Vatican City: The future Pope Benedict XVI took over the abuse case of an Arizona priest, then let it languish at the Vatican for years despite repeated pleas from the bishop for the man to be removed from the priesthood, according to church correspondence.
Documents reviewed by a news agency show that in the 1990s, a church tribunal found that the Rev Michael Teta of Tucson, Ariz, had molested children as far back as the late 1970s. The panel deemed his behaviour — including allegations that he abused boys in a confessional — almost "satanic”. The tribunal referred his case to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who would become pope in 2005.
But it took 12 years from the time Ratzinger assumed control of the case in a signed letter until Teta was formally removed from ministry, a step only the Vatican can take.
As abuse cases with the pontiff`s fingerprints mushroom, Teta`s case and that of another Arizona priest cast further doubt on the church`s insistence that the future pope played no role in shielding paedophiles.
Teta was accused of engaging in abuse not long after his arrival to the Diocese of Tucson, Ariz, in 1978. Among the eventual allegations: That he molested two boys, ages 7 and 9, in the confessional as they prepared for their First Communion.
Bishop Manuel Moreno held a church tribunal for Teta, which determined "there is almost a satanic quality in his mode of acting toward young men and boys."
Teta was removed from ministry by the bishop, but because the church`s most severe punishment — laicization — can only be handed down from Rome, he remained on the church payroll and was working with young people outside the church.
At the time, Ratzinger headed the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the office that typically handled cases of abuse in confessionals. The church considers those more serious than other molestations because they also defile the sacrament of penance.
In a signed letter dated June 08, 1992, Ratzinger advised Moreno he was taking control of the case, according to a copy provided to the agency from Lynne Cadigan, an attorney who represented two of Teta`s victims.
Five years later, no action had been taken.
"This case has already gone on for seven years," Moreno wrote Ratzinger on April 28, 1997, adding, "I make this plea to you to assist me in every way you can to expedite this case."
It would be another seven years before Teta was laicized.
"There`s no doubt that Ratzinger delayed the defrocking process of dangerous priests who were deemed `satanic` by their own bishop," Cadigan said.
Another Tucson case, that of Msgr Robert Trupia, shows the fragmented nature of how Rome handled such allegations before 2001, when Ratzinger dictated that all abuse cases must go through his Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
Before then, files were sent to varied Vatican departments, as they were in the case of Trupia. Moreno suspended Trupia in 1992, but again faced delays from the Vatican in having him formally removed from the church.
Documents show at least two Vatican offices — the Congregation for the Clergy and the Apostolic Signatura, the highest judicial authority of the Catholic Church — were involved in the case at least as early as 1995.
Jews outraged at Vatican scandal comparison
Jewish groups around the world have reacted with shock after Pope Benedict`s personal preacher compared attacks on the Church and pope over a sexual abuse scandal to "collective violence" against Jews.
"I am absolutely totally astounded by this. This is folly," said Amos Luzzatto, a former president of Italy`s Jewish communities.
Rome chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, who welcomed the pope in the capital`s synagogue last January said: "This is really in bad taste."
The Pope`s personal preacher, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, in a Friday sermon in St Peter`s Basilica, said attacks on the Catholic Church and the Pope over a sexual abuse scandal were comparable to "collective violence" against Jews.
Jewish leaders around the world used words like repugnant, obscene and offensive to describe the sermon, particularly, as Di Segni noted, it came on the day that for centuries Christians prayed for the conversion of the Jews, who were held collectively responsible for Jesus` death.
"How can you compare the collective guilt assigned to the Jews which caused the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people to perpetrators who abuse their faith and their calling by sexually abusing children?" demanded Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the international Jewish rights group.
Cantalamessa, speaking with the pope sitting nearby, said Jews throughout history had been the victims of "collective violence" and drew comparisons between Jewish suffering and attacks on the Church.
"The use of stereotypes, the shifting of personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism," Cantalamessa quoted from the letter.
Bureau Report
