Vatican has Chutzpa

[Wasp]

June 27, 2010

Vatican has Chutzpa

by David Fortwengler


The never-ending nightmare of high-ranking Catholic officials pretending to be victims and demonizing secular authorities continued in full force this weekend. On Thursday, Belgian police raided Catholic headquarters looking for evidence of crimes committed against children by clergy and a subsequent cover up.

Rather than cooperate fully with a criminal investigation, as they have repeatedly promised, they instead feign outrage and disrespect the legitimate authority of secular officials doing their jobs. At least Catholic employees have embraced their Judeo-Christian heritage by taking the concept of “Chutzpah” to a new level.

Chutzpah

In modern times the word has taken on a wider meaning as sometimes a positive expression or admiration of a non-conformist but gutsy audacity. In the Vatican's case I am referring to the original Hebrew definition where it is used with indignation to describe someone who has over-stepped the boundaries of accepted behavior with no shame. The jewish people coined the term before the Catholic Church was even formed, otherwise I would have thought chutzpah was a synonym for Catholic Church hierarchy.

Cardinal Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, responded to the raid faster than the Vatican ever has responded to a clergy sex crime and issued a statement within 24 hours. He lamented the Belgian bishops were not allowed to leave until the search was completed, were not allowed to use their cell phones, and that it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Well boo-hoo, not too many criminals are pleased when potential evidence is seized.

The statement also said the Vatican believes the sin and criminal act of abuse of minors by clergy “conforms to the requirements of justice and teachings of the Gospel." This from a group that has never cooperated with a secular investigation. When bishops are deposed or investigated, they don’t quote scripture, they hire the best secular defense attorneys their parishioners can afford.


Tomb Raiders

The greatest Vatican indignation was directed at the search of two archbishops tombs for incriminating evidence. I thought I had heard about most church tactics to obstruct justice, but hiding documents with a dead guy is new to me. (secret archives would be a better place to look) I am positive the dead archbishops were not offended because, well, they’re dead. Besides, doesn’t the Catholic Church canonize saints, dissect their bodies for relics (bone and hair), and then ship them all over the world for veneration? I am indignant about that practice. (and it’s creepy)


Belgian Ambassador is Summoned

Vatican chutzpah continues with the Belgian ambassador being summoned to the Holy See (headquarters) so they can convey their anger. I hope the ambassador attends and displays some good chutzpah. Tell Cardinal Bertrone this is not about him or his church, it is about horrific crimes against Belgian citizens. Then promise to let him know when indictments are handed down.

[Wasp]

Vatican taken by surprise over Belgium police raids

Sunday, 27 June 2010 20:32 UK

By David Willey

BBC News, Rome

The police raid in Belgium last week which broke up a meeting of the country's Catholic Bishops - who were discussing how to deal with the paedophile priest crisis - took the Vatican by complete surprise.

There has been a change of tone in the Vatican's reaction to the abuse crisis Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state and Pope Benedict's number two, was furious when he heard how the police prevented the bishops from leaving the building where they had been meeting for nine hours.

The police took away their mobile telephones to prevent them communicating with their staff, or with the Vatican.

They also seized files from the headquarters of the Catholic church in Brussels including a laptop belonging to the former head of the church in Belgium, Cardinal Godefried Daneels.

'Idle gossip'

They allegedly profaned the tomb of at least one former Belgian cardinal at the cathedral in Mechelen during what seems to have been a frenetic search for possible incriminating documents.

Officials said they were searching for evidence of possible abuse Cardinal Bertone angrily told reporters during a conference he was attending at a Catholic university in Rome that not even communist states dared to treat church authorities and church property in this way.

He summoned the Belgian ambassador to the Vatican and handed him a formal protest note.

Pope Benedict's own reaction in a letter to the head of the Belgian church was more measured.

While deploring the way in which the Belgian police had conducted their search for evidence of possible crimes of paedophilia committed by Belgian clergy, he said he was happy to let justice take its course provided the rights of all parties - victims of alleged paedophilia and accused priests - were respected.

This marked a definite change of tone in Vatican reaction to the clerical sexual abuse crisis which has hit the Catholic church in Europe and the Americas in recent years.

Some high-ranking Vatican officials have habitually dismissed media coverage of predator priests as "idle gossip".

Belgium, like many other countries in Europe, may have a strong Catholic history, but is also subject to strong secular influences. Although the Vatican claims 75% of the population are members of the Catholic church, regular Sunday mass attendances have dwindled dramatically in recent years to about 5%.

Last year the Belgian parliament made a formal diplomatic protest to the Vatican over the Pope's remarks about the use of condoms to combat Aids.

The Pope was on his way to Africa - the continent most seriously affected by the Aids - and his remarks aroused a storm of protests.

Critics included the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet.

'Cloud of ambiguity'

The Vatican rejected the Belgian protest as an "attempt to silence the Pope's moral teaching".

Official relations between the Vatican and Belgium are clouded with a certain ambiguity.

No concordat or treaty governs relations with the Holy See.

Belgium was part of France between 1795 and 1815 and the Napoleonic concordat between France and the Vatican signed at the beginning of the 19th century lapsed after Belgium became an independent state and separated from the Netherlands.

But the practical effects of the Napoleonic concordat were profound.

Its recognition of the Catholic religion paved the way later for full state subsidies for other "recognised religions".

The Belgian state pays salaries for teachers of religion in state schools, stipends and pensions for Catholic clergy and for the renovation of church buildings.

Last week Pope Benedict appointed a new Bishop of Bruges to replace Roger Vangheluwe, the longest serving bishop in the country who resigned in April after admitting that he had been sexually abusing a boy for years.