Vatican defends Pope Benedict's response to Oakland sexual abuse case

The Vatican insisted Saturday that Pope Benedict XVI had done nothing wrong when, earlier in his career, he hesitated to defrock a California priest who had admitted molesting two boys.

A Vatican lawyer said it was the local bishop, John Cummins of Oakland, who bore primary responsibility for protecting children from the abusive priest, and that the pope, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, had acted appropriately when he declined to take immediate action against the cleric, Stephen Kiesle.

“It’s the job of the bishop to discipline the priest,” said the lawyer, Jeffrey S. Lena of Berkeley, in an e-mail to The Times. “[T]he canonical trial and punishment are going to be meted out by the local bishop ... The pope is not a five-star general ordering his troops around. That is simply an incorrect idea about the allocation of authority as between the pope and his fellow bishops.”

Cummins, now 82 and retired, had written Ratzinger in the early 1980s, when the future pope was the Vatican’s top official in charge of doctrinal enforcement, asking that the Vatican agree to Kiesle’s request that he be “laicized,” or defrocked. At the time Kiesle had been relieved of his duties as a priest after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of lewd contact stemming from the molestation of two boys, ages 11 and 12.

Ratzinger had replied that, while the matter was of “grave significance,” he needed more time and information before deciding whether to grant the request. It was granted two years later. In the interim and for a period afterward, Kiesle volunteered at a parish in Pinole, where he was later accused of having abused children. Benedict has come under criticism in recent weeks as documents have exposed what some perceive as his plodding management of several sexual abuse cases. In every case, the Vatican has suggested the responsibility fell on lower-ranking officials.

Cummins could not be reached for comment Saturday. He told the Associated Press previously that he “didn’t really care for” Kiesle and didn’t recall having written Ratzinger about him in 1985. In his e-mail, Lena said it would have been normal for Ratzinger to weigh a request for defrocking carefully and deliberately.

It is, he said, “a rigorous canonical process of deep religious significance that in many instances takes time, particularly in the pre-electronic communication age. … It is not like simply taking off a collar, or firing a person from a job.”

Moreover, he said, defrocking is not the primary way the church disciplines priests. “It is an important mechanism for ridding the priesthood of malefactor priests,” he said. “But it is not the primary mechanism of protection of children.“

-- Mitchell Landsberg and Victoria Kim

Comments

[Rico]

Now they have their fancy attorney explaining what happened. It sounds like a very weak explanation too. It happened fast for the times, give me a break . The Popes statement showed that protecting the church was more important than one priest molesting kids. He should step DOWN! But he wont. He will cling to power like a corrupt dictator would.

[sak]

never-ending stories about roman catholic priests molesting little kids, and the vatican doing their watergate type cover-ups over and over.

[Clare]

Wow, they still just don't get it.

[S.P.H. Yerucham]

Why is the church beyond the law? All offences within the church which violate U.S. law ought to be turned over immediately to U.S. government law enforcement agencies, not slowly pondered over by church officials worried about their reputations.

[Jose]

Lena, made his paycheck with the statement he made for the Pope. The Pope did not take action because he did not want to take action. Just more lies by the so called leader of our church that shows the Pope needs to step down. He is still trying to protect the church at all cost. The Pope cannot be trusted or believe. If you cannot trust or believe the Pope, who can you trust or believe?

[masterpuff theater]

The Vatican has become the Toyota of religions, covering up the defects of their product in the belief that the company is more important than the customers. They say the Pope doesn't have to answer to the law, because he is the head of state and cannot be sued. If the reputation of the church matters more than the cries of sodomized children, I would say this state has more in common with Myanmar and Sudan than any kingdom of heaven.

[Rocker]

It just goes to show that the priest sex abuse scandals and coverups are throughout the Catholic church. Mahony still hasn't come clean with documents, and his replacement has the same kind of baggage. Stay classy, Catholics.

[Clotee Allochuku]

We simply must protect our children from any danger that may come to them. The children are innocent victims and must be protected at all costs.