than making these deviants the problem of others.
This ancient and archaic institution needs to be reformed. Whether there is still a 'Church' after the reformation remains to be seen.
5
@Lkf - personally I believe the degree of "reformation" that would be required is impossible because there would be no way to reconcile it with the notion that the Church's defining texts, which make it what it is, are immutable and perfect.
3
All religions try to regulate human sexuality which doesn't seem to lend itself to a one suit fits all philosophy. I suggest we disband religious organizations and try to behave in line with moral and ethical values without strict behavioral rules.
The bigger irony is that people look to the Catholic church for guidance on how to be good.
6
It is time to cut off the Church's access to funds. Money is the only God they worship and the only way to force change. No federal funding, no donations, no foundation grants to any Catholic organization. For the sake of our children, we must do this
It’s long overdue that the parents finally accept their partial responsibility for the bad consequences – the molestation, rampant obesity, drug addictions, alcoholism, gangs, gun violence and other sins.
Tragically, some parents have abandoned their children because they are too busy pursuing their professional careers or wasting their time on watching the professional sports, the reality shows, following the social media so the global corporations, the Hollywood directors, the professional athletes, the celebrities, the actors, the singers, the politicians, the teachers and the clergy are parenting the young generations.
That’s why we cannot balance the federal budgets, pay off the national debt, and work hard to produce the things we need in our lives so we depend on the cheap foreign imports…
It wasn’t the church that directed the kids to spend the years on the athletic fields trying to make it as the professional athletes and hit it big, but their parents who told them the sports are somehow more important than the good education.
All those #MeToo movements are the consequences of the bad parenting. They have raised the children to idolize those celebrities.
If you bestow some undeserved adoration and respect on the clergy, the politicians, the directors and the celebrities, they are going to exploit the opening and molest you…
That’s just the human nature…
Mr. Douthat knows that Pope Francis wasn't the one protecting all the predators all those years.
It was people like Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
Where was the rage of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Mr. Douthat all those years?
9
Another unifying institution cleaved by the wedge of the culture war.
This is starting to get scary.
1
I'm not sure what is the point of a church that can't grasp the notion that the sexual abuse of children is full-stop line that cannot be crossed.
Churches can have doctrinal disputes and political rivalries, but if it cannot come together to agree that the protection of children comes before all else it has no value to society.
3
Yes, the church needs leaders who can purge corruption even among their own allies, but does anyone think that the Opus Dei crowd would do a better job at that?
Better to have a Pope committed to reform, even if sometimes failing in his zeal, than one committed to returning the church to the days of the Inquisition. What did the conservatives do about the abuse of children during the time of John Paul II and Benedict XVI?
1
Sorry Ross. The Pope is infallible. That is the absolutely the most conservative position out there. As a conservative Catholic, if you're not prepared to accept that tenet (unless it suits you) then please just admit that your Catholic leaders all play politics and that anything to do with "religion" with these leaders and their cohorts (you) is a big bloody sham.
A sham that rips apart the lives of thousands if not millions of people.
1
Perhaps it’s time to consider the elephant in the room. As this piece points out, the Catholic Church is old, very old. The problem with Catholicism may simply be that it reflects an organization bound to beliefs that were thought up (out of thin air) by men (exclusively) thousands of years ago.
This was before humans could see microscopic objects, and so invented explanations (again thought up out of thin air) that today seem preposterous. Humans have evolved to tell stories, and use those stories to explain the world around us and how we can survive better in that world. Religion is, pretty universally, an organizing principle resulting out of those stories.
Modern science gives us much more reliable stories, although arguably less emotionally satisfying ones, that are grounded in demonstrable reality. This doesn’t mean that science is always right and religion always wrong. Rather it means that science is a more accurate means of creating the stories that explain the world; stories that more dependably describe it.
So maybe it’s time to let one of the most antiquated versions of religion go, to die of its venerableness as well as its own inertia. We will still strive to refine our understanding of the world around us, how it originated and what underpins it. We will still attempt to understand the meaning behind our world, and why we are in it, but we will have less silliness to explain away.
It is time to stop pretending those old stories are literal truth.
3
Yes, Mr. Douthat, you're right, but you're not going far enough for this lapsed Catholic. Like all organized religions, Roman Catholicism is parasitic on the human needs for community and larger meaning. The good that the church has long done among the poor, the sick, and the otherwise disadvantaged spirals, double helix like, with the evil it has long done to ensure the power of the priesthood. Both strands run back to the earliest foundations of the church.
Scandals in evangelical Christian communities, Hindu and Buddhist sects, and every other organized religious tradition tell us this has nothing to do with conservative or liberal. It is all about power's corruption of those who wield it.
The potential for abuse will always be with us, but perhaps the current scandal in Mother Church will save some of those who would otherwise fall prey to its power structure.
1
Ross, as has been said by a theologian, "all theology is anthropology." Please do not speak or argue about "theological victories."
This would be an excellent time for the Pope to use his real authority: To call all bishops and theologians into a Council to bring the church into the 21st century. The main topic should be the one that the hierarchy most desperately want to avoid: the place of human sexuality in a human life. Women clergy, gay people, divorce and remarriage, even abortion. Open up the windows.
8
Alas, the very conclusion Mr. Douthat has reached (as have many others) may, indeed, be beyond the capacity of the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church.
The insular and self-serving history of the church has begat an environment painfully unaware of how to properly deal with what might well be called a "public relations" crisis. Since many of the abuse allegations have expired with regard to legal remedies, the church should be focused on removal and restrictions for those suspected or confirmed to have committed crimes and the creation and implementation of prevention protocols going forward. That may be impossible for an organization whose very existence is threatened by the depth and enormity of the sexual abuse crisis.
I often wonder if a top notch PR firm would have been helpful at the beginning of this crisis twenty years ago.
The church needs to be modernized. The members of the church need to run the institutions that they pay for and select leaders as needed. The pope should offer guidance on theology but the day to day operation of the churches should be the responsibility of the parishioners (or a parish council of some kind).
At the end of the day is the RCC really any different from any other governing body, or corporation?
2
It is clear that whether the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) is governed by "liberals" or "concervatives," it actions are those of an international criminal organization. As such, a few actions can be taken to regain control of the RCC by host countries. First, cancel the diplomatic status of any Vatican official or employee. Second, cancel any restrictions on extradition of Vatican officials or employees. Third, cancel the "Tax Exempt Status" of the RCC in the US and any similar status in other countries. Fourth, cancel any statutes of limitations with regard to actions by individuals or entities associated with the RCC. Fifth, require all RCC dioceses and sub-organizations to open their archives to all victims and their legal representatives. Sixth, deny the RCC bankruptcy protection in US courts and elsewhere.
This is the opinion of a "cradle catholic," who thinks that the management of the RCC will never make any meaningful changes as long as it has both the legal protections and financial means to avoid making any necessary changes. A self-indulgent "civil war" as described by Ross Douthat is nothing more than a distraction, a means of avoiding both theological and structural change.
3
For the RC church to rehabilitate both themselves and their public image, the stables must be cleaned from the bottom up. That this is still a scandal in need of restitution is in and of itself a scandal. Sixteen years after the revelation of the crimes in Boston and just this year Pennsylvania has uncovered crimes going back decades. If the church hierarchy gets caught up in a political liberal/conservative fight that takes the focus off this primary problem, that will be another tragic waste.
Pope Francis, you are the "CEO" of the church. You have to take the responsibility. You have to take the action. Otherwise the church will no doubt continue a decline until it becomes irrelveant. Jesus welcomed the children, you have to not only answer to Him, but to THEM.
2
To a non-Catholic, these squabbles about the Pope are more than a little puzzling. After all, he was chosen by God, was he not? There would be room for amusement, were it not for a centuries-long trail of victims.
1
Pope Francis needs a bit more time to clean out the corruption. It cannot be done by him alone, despite what we all may think.
This abuse has been going on since the Church was founded. One man cannot clean it up in five years.
In addition, the Conservative Prelates in the Church have forgotten what the mission of the Church is and that is to give comfort to the poor, not enrich the Churches purses
Was it not the Conservatives that raped the Vatican bank?
Pope Francis has cleaned that up.
One for Pope Francis.
He also is welcoming to divorced men and women, who were excomunnicated because they were divorced.
Two for Pope Francis.
He is welcoming Gays, Lesbians and Transgender people back to Church.
Three for Pope Francis.
I have every reason to believe that Pope Francis will also prevail in cleaning up the sex scandals as well.
9
I am 68 years old and a cradle Catholic. Catholic schools through two years of college. Never a victim because, I guess, I wasn't seen as a possible target. But I know men who, in high school and college, were abused by predator priests.
I remain a faithful Catholic, attending Mass every week, and being involved in my local parish om several levels.
The time has come, in my mind, to tear apart his ancient hierarchy - pope, cardinals, bishops, priests - and turn the Church over to the people. Let the clergy do the liturgy and sacraments but turn the Church into what Christ saw it to be...the Body of Christ, his bride, a catholic body made of members who seek heaven and love the Lord in spite of the men who purport to hold the keys to heaven. They have shown that they are incapable of caring for their sheep. Rather they care only about maintaining the power they share with each other
297
@Bill Fennelly "The time has come, in my mind, to tear apart his ancient hierarchy - pope, cardinals, bishops, priests - and turn the Church over to the people. "
You are right, but instead, just get rid of them all. they are useless to the church as is and the congregants can do just as well. Indeed, just become a Protestant! Getting rid of "priestly royalty" was what it was all about!
@Bill Fennellyunlike you & many others I realized the falacy of dogmatism & exclusion practiced in basically all organized religions - this was 4th grade in Catholic School. In the past few years I learned of 2 close to me that were abused as boys at the hands of priests close to the family. (think us gymnastics how parents entrusted kids to adults & apparently were clueless) the latter just made me dislike the church even more.
The "time to tear apart the heirarchy" is long long over due. Sadly as with you it takes a personal experience or relationship to convince people into action or at least no longer support a particular stance (Dick Cheney & daughter)
This is simply the church holding onto power - ends justifies the means. (Like the GOP & Trump)
@Bill Fennelly
Very sensible suggestions Mr. Fennelly. I hope your Church listens.
I often ask my Catholic friends if they could still be Christian and Catholic if they were stranded on a desert island.
"Of course," they reply.
Really, I ask them in wonderment. You mean you can be a Christian and a Catholic without a priest, a bishop, a monsignor, an archbishop, or a pope? Just by loving God, praying and keeping His commandments?
In that case, what are all those guys for?
I do not know if Pope Francis "must go." However, I do know he is the most political pope in recent memory, the first to involve himself in political pronouncements and who blatantly takes sides in world politics. In interviews and issued statements, he often issues opinions that have nothing to do with the Catholic church. The media has been lionizing him and sounding his praises. He seems to very much play along.
1
How about someone comes up with an "ethics without hierarchy" for the Catholic Church. It seems the hierarchy is designed primarily as a tool of power anyway.
Finally, perhaps humans should develop an "ethics without fantasy" culture. Ethical solutions should be pursued because they are good for peoples lives, without the invocation of whatever supernatural beings you wish to invoke. Again, I think the supernatural aspects of religion have largely been developed as a means of control over the laity. I don't think it is essential or even relevant to the ethical bases of the institution
1
In what practical ways is Pope Francis liberalizing the Church? He is of described that way, but what has he done that affects the lives of most Catholics? Birth control is still a sin. Remarriage is still sinful without a faked-up annulment. Etc.
I think serious change of the Catholic Church is impossible, by which I mean allowing women equal roles and allowing priests to marry. Other change, such as on birth control, will be at best generational, not until the current generations of bishops and cardinals have been replaced.
Well said, Ross.
A nice summary of the overlapping and conflicting objectives of what must be world's oldest and largest political organization.
1
I will be 84 in a very few days. I was raised a Catholic by second and third generation Irish parents who could fight with clerics but feel profound respect for the Catholic Church. I went to Catholic Schools including Fordham University. I went to Mass every Sunday that I could and kept the Holy Days as well. Once a year, Gospels told us "Suffer the little ones to come unto me. It would be better if a person had a millstone tied around his neck and be cast in the sea than to give scandal to one of these little ones." And "Good trees do not bear bad fruit." One presumes the bishops heard this, too.
So they did not believe. The leaders simply did not believe the Gospels that they had read to us. Where does this leave us?
It leaves me still believing in the words of Christ, but profoundly doubting that the Catholic Church is the vehicle to bring them to us. By contrast, the civil war within the Church seems trivial to me.
James Lamb
Colchester, CT.
15
I have been attending the Catholic Church in Houston for the last three years although I am an Espiscopalian. I started going with a close Chaolic friend. I have been struck by the rarity of American priests.
In the Episcopal Church our priests were all married I acolyted with their children. Perhaps it is time for Pope Francis to make a true paradigm shift, allow the marriage of priests. This would bring families closer to their Church and change the Catholic culture. Then they wouldn’t longer have to import priests from afar.
3
I think the Pope made a mistake focusing on the victims in Ireland - he should instead immediately focus on the clergy, and do what my office does when something terrible you want to never happen again happens - have a total stand-down, all office cease business as usual and meet to talk about what happened and how to have it never happen again.
He needs to have a stand-down, world-wide..
And more than one, in fact.
1
When an organization completely fails, it dies. There are reasons why Enron, Blockbuster Video, Acorn, Look magazine, Pan Am, Arthur Anderson, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Mithraism, Manichaeism, etc., etc., no longer exist.
What would it take for Catholicism to suddenly collapse? Unlikely and hard to imagine. What would it take for it to remain the world's largest religious denomination for another 2000 years without drastic structural reforms that would leave unrecognizable? Ditto.
The same ironclad stability and resistance to change that has allowed it to survive will in the end destroy it. It can either transform itself and survive under a radically different form or change very little and perish in 500, 1000 or 2000 years.
Nothing lasts forever. Not even Methuselah, a 5000 year-old Bristlecone pine tree in California's White Mountains. It will die one day. Not even the Catholic Church.
1
@Guynemer Giguere. The church is not going anywhere. However, a second reformation is coming. Weather Pope Francis is the conduit or not is yet to be seen.
By all evidence, Francis is a Pope who understands the difference between human frailty and abuse. He understands divorce, he understands the biology of gender preference and I think he also understands the need for contraception as a way to protect the planet, which he strongly supports.
Remember when he recently said that there is no “hell” only nothingness for those who lead lives that hurt others? The Curia came down on him like a brick tsunami and he had to walk back his comments. Bottom line, Francis is a humanist who will come through now that open war has been declared on his Papacy.
Douthat, surprising no one, is joining in the chorus of conservative voices calling for Francis's resignation. One wonders if it is really about the generations of atrocities committed against children (where were the widespread calls for John Paul II or Benedict to step down?) or if it is about the Pope's willingness to embrace LGBTQ people and talk in stark terms about the dangers of consumption, corruption and capitalism.
10
@D. Plaine: Um, did you actually read the article? He specifically did NOT call for Francis' resignation. "But this doesn’t mean that the pope should resign — not even if Viganò is fully vindicated. One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough. That cop-out should not be easily available to pontiffs confronted with scandals, including scandals of their own making, any more than it should be available to fathers."
3
The RCC is a monolith and has been for centuries. To expect any pontiff to clear out the 'filth' in a few years, or even decades, is a canard thrown out there by those trying to get rid of any sitting pontiff they disagree with ideologically.
That said, the RCC is a hierarchical juggernaut that has far outlived its mandate. Shrink to a size that can be drowned in a bathtub so human spiritual evolution can progress.
3
Parish priests are not hired by the congregation but rather assigned there much like the hierarchy of the military. Soldiers
rightly have no voice in choosing their commanders. However , non-Catholic Christian churches have a lay board of directors with authority to hire, supervise and discharge their pastors thereby making pastors accountable to their congregation.
The organizational model of the Church may be at the root of its mismanagement of crime by the clergy. Moreover Catholics think of the "Church" as the clergy much more than the congregation. This renders Catholics more as subjects of the Church rather than members actively conducting the management of parishes. In my view much of the sexual abuse can be reduced by making priests accountable to the laity not to the heirarchy.
6
Most likely unintentionally, Mr. Douthat has painted a picture of an organization that is well beyond reform and possibly redemption. A group that is supposed to guide its followers in ethics and morality demonstrates the absence of both in its leadership. Theology issues and civil wars aside, it has long been clear that it is incapable of addressing the crimes of those within. All crimes must be reported to and dealt with as such by civil authorities. Prayers to God for forgiveness (really - what happened to the victims?) must now be more rightfully turned into demands, from both within and without, for justice. A first step across the geography of the church's domain; elimination of statutes of limitation on bringing suits, criminal and civil against these monsters dressed in "holy garb" and most ironically addressed as "father."
2
As to the healing of the victims, a fact not mentioned in the news stories and clergy apologies is that many, perhaps most, victims of sexual abuse do not heal. Even with years of therapy and counseling, they cannot form stable sexual and family relationships, and spend their lives in breakups and anguish. This is the real, largely unmentioned, result of the thousands and thousands of crimes perpetrated by so many priests, monsignors, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and Popes of the Catholic Church, and glibly wished away with easy words like "healing."
2
Ross,
You can’t go firing every dude in your office and then expect you to enact new policies as if nothing happened. The folks working in the Vatican have NOTHING ELSE in their lives to sustain them if they lose their jobs. They will fight to the death to keep their positions and will continue to justify their behavior. Francis needs to get rid of the celibacy requirement for the future of the Church, and for that, he is going to need to “absolve” the guys working there now so they will support him in that. Plan for the next 1000 years, and give up on prosecution of the creeps there now.
1
I take strong exception with the statement that “One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough.” Not if the resignation is warranted by evidence that a Pope has betrayed the faithful’s trust in his position to lead in good faith. Absolute power, even absolute religious power, corrupts, too. And it’s time to end the lifelong tenure of any Pope. If Cardinals who elect Popes have a retirement age, why not the Cardinal they elect as Pope? Is he not aging beyond his years of capacity as other Cardinals, too? Why is papal retirement (and Pope Benedict’s resignation was also his retirement as Pope) such a bad idea? Why must a Pope die as Pope before another Pope can be elected? Popes are not hereditary Monarchs! Church errors like lifetime service of Popes and Clergy Celibacy are not fixed dogma.
As for clergy celibacy enacted in 1139, A.D., it has always been a reversible regulation. It has never been an irreversible church dogma free from error. And as such it is just as much an error as the Church’s selling of “indulgences” centuries ago to assure one’s divine grace.
“Nature never lets up," former Roman Catholic monk Martin Luther warned fellow clergy,"....To say it crudely but honestly, if it doesn't go into a woman, it goes into your shirt." Luther accords with Paul’s injunction that it’s better to marry than to burn.
Yes, what is he going to do about what he knows to be a criminal act? If the clergy is not going to reform the church then the layity must.
1
Sorry Ross, but what we are witnessing is the Theocons in the American Catholic church ( still upset with the selection of a progressive Pope Frances following the ultra conservative Popes John-Paul and Benedict) attempting to take advantage of a growing crisis in the Catholic Church. As you are aware Ross, this scandal only fully emerged and became untenable enough during Benedict's papacy and, in fact, was powerful enough to drive Benedict to abdicate. The Theocons currently see the renewed focus on this disgrace within the Church as a golden opportunity to attempt to conduct a putsch, under the guise of a "Reform", of the new liberalizing elements in the Catholic church.
The Theocons primary goal is and always has been to combine their own secular conservative ideology and the faith of the Catholic Church's millions of adherents into a modern-style Counter-Reformation that will sweep the progressive changes that have occurred in society over the last 50-75 years.
Bishop Vigano's repeated scape goating of tolerance within the Church for homosexuals as the underlying cause of the sexual abuse scandal that has reemerged and currently is rocking the Church is exhibit 'A' re: the underlying motive of the Theocons. And I find it a shame Douthat, that you as a Catholic spokesperson and a well known journalist do not mention this attack by Viganao on the rights of gay and lesbian members of the church to participate in the curia of the church.
3
Of course, liberals are responsible for the pedophilia. What else would we expect from a conservative. Yet, it was sainted John Paul and lovely Benedict who presided over the years of abuse we now know about. These were conservatives. Ross, maybe you should "remove the mote from your eyes" first. Conservatives are simply hypocrites parading as saviors.
13
Russ, I am relieved that you are not calling for Francis to resign. Francis is certainly my Pope. Benedict was not. But, it never occurred to me, when say he managed to alienate the entire Muslim world, that he should be pressured to resign. There is a false equivalency here, as in American politics. Cardinal Burke is a vicious and disloyal detractor of the Popes. So, it appears is Vigano. I never thought I'd relish saying this, since it's been tossed in my face so many times by conservative Catholics. "The Church is not a democracy!" Let's take whatever we can from Vigano's expose, criticize Francis where called for. But Russ, please, go on the record, and do this for conservative reasons if you would, and state clearly and unambiguously that calls for the Pope's resignation are inappropriate and wrong.
1
I suspect that when a columnist makes sexual predation a liberal v. conservative issue he has completely lost the plot line.
49
Come join the UMC. We would welcome join with open arms. Or this that too inflammatory? Come join the Sunni faith. Whew. That’s better. I wouldnt want to be caught pushing Christianity. That would be hateful. I’ll stick with pushing Islam. I know no one would dare object.
1
Ross, You failed to mention Vigano's thesis claiming a "homosexual network" in the church is the cause of the church's continued sexual abuse crisis and cover up. Yes indeed, Vigano's document is "extraordinary in both content and tone".
4
The priesthood has, all along, been a fine career for a gay guy. I hope it remains so.
2
@Heckler
Could you elaborate? "I hope it remains so"?
On the contrary, it seems to me that if an honest investigation is made, the Church will need to be cleansed of its homosexual predators.
1
@red sox 9
And, alas, the world still needs to be purged of its ill-informed, bigoted haters.
Really, Ross: Can you not hear the voice of WC Fields when you invoke Godfried Danneels? The resurrection of a great comedian: a miraculous column!
1
The problem is men. It makes little difference whether they are hetero- or homosexual, married or single - men are responsible for the vast majority of murder, rape, violent crime, and child abuse.
Threats of prison, shame, and eternal damnation don't work; and it turns out the foxes guarding chicken coops are often given a free pass by the foxes guarding them.
I would call for a priesthood and papacy entirely populated by women, but the church has been designated a patriarchy from its earliest days and will never change. Perhaps Jesus should have built the rock of his church on the shoulders of Mary Magdalene.
5
This is a scandal that gay Catholics must be instrumental in providing solutions for.
1
@A. Stanton
How about a purge?
Well said, Ross. But I fear that the only uncompromising thing about this church is their hypocrisy and refusal to fall on their swords.
1
Ross,
It would take a conservative like you to eat the rabid bate that Vigano spewed forth. Let's just face facts: Homosexuality has nothing to do with the Catholic Church's major problems. Deceit, corruption, arrogance, and many other issues are working against the Gospel message to really threaten the Church in all but the remotest places on the earth.
Liberal, conservative does not matter here. I say from Francis, the College of Cardinals, the Roman Curia, every archbishop, every bishop--YOU ARE FIRED!
Build a healthy clergy!
Learn about human sexuality!
Allow women to be priests!
Make celibacy optional!
Get priests and bishops out of rectories and into society!
No more clericalism!
Stop being hypocrites in the name of Jesus like the Pharises!
And finally, stop acting like petty school children and take responsibility for the mess you have made for the Trinity and the Eucharist!
3
Seems like neither Vigano nor the pope are perfect, but all one has to do to judge whether having the pope resign will throw the church even further back into the dark ages or clean it up is look at Vigano's explanation for the crimes: all gay men are pedophiles, or at least he equates the two. Is that the view Catholics want to champion. Or Who am I to judge?
1
This problem doesn’t exist among Shi’a in Iran because there no gays in Iran.
Great, now we have a religious conservative blowhard writing for the NYT. I'm not catholic, but at least this pope is more compassionate and "Christ like" than any that have come before him. Of course right-wing conservatives will want to crush this pope. They hate all that is good and are ready to throw anyone under a bus that does not fit their fire and brimstone agenda.
11
As a cradle Catholic, I remember when, in 1967 or 68 Father Grawehr, speaking to a group of boys in religion class, said 95% of boys masturbate, and the rest are liars. Think of the average priest. A man who never had anything like a normal sex life. Most went for HS to Seminary to the priesthood. Some discovered they were gay. Regardless they all hide their desires and actions. So that all know - it is as simple as that.
2
@Terry McKenna
That environment does not create pedophiles, but it certainly gave them a place to hide. And the massive cluelessness of the hierarchy guaranteed that they would not be discovered. Their current gambit is to conflate pedophlia with gayness, being purposefully ignorant about both. So many of them are not only corrupt but stupid, says this cradle Catholic.
1
I hope the Pope can remove the most guilty and dangerous bishops. Isn't that the place to start?
My guess even if Douthat gets his way and Pope Francis is forced out the Church will be a lot smaller and even those who are left will be a lot less willing to be obedient, and ironically it will people like Douthat that make that possible.
1
How about abolishing the vow of celibacy or, at least, making it optional. This vow appears to be at the root of the problem. Those who want to marry and have families may do so.
Douthat completely misunderstands reality. The reactionary and regressive forces in the RC hierarchy- the same forces that governed this church for the past few hundred years ( with few exceptions)- the same forces that opposed his election to the papacy- are now trying to bring him down and return the church to the past. A rough analogy would be Bernie Sanders versus Sean Hannity. and since there is no evidence, its clear that Douthat is the fake news end of the story.
While I feel for Mr. Douthat, by his own admission the church needs:
1) Someone finally willing to fulfill their obligations;
2) Someone willing to purge the institution-wide corruption;
3) Someone willing to no longer compromise with moral filth.
One has to ask, with such systemic problems in the church - is there a baby in the bath-water? It seems unlikely.
1
Before you take anything Vigano states as the truth, please investigate his own history. He has an ax to grind and needs to be "investigated" himself. Perhaps he has forgotten Matthew 7:5 and should remove the "plank from his own eye." Also, Mr. Douthat appears to have his own agenda and is hardly a neutral party.
3
When I hear that Steve Bannon may be working with right-wing influences in the church who wish to get rid of this Pope because he is somewhat progressive and humanistic, I am moved to exercise caution in jumping to any conclusions. Decades ago, I was researching a book that touched on sex addiction and found two priests were patients at one of the leading sex addiction treatment programs. In its own way, the Catholic church was trying to address their problem albeit its efforts were often unsuccessful and it often failed to protect its parishioners and put defending its own reputation too high on its list of priorities. For those reasons, it has been a sick, and possibly dying institution for decades, particularly in the West.
The current Pope inherited much of this problem from a long line of predecessors and enablers. We should use caution in finding out whether he has been an improvement or just a continuation of the failure.
This may not be the time for perspective, but the church has nearly half a million priests, five thousand bishops, a couple hundred cardinals and one pope serving 1.2 billion faithful.
This global story is big and persistent over many years. But like sex harassment in the military, it cannot be stopped by unenforced rules. It must be addressed as part of basic training, with real and consistent discipline.
What people can't understand is how such things happen in an organization where strict obedience is routine.
1
I think it was way premature to beatify and sanctify JPII. I also think that the church needs to put women in charge.
1
The reforms required in the Roman Catholic Church are very, very substantial. And Pope Francis has already put his finger on the heart of the problem -- clericalism -- an exclusive club that keeps the lay faithful outside.
There is plenty of theological and traditional support for each of the following reforms:
1. Lay appointees to the College of Cardinals, who will be in the room when the voting happens for the Pope. These lay appointees must include Catholic women, both lay and religious.
2. Ordained women deacons. Starting immediately.
3. All legal and managerial functions in parishes and Diocese chancelleries being transferred to lay control, answering to a Board of Directors answerable both to Rome and to the local Bishop.
4. Ordained married men as priests, as it is among the Orthodox.
5. Requiring priests and deacons to work for a living, and do their ministry as a pure act of service, as it is among many of the Orthodox.
6. Speeding up the devolution of power to Councils of Bishops, as it is among the Orthodox, and eliminating much of the corrupt bureaucracy in Rome.
7. Allowing lay persons of demonstrable holiness, service and managerial talent to be appointed Bishops, with same-day ordination to the priesthood, as was done with St. Ambrose of Milan, among others. Apply this rule up to and including the Bishop of Rome.
8. And for God's sake, live the Gospel of the Jewish carpenter from Nazareth.
3
"Instead the faithful should press Francis to fulfill the paternal obligations at which he has failed to date, to purge the corruption he has tolerated ..." No, Mr. Douthat, your wishy-washy weak approach to sexual assault is wrong again. The necessary plan is 1. Identify, criminally charge, try, and punish all perpetrators and enablers of felonious assault - of children, adults, anyone. This may require redrafting Statute of Limitations laws. 2. Eliminate tax free status for religious institutions so that taxpayers no longer have to subsidize criminal behavior. 3. Stop trying to hide the issue of sex abuse as an unfortunate institutional problem; instead treat it for what it is - an organized criminal conspiracy to subvert the laws of the United States.
1
Or maybe, Ross, it is time to do away with such highly unnatural and misdirected traditions as celibacy and the male-only priesthood. Had there been women priests and priest’s wives around the rectory, most of this scandal would NEVER have occurred.
1
The Founding Fathers saw Catholicism a threat to freedom and liberty. One of the "acts" the Founders found "intolerable" (aptly named the "Intolerable Acts") was the establishment of Catholicism in Canada by (ironically) a Protestant government, England, after the Seven Years' War. Quebec, at the time, included Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The move by the British was to deter western expansion of freedom and liberty. The Founders saw the Catholic Church itself as "despotic" and "corrupt." Despotism and corruption is in the DNA of Catholicism. The American Revolution was a rejection of Catholicism. The Revolution is not over; it's being televised.
2
@Jon; what is the historical evidence for this position?
If every pedophile were to disappear from the Church tomorrow, it wouldn't begin to solve the Church's problems.
A focus on the sex abuse scandals at this time is inevitable, but they are the natural result of the church's hierarchical, patriarchal structure. Men who have risen to prominent positions within the Church have little personal incentive to radically change the system that has made them powerful. A married clergy and women priests are not on their agenda.
The elephant in the room is the church's ban on contraception, which put it at odds with the laity. The ban would never have happened if it were not for the Church's semi-celibate, all-male establishment.
People who consider themselves good Catholics, but use contraception, implicitly deny the infallibility of the church. (Would married priests reject contraception?) That weakened the Church, making it much more vulnerable during the present scandals. Reversing the ban would be an admission that the church has been mistaken in a matter of faith and morals.
Now there are powerful people within the church who consider the Pope insufficiently Catholic. An infallible Pope in error? The most radical claim that the Church hasn't had a real pope at all since Pius XII!
When I was a boy we were confident that the priest spoke from the altar with the authority of a Church founded by Christ himself. Religious conflict was only with misguided non-believers like Protestants and the Communists.
Today, chaos.
Vigano is a product of John Paul II and his buddy Ratzinger. Vigano misses his former bosses who like himself shared a grossly overbearing homophobia and lacked any compassion for anyone who isn't on board with archaic right wing Catholicism that punishes instead of forgives.
Pope Ratzinger/Benedict resigned because he was culpable in moving European bishops around who were accused of the same things priests and bishops in the US were accused of. If he had not resigned the Italian authorities would have arrested him so instead he stepped down and lives his days on the Italian coast. The church fast-tracked John Paul II's canonization (he only had to have 1 miracle attributed to him, not 2) where most saints wait years, lots of years for canonization. That long waiting period gives the church and people time to make sure they're really canonizing a saint and not just a sinner. Hopefully Pope Francis can get some papers released proving McCarrick and plenty others were under JPII and Benedict, both who did nothing but re-locate the bad seeds.
1
This is the wrong argument, about how the church should be dealing with predators.
The bigger issue is what are the police doing about this. Why are Catholic clergy above the law? Why are predators not in jail? Why are there not ongoing investigations of conspiracy? Could it be possible that these predators and their enablers have done more damage than the mafia?
2
The question is what did Douthat know?
Did Douthat not know that sexual abuse was rampant in the Church and had been for millennia?
Did Douthat not know that a vocation for men taking vows of celibacy while exercising authority over parishoners would be attractive to sexual predators? Conducive to abuse?
Did Douthat not know that an institution that denies women equality and extols men's superiority would be conducive to abuse?
Did Douthat not know that self regulation does not, will not and never has worked? The same GoP self regulation chimera that he supports giving reign to vested interests while attacking government regulations that do work? The centuries of self regulation that gave us endemic inequality, poverty, authoritarianism, cataclysmic species loss, climate change, death?
Did Douthat not know that his conservative Catholicism and support of traditionalist Church autocrats and teachings empowers an anachronistic, failed social agenda that never worked except for the priesthood? That this agenda turns away modern believers and youths posing a threat to the Church's very survival?
Did Douthat not know that the 'good old days' of railing against LBGT and sexual abuse from the pulpit plus self regulation never worked? That the good old days were a cruel facade?
Did Douthat not know that not acknowledging these things he is part of the Church's survival problem? That a positive, inclusive solution becomes even more difficult?
What did Douthat know?
3
For those who actually believe that the organization known as the Roman Catholic Church is a necessary element to their Christian faith, it is necessary, as Mr. Douthat says, that guilty heads roll no matter on which side of the philosophical fence they stand. For those of us who do not believe that an organized church is essential to Christian faith, this hierarchical civil war struggle for secular power is nothing more than a somewhat interesting side issue. Sexual and other forms of corruption have been endemic in the Church for centuries and I expect such to continue. Only the Christian imperative of love God and do unto others as you would have them do unto you remains indispensable.
Ross' column is commendably evenhanded. It is missing something though: any pretense of God. Personally I am atheistic so that's ok by me. But I do have to wonder how it might read for believers.
From my heathen perch the Catholic Church looks like a big old organization devoted to the maintenance and preservation of a bunch of really nice old buildings and art. Perhaps that's how we should think of it: a caretaker of the artifacts of a particular period of European culture and history. The outfits and ritual are all part of it so preserve and maintain those too with the men and women who want to live that way. But drop the God pretense.
I don't know that celibacy is the problem, as so many claim. There are plenty of married predators. I also think we could purge the ranks of men, replace them with women, and usher in a new era of corruption, divisive factions, and grasping for power. Anyone who thinks otherwise is putting women on a pedestal, which still leaves us as objects rather than agents.The problem with the Church is that there just aren't that many people like the original St. Francis, who gave up all his worldly goods for the greater good.
4
So, by waiting until now to come forward, Carlo Maria Viganò is also guilty of cover-up. Further, who knew what/when is a pointless discussion since it seems that the entire clergy and a big chunk of church members have known about this forever.
3
What I can't understand is why, given the brutal behind-the-scenes politics of choosing a Pope, anyone can see being elected Pope as the work of God.
1
Oh come on!
Pope Francis had no idea. The Archdiocese? They had no idea. Bishops? Ditto. Practicing Catholics had no idea. They thought the best solution was to be left to insurance companies. No one knew anything about the thousands of kids brutalized by satanic, sadistic men of cloth over a thousand years. They were sent to abuse someone else - problem solved.
The abuse of children in Catholic orphanages, all over the world, no one has any idea (or evidence) that it every happened.
Indeed, what happens to men who are required to practice celibacy, and are endowed with a fair amount of power over weak willed believers - remains a mystery to us. After all, there is no historic evidence what so ever (if there were, we would have learned by now). The power of Catholic charities to subdue bad press? Wow. What power? They have no power.
If men and women of cloth are to believed, they are the victims of a godless nation. Who knew? They have no funds, live spartan lives. A look at the Vatican museum (a tribute to paganism) - indeed reflects the vow of poverty. I.e., poverty for you, Bruno Magli for me.
This is not sad, it is the human condition. There is no religion in history that has not exhibited signs of brutalizing the weak. Why should one be any different. Humans cannot change religion; I don't think. If we could, we wouldn't remain fearful and surrender reason.
1
What's revealing about this schism is that it doesn't mention restitution to the victims of child sex abuse carried out inside Catholic institutions.
There's a 100% guarantee that abuse will continue if they don't do the right thing. They need to open their records to third party investigators and to prosecute abusers through our civil and criminal courts. This is what the survivors have been asking for all along, with little answer on that still to this day.
The vast majority of what’s in the report happened long before he became Pope. If anything, Pope Francis has been a trailblazer who has broken down barriers within the church, probably to the dismay of traditionalusts. My guess would be that without him the church would still be in denial. I’m sure his frank openness has been met with a lot of internal opposition.
3
Boy, it is funny to think that there are a billion people who believe that men wearing pointy hats somehow have more power and a direct link to the almighty (also imaginary). In the real world of science it would be hard to make this stuff up. Just imagine Newton coming into a lab and proclaiming the theory of gravity with no data or proof! Yet the church progresses and even thrives. I guess for the large part, the majority of the billion have nothing else to place their hope on. God help them!
It apparently never occurred to Ross Douthat that the Church's own absurd precepts, at odds with the requirements of any human organism, has wrought the abuse of the powerless at the hands of the "celibate".
What if, in the face of this shocking predation and criminality, the greatest act of faith was disavowing all the medieval nonsense, for the greater good?
But don't even ask. Douthat hates Francis for his social liberalism -- including pursuit of reforms likely to reduce abuse.
This Pope will never be Catholic enough for American right-wingers who want to persuade the world that their primal human drives are sinful, as a means of filling the collection plate and keeping other right-wingers in power.
1
This entire piece reads like a patriarchal sermon.
If Vigano is correct, why wouldn’t the punishment for the crimes he alleges be the same as a citizen? Why should the church only have to bear one pope resignation per millennium?
I have read how Bill Hybels at Willow Creek mega church was able to continue as head of that church for decades after women repeatedly told elders of his harassment.
The Catholic Church has been in lock-step with Willow Creek as they look outside their walls to blame the gay community, or a ‘creeping acceptance of secularism’.
It would seem to me that if church members, church elders and church supporters are doing the harassing; the raping; the lying; the investigating; the punishing; and the covering up—whatever the fallout will be rests squarely on the shoulders of religion.
Time for everyone to hold the business of religion accountable and recognize that a personal relationship with Jesus or god does not need an intermediary; if the community is what you want, that’s just a good old potluck.
It is time for a serious splitting off from traditional Catholicism, similar to the Protestant Reformation. This one would be for dedicated Catholics who like the whole traditional assemblage: Mass, incense, confession, wafers, processions, Latin, whatever- but priests would be of whatever gender and not enforced celibates, which would eliminate most sexual misconduct. Women would be allowed control of their bodies.
The Pope has been known to wash the feet of those imprisoned. I wonder how long it would take to wash the feet of all those accused worldwide in the child abuse scandal. Something for the Pope to think about. It may take years to do this and may not make a compelling photo-op I guess!
1
Writing as a non Catholic, I am quite confused by the actions and reactions as I read them. 1) Pedophile downloading pictures is a crime, pedophilic actions are major crimes, covering up major crimes are crimes themselves. So why aren’t they treated as such. Trial and punishment in our court system. No one should be above the law, president or priest. 2) the pedophilia of the church almost seems organized. Do men who become priests have these tendencies ahead of time and therefore join? Just what is the psychological make up of aspiring priests?. 3) a number of years ago at a place I worked a respected person was turned over to police for downloading child porn. I was upset because this person was quite likable and competent. But it was and is against the law. How simple is that principle - companies do it, governments do it. Is the church a law unto itself? Cannot the pope try to set up basic rule that these priests be turned over to proper civil authorities.
1
Of course, why anyone would go into a church, listen to a sermon which uses words like sheppard, flock...and upon exiting take out their iPhone and check for messages and their Facebook page, is beyond me.
1
This is an institution in ruin, and the wreckage cannot be repaired. But it's going to be an interesting time in the Vatican, especially if Bergoglio should resign and, with the white smoke announcing a successor (I like the odds on the revanchist Burke), we ex-Catholics are able to marvel at the astonishing idea of three living popes.
Let's set aside liberal vs conservative Catholics debate. The reality is that if church hierarchy defrocked every pedophile/ predator in its ranks, as well as the enablers who concealed their knowledge of wrong doing and transferred them , we would not have enough priests. The problem seems to be widespread and entrenched. Inexplicably, we still do not allow married men or women to become priests. Church leaders prefer to shuffle predators around to avoid publicity.
1
Are you saying the entire Curia has known about this and done nothing? Up until Pope Francis that may have been the case. The College of Cardinals is overwhelmingly guilty of allwing this to happen, AND continue. This applies to Sisters, Monks, Brothers and Priests. This gives this Pope the opportunity to ask them all to resign and be replaced by others, even lay persons. As Pope, Francis has made changes and let be known changes are still being made and considered. Again, this is an opportunity to make tremendous change in the Church in the name of correctness. It is NOT correct for the Curia to be allowed to continue. They have forsaken their vows to Christ. Personally I would force many people retire. And if necessary replace them with lay people, both men and women, to guide the Church into the future.
1
Let's not forget that Douthat comes from the same conservative wing as Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and has attacked Francis's liberalizing tendencies fro the beginning. Reminds me of the evangelicals who in their fight against a women's right to choose, suddenly became interested in women's health.
603
Douthat is well entrenched in the club that hates Francis.
As a lifelong Catholic, I think this is a moment of triumph for my Church, no matter how defeated we might look to the secular world. I have long prayed that the corrupted, homosexualized, Vatican II -obsessed, practitioners of the fake church within The Church would be exposed for what they are. It is finally starting to happen. I rejoice. The wolves in sheep's clothing are about to be shown the door.
17
@Keyser Q Size Guess you missed the list of "conservative" sexual predators that Mr. Douthat provided. Disgusting!
2
@Keyser Q Size Exposing them is one thing - that has been going on for centuries. Getting rid of them is far more difficult because they control the system. YOU have NO control. Good luck with that! Your only real ethical choice is to leave the dirty old men to themselves and start a new church without them. See if they can get by on their own without your handouts!
1
@Keyser Q Size right. because there was no child predation prior to the ascendancy of the current hierarchy...
Homosexuality does not = child predators, in spite of the many attempts over the years to equate them.
Sincerely, a confirmed heterosexual, non-Catholic social worker
1
I'm completely disappointed by now with Pope Francis, for whom I had high hopes. However, I'll take him over anyone else as Pope right now.
1
@lzolatrov how about no pope at all. or any other priest. That is the very best solution. Get rid of them all and start over.
At the heart of Vigano's diatribe is the ignorant lie that homosexuality and pedophilia are linked problems, and rooting out the former would root out the latter. If a gay man becomes a priest and is celibate, he is no different than a heterosexual man who does the same... and if gay man becomes a priest and has sex with other gay men, he is no different than a heterosexual priest who violates the vow of celibacy.
But if a man becomes a priest and uses the inherent trust given to him to groom and sexually abuse children, he is a different kind of problem: he is suffering from a mental health disorder, yes, but because it hurts other people he is also a predator and a criminal, and should be removed and prosecuted.
Why is this so difficult? Could it be that conservative elements within the church see this as an opportunity to demonize homosexuals, and the current Pope is advocating a more, dare I say, Christian line of thinking?
23
The evidence keeps piling up, for years now, that the church is complicit in these sexual abuse crimes by failing to take action when it has the absolute power to do so. Those who continue to attend the organized church are no better than the church itself because they too are not only tolerating it, but voting for church action by showing up every week. This is decidedly NOT about the Catholic religion. This is about “management!” The management is corrupt and is not concerned with the welfare of its members, but only with themselves. Would any of you do business with any company or organization that is rampant with pedophiles and does nothing about it??? Don’t do business with the church. You can practice religion at home (as so many already do) and start to insist that the police be brought in to PROPERLY investigate charges of sexual abuse. Don’t support the status quo or this will just go on and on!
1
Ross, your bias is showing again....if Pope Francis is "failing," then surely every preceding Pope would also be failures, would they not? The fact remains that sexual abuses in the Catholic Church has been supported and hid for decades by local priests, and right on up the line to the Popes. They are all responsible.
19
Ross, Viganò’s pure and unadulterated hatred of gays is well documented, including his claims that gay members of the clergy are to blame for the child abuse scandal. And yet I note you carefully omitted mentioning that in your article. Could it be that Francis’s (rather limited) attempts to reach out to gay Catholics has sent Viganò over the edge? Food for thought.
12
The devil has won. The church is corrupted beyond repair. Thousands of children abused and the abuse covered up by supposed good men. They have created their own Soddom and Gamorrah and it's time for the leaders who knew and did nothing to be turned into pillars of salt.
2
Really ? Douthat cannot write about the PA AG report ?
2
This is just another longstanding and ongoing tale involving sex, power and money. What really grates is the sanctimony of people within this edifice - from Popes to peasants - in their attitudes about people outside their ‘faith’.
1
“Conservative Catholics”, regressives, “traditionalist” Prince Bishops want to return to the good old days of privilege and impunity, when the Church was not subject to law. Vigano’s Document is unsubstantiated and should be referred to as that. Vigano is an Italian Aristocrat who appeals to a magical time when prince bishops covered Europe with castles/cathedrals.
Why is Douthat fixated upon celibacy and divorce? Are they Jewish behavioral norms or are they Greek? Why is hiding pedophiles and transferring them to corrupt more children forgivable and divorce unforgivable.
Accusations that Francis knowingly kept McCarrick in business is without evidence. Whereas Vigano exploited a county clerk, Kim Davis, who refused to give a marriage license to a same sex coupler,to embarrass the Pope. Vigano is carrying out a vendetta against Francis and compassion. Douthat is duped by a delusion of what the Church pretended to be. He should read a biography of St. Francis of Assisi and a course in Logic.
Catholics around the world have been waiting for Francis, not prince bishop Vigano or Douthat. Celibacy was devised by bishops to prevent priests from acquiring land.
11
The Pope may think he is a shepherd, but what he forgets is that the people are no longer sheep.
4
To an outsider like me, one obvious fix is for Ross to formally join the administration of his church, and use his abilities to help change it for the better.
To the cynic like me, whining in print is likely Ross’ preference.
3
I am not a Catholic, so I need clarification here. This is the year 2018, not 1718 or 1018 or 18. The Pope, the head of the entire Catholic Church, felt the need to issue an official statement in this year of 2018 stating that sexual abuse including child abuse is wrong & evil. In this year of 2018, the Pope is apologizing for something that has been going on under the auspices of his Church for centuries. In this year of 2018, he is telling his clergy to stop committing sexual crimes & other abuse because it is wrong & evil. You mean they didn't know this until now? Catholic clergy thought rape & child molestation was perfectly fine until in 2018 the Pope told them it was a no-no? I am confused.
13
"But this doesn’t mean that the pope should resign — not even if Viganò is fully vindicated. One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough." Man. I was with you until the second sentence. No. If enabling child rape is the charge, a thousand papal resignations are not enough. What in the name of God did you just write?
2
The Boston Globe's Spotlght investigation started in 2001. Clearly, everyone with any power knew by early 2002 when the first article was published . The fact that they never bothered to investigate "rumors" of abuse and coverups elsewhere is absurd.
3
While not a Catholic, I feel very empathic towards those Catholics who are horrified to see and experience these shocking revelations of what has been done and not done by those the they have trusted. I am am sure you will be stronger for going through this, hard as it is. I seem to recall the words that the truth will set us f rem.
3
@David Sugarman
Thank you.
Jesus had an advantage over Pope Francis, he had already weeded out Judas. Pope Francis is surrounded by those with guilt as far as either being a sexual predator or protecting a sexual predator. Actions that have gone on for SEVEN decades without a purge because there are too many in the hierarchy in Rome who are complicit or just as culpable as the sexual predators facing prosecution of raping the innocent minors under their charge.
Pope Francis wants to return the Church back to its ministry under Christ and the Vatican is all about politics and power and Conservatives vs the Liberals.
Jesus turned away no-one who believed or repented their past crimes or misdeeds. The redemption of Saul as he became St. Paul is a biggie as far as example.
However, with these predators and their protectors there is no repentance and with the Conservatives they want to hand pick who should be considered Catholic or a believer. No homosexuals or women need apply to their Church.
And that is the problem in a nutshell, the Conservatives consider the Catholic Church THEIR Church which means they will pre-judge any and all who want admittance to the faith.
Now out of ignorance they want to equate homosexuality with pedophilia which are two separate things. Homosexuality happens between same sex consenting adults. Pedophilia is all about the rape and power of innocent minors and there is no cure except prosecution and removal.
3
Ross Douthat completely misses the point with his tedious analysis of “what the church should do”. The church should have no role in dealing with criminals within its ranks. We would not tolerate a Wells Fargo employee who raped a nine year old being disciplined by the bank. Clerics should have no special status. Nor should the corporation of the church be expected to police itself. Where is Robert Mueller, where are the US attorneys, the FBI and local police? All that should be expected from the church is abject and total cooperation.
The church has always been a cesspit of intrigue, infighting, careerism and depravity and nepotism. This is not fake news but it is a tired old story.
4
I have to ask an obvious question of the Times: why do you have an ultra-conservative regular Catholic/Christian columnist and not a liberal Catholic/Christian columnist to balance Douthat?
I don't believe I'm alone in thinking a Catholic or other Christian writing in the spirit of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King or Oscar Romero would make an important and necessary contribution to the national conversation on religion.
It would be great if the Times would uphold a print Fairness Doctrine, like the one requiring a spectrum of major views on our airwaves. That one was killed by Reagan and his cohorts and we see the results in the right-wing takeover of radio and television.
How about it, Times editors?
20
Douthat's prior commentary on this papacy pretty much rules him out for any sort of unbaised and rational assessment, as far as I'm concerned. If you lose your objectivity and throw in with a conservative faction early on, you don't get to reap the questionable rewards when one of your number tosses a grenade.
21
@Felicia This is just an ad hominem. Douthat's point is that what side you happen to be on in the "Catholic civil war" shouldn't cloud your judgment on the Church's cover up of abuse -- all sides should support full disclosure, penance and reform.
1
Doesn't the Catholic Church claim to be guided by the Holy Spirit? Maybe the Holy Spirit lost Its road map.
4
So, the question is..? :
“ What did the Pope know and when did he know it?”
Wow!! The world is Definitely falling apart.
1
If those conservative Catholics who are suddenly demanding Pope Francis's departure want to prove their genuine concern about the abuse scandal rather than just confirm their hatred of a liberal pope , they should also be demanding that sainthood be stripped from John Paul II.
1
You’d think god would have intervened by now, no? Alas...
3
Corbyn the anti-semite, Francis the child abuse enabler, Trump the traitor. Is it just a coincidence that every leader whose policies contradict the status quo are the subjects of scandals that are more or less propagated by their political rivals?
Perfect. I'd like to think that Francis might get to read this, but I doubt if his corrupt handlers will allow it to get before his eyes.
What did JP II know about Maciel? What did JP II and Ratzinger know about Law and the cover-ups in Boston? This did not begin with Francis. The church has been corrupt for decades.
13
Not much different than Evangelicals supporting a President so antithetical to it's teaching.
2
Godfried Danneels?!? This is a joke, right?
2
The crimes and cover-ups of today"s church hierarchy transcend the indulgences, simony and corruption that led to Luther and the Protestant Reformation. Paraphrasing Luther we all have within us the great pope, Self. A resignation is not the cathartic needed. It goes much deeper than that.
1
The massive global perversion of men prying on boys - over decades - is beyond comprehension.
How did thousands of child molesters 'just know' that entering the seminary provided a life long supply of depraved sexual satisfaction?
3
Agreed that tribal blind action is fundamental to success. The democrats are trying this with #metoo. And now there is blowback on being too pure on their own. Balance is the really hard part. Meanwhile, the other tribe continues to protect their own. But religious leaders should find this easier (still very hard) as they are more capable of belief bound actions, where tribes are about self preservation.
Whatever Francis knew, Vigano's move is a cynical, self-aggrandizing one. If he cared about the abuse scandal so much why was he never more vociferous/transparent about it to the press when he was nuncio? (Answer: because it would have been impolitic for his career.) There is a highly strong, bourgeois clerical current among Northern Italians that can be very ugly to outsiders (I know this first-hand as an American member of an Italian lay movement). I would prefer to give Francis the benefit of the doubt. He has never claimed to change Church teaching on homosexuality, nor has he condoned homosexual acts; he has only attempted to show everyone that embracing gay and divorced people where they are and offering them the mercy of Christ is the method of Christianity, not hitting people over the head with doctrine. This is a knee-jerk move of Vigano's to discredit Francis further, and it only serves to create more disunity in the Church and aggrandize the clerical naysayers who are ensconced in high positions and have never sinned themselves, hence they can "throw the first stone." Vigano and his cronies should try reading the Gospel once in a while. St. John Paul II--and I respect him greatly--was blindsided by the likes of Macial, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, and by McCarrick also, whose antics were occurring during his papacy too. But the right wingers who cling to their own smugness would never call him on that because they see him as their doctrinal ally.
7
So Vigano is innocent in this? He knew about the abuse himself but did nothing until he wants to take down a more liberal and loving Pope? Hypocrisy is alive and well among the clerics of the church and the conservative members, especially converts like Ross Douthat! And we know Steve Bannon of chaos creation is part of that Catholic conservative wing that is so happy to destroy the world in order to bring about what he sees as perfection. Give me a break!
4
Senator Franken is expected to retire, while President P—ygrabber is lauded by his party.
Bill Clinton is investigated for years and impeached for lying about a minor, consensual sex act, while President Traitor whines incessantly about a WITCH HUNT and his party destroys the reputations of patriotic law enforcement officers.
When right-wingers, of all people, stop using abuse as a pretext to further consolidate their power, then let’s talk.
3
I assume that Pope Francis must have known everything. His feeble recommendations of psychiatric treatment, instead of abolition of priests' celibacy, only increase the ranks of Sedevacantists (those who believe that the modern Popes are illegitimate occupants of the Seat of St. Peter).
Crocodile tears, I am sure, Ross. I know how happy you will be to discredit this vaguely liberal pope if that would help resurrect the clearly reactionary regime you love so much.
3
The current and the previous pope were aware of the sexual abuse within the church. This is news?
They ALL knew and know! The Roman Catholic Church hierarchy KNOWS, and has KNOWN all along! That’s is what disgusts us!
Also, being gay does not make one a pedophile, nor will ending celibacy prevent priests from abusing children!
The abuse by the clergy of children and women has been going on for....centuries! They all need to resign.
This from Hilaire Belloc
The Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine — but for unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would have lasted a fortnight.
The events of the past weeks only show how apt Belloc’s was.
5
@Maureen
I guess the Trump Administration is divine, then. Many a fortnight has come and gone.
Is this our destiny as humans? To be forever led by knaves and fools?
2
The entire institution is tainted. My guess is you could not find one church official without knowledge of this type of abuse.
1
You hit the nail on the head
1
"Does a pedophile priest who accepts Christ into their lives eventually end up in heaven, but I who's never been a pedophile but doesn't accept Christ as the son of God have no chance of going to heaven?" Yes.
If pretending to know something you don't know is this powerful, there is really no hope for humanity if religion is is our guiding light and not reason.
1
Blame! The most useless human emotion.
"Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"
The most evil of all blames.
Perfection belongs to Christ alone.
Keep your focus on Him.
Or...stand in the crowd yelling "Crucify Him".
The echo of those two words always screams loudest toward those who imitate Christ in their humble lives.
I am having trouble reconciling any hands ordained to perform transubstantiation of Communion elements ALSO being hands capable of sin.
And every time this happens to me, I look closer at HIM, not the him.
You have to wonder if Pope Benedict, God's rottwiler, was still a sitting pope and all this pedophile scandal and cover up were unfolding, Douthat would go after him with the same verve. Could it just be all red meat to the columnist, a great opportunity and pretext to attack his nemesis, Pope Francis? Clearly one needs to look at the Pope's balance sheet of his deeds and pronouncements on the environment, capitalism, gays and divorced Catholics against this pervasive and persistent rot of pedophilia that has probably wracked the church for 10 centuries, every since priests were no longer allowed to marry.
3
I continue to be surprised that people are surprised by the ongoing sexual perversions of the leaders of the Roman Catholic church. There is a simple and obvious causal relationship between the "vow of celibacy" and sexual abuse. If Rome really wants to fix this, then it needs to open the priesthood to marriage.
3
It is time to put the nuns in charge.
3
Unfortunately, the nuns have plenty to answer for. Ask the Irish.
3
Sorry, Ross. John Paul II tolerated and excused rampant sexual abuse. The Catholic Church made him a Saint. Nuff said. Remember "swallowing elephants and choking on gnats?"
3
What we really need to know: "Is celibacy the problem?" http://www.healthcommentary.org/2018/08/17/key-question-for-catholic-hie...
1
The most important result of the pedophilia scandal is that Bishops, priest and the Popes are no longer treated like gods. We do need authority. But priests and bishops should demonstrate every day of their lives that they are servants. They should serve and help others and not sit back enjoying comfortable lives while their parishioners struggle.
7
Yup.
I thought this would be the tack you'd take: Say and do anything to get the focus off the children.
Well, aren't you lucky that Vigano had that letter ready to go?
The Church knew that the Grand Jury report was coming and I'm sure that on page 132 of the "Vatican Shuffle Playbook" that it is written: "When they come for us with Grand Jury Reports, then the uber-Conservative faction (who love Steve Bannon) will step forward and confuse the issue with talk of "homosexual perversions" and drown out the "child-raping pedophiles" part."
There was a time and place, Ross, for examination of Maciel.
It was ANYTIME before the PA report.
Now Maciel is just ANOTHER piece of the rot of the WHOLE church.
Too little, too late.
4
Pretty funny that the ‘conservatives’ are going after corruption in the Catholic church. Where have they been these many DECADES. This disgusting fiasco demonstrates the church hierarchy is corrupt from top to bottom, ‘conservatives’ included.
3
A socialist Pope who fits the left's agenda. He is too political and should only speak with his expertise about the Catholic Church and not politics for which he knows nothing about. Do not fool yourself nor think for a minute this socialist will resign or leave his post; he will not. Benedict was the Pope for an extremely short time. This Pope deserves the people's wrath; perhaps the Catholic Church will split. This pope will have initiated the split.
1
@Jan
Funny, but I don't remember Christ espousing any particular economic theory. Of course, there is this admonition from John the Baptist: "He who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise." Any problem with that, Jan?
8
@ardelion
Well, he did kick the money changers out of the temple. These days, the den of robbers operating inside many churches are the church leaders themselves. This is something many Americans don't seem to notice.
If they can’t find uncorrupted leaders in the Church, if no one is untainted, it should be left to rot.
I would fully support my parish if it decided to leave the Roman hierarchy.
The entire hierarchy would do well to listen to their TRUE leader. His message could not be more timely in today's Gospel reading, Matthew 23:23-26. Jesus said:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin,
and have neglected the weightier things of the law:
judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.
You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence.
Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup,
so that the outside also may be clean."
A medieval patriarchal institution trying to exist in the modern world with a significant number of highly-pysycologically-conflicted closeted gay men in positions of leadership doesn’t seem to me like a recipe for long-term success, but maybe I’m wrong.
5
I wish people would not assume that forcing sex onto young boys, or girls, makes one gay.
Are prisoners all gay, too? A number of long-term imprisoned men have same sex experiences, forced and consensual.
Again, this isn’t a gay problem, nor one confined to Catholicism (see evangelical churches, too). This is a problem at the intersection of puritanical religion and humanity.
1
Based on Vigano’s testimony, it is not at all clear he draws a distinction between priests who commit abuse and priests who are homosexual.
Vigano notes with favor pope Benedict’s “firm stand against the admission into seminary of young men with deep homosexual tendencies.” And he likewise notes with disfavor a Cardinal’s promotion of “homosexuals into positions of responsibility.” Vigano believes that the “deeper problem lies in homosexual networks within the clergy which must be eradicated.” And he states, without citation, that that “80% of the abuses found were committed against young adults by homosexuals who were in a relationship of authority over their victim.”
When Vigano writes of “evil” throughout his testimony, you have to be sticking your head in the sand to think he is writing simply of abuse.
I fail to see the wisdom of assuming that Vigano's words have authority until his words are disproven, like Douthat does by writing this op-ed and speculating as to its truth. I also fail to see the wisdom in whitewashing it, as Douthat does, by describing it as "extraordinary in both content and tone” and noting only that Vigano’s “conservatism” is “manifest” in some of his “sweeping claims.”
2
Very clever, Ross. Blame the current Pope for Benedict and John Paul II's failure to act. They knew.They covered it up. They continued to promote the guilty and move the actual pedophiles from parish to parish and country to country. But yeah, it's the current Pope who's at fault. Where were you when Egan claimed that priests were self-employed contractors? When the Philadelphia reports of abuse came out? Even New York / Long Island? Or, when Dolan continues to fight the elimination of the statute of limitations in New York State? Finally, didn't you learn anything from the 2002 Boston bombshell? Where were you then?
5
The resident ultra-conservative religious SCOLD. No longer informative, enlightening or even entertaining. Just tiresome.
PERIOD.
9
What did or should the Vicar of Christ and inheritor of the Keys to the Kingdom given to St. Peter as a Fisher of Men have known or should have known about pedophilia, rape, obstruction and protection of Catholic clergy?
Unlike Paul, Peter knew the living Christ who personally and divinely selected him as the rock upon which to build his church and congregation on Earth.
While God is deemed omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent His human flock are flawed and mortal. Pope Francis is all and only human. And the Jesus and Peter of Matthew 25 : 31-46 would be lost in the pompous splendor of the Vatican.
Bishop Strickland of the Tyler, Texas diocese is my bishop. I have no doubt that Bishop Strickland is engaged in a conservative power play. It's a shame that Bishop Strickland doesn't have the same energy in trying to help the victims of clerical abuse. He apparently doesn't care about that. Bishop Stickland, you are a disgrace.
13
That church is a failed institution several times over - even if it DIDNT purport to represent the word of God. Shut it down and let people move on. Good people will still gather to do good things - they will survive the oversight of a pack of old white sex abuse enablers.
1
Pope Francis is the most "Christian" pope in my lifetime.
And Mr. Douthat just doesn't like someone who is that Christian / liberal.
I would like to see Mr. Douthat put as much energy going against all the pedophile priests as he does looking for ways to criticize Pope Francis.
11
About another 200 years or so.... It'll all be over. This religious nonsense and delusion of the holy mother church. A total sham for 2000 years.
1
Why is anyone Catholic these days? Really. Why?
1
I really like Pope Francis and I'm not even Catholic but corruption and hiding stuff and betraying confidences for orgasms, no matter who does it, is unacceptible and immoral.
4
The Pope is Infallible -- except when he disagrees with Ross Douthat ....
4
@Richard
Glad to know that I'm not the only one to notice that all the shrill folks who insisted I had no choice but to assent to all papal pronouncements now insist that they can demur. You should have seen the strident posts on the ultra-conservative National Catholic Register when Francis introduced the new catechetical teaching on the death penalty!
2
If someone is gay. And if that person is a pedophile. And if that person wants to be where they have prestige, access to children, and protection by other men like themselves. Where are they going to go? You guessed it.
6
100 percent tool.
100 percent hypocrit.
100 percent colluder.
Why Times? Why?
4
Jorge Bergoglio is an evil, evil man in charge of an evil, evil organisation.
Why does the US, and others, give this mafia-like organisation dimplomatic status? This is not a country and it is not deserving of diplomatic recognition.
Let’s not forget that it was Benito Mussolini that pushed for its recognition.
If it lost its recognition perhaps Jorge and his pervert buddies would be subject to Italian law.
2
I suppose Ross went to mass last Sunday.
If it were any other institution that was as corrupt as The Church, I expect he would've parted ways immediately after knowing the full scope of horrors.
He talks about Pope Francis giving pedophiles a pass; but it's also Ross and people like him who support The Church who're giving the whole rotten enterprise a pass.
Pray harder, Ross—God is watching.
4
A "penitent cell"?
That's where you give yourself away, Ross Douthat - and your larger agenda.
No, Ross Douthat. Those guilty of sexually abusing children don't belong in a penitent cell (how quaint). They belong in PRISON.
2
Rome....a state. Catholic......a religion. I think most of you can connect the dots fairly successfully. Now....from the USA's frame of reference, we have an abhorrence for state religion.......yet nearly 50% of Americans cling to the delusional "security" of the "one true church" and its creaky, staid insular bureaucracy......ignoring the historical facts of 100% of our ancestors......we all got to America precisely because we "protested" the way things were run in Europe. And if you are not happy with the Bureaucracy of the Roman Catholic Church....ie...you 'protest" the way its run.......why ... o .... why......are you still going to Catholic Church? They cant burn you at the stake for being a "heretic" anymore.....and its America.....go to the church or synagogue of your choice(no mosques please...as Islam is run like a state religion also)
1
As E.J. Dionne, Karen Tumilty, and other prominent lay Catholics have asked themselves, why are you still a Catholic, Ross?
11
Stopped reading after author was imagining three times
3
To answer your question, Pope Francis no doubt knew what ever thinking Catholic in the world has known since at least 1992: its clerical ranks are riddled with sexual abusers from top to bottom and the church hierarchy knew it and in many cases was part of it. In an age of incredible self-aggrandizement and vicious group in-fighting, Viganò has decided to sensationalize what Francis knew. No need to sensationalize it, Archbishop, Francis knew all about it all. So do you. The rot is pervasive.
4
Vigano's screed is nothing more than a crude attempt at a hatchet job on Pope Francis. It even reads like a political hit job, essentially the rantings of disgruntled hack.
Church history proves it moves grudgingly slow to admit wrongdoing in its actions and would rather let a “wrong” remain than actually admit it made a mistake. Here’s thee classic proof;
“ROME, Oct. 31, 1991. Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun.”
The entire world knew Galileo was right for centuries but the church.....oh, no! They’re infallible!
What the church did to one of the world’s true geniuses is beyond belief. Yep! The man ran afoul of The Holy Inquisition (a true high point in world civilization) when he decided Copernicus’s theory was right! House arrest for years was his reward!
Don’t look for much change coming from the church over pedophilia. Only the unafraid and enlightened rank and file Catholics can force change!
2
@SAH
Don't worry. Rescinding Galileo's absolution is high on Cardinal Burke's to-do list.
Long, long ago, I thought if adults knew a child was being raped, they would rush to help that child. The Catholic Church has shown just the opposite.
1
Poor, Ross, his beloved Republican party is no longer what he remembers it to be and now it's his church, too. Get some counseling.
8
According to Viganò and some others, the biggest scourge of the Catholic church are gay priests. Leaving aside for the moment the pernicious equalization of homosexuality and pedophilia, what would be the solution to this problem? Make every priest swear that if he could have sex, it would be with a woman?
1
Oddly, you make no mention of Vigano's own move while serving as papal nuncio in Washington to suppress the investigation into the homosexual depredations of the archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul, John Nienstedt,or Vigano's order that documents affirming Nienstedt's abuse should be destroyed.
As such, one can only assume that Vigano really doesn't care about sexual abuse or homosexuality in the clergy, so long as it's committed by his own allies.
16
Jesus must be weeping mightily.
1
I am so glad not to be part of a institution whose members tend to be so judgemental and unforgiving
Vignano what a vindictive and petty miserable human being he is, I am sure he has some skeleton in his closet the same with the utra catholics supporting him cowards all that somehow they think they know better .After all I thought that the pope's election was inspired by god. Either god made a mistake or these pseudo christians are blasphemous.
2
From the Crusades through the Holocaust to birth control, anything that weakens the Catholic church is alright with me. It is time to stop giving tax exemptions to big businesses masquerading as charities.
7
Third last line should read "Francis" not "Benedict"????
We’ve all had them. That wonderful Bing Crosby-esque local parish priest who inspired us to be more than the sum of our physical parts, and to do so by realizing there was an invisible God-like essence deep within us. That is why as the latest of the seemingly never-ending clerical pedophilia scandals emerges I am, to borrow the phrase from Network, “mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
It may be an infinitesimal number of clerics who perpetrated the abuses, but that is quite beside the point. As a traditional Catholic I was raised to believe an abomination against any of God’s creatures is an abomination against us all. Moreover, part of my angst is that the actions of the deviant few have tainted the many well-meaning priests and that deviant few has been aided and abetted by the Church hierarchy. As St. Athanasius pithily noted centuries ago, “The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops.” What would Jesus do? He wouldn’t put a criminal on the diocesan skateboard to the next parish down the road so as to hush up the felony. I am less certain what Jesus would do to make expiation for the scandals, but I strongly suspect He would look with disfavor on the Church’s current efforts (or lack thereof). To that end I humbly submit the following.
...Pope Francis, appoint an ecclesiastical special prosecutor to uncover all facets of this scandal, read more: https://www.kennethtzemsky.com/single-post/2018/08/27/Where-Have-You-Gon...
1
Not reading you any more, Ross. This is your WORST effort yet. Nothing but a compilation of assigning motivation where you simply DO NOT KNOW it exists and filled with innuendo and conjecture. The NYT needs to reconsider the value of keeping you on as a published commentator. You are flat out laughable. And your brand of Catholicism asks us to militarize conflict instead of using prayerful reflection and discernment to reach effective solutions. You cherry pick, as usual, in your anti-Francis commentary. Shame on you. No more.
15
@Barry Fitzpatrick I'm not convinced you read his column.
4
@Barry Fitzpatrick,
I agree with you completely. As a born, bred, Catholic I find myself constantly trying to separate my faith from the fallible men who make the "laws', and serve only their best interests. I do not believe Mr. Douthart capable of unbiased views where the Catholic Church is concerned. We need a balanced, well thought out perspective regarding these issues, not those of a single minded zealot.
"Now those allies may be the ruin of his pontificate. But this doesn’t mean that the pope should resign — not even if Viganò is fully vindicated. One papal resignation per millennium is more than enough."
Well, at least I agree with that point, Ross.
But At the heart of Viganò's letter, from all my reading, is a war on homosexuality in general. According to reports, his claim that homosexuality is responsible for all the predators and their enablers is more a reflection of his anti-gay bias-forget scientific research showing that homosexuals display no more predatory tendencies than heterosexuals.
Like many, I put the blame on celibacy, a totally unnatural state that was decided arbitrarily by church elders in the middle ages in response to land inheritance issues.
Wouldn't it be fair to say that sexual predation, which has occurred I'm quite sure since Peter founded the church following the Crucifixion, has been prevalent across all forms of sexuality?
And wouldn't it also be fair to say that predatory sexual acts of any type result from the unnatural state of celibacy?
The Catholic church isn't going to solve this mess without changing. The geni is out of the bottle, and the only fight is, who and what are responsible.
7
I agree with those who say it is unlikely that the Church will be able to resolve this issue without involving secular legal authorities.
However, conservatives within the church who are pushing for punishment for abusive gay priests and those who protected them also need to be pushing every bit as hard for accountability for those abusive heterosexual priests we are learning about from nuns and women in the laity. Removing one without addressing the other simply smells of homophobia rather than a desire to truly cleanse and restore the church.
6
@Richard Johnson Gay men are not pedophiles. Pedophiles are pedophiles whether celibate or married. Heterosexual priests have abused women ....for centuries!
It’s high time that the faithful stop tithing! Let the Vatican go bankrupt because they are morally bankrupt!
1
Given Vigano's history as a part of the conservative opposition to Pope Francis and the lack of supporting evidence, I am not ready to believe his accusations. Let us wait and see what else comes to light.
But I want to make a different point. As far as the American Catholic Church is concerned, the largest and most shameful problem is not the abuse of children and the coverup. It is the abandonment of Catholic principles of truth and social justice by lay Catholics who have received years of Catholic schooling and have turned the Sermon on the Mount upside down.
I mean the numerous Catholic national and state lawmakers who push through the right-wing Republican agenda. Just consider the difference between Tip O'Neill and Paul Ryan. I mean the six conservative Catholic Supreme Court Justices (Scalia, Kennedy, etc.) who have done so much to destroy democracy. And Kavanaugh may join their ranks. I mean apparatchiks like John Kelly who serve Trump and endorse his policies. What happened to Catholic teachings on justice and mercy with these Catholics? One cannot blame bishops and predatory priests for the anti-Christian actions of Catholic Republicans.
I do not for a minute minimize the actions of predatory priests and bishops who have covered up their crimes. They are horrible. Predatory priests and bishops have harmed thousands in the USA. But conservative Catholic politicians, judges, and those serving Trump have harmed millions.
37
@Historian true, and it’s all of it not just some. The hierarchy has been corrupt and abusive for centuries. The Social Justice you speak of died, with John Paul II!
@Historian, am concerned that you're suggesting that Catholics can't be trusted to serve as judges or politicians, in the military or the White House. We had much of that anti-Catholic immigrant stuff in the US for years, thanks but no thanks! After all, you forget to mention the Protestant Presidents who appointed them - Reagan, Bush Sr and Jr and the current occupant of the WH. You could say that Protestant Republicans seem to use Catholic Conservatives to do their 'dirty work' and that may be more accurate! You could also say that, with all the wars they caused and the global economic and social impacts of their financial mismanagement, and the wars they lost on drugs and terror that they have 'harmed millions' - hundreds and thousands of millions! There were no Catholic Presidents though, so that might weaken your argument slightly, eh?
1
Viganò "made his bones" in an attempted drive by shooting of Pope Francis. Even supposing that all he wrote is true, the means of his delivery ensured that his message would be discounted as the crazed rantings of ultra-conservative suicide bomber in the culture wars. That said, Pope Francis needs to take decisive action against an endemic culture in the church that gave rise to pedophile priests and the attendant corporate depravity. To that end, the entire leadership structure of the church in Rome and around the world should "offer" him their resignation and an independent, non-clerical commission should be set up to investigate every reported crime of sex abuse in the church. Let the chips fall where they may. Liberalization could then take the form of allowing/encouraging married priests and the ordination of women to the priesthood. Celibacy and the patriarchal priesthood encourage the wrong sort of behaviors in the world, especially in a time of when the moral depravity of men is on full display.
4
Wow, an article - and conclusion - about the Church from Ross I actually mostly concur with. Indeed, Francis: don't resign; fulfil your paternal obligations to the very least in the midst of us.
3
The pope has 3 jobs he has inherited vis a vis this crisis.
First - Minister religiously to the faithful, especially those affected directly, but really to all the Church. Pass.
Second - Attack the underlying problem, which is use of power by clerics (and by lay adjuncts - I have a tale about my choirmaster as a kid) to coerce sex from children. This is an Incomplete, but there is more being done now than there was when these same conservatives had full control of all the power levers in the Church.
Third - Change the practices of the Church to better develop clerics who can keep their hands out of the cookie jar. This isn't a problem about gay priests, unless pedophilia involving girls is acceptable. This is a problem about enforcing celibacy, which puts it behind closed doors.
In the end, it's not the Pope's job to punish bad clerics for past behavior, enabled by the people trying to bring him down now. There is a legal system for that. The Pope is a pastor, not a judge.
But it is his job to make sure that the present, and future, Catholic Church is safe for all children - to then be able to reassert moral authority without ambiguity. I still trust him above the Benedicts and John Pauls who fostered this problem in the first instance.
@Brian "This is a problem about enforcing celibacy, which puts it behind closed doors."
Let us discriminate between celibacy and chastity.
A "celibate" person will not marry.
A "chaste" person will not engage in sexual activity of any kind.
So, a "celibate" may indulge in sexual frolic of all sorts without violating a vow. Just don't marry your playmate.
A Jesuit priest, Fr. Nick Cushing(rip), informed me of this distinction. He later "jumped the wall," and married.
The Church of Rome is incapable of meaningful change as long as its leaders cling to the bizarre fantasy that large numbers of men can lead productive religious lives while under the yoke of enforced celibacy. As any male can attest, that really does not work very well. As events of centuries tell, "celibate" priests and prelates take advantage of trust accorded them to break their impossible vows . Children almost always are the victims of their abuse. And most of these children are boys. In February, 2013 my wife and I happened to be in Rome when Pope Benedict announced his retirement. We attended his final homily delivered in five languages in St. Peter's Square. About 100,000 people gathered. Seated before the portico of St. Peter's were several hundred prelates dressed in their broad brim Vatican hats, and behind these men several hundred young priests were gathered to assist. No women. This tableau could not have looked more out of touch with the lived world. As long as the Church of Rome insists on the myth of male celibacy, bans marriage by its priests, and bars women from the priesthood, it will remain a perverse, sex obsessed, and sick institution. As it has for two thousand years.
10
God is good , the humans who work for him are flawed , some severely, Papa Francis is doing his best to clean house , I’m not surprised he is meeting resistance, again God is good , that is the most important thing , his church , like all of us , is a work in progress.
As the top representative for the Vatican in the US, everything that went to the Vatican passed through Viganò. He is now playing politics - an old Vatican game - capitalizing on a headline because he doesn’t like the man in charge.
He knew about any and all abuse long before those above him did. Thus he is calling for his own resignation; I expect to see him follow through.
3
The suspicion that political goings on in the Vatican parallel those in the secular world is not new or surprising. That it is a state unto itself - in Italy, but not part of it - and that it is the most opaque institution on earth should no longer be taken for granted on the grounds that "it's always been that way." Catholics, especially, have a right to see what's behind the curtain. That applies not only to matters involving sex abuse but money and influence as well.
The practice of "organized religion", certainly Catholicism, has come to resemble a team sport.
Many of the human frailties and issues that are embedded might be overlooked or ignored, except that when it comes to sexual transgressions, particularly with minors, the game plan and rule books are tossed aside- correctly.
We all yearn for heroics and heroes, in institutions and individuals, and too often come up wanting.
Reminds of the 60-year old television program that helped launch Johnny Carson,"Who Do You Trust'? Should have been "Whom", but either way, we are desperate to find Trust, should be, and sadly wherever our species "runs" things, the better word seems to be "ruins".
Well articulated Mr. Douthat. This is a time for reformation .
It is time for the curia to include the catholic laity in this process. There is no "Church" without us. There needs to
an end to the mysogyny,homophobia ,celibacy and other
antiquated ideas. The laity must have a voice in in confronting
and solving these issues the issues .
1
You use the phrase "easy to imagine" a few times in your article and there are several other places where you could have.
I don't know whether your thesis is correct or wrong, but your argument it replete with speculations and conclusions.
I'll wait for the facts.
3
Most educated people have heard the expression "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
What far fewer folks know is that the phrase was written by Lord Acton, a Roman Catholic, in a public letter criticizing the Roman Catholic Church, and in particular, its Popes and their underlings.
As long as Catholics think "one papal resignation per millennium is more than enough" the problem will never go away in their Church.
3
I thought the Republican Party and Trump had taught us that the ends justify the means and that corruption should be tolerated?
1
Mr. Douthat, the conservative Catholic, is piling on, along with Vigano, and then coyly crying out from the briar patch for Pope Francis not to resign.
5
I am Catholic and I raised my children in the Catholic faith. The Church needs to come to grips with its' ignorant and inhumane positions on human sexuality. The most recent attack on Pope Francis that he "enables" homosexuals who are the alleged source of abuse is ludicrous. It is another reflection of the ignorance regarding sexuality that abound in my Church. The ongoing open wound of sexual abuse will continue in an organization that refuses to acknowledge the power of sexual gratification and the denial of that gratification. Sexual union for the perpetuation of the species is a foundation of our humanness. It is a drive that cannot be denied. Do we need any more evidence that celibacy is at the core of issue. Are any other religions that permit marriage subject to this record of sexual abuse. Allow priests to marry and women to become priests and this terrible problem will finally begin to be resolved. Until and unless these changes are made the problem will never go away.
236
Marriage does not cure pedophilia.
4
@RPTD
Celibacy itself isnt the whole problem. Many people can remain celibate. Its the total prohibition of such relationships, because they would be in many cases outside of marriage. Many priests would choose celibacy in order to keep their focus on their congregation, on their "marriage" to the Church. But should they desire, want some romance and sex...its the prohibition that most helps to create these nefarious methods of pursuit.
A straight priest is as equally at risk, and as equally bribable as a gay one...so the secrets prevail. The schemes take over.
I agree let them marry, and begin the path to giving women a more active and influential positions. But they wont erase the inherent criminal organization-like behaviors of the College of Cardinals. Its the Cardinals, the power hungry Conservative Cardinals, in Rome, that is the real problem.
1
@RPTD
Would it be Ok for gay priests to marry each other, help manage the ordinary lust?
This is a crisis of human character not a crisis of faith. In my humble opinion this crisis requires human action by lay and religious Catholics. All Cardinals should resign immediately pending a review of their fitness for that title. All lay Catholics (and non Catholics for that matter) should cease financial support of all Catholic institutions beyond their immediate parish or school until this matter is addressed appropriately. I will not give up my faith but I will hold the human patriarchal hierarchy accountable and that includes Pope Francis.
90
@FNL
U.S. taxpayers should also get relief from the forced subsidization of Vatican Inc.'s mafia money machine. The tax exempt status of every religious business ought be revoked so that these enterprises can begin to finally pay their fair share, particularly with regard to local property taxes which taxpayers of all beliefs (including sane agnostics and atheists) are forced to underwrite with nothing in return.
2
@FNL Better yet, forget about them and just leave. Start a new church. You don't need the priestly royalty. Indeed, just do what the Protestants did - start your own new church and leave the corrupt old men to themselves.
@FNL
And I will hold you accountable. Because the one thing you failed in your argument was that you are judge & jury. You allude that you should be first on the panel to judge others . Have you ever studied the Inquisition & it's ruin in our Church's past? Sorry ,but I would rather go with the teachings of Christ.
To those within the Church who seek to remove Francis as pope, a mere 5 years after his selection 'from the other side the world', and to those who support the direction Francis is taking the Church -- all need to reflect on the words from Isiah 58:8 and gain whatever wisdom we can from them: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD."
But that does not mean we should stop trying to discern God's thoughts. Far from it, for why else do we have our natural world (evolution included), our expanding universe, and the Bible? As to the Bible, the best that I can discern are the numerous examples of God showing mercy, when humans can or do not.
Sadly Ross, I doubt that the Catholic church, at least in my lifetime, will ever be able to reach deep into it's soul and augment not only real doctrine change, but have the collective integrity it will take to truly examine their immoral compunctions which are most certainly tied to their insatiable desires and need to maintain absolute control and power of their historical but now deeply scarred world status.
What's more, as much as I wish I could agree with those advocating for marriage of priests, the fact that many, if not most priests are homosexuals, I don't see it as an answer.
The answer- is to demand that civil authorities become involved when abuse claims are reported.
Vigano's demand that Francis' resign is a start. Sadly, it's not enough.
2
@RLC
Use the correct "its", the possessive, not "it's", the contraction for it is or it has.
@RLC
For most of its bloody sordid history the untouchable despotic male regimes that are the core of the Catholic church have victimized girls and women. The rape, impregnation and murder is on a colossal scale worldwide by men who are as heterosexual as can be. No one cared about 1000 years of hideous and inhumane abuses of females...until it was revealed relatively recently in modern times that some teen/tween boys had been diddled.
@RLC
On what basis do make the assertion that most priests are homosexuals? Additionally, if you permit priests to marry why wouldn't you allow a homosexual that same privilege. The issue is the denial of the basic human need for intimacy that includes an outlet for one's sexual needs within a monogamous relationship.
Was John Paul II really not investigating corruption because of clerical politics? This was a man who was functioning on a spiritual plane far above the gutter issues of consecrated persons who were ignoring their vows and commandments; it is my impression that he truly could not comprehend the problem, even as he knew he should. Francis understands the problem better, but his time is already running out. To purge the corruption it will take a new generation of leaders who understand that the modern world expects, and that secular authorities demand, that religious institutions be true to their faith, and the law. That may not occur within even the next Papacy, but an organization with an eye on infinity will always have time.
3
@David Godinez
As a priest who successfully maneuvered through the Nazi occupation of Poland, it's hard to believe John Paul was a purely spiritual person unaware of the human proclivity for evil.
2
Sometimes the best sauce is the result of a lengthy simmer....
2
This fight is a microcosm of our world struggle: how do we continue to move forward and still incorporate the past? Conservatives want the status quo, liberals want inclusion. This church is in trouble and their leaders aren’t responding to the needs of the flock, but the pull of the past with its traditions, then the need to grow and become relevant to a new world of thought not grounded in strict religious theological messages. The church of the Inquisition and Latin mass isn’t the same one which featured guitar masses and women deacons, and there’s a large segment of the population which can’t handle the change still.
These conservative protests against the current pope are failing to perceive that the weapons they’re using to attack this man are the knives which they have protected all their lives and which spell their doom. They can’t go back to what was, because it’s gone.
11
This past Sunday, I refused to say the words "I believe in one holy, catholic, apostolic church" during the Creed. Because if the church tries to force me to choose between Pope Francis, who has been trying to get us back to the message of Jesus' life, however imperfectly because he is human, or the misogynistic, sinful church and its hierarchy who abandoned its flock and conspired to hurt children for decades if not longer, I will choose Francis.
I am trying my hardest to stay and fight from within to effect change, but it has been like struggling uphill against a hurricane gale; perhaps real change can now happen.
46
@Patti small "c" catholic translates "universal", speaking of Christians united in faith. Upper "C" Catholic refers to the Catholic church specifically.
1
One could admire the Vatican's determination to preserve clerical celibacy and the church's patriarchal power structure if those features of Catholic discipline reflected core beliefs. But neither relates in any meaningful way to the Gospel. Even if Jesus selected Peter as his representative on earth, that doesn't mean he did so because of the disciple's gender.
Both celibacy and patriarchy originated in Medieval culture, when the institutional structure and practices of the church achieved doctrinal status. The deep distrust of women on the part of men who blamed them for their own temptations corrupted clerical attitudes.
Douthat focuses his attention of symptoms rather than root causes.
18
Jesus selected 12 men to lead the church. Are you suggesting that was a statistical anomaly? If each theoretically had a 50/50 chance of being either gender, the odds of 12 men are 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.0002441.
One chance in 4096. Christ gave careful thought and prayer to the choosing of those 12 (See Mark chapter 3). That all 12 were male was no accident.
2
@SDC
Christ did that because of the time. Women were property. He had to pick men. Times are different. Christ would have adapted. The church should too.
@SDC
And yet, his most trusted apostles and followers were...women, which he noted.
Mr Douthat, while I often disagree with your opinions I always respect and enjoy reading your work.
However, you need to stop claiming to be the self-appointed expert on Catholicism. As I'm sure you know, there is a significant cultural difference between converts like yourself and 'cradle-to-grave' Catholics who are born into the church (I am a member of the latter camp). This essay demonstrates that cultural divide, because you are writing from a convert perspective.
The converts tend to be over-zealous -- as your embrace of the hyper-conservative corners of the church exemplifies. The cradle-to-gravers tend to be more circumspect: not everything is a culture war, the sky is not falling, and this too shall pass. We recognize that the church has endured for 2000+ years, and that, with 1.1 billion members, no one person can drastically change things. We think in terms of centuries, and our community is truly global. Our faith has survived persecutions and outlasted empires. We have survived this long by doing good works, by sustaining our own communities, and, yes, by atoning for the sins of our Church no matter how painful the atonement. We even have a term for this circumspect worldview: "Keep the faith."
So, respectfully, Mr Douthat: keep the faith. This current dustup is nothing more than palace intrigue between the cardinals. But as always, the cardinals will die and the Church lives on.
46
@Jack I agree with what you say, but to refer to the religious dissension that result in continued abuse of children as a "dustup" is irresponsible and wrong. No doubt the faith has survived all manner of worldly adversity, but it maintains its moral authority only if it responds with courage and faith of its own that Christ will guide it even if it means unbelievable turmoil. The early Church was composed of a few believers who rose against the power of the Roman Empire at the cost of life and limb. Surely it can dispose of the evil souls within its own body.
3
@Jack "... nothing more than a palace intrigue ..." I'm assuming you and those you love were not on the receiving end of the reprehensible acts that underlie the "palace intrigue." You're a cradle to grave Catholic. Fine. (So am I). But I'm more interested in the perspectives of the (now presumably former) cradle to grave Catholics who were violated. It all needs to be cleaned up - now. A Pennsylvania-style grand jury investigation should take place in every diocese in America (and beyond). Violators and enablers should be named and if possible jailed. No more of this business of the Church investigating itself.
2
Try telling the 1000s of abused children that the "sky is not falling" when sexual predation is institutionalized.
3
If we have learned anything in the last 2 years is that politics Trumps ethics.
Does anyone believe that the institution wouldn't protect itself regardless of the politics of the hierarchy?
It's about time we recognized that all religions are political bodies with self interest that transcend ethics and more importantly secular law.
We don't have to worry about the faithful pressing Francis. We live in a secular country of laws. Prosecute them and if found guilty sentence them. We should also use civil law suits and the tax code to take down these institutions that are praying on our children.
11
@HL By failing to enforce "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" on that contemptible body of fools, we endorse racketeer-influenced corrupt organizations.
1
@HL
"Preying", not "praying".
Believe me - "prayer" is not the problem here.
1
This is sad, but I think it is unfortunately an accurate assessment. It's a problem on the conservative and both the liberal side of the church. The church hierarchy is a bureaucracy and most bureaucracies are inhibitors to the mission / vision they are supposed to be driving. Religion/spirituality belongs to the people who practice it. In my judgment, the Catholic laity has to come to the forefront and make change happen and the Catholic hierarchy has to enable that.
I'm a Catholic, but makes me want to reconsider my Quaker roots.
2
I don't subscribe to a view of the world, much less the Church, that can be broken into liberal versus conservative. None of the Popes in my lifetime contradicted their predecessor or made some sweeping changes. I read in the papers that this one is different, but no. Very little has changed in several decades (Communion in the hand, "and with your Spirit") But the Church and the Mass is constant. The view from the pew is exactly the same since Vatican II.
Upon his election, Francis said, "Pray for me, a sinner." He is a sinner and knows every other clergy member is too. Purging corruption from within can only be done by violating the Seal of the Confessional. Francis knows this. The Archbishop knows this. I'm not sure Ross or many readers actually grasp this. Violating the Seal of the Confessional means we have no Sacrament of Reconciliation. If that is the church you want, you don't need to change the Catholic Church. It already exists in countless other Christian denominations.
4
@Catherine
I've been alive since Vatican II. I left the pew long, long ago. The view from where I sat became more and more hypocritical as time went on. I watch the current unraveling with neither dismay nor gladness. Just relief.
I regard what is happening now as necessary because too many eyes needed to be opened. The sanctity of the confessional, in my opinion, is not one of the better features of the Roman Catholic Church. Secrecy about sin is what led to the grand jury findings in Pennsylvania.
If they continue refusing to purge from within, many more Catholics will find another path. We don't live in an age of "mysteries" anymore. Aware people refuse to go on blind faith alone now. They want their faith to be represented and nurtured by a Christian institution that commits to eliminating its own corruption.
If the Catholic Church doesn't wake up, they'll find that most of their flock has gone elsewhere.
3
A commenter on a previous story on the Church had it right--protecting the institution of the vastly wealthy Church is the first, absolute priority of the Vatican.
In the 21st century, the Church's power is based on its wealth, not its long declining spiritual appeal.
9
Totally disagree. This has nothing to do with wealth, and often used and misguided criticism.
I think Russ has it right. It was all about self preservation and allies on the liberal and previously conservative side.
We need a full accounting and heads to roll wherever they be.
I had also never considered the argument that Francis should stay, even if he knew about some of this I now tend to agree.
Can he be a true leader and rise above the two factions to do the right thing, regardless of cost.
What a mess.
And Benedict? Why did he resign? If you ask people in Rome, the answer is always "off the record."
What is it about the moral arbiters in society? Casting the first stones, driven by their own guilt? Does living a life of moral obsession lead to moral transgressions? Projection? Self-deulsion? Wolves in sheep's clothing? What?
And then there is all the vain-glorious attire, rooted in the 17th century. Kinda weird if you ask me.
6
On another level, isn’t this the Conservative Strategy? Divide and Conquer then pick up the pieces and change nothing.
You must be thrilled.
57
The priests who abuse and the Catholic bureaucrats who obstruct justice with cover ups an reassignments need to be hauled into criminal court and be made to face justice.They need to go to prison, just like anyone else would if they committed these crimes. Why isn't this happening? Who do these men think they are?
It is clear this will continue to happen in an environment without accountability. The American people, including many Catholics, cannot see any justification for clergy and their enablers being treated with impunity.
The time has come.
17
If you think Pope Francis can extirpate a thousand years of corrupt power in a short time, you have no grasp of how that power works. From the start of his reign, I have predicted that the entrenched powers (read: pedophiles and corrupters of entitlement) would take measures to stop Pope Francis from his mission of turning the RC church away from authoritarian stranglehold.
Actually, I'm sort of surprised it has come in the form of this and not some "accident" of the Pope falling down the stairs.
19
Schadenfreude abounds. I don't know which I like more, the sexual escapades and hypocrisy of Catholic clergy, or the sexual escapades and hypocrisy of American politicians.
5
"Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye." - Jesus (Matthew 7.3-5)
It's past time for the leadership of the Catholic Church to follow the message of the one they purport to follow and ultimately answer to.
10
Organized Religion is the politicization of spirituality. It is therefore subject to all the machinations and pitfalls of secular political organizations. My own opinion, having been raised from childhood in an observant Irish Catholic environment is that these are all religions are cults. I have spent years attempting to purge myself of their destructive indoctrination.
33
"If a given predator or enabler is “on side” for either conservatives or liberals, he will find defenders and protectors for as long as events and revelations permit."
Which is why it's important for Catholics interested in the truth to avoid the battle being waged by left and right and select their information carefully. Bias is a big factor in many of these positions.
7
They are all complicit, I don’t know how they sleep at night, and it goes to show you the power religion has to blind rational thinking.
All practicing Catholics and employees of the Catholic Church that don’t demand action from this corrupt organization are complicit too.
Actions, not words are needed now, celibacy, patriarchy and strict authority are breeding perverse behaviour!
12
I just read through Vigano's testimony. His repeated equation of homosexuality, and even GLBT advocacy, with sexual abuse and pederasty, made it impossible to take it seriously. It seems to me that the church's homophobia and advocacy of the closet has to be at the root of why it became a refuge for sexually stunted people. I appreciate that you're trying (in contrast to the hundreds of hysterical right wing voices that come up if you google the issue) to be balanced, but your failure to address Vigano's overt homophobia is disturbing.
73
The Catholic Church is thoroughly corrupt and immoral. ALL the popes, cardinals and bishops have known of the CRIMES of clerical sexual abuse and have done little to stop them and punish the abusers through the Church and the criminal justice system. Go worship God and Jesus Christ somewhere else that may not be without fault but will certainly be less corrupt and immoral than the Catholic Church. If you truly believe in God and Jesus Christ, He is everywhere and you just have to find Him.
2
This collumn is right on the money. Issues like priestly celibacy, women as priests, aren't the issue here (they are red herrings to me, not that they aren't real issues, but are tangential to the real problem), the problem is that the Church leaders, as they always have been, are more concerned about maintaining power then doing the right thing. I hear from defenders of the church that this is near the end, that since 2002 it isn't happening, but what they don't get it, it doesn't matter. The Pennsylvania report is likely the tip of the iceberg, if other places investigate they are likely to find a lot more cases, probably worse than this (just look at Ireland), and each of these is going to make the wound bigger and more infested. The only way to cauterize the wound is to have an open investigation and purge those responsible, irregardless of which side of the aisle they are on, it is the only way to show they have changed.This isn't even about the abuses, it is trust, and how do you trust a church that says one thing and does another? How do you trust a church that has someone like Law, removed in disgrace, who gives him a cushy sinecure as punishment? If you don't have accountability and consequences for the evil men who did this, you have the status quo and people are running away from that in droves.
7
Two changes in church policy would go a long way to prevent future abuse problems. Allow priests to marry and allow women to be priests. Both of these seem to be inevitable down the road; why not do it immediately?
27
@John
Not only are these practices inevitable, but they were common practice in the Catholic Church in its past. For the first 1,100 years of its existence, the Church allowed priests to marry, and in the early Irish Catholic Church, women were priests. These changes would not be as big many in the Catholic hierarchy would have us believe.
29
@John it is important to note, that these two suggestions are not in the same category as far as the Catholic Church is concerned. Celibacy is a long-standing discipline, but is not a definitive teaching. The inability of the church to ordain women is a definitive teaching, i.e., an infallible teaching. This was clarified by John Paul II. That means it can not be changed.
Secondly, people jump at the idea of allowing priests to marry, but I doubt they have thought that through. Given the size and scope of Catholic parishes, how could any priest fulfill his duties to his wife and his family and his duties as a priest? It is unrealistic. One can't use the married clergy of the Episcopalian church for comparison because the parishes are nowhere near as big as Catholic parishes.
And look at the cost. Some Catholic parishes are barely able to support themselves, especially those in rural areas and those where the majority of the parishioners could be classified as urban poor. How would they support the priest's family, too?
And if the problem, as the John Jay document concludes, is that the majority of clerical predators are homosexual, marriage to a woman, the only kind recognized by the church, wouldn't be a solution.
@NIck
Inevitable? The fashionable anti-Catholic culture we live in seems to ignore that the sex abuse is just as prevalent, often more so in the Protestant denominations. More than 80% of the victims of sex abuse were adolescent males or older. Cardinal McCarrick preyed upon full-grown seminarians,--men. Permitting marriage would not change any of that. Further, the priesthood is a reflection of the God the Father's relationship to His Bride, the Church. Imposing secularized, "social equality" values on the Church simply isn't going to happen.
one can only hope that the entire debacle is an extinction event for the so-called church. it's a criminal enterprise, nothing more.
26
Ross,
What happened to the buck stops here ? Did Francis know about Pope Pius the 12th, & his silence during the Holocaust, & the Red Line of Catholic Priests that helped Nazi criminals to escape to Central & South America, during Pope Pius reign,before he canonized him ? It seems Francis has more sympathy for sinners than the victims.
14
@Joe Blow
Pius hasn't been canonized.
Pius XII actively supported assassination attempts on Hitler and led efforts to provide Jews fake passports and other escape tools. That's "silence" only if one thinks chattering to the press or wagging fingers at mass murderers is more effective than doing what might actually save lives.
4
@Barry Fitzpatrick
Pope Pius the 12th was made a saint by Pope Francis. He was a renowned Anti Semite. & during his reign Catholic Priests in the Vatican
set up a conduit to help Naziu murdurers escape to Central & South America, where Fascist Dictators like Peron welcomed them with open arms.
Terribly convenient airing of the clay feet of the liberal side of the Catholic schism. Look forward to your next column on the sins of the conservative side and the one after that on the painfully obvious solution to this mess: Let priests marry, let women become priests, and let them be homosexual if God made them that way.
79
@Paul And don't hold your breath. These conservative Catholics won't be happy until they get rid of this pope and go on blaming everything on gay people. That's their real end game - not concern for these abused children.
Sounds to me like they’re all complicit. It’s just that the complicit conservative side is using the abuse allegations and investigations to advance their agendas of opposition to divorce, gay acceptance, contraception, women’s status - you know, the usual.
What a den of deplorables!
10
Big Picture, Ross, Big Picture! You are looking at Francis under a magnifying glass. Step back. He is the most loving, adoptive Pope since John XXIII. He has done - and is doing - extraordinary things in combating and eliminating the entrenched Curia. No easy task after century upon century of calcification! Did Barack Obama's election allow the Republicans to stir up a latent frenzy of racism? The conservative and ultra-conservative among the Curia are reacting to Francis in the same manner. Every footstep, every attempt at major change, is met with resistance and contempt by this element within the Vatican. Francis needs our love, support, and prayer. FYI, I'm Jewish but adore this man. A rare Pope indeed!
40
The Catholic Church, as all religious dogmas, is corrupt in their own hold on power. The very structure of the Church made it an all boys club and home to homosexuals and pedifiles. The power of the hierarchy will protect itself against all, i.e. that power corrupts totally.
This is true with the American Evangelists, they wish the power to control the political discourse in regard to their "values" solely. They also wish to control the punishment for offenses against their rule of law.
My own religion, Judaism, in Israel, the Orthodox want their interpretation solely to become State law.
Religion, specifically power within religion is very dangerous in general and specifically dangerous to the very individuals religion is supposed to serve.
10
Martin Luther was right, of course. The Catholic Church holds the keys to little besides institutional self gratification. It matters little who is right in these allegations, they belie the notion that this church is God's representative on earth. The infighting is a joke. A joke first made when Christ offered his petranine pun about Peter, the soon to be cowardly denier, being the rock on which he would build his church.
4
Former Catholic here.
The more one studies the history of the Catholic Church the more it is blatantly apparent that at least since the 5th Century the Catholic Church has always been hypocritical and corrupt. They have advanced this con of priests as somehow 'special' and with direct access to God. Powerful intermediaries that could either forgive your most heinous sins or condemn you to everlasting damnation.
This is a con that worked on both Kings and peasants for centuries. This is the con that enabled them to amass wealth and power.
We now know they also used this con of 'specialness' to organize and protect rings of pedophile who raped and molested tens of thousand of helpless children all around the world.
The Churches response is right out of the "hearts and prayers" playbook of the NRA. Nothing changes, children suffer and die.
Why has there not been a RICO prosecution of the Church? There has been a proven decades long pattern of abusing and raping children, endemic criminal conduct and accessories after the fact by concealing, covering up and enabling the crimes.
Want this to stop? Then send the criminals to jail and allow their vast riches to be used to adequately compensate their many victims. Realize priests aren't divine and quit treating them as such.
26
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. In civil society we have registered sex offenders, designated RSO. The Church should similarly label those officials who have been credibly accused of crimes of a sexual nature, and let their parishioners decide if they want to spiritually and financially support rapists and pedophiles. The choice seems easy enough to make.
9
The Catholic hierarchy, is, sadly, composed of "company men" who are more worried about the institution than about those it is supposed to serve. This fight is about who will control "the company." Abused children are simply "collateral damage."
Many diocesan clergy keep a low profile since they are utterly dependent on their bishops (and like the rest of us, they are concerned about their pensions). Members of religious communities are also dependent on their leaders.
It's a no-win situation for the faithful in the pews. "Pray, pay, and obey" still seems to be the ruling principle of the church. Either that or leave -- something which is unthinkable for many.
8
Priests have been molesting children for decades. Of course the Pope knows. As did John Paul and all the others before him. The pedophile protection agency rolls on.
8
I am very suspicious of Vigano's statement, which contains language to appeal to the right-wing American contingent (using the Trumpian 'swamp' term, for instance) and is unproven. Vigano offers no solutions other than sensationalist resignation of Pope Francis - no effort to consider how to heal the victims. As soon as Pope Francis came into the Vatican, the knives were out for him because he rejected the lavish lifestyle of previous Popes.
The significance of what he did on Sunday seems to escape the media. To have departed from leading the traditional prayer of the Penitential Rite and replaced it by a confession from the Pope of the Church's failings was ground-breaking and quite shocking. He even prayed for God to 'sustain and increase the pain' on those in the Church who did this. He is quite prepared to take those clerics on, it seems. He is saying 'Bring it on!' to them and they don't like it.
31
I meant shame, not pain. What he said will bring a lot of pain for some priests and bishops who covered up though. He ended the prayer by saying:
"Lord, sustain and increase this state of shame and repentance and give us the strength to commit ourselves so that these things never happen again and justice may be done. Amen."
Justice is definitely needed, not the old system of dragging out internal reviews until a suspected abuser retires. He also used the word 'crimes' on Saturday and Sunday and suggests prosecutions will be necessary.
2
@gf You're suspicious of Vigano's statement, but the Pope did not answer it with a denial, merely deflected it. Since the Pope would not want to be later caught having lied, this non-denial is a tacit admission that it's true.
Many Irish commenters have called Francis' words in Ireland just more of the same. His former reform actions have been ineffectual and have been allowed to wither on the vine. You are obviously willing to grant him the benefit of the doubt, but the steep decline of the Irish church shows many of your compatriots have had enough of this criminal enterprise.
1
@Charles Zigmund, in Ireland (and the US) we still have 'innocent until proven guilty' of a crime and so, yes, I would grant him benefit of the doubt on such serious charges.
People in Ireland are very upset about the failures of both church and state to be transparent and give account of what and why things happened. Tax payers in Ireland are sick of paying hundreds of millions in restitution after a former government minister (Fianna Fail) sighed a secret sweetheart deal with the church which limited their liabilities to survivors. We also are fighting our own government to recognise the women who were victims in the laundries and compensate them. I hope we're finally reaching disclosure fully and justice is so long overdue.
The traditionalists in the Catholic Church were in full control in the decades most of the abuse occurred and systematically covered up. Vigano and other Catholic conservatives complicit in those coverups have no ideas for reforming the church and the priesthood. More strident homophobia clearly isn't the answer. Vigano isn't trying to clean up the church, he is attempting a conservative coup against a Pope the conservatives hate for other reasons altogether -- including the Pope's efforts to make the church more welcoming to gay people; tp reach out to the divorced; and generally put a greater emphasis on Christian love than judgment.
825
What a surprise, politics inside the Vatican is just as vicious and dirty as politics everywhere else. The fact is that the Catholic Church has been lax at all levels concerning sexual predators, and that is true of both "conservative" and "liberal" clergy. But only the fact that Pope Francis is going against the most reactionary elements in the Church has led to someone like Vigano to write a letter of condemnation. He did nothing before, the reason for doing it now is obvious. No cardinal or bishop has ever demanded the pope resignation, what the letter shows is the depth of hostility to this Pope for breaking the rigid mold expected by the conservative wing. The Catholic Church will not last another century if t does not change the two rules that are responsible for its moral failings:
1) Remove the requirement of celibacy for priests. I would go further and insist that any ordained priest should be married (need not be the opposite sex).
2) Open all positions in the Church to women (including the papacy).
4
There are two take aways from Viganos document. The first is that the extreme right wing of the Catholic hierarchy has now adopted the same scorched earth tactics that extreme right wing Republicans have used against both Democrats and, now, the non extremists right in the Republican party. While it is not surprising, it is a measure of how far the church has fallen that one of its princes would create a document filled with slander and, perhaps, a light sprinkling of facts to attack the Vicar of Christ. The second is that despite Francis's best effort the Catholic church is beyond saving. Much like the Soviet Communist party was much too far gone for any reform when Gorbachev took over, the Catholic hierarchy has become a nest of careerist vipers who only care about preserving power and forcing their extremist doctrine on others. There is proof Vigano himself participated in the pedophile scandal cover up. Only the most callous person without a shred of moral decency would accuse someone else of his own crime to gain political advantage. If I were a Catholic believer I would say that he has sacrificed his soul for power. We are seeing the beginning of a real schism in the Catholic church. I feel very sorry for the Catholic faithful who have been betrayed over and over again by their church leaders.
55
More than 500 years ago, Catholic priest Martin Luther pointed out that the Church needs to be reformed. It resisted Luther, and continues to resist. Luther would agree with Ross Douthat's conclusion: "the faithful should press Francis to fulfill the paternal obligations at which he has failed to date, to purge the corruption he has tolerated and to supply Catholicism with what it has lacked these many years: a leader willing to be zealous and uncompromising against what Benedict called the 'filth' in the church."
2
It's easy to state the obvious, "purge the church". It's no different than when Donald Trump said "drain the swamp" -- without any coherent plan. Tell us how you think it could be done. It might actually be helpful.
16
@anonymouse Here's the plan: Take every file from every church relating to every abuse complaint and give it to the district attorney. Ask that district attorney to investigate and report. Make the report public. Stop hiring lawyers for the accused and start using that money to pay the victims. This isn't rocket science.
How about we strip it of tax-free status, revoke its legal legitimacy, disavow its intermediary fictions and distribute the vast, incalculable wealth of the Church to the poor and suffering of the world? I would guess that might redeem it and inspire a new church worth the name.
2
Ross would love to see Pope Paco go. The Liberal menace is preventing the Church from returning to the 19th Century.
Interesting that the Conservatives calling for this toppling were silent when John Paul and Benedict were in power and protecting the protectors with plum jobs in the Vatican.
Ross, time for a new Counter-Revolution?
5
The characters and plot lines discussed in this column are worthy of a soap opera or a novel about political intrigue Yet what we're speaking about is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the shepherd of His holy church. Something is drastically wrong, and rank and file Catholics know it, feel it in their bones.
The institution and its intrigues have overwhelmed the faith and the moral authority. Fundamental changes are necessary.
3
What begins as an illusion becomes a delusion.
"Ignorance is bliss."
The internet age has given us more facts than our mind can handle.
Popes and Presidents are asked to be more than they are able to be and so they paint us pretty pictures to placate us.
Pretty pictures whose paint eventually melts and runs.
And so we demand another pretty picture. And we get it!
Man cries out for facts when he really wants another illusion.
Very interesting. Father Douthat’s first column, I believe, since the public release of that devastating Pennsylvania grand jury report revealing decades and decades of systemic sexual iniquities in the criminalized Catholic Church and, without a word on this explosive scandal, what does he choose to historically explicate, the liberal versus conservative inside political Vatican jockeying . Where is the outrage, the concern for the multitude of lives lost and destroyed, the total revulsion over these beyond “mortal sins” committed by these black robed immoral monsters? Where is any stirring call for a world wide accountability and the revolutionary Church changes that need to be made, particularly the recognition of women as co-equal partners throughout this institution, if it will have any chance of survival?
4
@John Grillo Ross is an intellectual and a dilettante who lives in his head not his heart. It's easy to convert to the religion and critique. Not easy to live the faith.
@AnonMr. Douthat may not realize it, or chooses to ignore it, but he is part of the problem. As they say in Texas, “All hat and no cattle “.
The problem is not with conservative or liberal theology. It's with theology itself. Let's face it. We know nothing confirmable about God, and those who say they know what he, she or it thinks are merely deceiving themselves or others.
8
I hope that readers do not think I am trying to excuse the perpetrators, and their protectors. But to me the bishops and the Pope have a crucial and deeper problem than what we read about in the press. many simply want to prosecute or at least rid the church of the bad people.
But I have to ask how this problem, and the other problems cited by others commenters here, have come about. Francis is the one who has responsibility to figure this all out. To be specific, how could people of God in any way condemn homosexuals and others who are simply trying to live their lives as God provides, rape boys and girls, support the aggregation of wealth in one institution, etc.
Francis has taken some big steps forward in some areas. Bu it is going to take some very difficult self-reflection by the whole church to reveal and acknowledge its mistakes and misdirection over centuries. They might want to get help from the laity in looking in the mirror, as others here have proposed. At least Francis has shown some humility in some areas. I personally have seen nothing close to Christ's way of being in the conservative side of the church. And it is Christ's message, not the church, which must prevail now.
3
That's fine, Ross. Purge the corruption, get rid of the bad guys. But what then? Most of these men weren't bad men going in. Bad men inside didn't recruit more bad men outside. No, they went bad inside because the institution is set up to allow it. If you don't change the institution, there will be another generation of bad guys in ten or twenty years. So what changes should be made? Do you have an opinion on that?
3
This pope, like every other member of the Catholic clergy, has invested his life in the status quo.
We all understand, as he does, that the status quo has both good and bad. The view of the Catholic clergy, top to bottom, has been that the good is greater than the bad, the bad can be hidden in their boys' club and the status quo has been very good for them personally.
The faithful, as well as those of us non-Catholics who are forced to provide the Church with billions of dollars in tax exempt services, are now saying No.
The bad - the financial crimes of the Vatican Bank, the sexual abuse of anyone perceived as vulnerable, the archaic efforts to subvert the progress of science, of society in general and women in specific - is intolerable and the damage is done to all of us. No 'good' can excuse it, and the boys' club can't contain it in our Information Age.
No one from inside the Church will impose the radical changes to meaningfully address this. Only those of us who have been damaged have the resolution and motivation.
Catholic faithful must stop donating through the Church. Starve the beast. Give to civil charities instead.
All of us must demand that churches of every denomination subject themselves to civil law and oversight or lose tax exemptions. Transparency and accountability have brought us this far and are crucial to finishing the cleansing.
And here's a thought - in the short term, put nuns in charge and make priests subservient to them.
1
When will the Catholic Church clean house? Not until it is stripped of its non-profit status for acting as an international criminal conspiracy.
2
Yes, we can reasonably ask the Pope why he has not done more to clean the dirt in the Vatican. However, it has been well known that this is not an easy task and that progressive and regressive forces are permanently in action. Would the columnist please enlighten us as to what are the true credentials and history of Mgr. Vigano? In the meanwhile we will patiently expect for Pope Francis response
2
So, the head of a vast organization used his authority & power to enlist at a conference a man who would vote with him. Hmm, how unusual is that? Ross, it is obvious from your columns that you do not agree with this Pope's policy changes, ok, but to be naive about how power works in organizations? You did attend Harvard. One of the values of advanced education is to experience the display of power in organizations & learn how to comport or survive oneself in the various encounters any person will experience through out their life. i.e. dissertation committee selection.
Are religious institutions different? You appear to believe that since God is involved all will be done the right way without manipulation, committee stacking the influence of human foibles; sex, money, power. Sorry Ross, go back & read a few books on church, papal history.
3
Pope Francis is the target and conservative Catholics would like to use McCarrick to target a pope bent on reform of an opaque church. In your own words,
"In which case it’s also easy to imagine a scenario in which Francis didn’t technically “lift” those sanctions so much as acted in ignorance of them, or of their seriousness."
The Roman Catholic Church is so opaque that you can imagine that the sanction placed on McCarrick were so well hidden from view that even the Pope would not have knowledge of the sanctions.
What the Church hierarchy needs is sunshine. You make that clear in your account of Danneels, "Danneels was a wildly inappropriate choice, because at the conclusion of his career he was caught on tape trying to persuade a young victim of sex abuse not to go public". That is the real issue. For too many priests, bishops, archbishops and cardinals the goal is to protect the Church hierarchy from disclosures that would expose the failure of the hierarchy to discipline itself and live up to its credo.
11
The Pope is not failing a test. He is doing what he can to rescue a church undergoing a extraordinary crisis complete with dangerous divisions.
Viganòs letter is yet another in the battle between conservatism and liberalism in the church, and the arguments of "who knew what when" about the sexual predation is being tagged on to attract attention. It is all about finger-pointing and blaming rather than saying how abuse may be ended in the church once and for all.
9
It's very simple. How was Cardinal McCarrick an active gay man with credible settlements made in the past for abuse of children allowed to remain in the highest power structure of the RCC? People can say gay men are not pedophiles but McCarrick seems to be both. By Francis allowing him back into the picture, Francis has lost all credibility.
4
After 12 years of catholic schooling I have no use for religion of any kind, yet this Pope is a pretty decent person trying to do good in the world like so many others of the cloth. Too bad they are tethered to and promote superstition for the benefit of just another political agenda like every other cult. However, it does look like this cardinal has taken a page from the GOP playbook in using the latest scandal to promote his backward middle ages agenda of anti women, gays, etc. etc. as church doctrine.
5
Anything short of extricating the root of the clergy abuse of young victims is to cut off the dandelion flower without killing the root that reblossoms with more seeds. And in this case the root of the clergy sexual abuse is the celibate clergy, a futile attempt to suppress the biological, genetic programmed human sex drive. For most healthy people, our sex drive has a statistically proven potency development easily graphed on any XY axis of sexual maturity of interest and activity, and its decline with age. To demand that healthy young men and women suppress that natural biological function is not only to treat the drive as a biological choice, when the power of our sexual drive is part of our healthy development.
To deny that sex is part of being human is perverse.
1
Well, guess they couldn’t poison him so they will overthrow him in a coup. These are men who covered up the sins of the Church for years. I can see it here where I live under a super conservative bishop. After all the conservatives do not allow any questioning, the Church comes first, Not the people.
3
I used to think the stories in the British comedy series "Father Ted", about the actions of higher-ups in the Catholic Church were great exaggerations, but now I'm not so sure.
It's my opinion that the Catholic Church has been a refuge for homosexuals and pedophiles for centuries. It's even structured that way - with monasteries (for men), nunneries (for women) and alter boys (the perfect way to groom victims for pedophiles.)
Without a major change in how the church is structured - including the elimination of celibacy requirements - this will be a continuing problem.
11
Is Douthat ready to be purged? If not, this screed is futile. Trump was elected by a very varied group of supporters, yet at practically every step his Vatican loyalists have failed to show preference for the message of Christ over the institution of the Church. Pro-life? Sure, unless it's imperfectly packaged in brown skin. Suffer the little children to come unto me? No, just suffer the little children...
7
"evidence in favor of Viganò’s account is trickling out — including a claim of confirmation from people close to Benedict "
A claim of confirmation by unnamed sources which even if true does not indicate what Francis knew is not evidence.
This is a clear Coup attempt to remove or at least neutralize the Pope.
It's sad and disgusting to use the plight of victims in an internal idealogical fight. These people know that what they're doing and how they're doing it causes further alienation of people and the weakness of the church they claim to serve, but they don't mind as long as they think it gives them an edge in their fight.
13
"A tree is known by its fruit," the Rabbi from Nazareth said with characteristic simplicity.
"Every tree that does not bear good fruit," he said with his usual directness, "is cut down and thrown into the fire."
Catholics must face the reality that their Church may have become what the Rabbi repeatedly denounced.
It is not bearing good fruit and it may be time that it is cut down and thrown into the fire.
17
@Didier: "Catholics must face the reality that their Church may have become what the Rabbi repeatedly denounced."
The Catholic Church from the moment it was institutionalized WAS what that nice Jewish man repeatedly denounced. I am always reminded of The Grand Inquisitor chapter of Brothers Karamazov when I think hard about the Catholic Church and its relation to Jesus Christ.
2
@Didier
Pretending to be god is a mortal sin you know.
But who cares eh? Continue.
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The world wide misdeeds of popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, and religious can be slayed only by secular judicial criminal oversight using investigation, facts, evidence, trial, and accountability. The Vatican should experience the full weight of the law on sexual violations against little children. Those found guilty should have millstones hung about their necks, and drowned in the depth of the sea.
3
Nowhere in the latest discussions of Catholic predatory perversion, nor in the various previous ones over the years, have I heard a word about reporting miscreants, especially pedophiles, to the police. Transfers? Removal from high office? Defrocking? These people need to go to jail. Period. If statutes of limitations apply, miscreants can still be registered, and monitored, as sex offenders. (And we can get to work removing the statutes of limitations.)
The same should apply to those who enable and protect/cover up these crimes. These people are criminals and should be treated as such.
16
The NYT articles about this letter don't comment further on the bombshell statement included in one of the first of them: that Pope Francis said he did not know about the Magdalen laundries until his visit to Ireland.
Did not know ? The Magdalen laundries have been discussed and reported for years as a huge scandal in the Catholic Church in Ireland. And Ireland has long been a bastion of the Catholic Church.
How could a Pope not know by now ?
14
@Oriole Good heavens, even this half-Jewish atheist knew about the laundries years ago. There was a film about them and their abuses. Maybe the pope needs to go out to the movies more often.
I went back to the church because of Pope Francis . Roma Curia who preaches hate for anyone who is not like him would take us back to the stone age. His agenda is all about an outdated religious agenda and not doing good in the world which is what POPE FRANCIS is doing.
POPE FRANCIS has opened the eyes of many small minded people that hate is not the way that GOD preaches. Roma Curia will have to account for his evilness at the pearly gates and I for one want to hear his hateful responses. I believe that pride comes before one's fall. The church is moving forward, yes there are problems but we work together to make the changes that are needed not split apart. Going backwards doesn't solve anything. We have enough stupidity in the world let's try to be smart for a change.
Any thoughts Roma Curia on slavery, immigration? he is so pious and the rest of us are sinners especially the Pope, Slavery is a horrific sin where is his outrage for that. Oh it doesn't fit his social agenda.
GOD doesn't like UGLY and neither do thinking Catholics.
1
One must realize that from the Pope on down these are just plane men, not some all knowing, all carring God like person. Over the last 2000 years they have taken what is a few words from Jesus and constructed a complex organization called the Catholic Church. Like many others some crave power and will do anything to get and keep it and advance their agenda. People should boycott it until it changes, you don't need it to speak to your God.
10
First, as a somewhat conservative Catholic, I am really ashamed of what some priests in the Church have done. However, what is missed is the fact that the same level of abuse and molestation, the same percentage, exists in mainline Protestant denominations, evangelical sects, Islam, Judaism. I expect to hear letters about that. The leading three church insurers in America - GuideOne, Church Mutual, and Brotherhood Mutual - have the same experience for all churches and charge the same rates for all church bodies. If the Catholic priesthood had experience worse than others, surely the rates would be much higher. Secondly, married priests is not the answer. The level of molestation is the same for married clergy in other faiths. And the real problem is what happens in the homes of America. NOTE: THIS IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN DONE - ESPECIALLY THE COVERUPS!!!!! I believe, as Jesus commanded, that millstones should be found and effectively used. If we run out of millstones, those found guilty should be taken out and shot and then given a fair trial.
1
@Thomas Smithson
It's easy to forget that the abuse and molestation numbers are reflective of the population in general. That said, like you, I have no tolerance for this behavior. When one stays quiet or covers it up, they are all fingered.
I'm glad to see so many people (not the usual ideological biased individuals but those who truly love the Church) speaking up.
Although there is conflict between "liberals" and "conservatives" in some corners of the Catholic Church, it is neither accurate nor informative to label their disagreements part of a Catholic "civil war." Is Douthot reporting, commenting, or mongering here?
Evidence, Ross: that's what counts at this point.
5
So, Ross, this is the church Jesus made? You sure? Could it, the church, like all other organized religious entities, be man made and exist to keep their leaders employed? Odd that your entire column speaks not one whit of God and Jesus, don't you think?
2
The Catholic Church is a relic. An ugly one that does not even have artistic value. Time to send it to tg dust bin if history. It almost happened if a diligent German pastor didn’t resurrect it in mid sixteenth century.
In the age of AI enabled by quantum computation (coming to your parish soon) when all sorts of dystopias started looking more and more possible and even optimistic, what is the point of sticking to an institution that brought more misery to the world over time than Ghengis Khan?
6
Mr. Douthat has been a constant critic of Pope Francis from the moment the Holy Father began to hint that the Church may need to be more pastoral than punitive with its people, from the divorced persons to LBGT Catholics.
Thus his innuendos about the pope here, buoyed by a dubious letter from a right-wing prelate, are about as predictable as Tuesday following Monday this week.
Douthat has made clear he doesn't like revising the annulment process to make it easier for people trapped in abusive marriages to get out of them.
He abhors the steps Francis has taken to allow persons who have divorced and remarried to receive Holy Communion.
Douthat resents an overall change in tone proposed by some bishops at the Synod on the Family who spoke pastorally about same-sex and other relationships, such as living together without benefit of wedlock.
I'm sorry, but Mr. Douthat comes across as rigid, uncaring and lacking compassion. He certainly does not seem to follow Jesus' love-center message, his concern for the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, the sinners.
I have to ask an obvious question of the Times: why do you have an ultra-conservative regular Catholic columnist and not a liberal Catholic columnist to balance Douthat? I don't believe I'm alone in thinking a Catholic or other Christian in the spirit of Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King or Oscar Romero would make an important and necessary contribution to the national conversation on religion.
How about it, Times editors?
250
@Samsara
“Mr. Douthat comes across as rigid, uncaring and lacking compassion.”
Exactly. As such, he also represents the attitude of the GOP, faithfully as it were. Given the current fiscal straits of print journalism, a twofer may be appealing to the NYT’s bean counters.
1
@Samsara I would like to expand on your question. Why doesn't the Times have a rabbi to apply Jewish law to moral questions? Why not an Imam who would give us the Koranic response? Why not experts in the Rig Vedas and the Upanishads to give us an array of Hindu perspectives? Why is Buddhism banished from the opinion pages of the Times? And finally, why don't we see one of a number a of secular ethical realists who could demonstrate how questions regarding sexual ethics as well as other topics can be dealt with outside of revealed text? Lacking that revision maybe the Times can tell us what it is about Roman Catholicism that gives it this special place. Douthat is increasingly a religious ideologist and yet I have never seen in one of his columns any argument for the existence of God , the divinity of Christ, or the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Are we to accept his view of the universe simply on the faith we have in Ross?
@Samsara You have stated the harsh truth about Douthat. Don't expect the Times to do the right thing.
From among those who brought us trump you really want to attack the pope for not doing what you youselves can't, won't do?
Sorry but your recent turn to oppose trump while still supporting all that the gop has done to lay the groundwork makes your outrage a tissue paper thin fig leaf hiding complicity that goes deep.
You and yours really need to be quiet and do the right thing. I don't say this often but I will say it today.
Shut up and start doing the right thing yourself before you have any standing to call any other kettles black. Leave calling out the only pope to do anything for the people of the church to those actually effected by what the pope does.
7
Not at all surprising that Mr. Douthat would take Cardinal Vigano's word over that of Pope Francis.
13
Fancy that, more evidence that tribe Trumps truth and decency.
1
The Catholic Church in protecting these criminal sex abusers is tarnishing the good name of the rest of its priests. My own pastor works 7 days a week for neither wealth, power, or glory. He serves the people and serves the Lord. Now he will live out his days with people looking at him, in many cases, in disgust for being a Catholic priest. Heartbreaking.
1
@GP Sorry, but you still don't know if he's an abuser. He well could be. It's very sad, but based on my family's experience, the most sacrificing, involved priest can be a sexual abuser of children.
Is this a Christian church you are writing about? Abuse, cover up, and power/political battles seem to be the primary characteristics of Catholicism. I don’t recognize a church in this.
2
this is clearly an instance of a war on Francis started by American conservative Catholics, who despise all that Francis stands for. So hypocritical (diabolical, really) for a group of high priests who never did anything to stop sex abuse themselves---and indeed encouraged their flocks to vote for politicians who are great enthusiasts of the death penalty, gun anarchy, income inequality and unjust wars that have killed millions. The bottom line is that there is no evidence for anything Vigano claims. I expected greater journalistic integrity from Ross, but his romanticism with conservative Catholicism seems to trump fairness. I wish American conservative Catholics would secede and separately enjoy their gowns and pomp together with their hypocritical support of the death penalty, gun anarchy, income inequality and wars.
8
Ross, you are too predictable. Suddenly, the Pope must act precipitously, after Ratzinger went backward in his papacy. Francis is a pope of love and kindness. Where was "God's rotweiler" when all of this was already known? Out chasing doctrinal purity on tangential sex issues affecting how women were to behave.
27
@Lee: Agree! IMO, Benedict was one of the biggest Pharisees in a long time.
"God's rottweiler"not so much; Benedict always seemed to me to be just one more "whited sepulcher."
The more the clerics harp on every tiny detail that, according to them, will send the faithful to hell, the more you can be SURE they're fixated on all the wrong issues. There is no mercy or kindness in these men.
1
I'm pretty sure that McCarrick presided over the mass at Catholic University when Francis came to town. How did that happen???
2
One of the central beliefs of Christianity is that anyone can be forgiven. Even the most horrible of criminals.
In his concern for the poor and people on the periphery, Francis has shown himself to be a compassionate person. He has to and probably wants to forgive, but at the same time he is not foolish. If Francis knew of McCarrick's crimes, I would wager that there are still restrictions on McCarrick's actions.
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In that last paragraph, the term 'faithful' needs to be replaced. 'Gullible', perhaps. I'm still thinking.
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Douthat's opinions are always crafted in the light of his journey from Pentecostalism to reactionary Catholicism. Of course, he's entitled to think as he does, but there's always a tinge of fanaticism in his thoughts about the Church. He seems to want it back in the Middle Ages.
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@Bobolink2 My question is, is his wife willing to bear 13 children as my great-grandmother did, or even 7 as my grandmother? I doubt it. That's the Church's take on women and their role. Douthat is an elite who dabbles in Catholicism.
You mention Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who recently called on the Pope to resign.
There is no doubt that some of what Viganò claims is true; the Pope has not been as vigilant on sexual abuse in the church as some claim. However, he has cracked down more than others.
Viganò has long hated this Pope and has done everything he could to tarnish him. Viganò is very conservative and wants the liberal Pope out. He will do whatever it takes to advance this agenda.
Among other things Viganò says that the abusers are homosexuals. Since some of these men have abused women maybe he has no problem with such abuse. He claims that the church is controlled and dominated by homosexuals which is not true though because of its male rule and vows of chastity many gay men are in positions of power and in numbers far greater than the general population . Viganò is obsessed with this issue to the point of delusion.
The Roman Catholic church has long cultivated a culture of cover-up, abuse ( emotional, sexual, financial, theological, interference in politics +), and deceit. The sexual abuse part, which goes back centuries, is one facet of a very long culture of moral turpitude and hypocrisy.
Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is the story of the Roman Catholic church ( Islam, Evangelical Christianity also come to mind ).
To do all of this in the name of holiness, God, justice and other sacred tenants, is absolutely horrific.
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I have to wonder how Mr. Douthat's assessment of the Pope is colored by his disdain for the Pope's more liberal version of Catholocism.
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Mr. Douthat, I know you are a devoted Catholic, but when the Vatican sounds more and more like the Trump White House, don't you have to start questioning the religion you signed up for?
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Between the sexual abuse crimes, cover-up and dirty infighting, it’s clear that Catholic leadership worldwide is ineffective and amoral. Catholics want change. We want a new path forward— one that actually adheres to the spirit and teachings of Jesus. It’s time for a new Catholic Church that allows female clergy, married clergy, lay leadership and is welcoming to all.
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I find it ironic that the greatest proponents of objective morality (i.e. the religious) seem to be the least likely to apply objective moral standards. If Muslims had a similar organization to the Vatican and that organization was complicit in half the crimes that the Vatican is, we Americans would have chased them out of the country with pitchforks. How the Roman Catholic Church continues to survive is a matter of intellectual compartmentalization and willful ignorance on behalf of their flock.
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Anyone who has spent his life in the Catholic Church working his way up through the hierarchy of bishops, archbishops and cardinals to become pope, must have known what was going on. The church is rotten to the core and the coverups were as bad as the crimes.
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Conservative Catholic Ross, do this, do that - is more than a bit of a hypocrite.
Sure the Pope is a progressive but he operates in a regressive institutional bubble. All clergy worldwide above parish priest level need to be put out on the street, including the Pope, to be replaced by laity. Laity should administer/govern the institutional church.
Any nuns that so desire should be converted to priest and a nun that has been converted to priest status should be appointed Pope. No males should be allowed to be Pope or archbishop for 100 years.
Our boy Ross prefers to perpetuate the current un-christlike institution.
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We will learn soon enough who knew what and what they did or failed to do. What this column discloses at present is its author’s eagerness to join in the Viganò- Chaput -Bannon feeding frenzy.
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No, the solution is neither merely tinkering with the Vatican's personnel nor installing a new King in Rome.
The solution is to return to the Catholic Church's many centuries' old and successful tradition of everyday Catholics electing their own bishops.
And while this is being implemented, it is also necessary to end the 150 year old myth that the pope is infallible on anything. This is shown well in 91 year old top Jesuit historian, John O'Malley's suberb new book on Vatican I, where infallibility was invented by a desperate Pope Pius IX!
Our Founding Fathers, especially George Washington, knew it would be a waste of time to replace George III with a different King. Accountability to voters was the answer. History has proven them right.
Popes and bishops need to be selected, with term limits, by those they purport to serve. This worked very well for most of the Catholic Church's history. It is now the only way to save the Catholic Church!
Popes are not angels any more than Presidents are. Hence, checks and balances are the only answer!
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@Gerald Slevin
I agree on the checks and balances. However they are not working on Trump, as those who are supposed to be the people to keep checks and balances on Trump are not doing their job.
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@Jean
Thanks, the ballgame is not over yet with respect to Trump, or Pope Francis, for that matter.
As a lawyer who worked at Harvard Law School for Archibald Cox before he nailed Nixon, I am confident Trump will soon get his "checks and balances".
The Founding Fathers were no fools!
@Gerald Slevin
Yes,that has worked so well for us here in the US. Term limits ,yup ,worked to let lobbyists to determine US law & create things like the opioids epidemic ,right?
That Catholics can have this type of lucid and clear understanding of their church's court intrigues and continue to look to those composing the court for moral and spiritual guidance is a good example of how we compartmentalize our rationality.
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If Vigano' is fully vindicated, it means that Francis will have been shown to be a total fraud and a protector of serial abusers pedophiles. Yet, you are saying that he should not resign for no reason other than that one papal resignation per millennium is a sacred limit? I know it wasn't your intention, but reasoning like that makes us all enablers.
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@Joe
Vigano implies that Pope Francis was aware of abusers who committed crimes when Vigano and his type were in power, several decades ago. Seems like a circular argument. If the Pope is at fault, it's for not purging the likes of the abusers and their traditional protectors such as Vigano.
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@Joe: If Vigano is fully vindicated, that would mean Benedict is ALSO a total fraud!
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@Joe
Vigano is well known to have, himself, protected predator priests. If he thinks the higher-ups in the church who have done so should be removed, let him set the example and resign.
An organization built on ignorant superstition and the conviction that a Supreme Being approves of all they do - what could go wrong?
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Church leaders who covered up abuse should be indicted and tried for conspiracy, and sent to prison if found guilty.
I must, however, vociferously object to Viganò’s position that homosexuality is the cause of child sexual abuse in the church. I suppose one should expect this from an organization that actively opposes LGBT rights and treats homosexuality as a sin, but for the Times to fail to call out this false equivalency in three different articles on this topic is disappointing. This is an old stereotype that is patently incorrect and has been used for far too long to denigrate people who are homosexual.
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@James Williams Cause of? Indeed debatable. Highly correlated? Unequivocally.
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@James Williams: It is possible that some homosexually inclined men opted for the priesthood in hopes that Holy Orders would help them to "pray the gay away." We know how well that works; it also explains the high suicide rates among fundamentalist and Mormon (sorry, LDS) youth.
@James Williams
I'm not even Catholic, but the Times' failure to call the church out on its claim that homosexuality is to blame for its child abuse problem struck me nonetheless. Seems to me -- a non-Catholic person who lives in a very Catholic city and knows many practicing Catholics -- that the fault lies squarely with the church's insistence on a celibate priesthood and on its treatment of homosexuality as a sin. This climate has naturally attracted closeted, psychologically-unhealthy gay men to the priesthood, gay men who are ashamed of themselves because of their church's teachings. A change in both of these policies/teachings is necessary to reform the church.
Pope Francis is incapable of leading the required change. He must go.
The required change is massive. Ross Douthat offers delicate equivocations, and small band-aids to be applied by the failed Francis, when what is required is radical surgery, including major amputations.
The Church must undergo a Reformation. It must change its structure as well as some of its practices (admission of women, election of Popes, for example), even if they have endured for 2000 years.
After 2000 years, it is time. The process will likely take a decade, under new leadership and new analytical and decision templates, including major participation by the Catholic laity. Catholics can no longer leave the fate of the Church in the hands of the very priests who have brought the Church to this low point. It’s not a matter of a few bad apples – the whole orchard is rotting.
All this is a small price to pay for continued survival.
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@John Xavier III
Ten years to change 2000+ years . Suggest you read up on Pope John XXIII. Either side in this issue want to change structure, but too many want to throw away people.
@H E Pettit
In business, we say change the people or change the people ... you think the people, ie priests, can change?
@John Xavier III
Placed in these terms, it does not sound worth the survival of the orchard.
Ross Douthat may be rich in offering some of his readership 'delicate equivocations and small band-aids' which cause an allergic reaction.
Your 'failed Francis' is not particularly inspiring and has a familiar political twinge. Jeb Bush, when asked about Obama replied a 'failed president' and this voter stopped listening to anything further he had to say on his run for the presidential nomination.
Look where We are Now. In Political Limbo, and in a religious cabal which smacks of intrigue.
No matter how much Pope Francis knew, or how little he knew, he was aware that there was a problem. We were all aware there was a problem. There were sexual predators, like McCarrik, or enablers, like Danneels, in the church, in proximity to Catholic children. Not protectors and teachers, not friends, not role models. Like Jerry Sandusky in a black robe.
Should the Catholic Church be dismantled? Rubbed out?
No. There are just too many people who depend on the church, whose family's have depended on the church for generations. And there are so very many good people in the church who would never harm anyone.
But the church is rotten in spots and thoroughly confused in many areas. First and foremost the church needs to decentralize, and wrest control from fundamentalists.
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There is another reason Pope's often resort to allies with skeletons in their closet - there is no-one else. The fact seems to be that the scale of abuse is so vast, and so long-standing, that there is literally no-one about whom it can be said has no scandal in his organization.
If Francis is genuine in wanting to rid the Church of this abuse, he can do one thing - open all the records. Every single one. Make them available to non-Catholic laypeople. Make them ALL available to every journalist and prosecutor and victim.
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Ross, I enjoy your columns most of the time, sometimes most when I find myself in total disagreement with what you write. Let's get to the core of the matter. Christianity has always had a problem with human sexuality. It's part of its heritage from Hellenistic asceticism. Roman Catholicism's enshrinement of celibacy for the clergy of its Latin rite doesn't work very well for secular clergy, as the term is used by insiders. Celibacy may or may not be a gift; if it is, it is rare. Pretending that young men know themselves well enough to choose a life of celibacy is foolishness. Doing so can and does lead to tragedy. Your church has got itself into an impossible situation; the way out is clear; it takes courage to take it.
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The Catholic Civil War, 21st Century.
From a nonCatholic's viewpoint - a fascinating insight into a fractured religious institution, which like any and all other religious institutions, struggles to hide its worst transgressions, deceive its followers, preserve its survival and power.
Hollywood studios should take note. The American public is ready for a movie or TV series to exploit this latest Christian civil war, layers of intrigue, pomp and circumstance, a cast of mysterious characters and opposing factions. Conservatives vs Liberals. Good vs Evil. Power vs subterfuge. Who will win? The Catholic Church is writing the script in real time, as we breathe.
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What is wrong at the heart of this ancient institution? Power does corrupt absolutely. Shepherds routinely become predators. Francis has to save the church. It seems he would rather employ the end justifies the means, in order win the ideological battle. Sordid.
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The outsider Jesuit has backbone, and will take reform actions as he is able. The politics inside the church are with lifetime appointments. Local laws against crimes against children could be enforced, and then defenders and protectors go to jail.
Ross, the Church lost its way a long time ago. Generations. Its shamful treatment of nuns, its ignorant teachings in regard to birth control, its hypocryphal demand for divorced Catholics to submit to annulment, and its clinging to the obviously counter factual concept of celibacy as a necessary thing among priests and nuns, lead us to this moment.
Christ was ashamed of this church many eons ago. Religion, politics, law, air, water, and soil have all been sacrificed to the base desires of man.
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Child sexual abuse is wrong wherever it occurs.
The sad truth of the matter is that child sexual abuse does not just occur in the Roman Catholic Church. It occurs everywhere by both men and women, married and single, by heterosexual and homosexual and transgender people.
Most of the abuse that has been brought fourth in the church occurred before 2005. Big inroads have been made in eliminating the problem. If one closely looks at the many pages in the Pennsylvania report many of the diocese have had zero to few child sexual incidents since 2006. Most of the abuse occurred decades ago. Things have improved.
The Pope is trying to make positive changes and bring the church at least to the early 20th century. The archbishop or cardinal or whatever he is never said anything about Benedict or John Paul and how they handled the subject.
This man has a vendetta against the theology of the current Pope. He hasn't even presented any evidence against Francis.
I am a former Catholic. I admire Francis and if anything were to bring me back to the church it would be the likes of Francis. The son of a friend of mine was assaulted by a priest and Cardinal George did absolutely nothing about it for 4 years and then under duress.
Francis, hang strong.
When it comes to morality versus one's ideas, we need look no further than to the conservative right church in the United States who has consistently supported a man who has absolutely no moral bearing.
The RCC will never change. Corruption and sexual improprieties have been occurring since Roman times. How many times over the past 2000 years have people tried to reform this institution?Indeed, Protestantism was partially a result of Luther protesting corruption in the RCC. The church will never change. It’s decent congregants should consider an alternate.
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The sexual abuse was the entire hierarchy's dirty dark secret. All the bishops are implicated in one way or another. But everyone seems to forget the Church's reliance on confession and forgiveness as the approved response to sin. Jesus was big on forgiveness and how could the Church respond if the sinning priests confessed and sought forgiveness?
Noitfying govenment authorities of sins/crimes is not what they do, which is why the Church is a beacon of hope in repressive countries.
For god-knows-how-many-years they have been struggling with their dirty big secret. If a priest confesses and sins, and confesses, and sins, and confesses - and stops sinning - then they will feel success - but that does not work when people find out about the old sins and want old testament vengeance.
I used to be a Catholic. The pope seems to be confessing the Church's sins gradually ("We did not take care of the children."), because exacting non-Church punishment is contrary to Catholic/Jesus values, and cleaning house would remove all of the older hierarchy, including those conservatives (and liberals), who were all part of the rules-of-confession (mandated?) coverup.
The Catholic Church should retain an outside, independent firm to clean it up. It’s incapable of doing so from within.
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