The leader of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops said he hoped Good Friday would herald a new start for the Church after a spate of child abuse allegations. Archbishop Robert Zollitsch acknowledged that the Church had failed to help victims of abuse by priests. He blamed the failure on what he called mistaken concern over the Church's reputation. In his message, Archbishop Zollitsch spoke of wounds that may never be healed, and the pain, fear, and shame felt by Catholics.
Via Crucis, Caracas
"Today the Church is conscious that ... it did not do enough to help the victims due to disappointment over the painful failings of the perpetrators and due to falsely understood concerns about the Church's image," he said. He added that he hoped Good Friday could "be a new start for the Church that is so urgently needed".
Meanwhiile, the leader of the Catholic Church in Scotland is to say sorry to the victims of sexual abuse by priests in his Easter Sunday address, it has emerged. Cardinal Keith O'Brien will apologise to those who have suffered any abuse by representatives of the church. He will say Catholics are "demoralised and confused" by the "many evils" perpetrated by paedophile priests. The Church has been accused of covering up and "turning a blind eye" to allegations of child abuse by priests. In his Easter Sunday homily at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, the cardinal will speak of the "shame" the abuse scandal has brought to the members of the Church.
Yet at a Good Friday service in St Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Preacher of the Pontifical Household compared criticism of the Church over abuse allegations to "the collective violence suffered by the Jews". Fr Cantalamessa said he had been inspired by a letter from a Jewish friend who had been upset by the "attacks" against the Pope. "The use of stereotypes and the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," he quoted the letter as saying, as the Pope listened.
The general-secretary of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Stephan Kramer, told the Associated Press the remarks were "repulsive, obscene and most of all offensive towards all abuse victims as well as to all the victims of the Holocaust". David Goldberg, of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London, told the BBC the comparison between criticism of the Pope and anti-Semitism was an inept analogy, but he did not think they were ill-intentioned. "It rather struck me how out of touch so many people in the Vatican are in terms of either understanding the Jewish psyche or in actually dealing with the outrage that so many people, Catholic or otherwise, throughout the world feel," he said.
A spokesman for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) said the sermon had been "reckless and irresponsible. They're sitting in the papal palace, they're experiencing a little discomfort, and they're going to compare themselves to being rounded up or lined up and sent in cattle cars to Auschwitz?" said Peter Isely. "You cannot be serious." The head of Germany's Central Council of Jews described the Easter sermon as unprecedented "insolence".
The Vatican said the remarks did not represent its official position. Drawing such parallels could "lead to misunderstandings", spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi told the Associated Press.
Indeed it could, Federico, indeed it could.
UPDATE
And of course Rowan Williams has to stick his fucking oar in ... here.
UPDATE II
And then has to apologise for what he said ... here.
UPDATE III - 04/04/10 at 16.20
A senior cardinal has said the Roman Catholic faithful will not be swayed by "petty gossip" about child sex-abuse allegations. Expressing solidatiy with the Pope, he said "Holy Father, the people of God are with you and will not let themselves be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials that sometimes assail the community of believers." Meanwhile, the Pope's personal preacher has apologised for comparing criticism of the Catholic Church over child abuse to "collective violence suffered by the Jews" in a Good Friday sermon.
"The Pope seems uncertain how to deal with a crisis of confidence unparalleled in modern times. The Vatican's public relations strategy so far has been to blame the media - particularly the foreign media - for exaggerating the problem. Many bishops have rallied to support the Pope and his policies for dealing with paedophile priests, although some are openly demanding greater humility and transparency from the Church. The Vatican has in the past consistently played down the extent of clerical paedophilia. Its spokesman has been engaged in a major damage control operation. He has to try to convince the world that policies now in place are adequate to tackle the problem and ensure that clerics who commit these crimes are properly tried in the civil courts as well as punished by Church authorities."
David Willey, BBC News, Rome
UPDATE IV - Pope doesn't give a fuck.
THE END
