Vatican Compares Media Focus On Priest Child Sex Abuse To Antisemitism

A senior Vatican priest speaking at a Good Friday service compared the uproar over sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of Jews.

At Vatican Service, Persecution of Jews Is Invoked
By DANIEL J. WAKIN and RACHEL DONADIO • New York Times

ROME — A senior Vatican priest speaking at a Good Friday service compared the uproar over sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church — which have included reports about Pope Benedict XVI’s oversight role in two cases — to the persecution of the Jews, sharply raising the volume in the Vatican’s counterattack.

The remarks, on the day Christians mark the crucifixion, underscored how much the Catholic Church has felt under attack from recent news reports and criticism over how it has handled charges of child molestation against priests in the past, and sought to focus attention on the church as the central victim.

In recent weeks, Vatican officials and many bishops have angrily denounced news reports that Benedict failed to act strongly enough against pedophile priests, once as archbishop of Munich and Friesing in 1980 and once as a leader of a powerful Vatican congregation in the 1990s.

Benedict sat looking downward when the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, who holds the office of preacher of the papal household, delivered his remarks in the traditional prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica. Wearing the brown cassock of a Franciscan, Father Cantalamessa took note that Easter and Passover were falling during the same week this year, saying he was led to think of the Jews. “They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms,” he said.

Father Cantalamessa quoted from what he said was a letter from an unnamed Jewish friend. “I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole word,” he said the friend wrote. “The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi stressed that Father Cantalamessa’s sermon represented his own private thoughts and was not “an official statement” from the Vatican.

He said it was incorrect to interpret the remarks as comparing recent criticism of the Catholic Church to anti-Semitism, but should instead be read as a sign of “solidarity” by Father Cantalamessa’s Jewish friend.

Father Lombardi said that he personally did not think that criticism of the church could be compared to anti-Semitism.

“I don’t think it’s an appropriate comparison,” he said. “That’s why the letter should be read as a letter of solidarity by a Jew.”

“It is not meant as an attack on the Jewish world, anything but,” Father Lombardi added. He said that Benedict had no role in the sermon.

Even as the priest spoke out against attacks on the church, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, head of the German Bishops Conference, said that sex abuse victims were not helped enough “out of a misplaced concern for the reputation of the church.” The church, he said, was shaken by “the suffering inflicted on the victims, who often for decades could not put their injuries into words.” Bishops around Europe have been offering similar remarks in recent days, following up on a major statement on molestation in the Irish church by the pope.

Father Cantalamessa’s comments about the Jews came toward the end of a long talk about scripture, the nature of violence and the sacrifice of Jesus. He also spoke about violence against women, but gave only a slight mention of the children and adolescents who have been molested by priests. “I am not speaking here of violence against children, of which unfortunately also elements of the clergy are stained; of that there is sufficient talk outside of here,” he said.

Disclosures about hundreds of such cases have emerged in recent months in Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and France, after a previous round of scandal in the United States earlier this decade.

A leading advocate for sex abuse victims in the United States, David Clohessy, called comparing criticism of the church to persecution of the Jews “breathtakingly callous and misguided.”

“Men who deliberately and consistently hide child sex crime are in no way victims,” he said. “And to conflate public scrutiny with horrific violence is about as wrong as wrong can be.”

The comments could cause a new twist in Vatican-Jewish relations, which have had ups and downs during Benedict’s papacy.

Rabbi Riccardo di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome, who hosted Benedict at the Rome synagogue in January on a visit that helped calm waters after a year of tensions, laughed in seeming disbelief when asked about Father Cantalamessa’s remarks.

“With a minimum of irony, I will say that today is Good Friday, when they pray that the Lord illuminate our hearts so we recognize Jesus,” Rabbi Di Segni said, referring to a prayer in a traditional Catholic liturgy calling for the conversion of the Jews. “We also pray that the Lord illuminate theirs.”

In 2008, Benedict ruffled feathers with Jewish groups when he issued a ruling making it easier to use the Latin Mass including that Good Friday prayer, which had fallen out of widespread use after the liberalizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In January 2009, he stirred outrage when he revoked the excommunication of four schismatic bishops, one of whom turned out to have denied the scope of the Holocaust.

The legacy of the wartime pope, Pius XII, has been another sticking point. Some say he didn’t do enough to save Jews during the Holocaust; on a visit to the Rome synagogue in January, Benedict said that the Holy See had “provided assistance, often in a hidden and discreet way,” to help Jews.

Father Cantalamessa’s remarks come after weeks of intense scrutiny of Benedict, which some Italian media have seen in conspiratorial terms. Last week, the center-left daily La Repubblica wrote, without attribution, that “certain Catholic circles” believed the criticism of the church stemmed from “a New York ‘Jewish lobby.’”Father Cantalamessa is a longtime fixture in the papal household, having been its official preacher since 1980. It is an ancient role, established by Pope Paul IV in the middle of the 16th century. The job is reserved for a member of the Franciscan Order of Capuchin Friars Minor. The apostolic preacher, as he also is called, gives meditations — especially during Advent and Lent — for the pope, cardinals, bishops and leaders of religious orders.

Father Cantalamessa was also tasked to deliver a meditation on the problems facing the church and need for careful consideration to the college of cardinals shortly after the death of John Paul II, as they prepared to elect his successor. Their choice was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict.

Later in the evening, Benedict was to move on to the Colosseum, to take part in the Way of the Cross procession marking Jesus’ final hours and his crucifixion.

Nicholas Kulish contributed reporting from Berlin.

Comments

[maven]

Wonkette has this story exactly right: http://wonkette.com/414615/vatican-hacks-blames-anti-semitism-for-global-outrage-over-his-church-raping-children#more-414615

[HaNavon]

which is comically ironic since the vatican was the greatest cause of antisemitism for the past 1500 years!
i truly believe that we should bring a lawsuit in the world court against the vatican for reimbursement to the jewish people for all of the centuries of rape, murder, war crimes and theft that we incurred at their hands.

[maven]

I don't think you meant "incurred", we didn't bring those things upon ourselves.

[Yochanan Lavie]

The Vatican is no longer a threat to us. Iran is.

[Bilaam's Ass]

Hanavon I am with you.

At the least the return of all the legendary Jewish goods they have 'kept' stored in underground vaults.

[Gabriel Wilensky]

OPEN LETTER TO REV. CANTALAMESSA

Rev. Cantalamessa, you really messed up today. I know you didn’t mean to insult anyone when you compared the current attacks on the Catholic Church and Pope Benedict with the persecution of the Jews, but you did, and you did it big time. It seems that you are ignoring a few important points: first of all, there is no comparison because the Church persecuted the Jews for no other reason than their Jewishness, which the Church found intolerable, while the current attacks on the Church and the Pope—I wouldn’t quite call it “persecution”—are well deserved as the Church seems to have an endemic child abuse problem compounded with on obstruction of justice problem. This is not the first time this happens. It’s best to not even talk about the Middle Ages. Hopefully the Pope will make use of his power and swiftly remove any offenders from the Church and hand them over to the civil authorities for prosecution, as would be the case with any child molester. The attacks on the Pope are well deserved too. He was responsible for some of these cases before he became pope and he not only did not punish these priests, he moved them to other places where they were able to molest children again! So, it’s hard to feel sorry for the Church or the Pope these days. You also seem to have forgotten that of the 365 days of the year, this is the least appropriate day to make such comparison with the persecution of the Jews. Should I remind you of the forced conversion of the Jews, instituted by the Church centuries ago? Should I remind you of the incitement to violence in the faithful every Good Friday after sermons and Passion Plays? Should I remind you of the accusation of deicide which prompted countless acts of Christian violence toward Jews? Or the Good Friday prayer which asked God to lift the veil of the blind, perfidious Jews?

It makes me wonder about your boss, Pope Benedict, too, because one needs to ask oneself the uncomfortable question of why he didn’t stand up as you were making this innapropriate comparison and distance himself and the Church from your comments. But then, maybe one should not be so surprised about this given his recent track record regarding the sexual predator priests, or his treatment of the whole Bishop Williamson affair, or his reinstating the Good Friday prayer referenced above, or his rush canonization process for the problematic wartime Pope Pius XII. In a way, seeing Pope Benedict looking at the floor today as you uttered those words reminded me of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, who also stood silently by the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad in 2001 as Assad let loose an antisemitic rant that was broadcast in the entire Christian world. Assad, like the Catholic Church before him, presented Jews as enemies of God. Also like Christians before him, Assad used the Christian blood libel of Jews as Christ-killers. Pope John Paul II did not see fit to stop him right then and there and thus appeared to implicitly accept Assad’s vitriolic statements.

Perhaps this issue of silent popes is also endemic in the Church. After all, Pope Pius XI and his successor Pope Pius XII both stood by silently as the Nazis slowly and inexorably dehumanized, demonized, and exterminated millions of Jews during the Second World War.

To wrap it up, Rev. Cantalamessa, as the sole and direct preacher to the pope I think you yourself need some advicing. I would encourage you to think about these things, and next time you sit with Pope Benedict advice him better.

Gabriel Wilensky

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[HaNavon]

gabriel, where does the name 'wilensky' come from?? my mothers father family was welinsky, sometimes spelled wellensky, re you related perhaps?

[HaNavon]

maven,

incurred can mean 'encountered', not only 'brought upon ourselves'.
it actually has come to mean brought upon ourselves, but when one analyzes the word, he will see that it means to 'encounter', since it comes from the latin 'currere', to run, which becomes incur, as in 'to run into', or to 'encounter'.

[A. Nuran]

He's right, you know. The child abuse scandal is a lot like anti-semitism. In both cases it's baby-raping priests who are responsible.

[Abracadabra]

Yochanan Lavie,

The Catholic Church is very powerful in Europe. Don't underestimate it's power to sway people against Jews.

Yes, Iran is an IMMEDIATE threat to us. But the Church faithful or Catholic Priests running around claiming they are being persecuted by "Jewish lobbyists" or "The Jewish Media" could BECOME an immediate threat to us.

If there is one thing we should have learned from our history, it's to "watch our backs".

[Hometown Postville]

He's right, you know. The child abuse scandal is a lot like anti-semitism. In both cases it's baby-raping priests who are responsible.
Posted by: A. Nuran

I agree A. Nuran. Passing the buck is not going to make it go away. Instead of commiserating, there needs to be more accountability and prevention. Besides that, dealing with it from within is not working for either religion. Treating it as a crime(as it is)and with non-church related professionals is the only way this will become more out in the open and more shameful for those who are doing it.Then the churches can focus more on prevention. It's not always about sex, it's more about power and control. What does that tell you about religious hierarchy?

[Adam Neira]

I watch world events very, very closely. You cannot change something unless you are first ware of it. The components of love are knowledge, respect, care and responsibility. I created a web presence for my vision in April 2000. I have been auditing the zeitgeist on many levels all my life, but especially since 1995. I have been led and guided in this expansion of my awareness. The media circulating around this issue with the Catholic Church and the effect on the prevailing Vox populi is fascinating. There is a lot of confusion out there at the moment. People do not know how to "rate" and weigh up the various issues. Many people have all their priorities wrong and are thus very unsure of what is actually going on and what they should do about it. The holocaust and anti-Jewish behaviour is one thing. Child sexual abuse is another thing. All crimes can be rated. There is a hierarchy of crime and punishment. A Rabbi who wears tfillin and tzitzit, recites his prayers perfectly, keeps shabbat and kashrus perfectly who goes home and rapes his children does far more damage to the fabric of the universe than does a traditional Jew who treats his community, friends, partner and children decently. I am not having a go at the Rabbis, just making a very important point.

The other side to this is that Judaism is explicit in its belief in the ultimate mercy of G-d. The redemption, or counter-balancing, of an individual, nation or civilisation can unfold over time if true repentance takes place. The redemption does need certain “pivots” however. A tipping point is reached when enough people choose to act well. This process has been accelerated, bizrat hashed since 1998, but especially over the last two years. One good thing that is eventuating from the media exposure of this issue right now is that all the perpetrators of child sexual abuse,(and there are hundreds of millions of them in the world in all communities including Jewish ones, are pulling their heads in and are being very reflective and careful. A criminal always remembers their crimes even if they try and submerge it beneath many years of obfuscations, lies, denials and calcified positions. We have all done things we regret. No-one except a pure, innocent and free child is perfect.

G-d is the ultimate auditor of humankind. He has a super-sized spreadsheet on which is written the entire demerit and merit points of the dead and the living. He knows what the “score” is. The key now for all the various “leaders” of the world and that includes the Gedolim of Israel is for them to defer to the highest point of wisdom/apex/mountain of the lord on Planet Earth right now. The Catholic priests guilty of such despicable crimes, which should punishable by execution, are just a small drop in a very black bucket.
There is a way out of this mess. I enjoy enacting G-d’s plans and have been doing so for a long time. The divine Rubik’s Cube can be solved. A literal Ganeden down her on terra firma can be reached by the year 2050. The Third Temple can be built in its rightful place and in peace in the coming decades. In the midst of evil I have always believed that the universe is stable, ordered, benevolent and expansive. Let us all put our cards on the table and see where things fall. As prophesied truth and justice really will reign from Jerusalem and the word will go forth.

P.S. To explain exactly what it is that I am aware of would require many, many hours of instruction and listening. I may just record everything soon. Truth is my strongest ally. Age is not wisdom, life experience is !