Brody's Notes... Swiss Catholic Priest & Theologian To Pope Benedict XVI- Apologise Now

Hans Küng  Photo By Schweizer-Fernsehen Television

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Mar 19 | The President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic, Reverend Father Hans Küng, has called on Pope Benedict XVI to apologise and acknowledge his share of responsibility in the Paedophile Priest scandals that are rocking the Catholic Church in Western Europe, Ireland, and now most recently, in Brazil and other parts of Latin America. Speaking to a journalist from the Süddeutsche Zeitung news organisation, Father Küng was quoted as saying; 

"Five years of pontificate without changing anything in these disastrous practices. Common decency would require that the chief of concealment for decades, namely Joseph Ratzinger, make his own mea culpa No other person within the Church has seen many cases of abuse go on his desk. Ratzinger has indeed, when still a Cardinal, headed the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he handled all cases of sexual crimes in the world "in the greatest secrecy."

When asked about the role of the Archbishops he said;

"Bishops should not they, rather than apologise to the victims, recognize that they were accomplices? [...] Protecting their priests seems to have counted for more Bishops that the protection of children.

Father Küng in addressing what he felt was the root cause of the scandals, celibacy, said:

"Common decency would require that the Pope at least promise to revisit this requirement, as long demanded by a large majority of clergy and believers.

In a strongly worded essay entitled; 'Ratzinger's Responsibility' to the Catholic faithful in the English edition of the independent National Catholic Reporter magazine, Father Küng wrote:

"Why does the pope continue to assert that what he calls "holy" celibacy is a "precious gift", thus ignoring the biblical teaching that explicitly permits and even encourages marriage for all office holders in the Church? Celibacy is not "holy"; it is not even "fortunate"; it is "unfortunate", for it excludes many perfectly good candidates from the priesthood and forces numerous priests out of their office, simply because they want to marry. The rule of celibacy is not a truth of faith, but a church law going back to the 11th Century; it should have been abolished already in the 16th Century, when it was trenchantly criticized by the Reformers."

He also questioned German Archbishop Zollitsch, who insisted that;

"...All the experts" agree that abuse of minors by clergymen and the celibacy rule have nothing to do with each other? How can he claim to know the opinions of "all the experts"? In fact, there are numerous psychotherapists and psychoanalysts who see a connection here. The celibacy law obliges the priest to abstain from all forms of sexual activity, though their sexual impulses remain virulent, and thus the danger exists that these impulses might be shifted into a taboo zone and compensated for in abnormal ways. 

Honesty demands that we take the correlation between abuse and celibacy seriously. The American psychotherapist Richard Sipe has clearly demonstrated, on the basis of a 25 year study published in 2004 under the title Knowledge of sexual activity and abuse within the clerical system of the Roman Catholic church, that the celibate way of life can indeed reinforce pedophile tendencies, especially when the socialization leading to it, i.e. adolescence and young adulthood spent in minor and major seminary cut off from the normal experiences of their peer groups, is taken into account. In his study, Sipe found retarded psycho-sexual development occurring more frequently in celibate clerics than in the average population. And often, such deficits in psychological development and sexual tendencies only become evident after ordination."

Finally, he then wrote:

"Is it not time for Pope Benedict XVI himself to acknowledge his share of responsibility, instead of whining about a campaign against his person? No other person in the Church has had to deal with so many cases of abuse crossing his desk. Here some reminders:

• In his eight years as a professor of theology in Regensburg, in close contact with his brother Georg, the capellmeister of the Regensburger Domspatzen, Ratzinger can hardly have been ignorant about what went on in the choir and its boarding--school. This was much more than an occasional slap in the face, there are charges of serious physical violence and even sexual abuse.
• In his five years as Archbishop of Munich, repeated cases of sexual abuse at least by one priest transferred to his Archdiocese have come to light. His loyal Vicar General, my classmate Gerhard Gruber, has taken full responsibility for the handling of this case, but that is hardly an excuse for the Archbishop, who is ultimately responsible for the administration of his diocese.
• In his 24 years as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from around the world, all cases of grave sexual offences by clerics had to be reported, under strictest secrecy ("secretum pontificum"), to his curial office, which was exclusively responsible for dealing with them. Ratzinger himself, in a letter on "grave sexual crimes" addressed to all the bishops under the date of 18 May, 2001, warned the bishops, under threat of ecclesiastical punishment, to observe "papal secrecy" in such cases.
• In his five years as Pope, Benedict XVI has done nothing to change this practice with all its fateful consequences."

Today, the Editor's of the National Catholic Reporter published NCR’s correspondent Tom Fox's article, that Benedict has reportedly signed off on a papal letter today addressing the sex scandals. It is not known if, and to what extent, the sex abuse crisis in Germany will find its way into the papal pastoral letter, which was originally intended exclusively for the Irish faithful.

The letter will offer a Vatican reflection on a problem which in recent months has damaged the Catholic Church not only in Ireland and Germany, but also in Austria, Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands.

Sources in the Vatican have confirmed it will be released tomorrow to be read at masses throughout Ireland on Sunday.