Good decisions in Washington

Two speakers have been disinvited because of their prior offensive statements.

1. Evangelist Franklin Graham was scheduled to speak at the Pentagon's National Day of Prayer, but the invitation has been rescinded because of comments he made in the past. In 2001 he called Islam "evil." More recently he has said that he finds Islam "offensive," and he wants Muslims "to know that Jesus Christ died for their sins."

An army spokesman distanced the military from the invitation, saying it had been arranged by the National Day of Prayer Task Force and that the remarks are inappropriate.

At least someone at the Pentagon is thinking.

2. Former Vatican cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos was to celebrate mass at the Basilica in Washington in honor of Pope Benedict. That invitation has been withdrawn because of a letter he wrote in 2001 praising a bishop in France who had been convicted for failing to report sex crimes by a priest who had raped children. Hoyos wrote:

"I congratulate you for not denouncing a priest to the civil administration. . . You have acted well, and I am pleased to have a colleague in the episcopate who, in the eyes of history and of all other bishops in the world, preferred prison to denouncing his son and priest." The cardinal says that Pope John Paul II authorized the letter and told him to send it to bishops around the world.

That is the most startling thing of all. What better evidence is there of the attitude at the very top of the Vatican hierarchy that led to the culture of abuse and coverup?

Ralph