[Question:]{.underline} Is Vatican II the cause of the world-wide pedophile scandal?
[Answer:]{.underline} Pope Benedict XVI’s March 20, 2010 Pastoral Letter to the Catholics of Ireland goes a long way towards answering this question, for it is the first Papal document to analyze the causes of the scandal. It is historical for more than one reason. It is first of all an admission of a grave and sinful decadence in the Church, such as has not been seen since the Council of Trent: “I can only share in the dismay and the sense of betrayal that so many of you have experienced on learning of these sinful and criminal acts and the way Church authorities in Ireland dealt with them” (1). It is secondly an admission that the bishops are responsible for these faults, and that these were not just administrative faults, but grievous, and indeed mortal, sins: To the bishops, he has to say: “It cannot be denied that some of you and your predecessors failed, at times grievously, to apply the long-established norms of canon law to the crime of child abuse” (11), and to the priests and religious he apologizes for the sins of the bishops: “All of us are suffering as a result of the [sins]{.underline} of our confreres who betrayed a sacred trust or [failed to deal justly and responsibly]{.underline} with allegations of abuse.”(10). Thirdly, it is an admission that this scandalous moral breakdown is the worst thing that has happened to the Church in Ireland since the Protestant revolt of the 16^th^ century, and that it has done more harm to the Church in Ireland than four centuries of persecution of Catholicism by the British invaders: [They] “have obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing” (4).
CAUSES OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
Such moral corruption in the higher echelons of the Church must have a cause, and it is the fourth and most important admission made by the Pope. We are grateful to Benedict XVI to have analyzed the reasons that brought this about in Ireland. His conclusions apply elsewhere, and are a real indictment of the post-conciliar church. He first of all gives the principal causes, and then lists some contributing factors, in a brutally truthful and real analysis of the problem. First of all the principal causes:
“All too often, the sacramental and devotional practices that sustain faith and enable it to grow, such as frequent confession, daily prayer and annual retreats, were neglected. Significant, too, was the tendency during this period [recent decades], also on the part of priests and religious, to adopt ways of thinking and assessing secular realities without sufficient reference to the Gospel [= humanism and secularism]. The programme of renewal proposed by the Second Vatican Council was sometimes misinterpreted and, indeed, in the light of the profound social changes that were taking place, [it was far from easy to know how best to implement it]{.underline}. In particular, there was a well-intentioned but misguided tendency to avoid penal approaches to canonically irregular situations. It is in this overall context that we must try to understand the disturbing problem of child sexual abuse, which has contributed in no small measure to the weakening of faith and the loss of respect for the Church and her teachings.” (4)
While still exempting Vatican II itself from responsibility, the Pope makes it quite clear that it is the new man-centered religion which is the source of the problem, which is nothing other than the adaptation of the Church to the world so much wanted by Vatican II (Gaudium et spes). He admits that it is a result of the lack of Faith, and that this lack of Faith is a direct consequence of the abandonment of those traditional practices that express and enliven our Faith in the divinity of Christ (such as frequent confession, daily prayer and retreats), that constantly purify the soul from its faults, that maintain a spirit of prayer and contemplation, so necessary for the separation from the world. Furthermore, and this is of fundamental importance, he admits that nobody really knew how to implement Vatican II, and yet maintain the spirit of Faith. It is the beginning of asking the fundamental question: what kind of pastoral council could it have been that was so difficult to understand and interpret that the Pope himself admits “that is was far from easy to know best how to implement it? A true pastoral council is one that gives direction, not one that causes confusion. One example the Pope himself give of the failure to know how to correctly implement the Council has been the constant refusal to apply the Church’s canonical penalties. However, this was clearly done for a reason. The Pope does not yet admit it, but clearly it was that the Council’s novel consideration of human dignity excludes in practice the need for discipline, just as God’s all-mercifulness evacuates the need for justice. This avowal by the Sovereign Pontiff is historical and is very close to admitting that it was the humanism and secular spirit of Vatican II itself that undermined the Faith in its practical implementation, and that consequently brought about this moral corruption.
The Pope goes on to list some of the contributing factors: inadequate screening of candidates for the priestly and religious life, insufficient formation, authoritarianism and the “failure to apply existing canonical penalties” (4). Although the latter is the more serious, it could only have happened on account of a general, widespread lukewarmness, bringing with it indifference to the gravity of the sin and offences against Almighty God. Although the Pope does not state the obvious explicitly, he does request the conversion that is the logical consequence of it, and this as his first “decisive action” that he asks of the bishops: “This must arise, first and foremost, from your own self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal. The Irish people rightly expect you to be men of God, to be holy, to live simply, to pursue personal conversion daily” (11).
It is certainly a horrifying disgrace that it takes civil investigations to bring to light a degree of moral corruption so perverse and so opposed to even natural goodness and uprightness as to cause disgust and anger amongst pagans and those who have no religion - and this in the very Church, Christ’s own mystical body, of which Our Lord said: “You are the light of the world…so let your light to shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:14,16). We are greatly saddened that is has takened such a scandal to awaken Catholics to the consequences of nearly a half century - two generations - impregnated with the spirit of Vatican II.
THE REMEDY FOR THE EVIL - JUSTICE
However, it is most reassuring that Pope Benedict XVI proposes concrete initiatives of the old-fashioned type, based upon that virtue that was put out to pasture two generations ago - justice. He insists that the perpetrators of these crimes not only personally atone for their actions, but also submit to the demands of justice in both ecclesiastical and civil law: “God’s justice summons us to give an account of our actions and to conceal nothing. Openly acknowledge your guilt, submit yourselves to the demands of justice, but do not despair of God’s mercy.” (7). Justice also requires that the bishops and religious superiors “besides fully implementing the norms of canon law in addressing cases of child abuse, continue to cooperate with civil authorities…” (11). Justice also requires reparation for the offence given to Almighty God, and the Pope does not fail to request this either, in the form of Eucharistic Adoration in parishes, seminaries, religious houses and monasteries: “Through intense prayer before the real presence of the Lord, you can make reparation for the sins of abuse that have done so much harm…” (14), to which is to be added Friday penances, fasting and prayer, Scripure reading and works of mercy.
Finally, the Pope begins to touch with his finger the root of this disorder: - the lack of appreciation for the religious and priestly vocation, yet all the while refusing to acknowledge its origin. This is why he orders a nationwide mission for all bishops, priests and religious, that “by exploring anew the conciliar documents, the liturgical rites of ordination and profession, and recent pontifical teaching, you will come to a more profound appreciation of your respective vocations, so as to rediscover the roots of your faith in Jesus Christ…”(14). It is greatly to be feared that this ultimate remedy will fail, vitiated as it is by reference to documents that take the sacrificial action out of the Mass, the identification with Christ out of the priest, the total consecration to God alone out of the religious. If only such a mission were based on the unambiguous, non-compromising, unworldly, entirely supernatural pre-Vatican II documents and pontifical teachings, what an entire transformation it would produce!
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.