Another bishop, the retired Rev. Rik Deville, told the Associated Press that he heard of the allegations from the boy's family and reported it to the archbishop more than 17 years ago. Archbishop Danneels does not remember it. Deville counters: "There was no way not to hear what I told him. It was extremely serious business at the time."
Deville told the AP he reported many allegations of abuse in the 1990s, but they were ignored or dealt with privately. Deville says of Archbishop Danneels that "sometimes he got angry and said it was not my job, that I should not get involved."
Meanwhile, the Vatican finally seems stirred into belated action -- quickly accepting resignations from bishops who were either involved in coverup or as abusers themselves. In the past week, the "longest-serving" bishop in Belgium and the "most-revered" bishop in Chile have been implicated as abusers. Important bishops in Ireland have resigned. How much higher up does this go?
Evidence of a culture of secrecy and coverup is now unmistakable, coming forth in allegations like Bishop Deville's about his rebuffed attempts to inform. But the problematic attitude in the Vatican continues. Listen to the words from Vatican spokesman and #2 in the hierarchy, Cardinal Lombardi:
"The time has come for truth, transparency and credibility. The situation we are going through is extremely demanding and it requires us to be absolutely truthful and credible.""The time has come . . ."??? Oh? The time came years ago. What has come now is the world screaming loud enough finally that the church had to pay attention. It's not because any internal reflection emerged. They had to be clobbered with it.
"The situation we are going through requires us . . . ??? Oh? Still the victim, and the problem is what's happening now? The Vatican was not required to be truthful and credible UNTIL NOW?
I still think the resignations will have to go higher -- into the Vatican itself, if not indeed Benedict himself.
Ralph
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