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By Root 1550 0

Italy and Austria,” writes Andrew Walsh, a scholar and former journalist, in a detailed account of the media coverage.10 The media was relentless on Benedict, particularly the New York Times, which quoted the Vatican correspondence provided by Jeff Anderson on Ratzinger’s soft-glove treatment of the Wisconsin priest who had abused dozens of deaf students. The credit Ratzinger had gained as a cardinal for taking responsibility of the abuse cases in the CDF teetered against the weight of past decisions, marked by inertia. The pontiff who as cardinal had stood in judgment over theological adversaries, forcing them to answer questions, had no answers to give, and so fell silent.

The Curia took the foredoomed stance of attacking the messenger. L’Osservatore Romano scored the media for “an ignoble attempt to strike at Pope Benedict and his closest aides at any cost.” But the Vatican had no youth protection charter, as the American bishops had adopted in 2002, nor did the Holy See have procedures that might penalize the world’s bishops. Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany bravely distanced himself from the Curia in telling La Repubblica, “We have to seriously clean up the church.” But for Benedict to “clean up,” he had to change the assumptions of apostolic succession; and if he opened the bishops to a judicial overview on their tolerance of predatory clerics, what would happen to bishops accused of misusing money?11

If a single episode framed the moral relativism of Benedict’s papacy it came at Easter Mass, on April 4, 2010, in St. Peter’s Square when Angelo Sodano, now dean of the College of Cardinals, preached a defense of the pope. The faithful would “rally close around you, successor to Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church,” he declared. The cardinal who had pressured Ratzinger not to prosecute Maciel in John Paul’s time now said soothingly, “We are deeply grateful to you for the strength of spirit and apostolic courage with which you announce the Gospel.” With a backhanded barb at the press, Sodano continued, “Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers.”12

Sodano on Easter executed a 180-degree shift from being a paid champion of Maciel to a shield of the beleaguered pope. “What we are dealing with now is a cultural battle: the pope embodies moral truths which people don’t accept and for that reason the shortcomings and errors of priests are used as arms against the church,” Sodano told L’Osservatore Romano. “It was not the fault of Jesus if he was betrayed by Judas. Nor is it the fault of a bishop if one of his priests sullies himself with grave crimes. And certainly, it is not the responsibility of the pontiff.”13

Here was the logic of apostolic succession draped in pearls of self-righteousness: Maciel as Judas to the Christ-like Sodano!

“There is absolutely no strategy, and I say that as a friend of the pope’s,” an American bishop, unnamed, told the author and PoliticsDaily correspondent David Gibson.14

But there was a strategy, of some inchoate sort, for handling the Legion of Christ. On May 1, 2010, the Vatican issued a statement that excoriated Maciel for a double life “devoid of any scruples and authentic sense of religion.” Thus had he managed to sexually assault young boys for so many years. “By pushing away and casting doubt upon all those who questioned his behavior, and the false belief that he wasn’t doing harm to the good of the Legion, he created around him a defense mechanism that made him unassailable for a long period, making it difficult to know his true life.”15

Not a word on John Paul’s blind praises of Maciel after the accusations.

The Vatican would be naming a special envoy to help the Legionaries “purify” the good that remained in the order, for a “profound revision” necessary to carry on.

The language denouncing Maciel was strong, but how would the Vatican exert the high moral purpose that Benedict called the church to