That recent BBC documentary alleging that Pope Benedict has been instrumental in a Vatican conspiracy to cover up clergy sex-abuse continues to generate attention, including this analysis by disgruntled Fr. Tom Doyle at the Voice of the Faithful web site. Part of the supposed “smoking gun” is a 1962 document issued by the Vatican called “Crimen Sollicitationis,” that supposedly details a secret protocol for hiding sex abusers.
It does no such thing, and besides, as with the rest of the documentary’s supposed report, this is old news. In fact, I blogged about this very document back in 2003. My bottom line from that blog post remains true:
[W]hat we have is, I think, a canon lawyer/priest with an axe to grind who has presented some overeager trial lawyers with something with which to attack the Church. The priest should have known better and I think he has done real damage to the Church and borne false witness by this.
Here are other blog entries from the time:
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More on the Vatican “smoking gun” (Catholic World News debunking the CBS News story)
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Good coverage from a newspaper (Former Boston Herald reporter Eric Convey giving mainstream coverage to the debunking of the document)
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Fr. Tom Doyle responds to the “smoking gun” document (Doyle’s statement at the time distancing himself from the document’s release and debunking the conspiracy theory)
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In Ireland, the beat goes on (the flogging of the story in Ireland in 2003)
Technorati Tags:canon law, Catholic, cover-up, scandal, sex abuse, Vatican
