A great paradox has attended the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of Pope John Paul II as it confronts basic issues of orthodoxy, morality and discipline. He is best known for centralising the Church's theological teaching and ecclesiastical discipline well beyond the limits laid down by his predecessors. But it has taken him a remarkably long time to condemn the abuse by priests and other religious of children and juveniles under their care, despite highly publicised scandals in Ireland, the United States, Britain, Australia and other states. His condemnation of this "most grievous form of evil" in his annual letter to priests yesterday is welcome indeed; but it is open to the criticism of being too little and too late, given the very depth of the evil he condemns.
This pattern of centralised authority and decentralised response was manifestly evident in yesterday's scant reaction to the Pope's statement by Church authorities in Ireland and the other states involved in these dreadful events. Attention focused on the phrase dealing with the Church's intention "to respond in truth and justice to each of these painful situations", particularly in the context of major scandals involving clergy who have been treated with excessive or indulgent lenience by their bishops. Now that expensive court cases are pending and settlements have been reached to compensate victims of such abuse there is clearly a departure from previous practice. All too often such accusations were dismissed as attempts to discredit the Church or suspected to form part of campaigns against priestly celibacy or in favour of women priests.
In a Vatican briefing on the meaning of the Pope's message it was emphasised that research in the US shows sexual abuse by Catholic clergy is no more typical than in comparable professions. This is a very tentative and in many respects a contentious finding; it will do little to convince victims of abuse that positions of clerical trust and institutional authority have been systematically abused, but long denied and treated as utterly taboo. All too often that explains the calculated attempts to avoid institutional responsibility, thereby minimising accountability and compensation. Such profane behaviour sits strangely with the Church's exalted vocation and now with its belated admission of culpability at the highest level.
The same point applies to the timing of this statement. It coincides with a series of revelations in the United States about egregious abuse of authority and trust. In Ireland it follows an advantageous settlement between Church authorities and the Government to compensate victims of abuse in institutions run by Church authorities on behalf of the State. Coincidentally it came two days after the screening of a BBC programme dealing with the years of sex abuse of boys by the Wexford priest, Father Sean Fortune, in the 1980s and 1990s. It proved extremely difficult to secure comments on the programme from the leading ecclesiastical authorities in Ireland, or from the Bishop of Ferns, Dr Brendan Comiskey. This revealed once again that the lines of authority run directly to Rome. The Church should not be surprised at the high public interest generated by the Pope's remarks now that he has broken his silence.