In recent weeks, the Vatican and in particular the Pope, have found themselves at the centre of a growing controversy about how they’ve dealt with pedophile priests and the children abused by those priests.
CBC News Network’s THE PASSIONATE EYE airs the timely and revelatory documentary Sex Crimes and the Vatican, Monday, April 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
First aired on the BBC in 2006, and later on The Passionate Eye, Sex Crimes and the Vatican examines a controversial document that sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. What makes the document so controversial is that it was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI.
Created in 1962, the now infamous document was issued in secret to bishops. Called Crimen Sollicitationis, it outlined procedures to be followed by bishops when dealing with allegations of child abuse, homosexuality and bestiality by members of the clergy. It swore all parties involved to secrecy on pain of excommunication from the Catholic Church.
This document was reissued in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and sent to all bishops. How he interpreted and enforced both it and the previous document is at the heart of today’s controversy.
Critics say that rather than ordering more openness and cooperation with the authorities as demanded by both law enforcers and the victims, Cardinal Ratzinger reiterated its policies and ensured that the Code of Silence be applied to all cases of child abuse involving a priest. Cardinal Ratzinger also instructed that all cases should now be referred to his office directly and that he would maintain ‘exclusive competence’ over the handling of allegations. Cardinal Ratzinger is now Pope Benedict XVI.
In the documentary we meet Colm O’Gorman, the man responsible for breaking open decades of abuse by Catholic Priests in Ireland. O’Gorman was raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese of Ferns in County Wexford in Ireland when he was 14 years old. In March 2002, Colm O’Gorman started an investigation with the BBC, which resulted in the BAFTA award-winning BBC special Suing the Pope.
O’Gorman then pushed for a government inquiry in Ireland which led to the Ferns Report. It was published in October 2005 and found: “A culture of secrecy and fear of scandal that led bishops to place the interests of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of children.” He links international ‘systemic evidence’ to argue the Vatican had a policy to cover up the sexual abuse of thousands of children across the world.
In Sex Crimes and the Vatican, O’Gorman explores four separate cases internationally of widespread clerical abuse, putting the Roman Catholic Church on trial for the reckless endangerment of children.
Today Colm O’Gorman is head of Amnesty International in Ireland.
Sex Crimes and the Vatican was produced for the BBC by Sarah Macdonald. It pre-empts Mystery of the Floating Feet, which was originally scheduled to air at this time. Sex Crimes and the Vatican also airs Sunday, April 18 at 8 p.m. ET.
