Faith amid scandal

It was sadly predictable that the media marvelled at the idea that Queen Elizabeth II could attract a million people to her jubilee event earlier this month, but remained silent about the other million people who on the same weekend came to see Pope Benedict, a man of the same age as the queen, in Milan.

The double standard is revealing. Indeed, surely the size of the crowd at the pope’s Mass is the greater story: the leader of a body that has been written off as irrelevant can still attract, and regularly so, as many people as the British head of state on a much-hyped one-off celebration.

Instead of noting another huge turn-out for the pope in secular Europe, the press ran with stories that presented the Vatican in a lurid light. And the sources of these stories are within the Vatican.

The Vatican’s chief exorcist, Fr Gabriele Amorth, a man of strong opinions and not universally admired idiosyncrasies,  went public with his suspicion that officials of the Church were complicit in the unsolved 1983 abduction of teenager Emanuela Orlandi, and that other Vatican officials, who are now deceased, were involved in a sex ring responsible for her disappearance.

Even if Fr Amorth’s suspicions are off the mark, we are likely to read more about this case and how it relates to Catholic officials.

Whatever the truth of the case, Fr Amorth’s comment, and the mere idea of such inequity, will have confused Catholics.

At the same time, the VatiLeaks saga goes on. The internal documents that were illegally leaked from the Vatican seem to challenge notions of the Vatican’s incorruptibility.

Moreover, it is becoming increasingly probable that the leaks were orchestrated at a high level—much higher than that of the arrested valet—in what appears to be a power struggle which does little to demonstrate Christian virtue.

Precedent suggests that the story will eventually fade away. The valet, Paolo Gabriele, will possibly be convicted and some higher ranking protagonists will be discreetly transferred in a bid to maintain their dignity. With it, specific questions about lapses in financial probity become blurred.

Whichever way the current problems will be resolved, the image of the Vatican, already so damaged by the scandal of clerical abuse and cover-ups, is presently taking strain.

And with that tarnished image comes the possibility that faithful Catholics will become disenchanted with the Catholic Church and look for spiritual alternatives. They may be moved to do so especially if these cases are not addressed before the People of God with full transparency and integrity.

Such Catholics would, however, misunderstand the nature of the Church.

In her article on the VatiLeaks scandal this week, reporter Cindy Wooden rightly points out: “Of course, an institution so old is bound to have a chequered past, including a fair share of sleaze, influence-peddling and patronage. The Vatican may be the site of more prayer and good works per acre than any other state on earth, but it is still run by people. This human factor ensures it’s not heaven on earth.”

As a human institution, the Catholic hierarchy is not immune to inequity and sin. The divine institution of the Church, however, is the presence of Christ on earth. The salvific mission of the Church cannot be compromised by the personal failings of men, even when such men represent the Church.

Catholics are called to remain on the pilgrim journey with the Church, regardless of how they feel about those who lead it.

Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe, writing in 2010, put it like this: “From the beginning and throughout history, Peter has often been a wobbly rock, a source of scandal, corrupt, and yet this is the one—and his successors—whose task is to hold us together so that we may witness to Christ’s defeat…of sin’s power to divide.”

The People of God may hold the hierarchy to account when its members scandalise them, and offer their forgiveness when asked. But their faith is not in men, and it is not through men that they will be saved, but through Christ in the Church which he founded.