VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI joined a chorus of criticism
of a raid on Belgian church headquarters by police seeking
evidence of alleged clergy sexual abuse.
In a June 27 letter of solidarity to Belgian bishops, he
called the blitz on the Mechelen-Brussels Archdiocese
“surprising and deplorable” for the heavy-handed way it was
carried out.
However, the pope also reiterated his position that
accusations of abuse of minors within the Catholic Church
should be pursued by civil as well as church authorities.
Meanwhile, members of an independent commission created by
the church to examine clerical sexual abuse accusations
resigned June 28, saying that the police raids have made it
impossible for them to continue their work.
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state, had
harsher words regarding the raid June 24, in which bishops
gathered for a plenary meeting were detained all day as
police confiscated cell phones, documents and computers.
“There are no precedents for this, not even in the old
Communist regimes,” he told reporters in Rome June 26.
“Magistrates held bishops for nine hours and searched the
tombs of two cardinals,” Cardinal Bertone said, likening the
“unheard of” episode to a “kidnapping.”
He said that during the detention, the nine bishops and
archdiocesan personnel were unable to eat or drink, an
accusation Belgian authorities have denied.
Pope Benedict’s letter marking “this sad moment” was
addressed to Mechelen-Brussels Archbishop Andre-Joseph
Leonard, president of the Belgian bishops’ conference. The
pope expressed his “closeness and solidarity” with the
bishops “for the surprising and deplorable methods of the
searches” of the Mechelen Cathedral and archdiocesan
buildings.
Mechelen, the seat of the church in Belgium, is a suburb of
Brussels.
During the plenary meeting, the pope wrote, “the Belgian
bishops’ conference was to have discussed aspects of the
abuse of minors on the part of members of the clergy.”
“Many times,” he continued, “I have reiterated that such
serious charges must be dealt with by civil and canonical
authorities, in respect of reciprocal specificity and
autonomy.”
The pope said justice should take its course, while
respecting the rights of individuals, institutions and
especially the victims. He urged that the efforts of those in
the church who are collaborating with civil authorities and
trying to shed light on the problem be recognized.
During the nine-hour search, a spokesman for the bishops’
conference said, police seized more than 400 files belonging
to a commission established to investigate alleged abuse
cases.
Commission members announced they would resign because “the
indispensable trust” between the commission and judicial
authorities “no longer exists,” therefore compromising the
commission’s relationship of trust with the victims,
according to a statement from the bishops’ conference.
The statement also said that members were prohibited from
working because police had confiscated all of their
materials.
Belgian Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck defended the
action, saying that bishops had been treated normally and
that proper legal procedures were followed.
Vatican and Belgian church authorities were particularly
angered over the search of the tombs of two cardinals in the
cathedral crypt. News reports said that holes had been
drilled in the tombs and cameras inserted to look for
possible hidden material.
Police searched the homes of Archbishop Leonard as well as
his predecessor at the helm of the Mechelen-Brussels
Archdiocese, Cardinal Godfried Danneels.
It was not known what police were looking for at the
cardinal’s home. He was archbishop during the service of
former Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Brugge, who stepped down in
April after admitting to having sexually abused a young boy.
On June 25, the Vatican announced he would be replaced by
Bishop Jozef De Kesel, who had been auxiliary bishop of
Mechelen-Brussels.
In May, the bishops of Belgium asked forgiveness of victims
of priestly sexual abuse and promised wide-ranging steps to
curb the problem in the future in a pastoral letter addressed
to the faithful.
