This is a very useful work of reference, written to two American Catholic journalists. It investigates all the press ‘charges’ against the Holy Father and examines his record on this subject from his days as Archbishop of Munich, through his period as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to his time as Pope. They ask, “Did the Pope commit acts of neglect, cover-up and disregard for the plight of victims of sexual abuse?” Their answer is a resounding “No”.

The very worst that can be said is that like many other good and holy priests, he was initially shocked, even staggered, by the stories of abuse as they emerged in from the 1980s onwards, but any naivety in this respect was swiftly overtaken by a determined effort to cleanse the Church. Memorably, in his Good Friday Meditations of 2005, he stopped at the ninth Station of the Cross to say, “How much filth there is on the Church and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to Him!”

John Allen, the highly respected Vatican commentator for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote in 2010: “By all accounts Ratzinger was punctilious about studying the files...as a result, he acquired a familiarity with the contours of the problem that virtually no other figure in the Catholic Church can claim.” In particular, the authors examine the notorious case of Fr Lawrence Murphy, from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, who molested deaf boys in an institution over a period of 20 years before he was finally apprehended. The world’s press made entirely unsubstantiated accusations over the Holy Father’s supposed negligence in dealing with this priest. The current Archbishop of Milwaukee, Jerome Listecki, has made it clear that “the mistakes were not made in Rome in 1996, 1997 and 1998. The mistakes were made here...in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s by the church, by civil authorities, by church officials and by bishops.”

As well as investigating cases of abuse in recent decades, the book includes a brief history of the Church’s attitude towards paedophilia through the centuries. If particular bishops have failed in their duty to guard their flock, the Church has always been clear that it is a grave sin as well as a violation of canon law. St Basil, who died in 379, wrote that any priest found guilty of sexual abuse should be removed from the clerical state, flogged and incarcerated for six months as well as doing a further lengthy penance. St Peter Damian, who wrote The Book of Gomorrah in the 11th century, issued warnings that remain timely in every century.

The authors ask why today’s sexual abuse is different from the past. They give four reasons: the scale of the crisis, the way it became public, the unwillingness of some civil authorities to prosecute, and the dereliction of duty on the part of certain bishops. There is also the fact that although Church authorities knew the terrible nature of the abuse of minors, their awareness “lacked the same clinical depth that we have today.”

The abuse in Ireland has come under particular scrutiny because for so long that country enjoyed the reputation of being “Catholic Ireland.” In his Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Holy Father acknowledged that “grave errors of judgment were made and failures of leadership occurred.” He also alluded to the poor screening of candidates for the priesthood in Ireland, a misplaced concern for the reputation of the Church, a bias towards authority figures and poor seminary formation.

It is clear that Pope Benedict has suffered deeply for the faults of others in the hierarchy. In The Salt of the Earth, in which he was extensively interviewed by journalist Peter Seewald in 1997, he admitted, “The words of the Bible and the Church Fathers rang in my ears, those sharp condemnations of shepherds who are like mute dogs; in order to avoid conflict, they let the poison spread.”

He himself has made every effort to stop this poison spreading, as well as meeting victims of abuse on every pontifical journey he has made; harrowing occasions for him as well as for them.

The book ends on a sombre note: “It is likely that the rest of Pope Benedict’s pontificate will be consumed by the scandal.” Marked by the crisis, yes – but I hope it will not be dominated by it. I say this because whatever the evil and depravity of what has occurred, the holiness of the Pope is not in question; neither is his wish to bring the Church safely through its liturgical crisis of the past 40 years, nor his determination to save the faith in Europe.

© 2010 Francis Phillips

Theotokos Catholic Books - Book Reviews Section - www.theotokos.org.uk