EDITORIAL: Maciel scandal won't go away
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If Vatican officials believe that Maciel is innocent, justice demands that they say so, especially given the way these charges have enjoyed wide international circulation. If they believe the evidence is inconclusive, that too should be said, so that at least the parties will know where they stand. If officials have prudential reasons for not moving against Maciel, the accusers have a right to know that this inaction does not presume a judgment about the veracity of their accounts.
Moreover, it’s not just the rights of Maciel and his accusers that are at stake. The broader Catholic public has justifiable concerns about the pattern of official response to the sexual abuse crisis, and a laconic statement that the church does not intend to move against an accused priest, with no explanation offered, will do little to assuage those concerns. On the contrary, it will deepen the cynicism and resentment that is already too pervasive in the Catholic community.
For pastoral reasons, therefore, as well as due process of law, the Vatican needs to offer an explanation.
Pope Benedict XVI’s motto as the archbishop of Munich was cooperators veritatis, “coworkers of the truth.” He has challenged Western culture to recover its confidence in objective truth, over against a lazy relativism. All the more reason, therefore, for the church to practice what its leader preaches -- it needs to tell the truth, and the whole truth, about the Maciel case.
Read the complete article from National Catholic Reporter.
I agree with the National Catholic Reporter. Whatever the actual circumstances are, once a reputation is diminished, it's very hard to rehabilitate it. The longer the Vatican goes on in this manner on such a high-profile case, the more it just gets trashed in the media for its white-washing. Maybe stating that there isn't enough evidence would simply lead to more charges, but when even people who are fair-minded are wondering what's up, it's time to come clean.
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