The centre must hold
What sets the Catholic Church apart from almost every other religion is its line of governing the affairs of the Church from the centre, with the pope at its head and a centralised administration in the Vatican overseeing the affairs of the institution, its doctrines and disciplines, its liturgical practices and so on.
It is reasonable to debate the extent to which the Roman curia, the Church’s government, is acting collegially with the world’s bishops and whether it is sufficiently accountable to the People of God, but it is necessary that the centre must hold.
The escalation of abuse scandals has put immense pressure on the Vatican, which does not always give a persuasive impression that it understands just how much the reputation of the institutional Church has declined.
The June raid by Belgian police on the archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels – which included a search by scope of the graves of two cardinals in search for buried secrets – illustrates that the Church is regarded by many with suspicion. It certainly no longer benefits from the deferential treatment of bygone times.
The recent frankness of some Vatican officials and diocesan bishops concerning the abuse scandal answered the widespread distrust, at least partly. That might have been undone, however, by the Vatican’s public chastisement of one of these outspoken bishops, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria.
In its chastisement, the Vatican said that Cardinal Schönborn had given rise to “misunderstandings” on issues relating to the abuse scandal when he told newspaper editors that the Vatican’s former secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, had been among those obstructing action against abusers by the future Pope Benedict.
The Vatican statement did not dispute Cardinal Schönborn’s revelation. The real reason for his public chastisement seems to reside in his violation of a code whereby one cardinal may not criticise another.
Such protocols may exist for good reasons, and it is obvious that the Vatican would not wish the current dean of the College of Cardinals – who in the event of a papal death would preside over the funeral and lead the Church through the interregnum – to be implicated in the cover-up of sexual abuses.
However, by publicly rebuking Cardinal Schönborn without rebutting the substance of his revelations, the Vatican has given encouragement to those who accuse the Catholic leadership of being secretive and preoccupied with their reputation – exactly those characteristics which led to the scandal of abuse cover-ups in the first place.
It is difficult to escape the conclusion that whistle-blowing in the Church is being discouraged. If a prelate of such elevated standing as Cardinal Schönborn can be subjected to a public humiliation, who else would dare to come forward with the truth?
When the truth is subordinated to the reputation of individuals or an institution, public trust in them and their authority is diminished. The Catholic hierarchy’s ability to exercise its teaching authority fruitfully depends on the faithful’s confidence in its leaders’ integrity.
Another potential scandal involving the Vatican is brewing, this time concerning possible acts of corruption. We must hope that the Italian investigation will fully exonerate the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, especially since that curial dicastery collects funds from the pockets of churchgoers worldwide every year.
But in the unwelcome case that there have been financial improprieties in the Roman curia, the Vatican’s response will need to be fully accountable to the People of God, putting truth before rank and reputation.
The centre must hold. If it does weaken now, the blame rests not with the Vatican’s critics, whistle-blowing cardinals or a hostile secular world, but with those who were tasked to lead the Church and failed.
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