VATICAN CITY – In an unusual public chastisement, the Vatican
said a series of statements by Austrian Cardinal Christoph
Schonborn have contributed to widespread misunderstandings on
issues related to clerical sexual abuse.
In particular, the Vatican took issue with Cardinal
Schonborn’s statement that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, former
secretary of state, had blocked an investigation of sexual
abuse and offended victims by calling their complaints “petty
gossip.”
“It should be remembered that in the church, when there are
accusations against a cardinal, the competence rests solely
with the pope; others may have an advisory role, always with
the proper respect for the person,” a Vatican statement said.
The statement was issued after Pope Benedict XVI met June 28
with Cardinal Schonborn, the archbishop of Vienna. The
meeting was requested by Cardinal Schonborn to “clarify the
exact meaning of his recent statements” on a number of
topics, the Vatican said.
In a closed-door session with Austrian news editors in May,
Cardinal Schonborn reportedly said that Cardinal Sodano, the
longtime secretary of state under Pope John Paul II and now
the dean of the College of Cardinals, had hindered the
investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of minors by
the late Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who was forced
to step down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995.
Cardinal Schonborn said that at that time, Pope Benedict,
then head of the Vatican office in charge of investigating
accusations of clerical sex abuse, had been thwarted by
Cardinal Sodano in his efforts to take more direct action on
the accusations against Cardinal Groer, Austrian news media
said.
Cardinal Schonborn also was quoted in the reports as saying
Cardinal Sodano had offended victims of sexual abuse in the
church when, at the pope’s Easter Mass in April, he used the
term “petty gossip” in referring to the current controversy
surrounding the church.
In addition, Cardinal Schonborn was said to have suggested
that the church reconsider its position toward remarried
divorced Catholics, who are not allowed to take Communion,
and toward homosexuals in stable relationships. He also has
made statements that appear to support reconsideration of the
mandatory celibacy rule in the Western church.
The Vatican said that in their private meeting, Pope Benedict
and Cardinal Schonborn had discussed his comments about
Cardinal Sodano as well as “some aspects of current church
discipline.”
Afterward, Cardinal Sodano and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the
current secretary of state, were called in for a continuation
of the encounter.
The pope and the cardinals were able to “clarify and resolve
some misunderstandings that were widespread and in part
deriving from some expressions used by Cardinal Christoph
Schonborn, who expresses his displeasure at the
interpretations that were given,” the Vatican statement said.
After underlining disapproval of public criticism of a fellow
cardinal, the statement said Cardinal Sodano’s use of the
term “petty gossip” was “erroneously interpreted as a lack of
respect for the victims of sexual abuse.” In fact, it said,
Cardinal Sodano has compassion for the victims and condemns
the evil of abuse.
It said that in using the term, he was quoting from a papal
homily the week before about the need for Christians to have
“the courage not to be intimidated by the petty gossip of
dominant public opinion.”
