Matthew Xuereb
Verdict on child abuse claims will not be made public - Curia
The Curia's Response Team set up to investigate claims of child abuse by priests does not make its conclusions public, but instead communicates them to the interested parties.
Once the Response Team concludes that there was "a semblance of truth in the accusations", the Vatican may appoint an ad hoc tribunal to decide on the punishment, with the harshest being the dismissal from priesthood, a spokesman for the Curia told The Sunday Times.
The team, headed by retired judge Victor Caruana Colombo, is still investigating the cases involving four priests which came to light in 2003. The criminal cases against three of the priests have not been concluded either.
Ten men claim to have been abused by priests in a St Venera orphanage in the 1980s and 1990s, in a case which made world headlines when Pope Benedict XVI visited Malta last month and met the alleged victims.
Replying to questions on procedure, the spokesman explained that the Response Team's decision will be communicated to the interested parties, including the head of the Maltese church.
Archbishop Paul Cremona will be "obliged" to refer the case, together with the necessary documentation, to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the competent authority that deals with these issues.
The Congregation may authorise Mgr Cremona to set up a special tribunal, similar to the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, to determine the fate of priests involved in the scandal.
Asked whether there will be a separate tribunal for each of the priests, should a basis for the allegations be established, the spokesman said this will only be decided by the Vatican's Promoter of Justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Mgr Charles Scicluna.
The spokesman would not comment on claims that a fourth priest was still being investigated by the Response Team, despite a declaration by police that his case was time-barred.
However, the Curia said that although according to Canon Law cases are time-barred after 10 years of their commission, there is no such restriction on suspected child abuse cases.
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H.Zammit
May 17th 2010, 11:54
Dear Louise, Keep on waging war on pedophile priests. But then in all honesty you have to battle other forms of serious abuses and scandals: a) scantily dressed women on female magazines, television advertisements, in the streets, on buses, on the beaches; b) pornographic websites being distributed among our minors; c) paedophile parents, grandparents and other inlaws, whose names are not published by court orders 'to defend the minors' ; or are there other reasons?; d) women, who are not scantily dressed but who wear very tight suggestive trousers and thus exhibit their genitalia, scandilising the young and not so young; e) parents who leave their children alone for long hours and could not care less if they roam the streets even until the late hours of the night. Even these are members of the Catholic Church. LORD HAVE MERCY
D Vella
May 17th 2010, 10:27
Paul Konti,by your actions you may have condemned other children to the same fate as you...did you think of the consequences of your non action?
malcolm seychell
May 16th 2010, 21:22
Shame on the Curia.
Michael Neville Cassar
May 16th 2010, 20:50
What a lot of nonsense here we have a situation of justice under cover by procedures. Well beware because by hiding you are putting great doubt on your correctness while keeping away souls away from trusting you with their children. One wonders if we are in the year 2010 or in the Knights era the more transparency there is the more trust is gained by the church.
wally vella-zarb
May 16th 2010, 18:55
The quote "a semblance of truth in the accusations" sums up the attitude of this tribunal very neatly. Every organisation has the right to hold its own internal investigation, no matter how farcical. On the other hand, no organisation has the right to expect its members to be treated differently from any other citizen. A child rapist is a heinous creature that is a disgrace to wherever he belongs. If that child rapist happens to be a member of a clergy, his crime if anything, becomes even worse because he would have abused a position of trust. Anybody who tries to cover up such a crime becomes almost as repulsive as the child rapist himself, regardless of his race, colour, creed or nationality. Senile amateur Don Quixotes might be excused because they do not know any better.
EDWIN DE MARCO
May 16th 2010, 14:39
To all KAZZOLICISSIMI (NO MISPRINT) commenters who don't care about the victims but instead are defending the identified priest perverts. Take a look at what Christ said about child abuse. "Ahjar torbot mazzra m'ghonqok milli tabbuza minn wiehed/wahda mit-tfal iz-zghar." This holier-than-thou attitude that some KAZZOLICISSIMI persist in is terrible. Actually they're a threat to the Church.
Dr Francis Saliba
May 17th 2010, 16:13
Quoting the words of Christ in the same comment in which you deliberately insult his followers as KAZZOLICISSIMI (NO MISPRINT) is a vulgarity that only reflects badly on you and fails to contribute anything worthwhile to the discussion.
EDWIN DE MARCO
May 16th 2010, 14:31
@Kristen Micallef. Seriously, you have every right to be concerned. It seems that Vatican promises are there to be broken. On a lighter note, if you manage to get the Pope's mobile number I'm sure he'll do all he can to solve your problem, probably he'll come running back to Malta since he enjoyed it so much.........!
William P Flynn
May 16th 2010, 14:25
Other dioceses and other archbishops on the other hand, have decided to adopt a full disclosure and collaboration policy with the police.
See and hear Archbishop Dermott Martin, for example, on BBC Newsnight tell how he deals with information on child rapist priests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwNdOJzFITo
Gerry Cowie
May 16th 2010, 14:19
@William P flynn, citizen of Australia:- please follow your own advice and "butt out of this argument, which does not concern you!" By your own admission you lapsed from the Catholic faith and now it seems to be your life's work to exploit in it any weakness which you perceive in your endless and fruitless exercise to change Malta into the secular state you wish it to become from all those thousands of miles away!
The Church will deal with things as it sees fit and the authorities will deal with things as they see fit so that your secular desires will be dealt with in this case.
As you know what makes the headlines are only the "tastier" sensationalist things - you should know since you always use the most extreme examples sifted from the internet!
Now let the authorities do what they have to do and let the Church which you so detest do what she has to do. Your comments are of no consequence to the situation!
I am curious to know why you did not come to Malta and arrest His Holiness "Ratzinger" for all the "crimes" which you have decreed herein he has personally committed!
Louise Vella
May 16th 2010, 13:02
In 2000 I gave my testimony to the Response Team about an “allegation” I knew of. Dissatisfied with the lack of follow-up, I started writing in newspapers about the problem. In 2006, shortly before retiring, Archbishop Mercieca called me to meet him. I went along with my husband. Archbishop Mercieca showed me a file he had with my letters to newspapers. At first he said that I had no proof of what I was writing about. When I held my ground, he told me that the priest in question (whom he named) had done so many ugly things that he had sent his file to the Vatican and the priest had been suspended more than a year before.
I invited the Archbishop to issue a press release so that parents would know and keep their children away from the priest. He told me he would ask for advice. No information was ever published. The real problem is that priests who are the subject of more than just allegations are left in the community or sent abroad, some of them to the missions, were they are likely to repeat their behaviour.
Dr Francis Saliba
May 16th 2010, 17:55
You do not mention at all any reporting you made to the police and the action taken by them. Presumably you are satisfied with the justice meted out by the secular power. You give the strong impression that you are not after justice at all but you are out for your "pound of flesh" carved out of the body of the whole universal Church because of the sin of one individual erring priest.
Anthony Briffa
May 16th 2010, 12:28
"but instead communicates them to the interested parties"
Are the Police included in the list of interested parties. Child abuse is a crime punishable by law and the police should prosecute in front of the courts anybody, without distinction, whoever commits such crimes.
Short of passing the information to the police for their action, the task force will be doing a disservice to the church and to the faithful.
Dr Francis Saliba
May 16th 2010, 15:32
Apart from an innate antagonism towards the Church what could be your reason for insisting that the Church Response Team - and not the victim himself if competent, his relatives or guardians - should pass the information to the police? The victim's family must have its very good reasons for not exposing a young victim to the psychological trauma of an unsavoury court case. Judge Victor Caruana Colombo has given his good reasons why the Response Team is prevented from doing so. In these circumstances what right have you to demand that the response team overrule the family's wishes and also ignore the confidentiality inherent to their appointment? What chance is there for the police to prosecute successfully if the victims and their family have the legal right to decline to testify?
Paul Konti
May 16th 2010, 12:27
@ D. Scerri
As a matter of fact, I was abused when I was an altar boy. I did not fuss about it. I can easily remember what the perpetrators did to me but I have forgiven them. I know exactly what happened and how embarrassed I felt. Yes, I do feel humane towards the perpetrators. Now that I am an old man I can also see that they need help. Locking them up is NOT going to make them better people. Make life mean life for them? Why? To satisfy our sadistic tendencies?
And I think you are wrong to say that there are no "laws of god." I think you will find that 'laws of men' are in fact based on the laws of God.
Dr Franis Saliba
May 16th 2010, 11:59
@IanChetcuti
It is not up to me to dismiss errant priests and/or send them to prison. As far as I know the authorities concerned are already doing that within their respective indpendent spheres of action.
kirsten micallef
May 16th 2010, 11:54
WHAT DO YOU MEAN "WILL NOT BE MADE PUBLIC" ??
DO WE NOT HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW WHO?? I, FOR ONE, WOULD DEFINITELY LIKE TO KNOW, ESPECIALLY IF THEY WOULD BE LIVING FEET AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN AND OTHERS. WHAT IF THEY WERE NEXT TO A SCHOOL OR CHILD DAY CARE?
THESE "PRIESTS" SHOULD BE MADE PUBLIC! THIS IS RIDICULOUS! THEY'RE DEFENDING THE WORST TYPE OF CRIMINALS IN MY EYES!!!
OVERSEAS THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN PUT ON A SEX OFFENDERS LIST!!!
David Scerri
May 16th 2010, 11:43
not another cover up, an awfull lot of catholic people i know are now turning their backs on the church because of all the child abuse going on, its about time that the truth be told, and the law be enforced, wake up rome or your church will crumble.
Peter Bonnici
May 16th 2010, 11:43
isn't the public an interested party?
William P Flynn
May 16th 2010, 10:59
Where is the part about child rapist preists being reported to police authorities as Ratzinger decreed?
Paul Konti
May 16th 2010, 10:19
In all these crimes, everyone seems to cry out loud for punishment --- the harshest punishment. Whilst I agree that such crimes are hideous, I wonder if there are other people who, like me, would look at the crime in a more humane way. How come no one considers what has caused the offenders to commit the crime? And how about reforming them, or at least giving them an opportunity to modify their behaviour? Anyone who thinks our so-called 'correctional facilities' are in any way 'correctional' is grossly mistaken. They do more harm than good. Punishment at C.C.F. is not the solution. However, I am not suggesting that they go 'scot-free' either.
D. Scerri
May 16th 2010, 11:45
How can one look at this in a "more humane way"? This is "child rape". Just take a moment to think about exactly what happens and how any child would feel. Now tell me you feel humane towards the perpetrator.
Lock 'em up. Make life mean life.
BTW, there are no "laws of god". Only laws of men.
mario aquilina
May 16th 2010, 10:00
Name and shame, halli inkunu nafhu min qed jirraprezenta u jinqeda B' Alla.
Louise Vella
May 16th 2010, 09:25
Justice must be done and it must be seen to be done. With the excuse of shielding the child victims, the Curia shrouds the proceedings in secrecy to protect the aggressors - the paedophile priests - and its own reputation.
The harshest punishment being dismissal from the priesthood! But if the culprit is a schoolteacher or some other layman, the harshest punishment is a few years in prison.
Dr Francis Saliba
May 16th 2010, 10:15
You know that the punishment of dismissal from the priesthood is over and above any other "punishment of a few years in prison" that may be imposed by the Criminal Court . It is not a substitute for it. Your blatant attempt at deception invalidates your argument.
Ian Chetcuti
May 16th 2010, 10:47
@ Dr Saliba. Okay then. Dismiss them AND then send them to prison. Why should they be treated different to other abusers.