Safe from pedophiles?
PANDORA’S
box in the Vatican has been opened. More secrets, scandals, trouble ahead. In an apparition, the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God was quoted as saying that “the smoke of Satan has entered the Church.” She was referring to another scandal, that of heresy, but loosely interpreting her words, we might as well apply them in the present case of priestly pedophiles.
History in the making or whatever journalists call the event, the dearly beloved, overworked Pope Francis is a lonely figure as he towers, old and bent, over 190 cardinals to find an answer to the plague brought on the Church by her priests and bishops victimizing, molesting, raping, abusing boys and girls whose souls they were supposed to save (and whose bodies they were eager to defile). To which circle of hell do such demons belong? As for their higher-ups, archbishops and cardinals who covered up their heinous crimes and abominable sins, would Dante create an additional eighth circle exclusively for them?
How much of an impact has the summit produced in this nation of 85 percent Catholics? The priest in our parish skipped the news last Sunday, focusing instead on the Gospel theme of “love thy enemies.” Yeah, right, love thy pederasts. A friend who lives in Bicol reported the same “nada” in her church. Another friend was in Bali, where the sermon was delivered in Bahasa, not a word of which he understood. My daughter said the homily she heard was not about the summit or devils in sheep’s clothing. Do I take it that my mini-survey, though thoroughly unscientific, says something of the local Church’s lack of interest in the three and a half days of soul-searching that went on in Rome?
Our own Cardinal Tagle, while sounding quite emotional when he read his speech before his colleagues, wasn’t about to confess that the Philippine Church has her own share of the shame. As Agence France Presse reported, “Tagle has said that cultural taboos in the Philippines often prevent victims from coming forward.” Mr. President, don’t blame the cardinal for not mentioning your experience. Maybe he did not have your blessings to name you as a victim?