Impunity at the top of the Church
From an article by Rosie DiManno published in The Star on Thu 16 Feb 2012
See http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1132783--dimanno-impunity-at-the-top-of-the-church for the full article. This article does not mention Exclusive Brethrenism, but the weaknesses and errors that in the eyes of this columnist have jeopardized the long-term survival of the Roman Catholic Church have obvious parallels in EBism, Scientology and many similar authoritarian organizations.
Dictators, who tend not to die peacefully in their beds, are among the few on this planet who can claim a job for life.And then there’s the pope.
No challenge to his authority, no Catholic Spring, no curia putsch allowed there; can’t be dislodged for reasons of poor health, psychological trauma or colossally bad judgment in ministering to the world’s nearly 2 billion faithful.
Pontiffs are sitting pretty once elected by conclave. The last pope to resign was Gregory XII in 1415, a strategic maneuver to end the battle for the papacy (three vying) that was known as the Western schism. The Code of Canon Law contains no apparatus for yanking a Bishop of Rome who’s botched it.
While popes are not technically “infallible’’ — a misconception of nuance; they’re only “error-free’’ when performing in their official capacity to promulgate dogma on faith and morals — they can’t be given the sack for getting it spectacularly wrong because, in those matters that most directly affect us, they’re unimpeachably right. Got it?
Understanding arcane intricacies of canon law is as challenging as that whole Father-Son-Holy Ghost trinity thing, which is why most Catholics simply take it on faith. Faith, however, has never in modern memory been so fragile, so at risk, as under Benedict XVI, with alarming numbers abandoning the Church, at least in the West.
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To be fair, most of the tawdry abuse that has come to light in recent years occurred during the papacy of Pope John Paul II. For all his charisma and political courage, John Paul never confronted the pedophilia rot among his clergy, the Church more concerned with protecting its reputation than protecting children. But, in his quarter-century as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — disciplinarian-in-chief — Benedict, or Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as he then was — was directly responsible for dealing with priests who violated their oaths. Instead, known perpetrators were quietly moved around parishes and, on too many occasions, continued to commit sordid crimes.
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That “evil” has reportedly cost the church $2 billion in lawsuit settlements.
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I’ll say it again: Benedict’s hands are dirty.Can’t even slide him out of the picture gracefully as a pope emeritus, no matter how doddering he gets, no matter how complicit he might be proven to have been in the concealing of predator priests.
Benedict turns 85 in April. He’ll die a pope. But, for many of us, he will have been predeceased by his church.
