Themedia coverage ofCatholic sex abuse cases is a major aspect of the academic literature surrounding the pederastic priest scandal.
According to a study conducted jointly by the Project for Excellence in Journalism and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, both of which belong to the nonprofit, nonpartisan Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.:[2][3]
However, it was not until early 2002 that theBoston Globe coverage of a series of criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests thrust the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests into the national limelight on an ongoing basis.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] The coverage of these cases encouraged other victims to come forward with their allegations of abuse resulting in more lawsuits and criminal cases.[11]
In a May 2002 interview with the Italian Catholic publication,30 Giorni, CardinalOscar Maradiaga claimed that Jews influenced theBoston Globe to exploit the recent controversy regarding sexual abuse by Catholic priests in order to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.[12] This provoked outrage from theAnti-Defamation League, especially since Maradiaga had a reputation as a moderate and was regarded as apapabile.[12]
Before theBoston Globe coverage of thesexual abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese, handling of sexual abuse allegations was largely left up to the discretion of individual bishops. After the number of allegations exploded following theGlobe's series of articles, U.S. bishops felt compelled to formulate a coordinated response at the episcopal conference level.
In addition to matters regarding priests, theBoston Globe also reported in 2002 on matters with church staff, including a pastoral care and CCD worker, Paul Merullo, and a teenager, inWoburn, Massachusetts, which had occurred in 2000 but only made public in 2001. Merullo was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.[13]
In 2003, the series of articles in theBoston Globe received aPulitzer Prize for Public Service.The Globe was honored, according to the Pulitzer website, "for its courageous, comprehensive coverage ... an effort that pierced secrecy, stirred local, national and international reaction and produced changes in the Roman Catholic Church."
 | The examples and perspective in this sectiondeal primarily with the United Kingdom and United States and do not represent aworldwide view of the subject. You mayimprove this section, discuss the issue on thetalk page, or create a new section, as appropriate.(July 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
On March 24, 2010, a report byThe New York Times cited the Fr. Murphy case to accusePope Benedict XVI of a cover-up while he was head of the CDF in 1996.[14]
However, Father Thomas Brundage, judicial vicar who presided at the Church's internal discipline trial of the case stated that even though his name and comments had been liberally and often inaccurately quoted inThe New York Times and more than 100 other newspapers and on-line periodicals, he had never once been contacted by any news organization for comment. He added that "Pope Benedict XVI has done more than any other pope or bishop in history to rid the Catholic Church of the scourge of child sexual abuse and provide for those who have been injured...on the day that Father Murphy died, he was still the defendant in a church criminal trial."[15]
It was also claimed thatThe New York Times article used an incorrect translation of the document on which it based its claims. Paolo Rodari of the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, wrote: "The computer-generated English version would support the NYT's allegations against Bertone and Ratzinger, but that same conclusion is not possible if a correct review of the sources is done." He added that in the official Italian text written by the CDF, it is explained that either Fr. Murphy gives ‘clear signs of repentance’ or the canonical process will go to the end, including his dismissal from the clerical state. But in the English version used by the NYT, not only were some passages omitted, but frequently the contrary was said.[16]
Director of Apologetics and Evangelization forCatholic Answers,Jimmy Akin, also pointed out, "Back in 1996 the CDF did not have a mandate to handle cases of sexual abuse by priests... The reason that Weakland notified the CDF was not because the abuse of minors was involved but because the abuse of the sacrament of confession was involved."[17]
In April 2010, there were reports of a letter signed by Cardinal Ratzinger in 1985, in which he allegedly dismissed a request to laicize a Father Stephen Kiesle, a California priest accused of molesting boys. The Vatican responded that "...the letter followed a request from the priest himself for laicization, supported by the bishop. As such it was not a punishment, or part of a canonical process or the civil trial. At this stage, Father Kiesle was already dismissed from pastoral duties during the investigation, and he had no contact with any parishioners or children."[18] The Pope's involvement with the 1985 letter has been covered in a two-part feature by the BBC.[19][20]
The Australiantransport planning academicPaul Mees wrote, "Why did Ratzinger need to consider the request, Dawkins asks? And why didn’t he report Kiesle to the police? The answer is that Kiesle had already been reported to the police, convicted and sentenced. After completing his sentence, Kiesle left the priesthood and wrote to the CDF asking to be formally defrocked. Every year, some of the church's 410,000 priests quit."[21]
Law professor John Coverdale, in a letter toThe New York Times, wrote, "The [Laurie Goodstein] story is so wrong that it is hard to believe it is not animated by the anti-Catholic animus that the New York Times and other media outlets deny harboring... My complaint here is not that the article misuses the word "defrock" but rather that by so doing it strongly suggests to readers that Cardinal Ratzinger delayed the priest's removal from the ministry. Delaying laicization had nothing to do with allowing him to continue exercising the ministry, from which he had already been suspended. Not only does the article fail to make these distinctions, it positively misstate the facts. Its title is "Pope Put off Move toPunish Abusive Priest.""[22]
A documentary entitledSex Crimes and the Vatican, produced by a victim of clerical sex abuse for the BBC in 2006, included the claim that all allegations of sex abuse are to be sent to the Vatican rather than the civil authorities, and that "a secret church decree calledCrimen sollicitationis ... imposes the strictest oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation, and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means instant banishment from the Catholic Church - excommunication."
However,John L. Allen Jr. noted that three points had been established[23] aboutCrimen sollicitationis since the airing ofWorcester Telegram and Gazette in July 2003:
Canon lawyers also toldNational Catholic Reporter[25] that the high degree of secrecy in Crimen Sollicitationis was related to the fact that it dealt with the confessional. Secrecy in canonical cases serves three purposes:
A number of books have been written about the abuse suffered from priests and nuns including Andrew Madden inAltar Boy: A Story of Life After Abuse, Carolyn Lehman'sStrong at the Heart: How it feels to heal from sexual abuse and the bestsellingKathy's Story by Kathy O'Beirne, which details physical and sexual abuse suffered in aMagdalene laundry in Ireland. Ed West ofThe Daily Telegraph claimed Kathy Beirne's story was "largely invented", according to a book byHermann Kelly, aDerry-bornIrish Daily Mail journalist and former editor ofThe Irish Catholic.[26]
Jose Rizal described the sexual abuses of the Church in his novelsNoli Me Tangere andEl Filibusterismo by portraying friars like Fray Damaso, Fray Salvi and Fray Cammora as sexual deviants, the former fathered a child, the latter two raped women, particularly a nun.
Many films have been made about sex abuse within the Church, including:
More films and documentariesArchived 2014-01-02 at theWayback Machine
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