Ex Pontifex

In the Roman Empire, the term Pontifex used to refer to all members of the priestly council. In the Roman Catholic Church, it was used for bishops including the one considered to be the highest (the Pope), and today generally is used in reference to the latter.1

The word signifies ‘bridge builder’, and to tell you the truth I did not note any attempt to build bridges, literally or figuratively, in the latest intervention by the preceding Pope to Francis, that is Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger.2

He has penned a piece on the subject of clerical abuse of minors, to give his own thoughts as to why these scandalous acts occurred. I had been expecting him to do something similar at some point, after all he had been the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the successor of the infamous Inquisition, from 1981 until his appointment as Pope, the highest Church authority, in 2005 until his resignation in 2013.

He wrote that the start of everything happened with the sex education of children and youth, and then the screening in cinema halls of films with sexual and pornographic content which pulled large crowds, even leading to violence. What?

He continued that the sexual revolution of 1968 resulted in paedofilia becoming “allowed and appropriate”. I would love to learn by whom and how representative they are of people around the world.

As the primary theologian of the Church for so many years, he also made a number of points of a theological nature, some conclusions of which I will draw attention.

One of these was the Vatican Council II had decided to change the basis for moral theology from natural law (the concept that rights are part of the nature of man, a gift from God and can be understood through reason) to one based completely on the Bible. He wrote that this led to a crisis until it was resolved by the encyclical Veritatis Splendor by Pope John Paul II in 1993, which reverted the basis back to natural law. It is clear from Benedict’s writing his disdain for this aspect of Vatican Council II.

Another point made that apart from being competent for the faith, the Church should also have competence for morality, at least that part tied to the faith. As does the Church, Benedict maintains that competence means infallibility.

My comment is that being competent does not mean being infallible. Einstein was more than competent in physics, and we’re still confirming how right he was in his predictions based on theoretical physics and mathematics, more than half a century after his death. Nevertheless, even he made mistakes, like when he declared that the size of the universe was static, which we know now is not the case.

I accept that God is perfect, however I don’t accept either that the Church is nor that its interpretation of God’s will is or can ever be perfect or infallible. I would accept Benedict’s declaration on the competence of the Church as long as it is not tied to infallibility.

He also mentioned problems in priestly formation in seminaries in the sixties, which he described as containing cliques of gay people as well as seminarians for the priesthood and lay positions, the latter sometimes accompanied by their wives or girlfriends, which did not create a proper environment for vocation. He further grumbled that his books were not able to be read in several seminaries.

It is clear that the reforms of Vatican Council II, which had the tendency of moving away from tradition towards a new and open relationship with the world, represented quite a personal irritant to the Pope Emeritus.

On paedofilia in the Church, he blamed the difficulty of bishops in taking action against wrongdoers again on conciliar thinking, as the accused now also needed to have their rights protected. Does this necessarily mean that those accused of sexual abuse would be rotated from place to another where they could resume their criminal and immoral activities without constraint?

He asked why has paedofilia increased, especially in the Church. He answered that society has lost the sense of God, and that Christians and priests don’t talk about God. This latter part I really don’t understand. Am I alone in not noticing that the Church had stopped talking about God? So what do Sunday sermons, encyclicals issued and public pronouncements by the Pope and bishops on various subjects refer to?

Finally he stated that sin and evil exist in the Church, but also that there are many who are humble, suffer and love, through whom the true God is visible. In this I do believe wholeheartedly.

Although ending on a positive note, I did not find Pope Emeritus’ intervention fully convincing. He is basically blaming the roots of the paedofile scandal in the Church firstly on libertinage and sex education outside the Church, and secondly on the consequences of reforms coming on Vatican Council II. In other words, there is nothing wrong with the Church perfect in itself.

So why is the rate of paedofilia in the Catholic clergy in Australia higher than that estimated in the general population?3

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It-terminu Pontifex fl-Imperu Ruman kien jirreferi għal kull membru tal-kunsill tal-qassisin. Fil-Knisja Kattolika Rumana, kien jintuża għall-isqfijiet inkluż dak meqjus l-ogħla wieħed (il-Papa), u llum ġeneralment jirreferi biss għal dan tal-aħħar.1

Il-kelma tfisser ‘bennej tal-pontijiet’, u biex ngħidilkom il-verità ma’ ninnota l-ebda attentat biex jinbena xi pont, la litterali u lanqas figurattiv, fl-aħħar intervent tal-Papa ta’ qabel Franġisku, jiġifieri l-Papa Emeritus Benedittu XVI, Joseph Ratzinger.2

Dan kiteb saġġ fuq is-suġġett tal-abbuż klerikali tal-minuri, biex jagħti l-ħsibijiet tiegħu fuq ir-raġunijiet għalfejn dawn l-atti skandalużi twettqu. Kont nistenna li kien se jagħmel xi ħaġa simili xi darba, wara kollox kien il-Prefett tal-Kongregazzjoni għad-Duttrina tal-Fidi, is-suċċessur tal-famuża Inkwiżizzjoni, mill-1981 sa meta laħaq Papa, l-ogħla awtorità tal-Knisja, fl-2005 sa meta rriżenja fl-2013.

Kiteb li l-bidu ta’ kollox kien l-edukazzjoni sesswali tat-tfal u ż-żagħżagħ, imbagħad il-wiri fis-swali taċ-ċinema ta’ films b’tema sesswali jew pornografika li ġibdu folol kbar, u li kienu jwasslu għall-vjolenza. X’inhu?

Kompla li r-rivoluzzjoni sesswali tal-1968 wasslet biex il-pedofilija tkun aċċettata u xierqa. Nixtieq inkun naf minn min u kemm huma rappreżentattivi tal-popli madwar id-dinja.

Bħala t-teologu prinċipali tal-Knisja għal tant snin, għamel ukoll diversi punti ta’ natura teoloġika li niġbed l-attenzjoni fuq xi konklużjonijiet li għamel.

Waħda kienet li l-Kunċilju tal-Vatikan II kien iddeċieda li jibdel il-bażi tat-teoloġija morali mil-liġi naturali (il-kunċett li d-drittijiet huma parti min-natura tal-bniedem, don t’Alla u li jistgħu jinftiehmu bir-raġuni) għal waħda bbażata kompletament fuq il-Bibbja. Kiteb li din wasslet għal kriżi sakemm issolviet bl-enċiklika Veritatis Splendor tal-Papa Ġwanni Pawlu II fl-1993, li reġgħet lura għal-liġi naturali. Huwa ċar mill-kitba l-antipatija ta’ Benedittu għal dan l-aspett tal-Kunċilju tal-Vatikan II.

Oħra kienet li apparti kompetenza fuq il-fidi, il-Knisja għandu jkollha kompetenza fuq il-moralità, talinqas dik marbuta mal-prinċipji tal-fidi. Bħal ma tagħmel il-Knisja, Benedittu jisħaq li l-kompetenza tfisser infallibiltà.

Il-kumment tiegħi hu li billi wieħed ikun kompetenti ma jfissirx li hu infallibbli. Einstein kien altru milli kompetenti fil-fiżika, u għadna sal-lum niskopru kemm kellu raġun fit-tbassir tiegħu bbażati fuq teoriji tal-fiżika u l-matematika, iktar minn nofs seklu wara mewtu. Madankollu anke hu kellu żbalji, bħal meta stqarr li l-kobor tal-univers kien statiku, li nafu li mhux il-każ.

Jien naċċetta li Alla huwa perfett, imma ma naċċettax la li l-Knisja u lanqas li l-interpretazzjonijiet tagħha tar-rieda t’Alla huma jew jistgħu ikunu perfetti u għalhekk infallibbli. L-istqarrija ta’ Benedittu fuq il-kompetenza tal-Knisja naċċettaha basta ma tkunx marbuta mal-infallibiltà.

Semma wkoll problemi ta’ formazzjoni tal-kleru fis-seminarji li kien hemm fis-sittinijiet, li identifikahom bħala klikek ta’ persuni omosesswali u anke każijiet ta’ seminaristi għall-qassisin u pożizzjonijiet lajċi, dawn tal-aħħar akkumpanjati man-nisa jew l-għarajjes tagħhom, ma kinux joħolqu klima tajba għall-vokazzjoni. Gerger li l-kotba tiegħi ma setgħux jinqraw f’diversi seminarji.

Huwa ċar li r-riformi tal-Kunċilju tal-Vatikan II, li kellhom it-tendenza li jitbiegħdu mit-tradizzjoni u jkun hemm relazzjoni ġdida u miftuħa lejn id-dinja, kien jirrappreżenta għoqda fuq l-istonku personali mhux ħażin għall-Papa Emeritus.

Fuq il-pedofilija fil-Knisja, id-diffikultà biex isqfijiet li jieħdu azzjoni fuq min għamel il-ħażin waħħalha għal darb’oħra fuq il-ħsieb kunċiljari, għax l-akkużat ukoll irid ikollu d-drittijiet tiegħu imħarsa. Dan neċessarjament ifisser li min ikun akkużat b’abbuż sesswali jiddawwar minn post għall-ieħor fejn ikun jista’ jissokta l-azzjonijiet kriminali u mmorali tiegħu mingħajr xkiel?

Staqsa għaliex il-pedofilija kiber, speċjalment fil-Knisja. Wieġeb li s-soċjetà tilfet is-sens t’Alla, u li l-insara u l-qassisin ma jitkellmux fuq Alla. Din tal-aħħar ma nafx x’irid jgħid biha. Jien waħdi li ma ndunajtx li l-Knisja waqfet titkellem fuq Alla? Mela l-priedki ta’ nhar ta’ Ħadd, l-enċikliki li joħorġu u l-istqarrijiet pubbliċi tal-papa u l-isqfijiet fuq suġġetti varji lejn xiex jirreferu?

Fl-aħħar spiċċa li hemm dnub u ħażen fil-Knisja, imma wkoll ħafna nies li huma umli, isofru u jħobbu, li fihom u bihom jidher Alla veru. Dan nemmnu bis-sħiħ.

Għalkemm spiċċa fuq nota tajba, dan l-intervent tal-Papa Emeritus mhux għal kollox konvinċenti għalija. Qiegħed jgħid li l-għeruq tal-iskandlu tal-pedofilija fil-Knisja ġejjin l-ewwel minn libertinaġġ u edukazzjoni sesswali barra l-Knisja u t-tieni minn konsegwenzi ta’ riformi li ġew mill-Konċilju. Fi kliem ieħor, m’hemm xejn ħażin fil-Knisja perfetta fiha nnifisha.