Pope 'refused to act' against priest accused of child abuse
Source: Agencies |
March 26, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO Wisconsin bishops urged the Vatican office led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI - to let them conduct a church trial against a priest accused of molesting some 200 deaf boys, but the Vatican ordered the process halted, church and Vatican documents show.
Despite the grave allegations, Ratzinger's deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the alleged molestation had occurred too long ago and the priest, the Reverend Lawrence Murphy, should instead repent and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside of his diocese.
The New York Times broke the story yesterday, adding fuel to an already swirling scandal about the way the Vatican in general, and Benedict in particular, have handled reports of child abuse over the years.
Yesterday, a group of abuse victims provided the documentation to reporters outside the Vatican, where they held a press conference to denounce Benedict's handling of the case.
"The goal of Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was to keep this secret," said Peter Isely, Milwaukee-based director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"This is the most incontrovertible case of pedophilia you could get," Isely said. "We need to know why he (the pope) did not let us know about him (Murphy) and why he didn't let the police know about him and why he did not condemn him and why he did not take his collar away from him."
Vatican spokesman the Reverend Federico Lombardi issued a statement noting that the case had only reached the Vatican in 1996, that Murphy died two years later, and that there was nothing in the church's handling of the matter that precluded any civil action.
Murphy worked at the former St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1975. He died in 1998.
His alleged victims were not limited to the deaf boys' school. Donald Marshall, 45, of West Allis, Wisconsin, said he was abused by Murphy when he was a teenager at the Lincoln Hills School, a juvenile detention center in Irma in northern Wisconsin.
"These predators are preying on God's children," he said. "How can they even stand up at the pulpit and preach the word of God?"
Church and Vatican documents obtained by lawyers who have filed lawsuits alleging the Archdiocese of Milwaukee didn't take sufficient action against Murphy show that as many as 200 deaf students had accused him of molesting them.
While the documents - letters between the diocese and Rome, notes taken during meetings, and summaries of meetings - are remarkable in the repeated desire to keep the case secret, they do suggest a determined effort by bishops to bring a canonical trial against Murphy.
Ratzinger's deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, though, shut the process down after Murphy wrote him a letter saying he had repented, was old and ailing, and that the statute of limitations had run out.
Despite the grave allegations, Ratzinger's deputy at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the alleged molestation had occurred too long ago and the priest, the Reverend Lawrence Murphy, should instead repent and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside of his diocese.
The New York Times broke the story yesterday, adding fuel to an already swirling scandal about the way the Vatican in general, and Benedict in particular, have handled reports of child abuse over the years.
Yesterday, a group of abuse victims provided the documentation to reporters outside the Vatican, where they held a press conference to denounce Benedict's handling of the case.
"The goal of Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was to keep this secret," said Peter Isely, Milwaukee-based director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"This is the most incontrovertible case of pedophilia you could get," Isely said. "We need to know why he (the pope) did not let us know about him (Murphy) and why he didn't let the police know about him and why he did not condemn him and why he did not take his collar away from him."
Vatican spokesman the Reverend Federico Lombardi issued a statement noting that the case had only reached the Vatican in 1996, that Murphy died two years later, and that there was nothing in the church's handling of the matter that precluded any civil action.
Murphy worked at the former St John's School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1975. He died in 1998.
His alleged victims were not limited to the deaf boys' school. Donald Marshall, 45, of West Allis, Wisconsin, said he was abused by Murphy when he was a teenager at the Lincoln Hills School, a juvenile detention center in Irma in northern Wisconsin.
"These predators are preying on God's children," he said. "How can they even stand up at the pulpit and preach the word of God?"
Church and Vatican documents obtained by lawyers who have filed lawsuits alleging the Archdiocese of Milwaukee didn't take sufficient action against Murphy show that as many as 200 deaf students had accused him of molesting them.
While the documents - letters between the diocese and Rome, notes taken during meetings, and summaries of meetings - are remarkable in the repeated desire to keep the case secret, they do suggest a determined effort by bishops to bring a canonical trial against Murphy.
Ratzinger's deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, though, shut the process down after Murphy wrote him a letter saying he had repented, was old and ailing, and that the statute of limitations had run out.
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