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Subscribe to RSSROME – Roman Catholic Church leaders have unveiled an Internet teaching project to help clergy around the world root out pedophiles in their ranks and protect children from potential abusers.
Ending a four-day conference on child abuse in Rome Thursday, Father Francois-Xavier Dumortier said the $1.60 million project would provide multilingual advice and access to research on pedophilia and how to respond to the problem.
"It will help to develop a culture of listening ... a different face to the culture of silence," said Dumortier, who is rector at the Pontifical Gregorian University where the conference was held.
An association for victims of abuse, while not commenting directly on the Internet project, has dismissed the conference as "window dressing" and said the Vatican should publish its documentation on abuse and hand it over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
Researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found that the permissive sexual culture of the 1960s and 1970s created stress for priests poorly trained to deal with it and that the surge in sexual abuse of children by priests mirrored the same trends in society. NBC's Lisa Myers reports.
Victims' groups for years have accused some bishops in the Church of preferring silence and cover-up to coming clean on the scandal, which has darkened the image of the Church around the world.
Experts to bishops: Child sex abusers lie, trust victims
But on Wednesday the Vatican's top official for dealing with sexual abuse of minors, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, said hiding behind a culture of "omerta" -- the Italian word for the Mafia's code of silence -- would be deadly for the Church.
The symposium brought together some 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists, and some participants saw it as a turning point in the Church's approach to the crisis.
While speaking to thousands of priests gathered for a three-day conference, Pope Benedict XVI said the church must beg for "forgiveness from God" for the sins of priests who abused children. NBC's Jim Maceda has more details.
"The Church now has a baseline about where we are starting from," Brendan Geary from the Marist Brothers religious order said.
"We start by listening to victims and hearing their experience. We make sure the Church has the highest standards for protecting children."
Asia – next crisis?
However, a top Asian church official told the conference that a culture of silence prevalent on the continent has kept many victims from coming forward, as concerns rise that Asia may be the next ground zero in the abuse scandal.
Monsignor Luis Antonio Tagle, archbishop of Manila, Philippines, said deference to church authorities in places like the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Philippines may also have contributed to keeping a lid on reports. He said more and more victims have come forward in the past five years in the Philippines, but that incidents of priests keeping mistresses still far outpace reports of priests preying on children.
Philly cardinal dies ahead of child sex abuse trial
Tagle's presentation made clear that the sex abuse scandal — which first erupted in Ireland in the 1990s, the United States in 2002, and Europe at large in 2010 — hadn't yet reached Asia.
But the concern is very real that it might: In November, the federation of Asian bishops' conferences said the church has to take "drastic and immediate measures" to contain the problem before it gets out of hand.
Tagle said he didn't know if the steady increase in victims coming forward over the last five years is "a prelude to an explosion," but he acknowledged that the reported cases are probably a fraction of the total.
"How Asians normally respond to an embarrassing situation is to preserve one's dignity, to preserve one's honor. Usually that takes the form of silence," he told reporters. "It's not because the person doesn't want to share it, but that by divulging everything, the little bit of honor that is left in me will be taken away from me."
He said mandatory reporting laws, which would compel bishops or religious superiors to report accusations of abuse to police, would be "difficult culturally" to swallow in many Asian countries where victims may prefer to seek justice discreetly, within the church's own legal system.
‘No substitute for openness, transparency’
The Internet-based "Center for Child Protection" will work with medical institutions and universities to develop what the Church hopes will be a constant response to the problems of sexual abuse.
It will be posted in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian and help bishops and other church workers put into place Vatican guidelines to protect children.
The message from Vatican officials who have addressed the symposium is that local Church officials must cooperate with civil authorities according to local law in cases of suspected pedophilia.
The scandals have led to costly legal action, are blamed for an exodus of believers in some European nations, including Pope Benedict's native Germany, and have damaged the Church's moral standing in hitherto staunchly Catholic states.
Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx gave a speech at the close of the symposium pointing out that the scandal had cost the church credibility "from which it has yet to recover."
"Stonewalling, trivialization and relativization will not foster a new credibility," he said. "There can therefore be no substitute for openness, transparency and truthfulness."
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A day Late and a Dollar short. Give me a break. This should have been done years ago and may just be a PR bandaide on the problem. I don't trust these priests that have covered each other's back on this behavior for this long to now just change. Sorry, just not buying it.
Listening is done in silence. So silence has now become listening. How about get on top of a box and scream your lungs out. You have raped. you have silenced, and still sefuse to turn over your pedophile files to the proper authorities.
Exactly. Window dressing. Come clean and save the victims already created by this perversity and cover up.
I am glad the church has a base line. Where do the victims start.
And protecting those pedophiles already in higher positions and until retirement. Bah.
Agreed, the Church isn't going to start winning back minds and hearts until they release their documentation on what they know thus far. Creating some website to help people track down Priests feels completely disingenuous.
Well it shows how greedy the Catholic church is. Hiding all the pedophiles has cost them so much stolen money over the last 40+ years they now are going after them, or so they say. I agree with you. It's a con job. The Catholic church is a den of scumbags and has been for centuries. This is nothing new. Only now it's costing them hard stolen wealth. they work too hard steeling it to have to give it back. Thats the only reason this is happening. A measly 1.6 Mill. See how cheep they are? You want to stop pedophiles...Shoot them in the head...Thats the only way to cure them.
Really, what is 1.6 million dollars supposed to do for a world wide search? Make it 1.6 billion and then maybe you can start a discussion.
Mr. Clarke
Did you know the intentional famines and massacres that killed millions in Russia were carried out by the Beloved Atheist Soviet Regime?
Anyone remember the conference of bishops discussing pedophilia in the church on South Park? Priceless! Check it out on YouTube.
Good, maybe if they find an idea that works they can pass the information on to local/state education agencies so perhaps we can stop pedophiles in our public schools, as well.
We listen, we hide, we have money, we have our own Goevrnment and GOD is on our side, now we can make it look like we care, so we can get you to. Believe in our God and give us more money, and keep us Free so we can touch your children the children of our God. The same children we have a right to touch because they are ours because you gave them to us without thought and with full trust because we are people of God. Educate them in jail
Catholic hospitals and clinics cannot offer either abortion or birth control to young women, or women of any age, no matter if the pregnancy might kill the mother. I suppose these unwanted children will be easy marks for the child sex offenders in the ranks of the priests. Nothing like being able to grow your own sex objects.
occamsedge, maybe that is the reason for being against the B/C pills, etc. They get their own special kids to abuse.
Another attempt to look concerned about the kids the church has screwed.
The government should take the lead and force the church to hand over the records that covered up these crimes.
The Bishops in the US are using the health care provision to provide contraception as a way to distract their flock from the fact that they still cover up the rape of children.
The clergy don't have to worry about birth control because they can't get alter boys pregnant.
If it weren't for secular authorities all of this would never have come out. Within the Church it was always a greater sin for a priest to have sexual relations with an adult woman than to rape a little boy. They're obessed with outlawing birth control but won't turn over the pedophiles in their midst without a big legal battle. They should be prosecuted for running a continuing criminal enterprise.
Wow a little late, must have hid all of the current ones in safe countries.
Cardinal Law from Boston comes to mind.
Have any of these pedo priests spent even a day in jail? Or are do priests have legal immunity here in the USA?
Bro - Priests do not have legal immunity and more than 200 priests have been jailed since 1990. No judgments, just the facts
So!! This means that Jesus freaks are special and they should be treated differently that the rest of us. Can't you people see that this is just another way that stuck up eleite people protect themselves behind the skirts of the church.
And they should be checking for any contraceptives while they're at it.
Yes. About time we had a reverse Inquisition.
I personally like the new "magical misdirection" - -now it's the Asians blamed- -saving face. Where the hell did that shine in? Plot every Vatican and Bishopric public statement in response to a discovery of this pedding-blight (which of course has been in practice since the middle ages...probably before). You will find hierarchical expressions of sincere distress, umbrage, pleas for prayers, resolve (very little outrage) and promises to take steps and institute measures. Blah, blah, blah. Read this article closely, same thing: just a bit more "ubiquitous". Having had a government career, I'm really familiar with CYA memos, operating procedures and P.R. statements and press releases always completely disavowing any complicity or knowledge of and firmly stating intolerance of any [frowned upon] practice. One can practically fill in the blank using any fault or fraud. Still the lying, graft, etc etc goes on. The more elaborate the structure to prevent it and sue over it gets, the more likely it is it will endure. Lets dig in with parents talking to their kids, being very cautious with the younger ones, dropping in and checking up;and on the off chance one of these diseased creeps is caught in flagrante - -the old "take him out back and administer old fashioned justice."...is in effect. You won't control it? Well, you'll get no more altar servers, or priest moderated clubs of any kind - -thus lowering your worth to the Catholic populace which in this day and age desparately needs the care and guidance our old fashioned parish and school embrace used to afford to help bring up the kids. You've got a lot to answer for, Rome.
"The Church now has a baseline about where we are starting from," Brendan Geary from the Marist Brothers religious order said.
"We start by listening to victims and hearing their experience. We make sure the Church has the highest standards for protecting children."
The highest standard for protecting children? Speaking of the ones responsible for the abuse and the cover-up, this shows what happens when an organization polices itself. My biggest problem with this whole thing is, the Catholic Church presents itself as the moral guide for millions, and yet has no morals. If someone speaks on your behalf, shouldn't you ensure that you agree with what's being said?
It's a start.
But it's too little, too late.
The damage has been done, this is an attempt at damage control and more covering up. The concern was always more about 'preventing scandal' than preventing the predators from preying on their victims.
Very, very sad.
What a lot of baloney! It conveniently glosses over the fact that the pedophiles in the church were known to their fellow priests and to the other hierarchy and protected from prosecution.
Yes. I love statements like "We start by listening to victims and hearing their experience..." (this is, of course, as opposed to packing clay in our ears over the past centuries ...are you admitting that the Church isn't and wasn't an expert in matters of the heart and conscience???) duh! Don't you tho, admire this PR spokesguy's brass nuggets for saying it with a straight face! Speaking of straight, have you run the video about the church sponsored research opine? Incredible. MOST pedophiles aren't gay (Who cares!? Some are! Just get all of them off the streets - -or out of the rectories preferably!!!) and less than 5% studied offenders aren't even pedophiles. mmmm? And...what's the definition of pedophile- -by identity. I say, that if you venture into that water: hey, you're a pedophile! Can you tell it was a Church sponsored "opportunity" rather than a free study? YOu bet...they conclude -blame the permissive 60's and line up those kinds of "experimentation" with what these priests did. You jerks! The period reflected an increase in widespread heterosexual mating before and outside of marriage, facilitated by popular drugs - - not at all allied with SICK practices...just more and dumb. If anything, the homosexual community got the stuff scared out of it with AIDS and, for a while at least, pulled in its horns a bit. I was a young (straight) adult and found out some homosexual practices from the past that would curl my board-straight hair but died out a bit when they were afraid of epidemic infection! It wasn't the 60's and 70's Remember that there was more discussion and disclosure during and after the 70's than ever before! We used to shroud all that talk .Lately we got very curious about everything - - the 60's had us examining cosummer fraud, the ecological crimes, discrimination and a lot of other "unmentionables", and just growing up in general. What a bunch of cra— this study is! I'm a poor choice to tell this nonsense to: I was a Catholic from a secular university during that era. AWARE
The Catholic church has spent so much time, effort and money protecting pedophiles, They're ignorant in protecting the victims of pedophiles.
Women's reproductive health and birth control are important and deadly issues but the church fails to recognize women's rights because there are no female representation in the Catholic church's popes, cardinals, bishops' and priests.
Another reason the Catholic church is against women's reproduction rights is if they don't have any, their flock of church goers keep growing. More boys to abuse also. Then some people wonder why other people hate religion.
Right on Robert!
Amazing how it took decades to do something about this, but only 15 minutes to complain about women asking for coverage for birth control when the Supreme Court guaranteed that right decades ago.
Isn't that strange?
Yep. Even "El Raton" Ratzinger, otherwise known as the Pope, is guilty of covering up for the pedophiles and doing little to protect the victims. I sure wouldn't let my child near a Catholic church.
The church is about fifty years too late. The only reason the problem is being addressed now is that the church cannot afford the financial settlements. It's all about the money.
This is what the church should be concerned about instead of what women do with their bodies. For a group of men who are supposed to be non sexual they sure do spend a lot of their time looking into women's knickers.
Soddom and Gamorrah period reborn in this age where same sex marriages are taking place and children being abused by holy men.
I know I believe that the Catholic Church is going to begin searching out and prosecuting pedophiles in their midst.
But you know what? I believe in Santa Claus and The Easter Bunny and The Tooth Fairy, too.....
The church has had plenty of time to deal with this problem. They have chosen NOT to deal with this problem. They are not GOING to deal with this problem. Period.