Milan prosecutor rules out suicide in skyscraper plane crash
The Associated Press
4/24/02 11:57 AM
MILAN, Italy (AP) -- The Milan prosecutor investigating why a small private plane slammed into the city's tallest building ruled out suicide on Wednesday, Italian news reports said.
The April 18 crash killed the pilot and two women who worked in the Pirelli building. According to an autopsy, pilot Luigi Fasulo, 67, died from the impact.
The spectacular crash, with its eerie echo of Sept. 11, grabbed headlines worldwide.
Authorities quickly ruled out terrorism, saying from the outset that they believed it was suicide or a technical problem. On Wednesday, prosecutor Bruna Albertini said suicide had now been ruled out.
"Evidence gathered so far leads us to rule out a voluntary act," she said, according to Italian news agencies.
Albertini did not elaborate and was not immediately available for comment.
Fasulo had reported landing gear problems on his approach to Milan's Linate airport and air traffic controllers had diverted him. Minutes later, his Rockwell Commander 112TC struck the 26th floor of the landmark tower.
The lower floors of the 30-story building, which houses government offices, were reopened Monday. The funeral of the two women who worked and died there was held Tuesday in the city's cathedral.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.ARTICLE II ON MILAN PLANE CRASH!!!
Milan plane crash was suicide, says minister
(Filed: 24/04/2002)
THE pilot who crashed a light aircraft into Milan's tallest building committed suicide, Italy's transport minister said today.
Pietro Lunardi's claims added to the speculation over whether Luigi Fasulo, 67, flew his single-engined Rockwell Commander into the 30-storey Pirelli building intentionally.
Two other people were killed and dozens injured in last Friday's crash that sparked fears of a terror attack similar to September 11. Many were saved because the crash happened after many offices had shut for the day.
Mr Lunardi said today: "The evidence being pieced together points to the hypothesis of suicide. For myself, I have no doubts. There is only one skyscraper in Milan and he hit it dead center."
Earlier this week the pilot's son also claimed the crash was suicide, saying his father had financial problems with his business.
However, friends of the Swiss pilot have rubbished the claims and a judicial investigation has yet to find evidence to suggest the crash was not an accident.
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ARTICLE III ON MILAN PLANE CRASH!!!
Milan skyscraper reopens after crash
23 April 2002
MILAN: Scarred but standing, Italy's tallest building has reopened for business, four days after a single-engine plane slammed into the skyscraper killing three people and reviving fears of the September 11 attacks.
But as sombre office workers filed in to the lower floors of Milan's 30-storey Pirelli Tower and investigators carried out an autopsy on the Swiss-Italian pilot who flew his plane into the building, many questions remained unanswered.
Authorities have said the crash, which killed two women lawyers as well as the pilot, was not a terror attack. But on Monday, ministers asked why Luigi Fasulo, 67, had smashed into the centre of one of the few high-rise buildings in Milan.
"My personal opinion is that the building was targeted almost perfectly and hit at top speed...which makes you think it was not an accident," Technology Minister Lucio Stanca told reporters at the foot of the tower, still littered with paper.
The autopsy on Fasulo's dismembered body; which along with the plane's engine passed through the skyscraper and landed on one of its terraces; did not give many hoped-for answers.
"His vital organs were reduced to a pulp and we will need to do more tests to find out how he died," said a source at Milan's medical institute, adding that investigators would need a further two months to get definitive results.
A legal source said it was most likely Fasulo was killed by the impact of flying into the tower, ruling out some of the many hypotheses raised since the crash, including that the pilot fell ill at the controls or was suffocated by smoke in the cabin.
Sources said Fasulo's body showed no traces of carbon, which would have been a sure sign of smoke inhalation.
Other scenarios include the possibility that Fasulo committed suicide because of money problems; a hypothesis rejected by his family; or was the victim of a disastrous technical problem.
SHADOW OF SEPTEMBER 11
Workers returning to the Pirelli tower were welcomed by a mass of paper litter, twisted metal and broken glass and had to fight the fear of a repetition of September 11.
One woman collapsed in tears as she stepped inside.
"It's sad," said office worker Gianfranca as she entered the building bathed in spring sunshine. "September 11 has left us scared. Now, whenever we see a plane go by, we shudder."
Emergency workers were clearing debris from the 26th and 27th floors, devastated in the crash. Experts said the structure was intact but it was not known when the upper floors, used by the Lombardy regional administration, would be reopened.
Those floors suffered most of the damage when Fasulo's Commander 112 aircraft struck the building on Thursday.
An experienced pilot with more than 5,000 hours' flying time, Fasulo took off from Locarno in southern Switzerland. As he approached Milan's Linate airport, he told the control tower he was having trouble with the plane's landing gear.
Experts were examining the blackened remains of the plane to see whether the landing gear had stuck. The position of the throttle could help establish whether Fasulo had cut his speed while trying manually to release the landing gear.
On Thursday morning, Fasulo went to the police in Italy's Como town near Locarno to complain that he had been swindled out of one million euros by an Italian who was arrested in France on Friday.
Fasulo's family confirmed that he had recently had financial troubles but scoffed at speculation that he had taken his life.
Article IV on Milan Plane Crash--4/27/02--Milan Air Crash
News networks including BBC News 24, CNN and Sky are showing live coverage of the plane crash in central Milan.
It would appear that a single engine Piper aircraft crashed into the 30 storey Pirelli building after the pilot radioed that he was having problems with the aircraft's landing gear.
The networks are reported that three people have been killed.
BBC One's Six O'Clock News carried a four- minute live report from Milan at the start of its bulletin.
ARTICLE I ON VATICAN DEALING WITH PRIESTS AND SEXUAL CHARGES
After strong words from the pope, Americans at the Vatican's sex-abuse summit discuss what to do next
By RICHARD N. OSTLING
The Associated Press
4/23/02 6:25 PM
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Decrying sex abuse in the church as a sin and a crime, Pope John Paul II told American church leaders Tuesday there was no room in the priesthood "for those who would harm the young."
The pope's language was his strongest yet on the molestation scandal that has convulsed the Roman Catholic Church in the United States since January. American prelates appeared to take his words to heart, making progress toward an agreement on a new plan of action.
The pope's use of the word "crime" seemed to end any lingering debate on whether U.S. bishops should refer abuse accusations against priests to secular authorities, as many are now doing.
The Americans worked until 10 p.m. Tuesday on a communique expected to come at the close of the two-day summit Wednesday. It could include specific proposals for reform that would play into a platform being prepared for a meeting of American bishops in June.
John Paul's talk to the Americans, delivered in English, had a striking gloves-off tone compared with many papal utterances.
"The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and rightly considered a crime by society" as well as an "appalling sin" before God, he said.
In comments outside the closed-door meeting, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles said "practically every one of us brought up close collaboration with law enforcement" during the first round of discussions.
John Paul was emphatic about how priests should not behave.
"People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who harm the young," the pope said. That made it obvious abusers must be removed. But what about readmitting them to active ministry after therapy and repentance?
In Mahony's view, the pope "made it very clear that there is no place in the priesthood for anyone who abuses minors."
"It's the strongest language I've seen about what we call at home 'zero tolerance,"' he said. Others have called this the "one strike and you're out" policy.
However, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said this wasn't entirely clear, because in another passage the pope spoke of "the power of Christian conversion, that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God."
For the first time this year, the pope spoke out for the victims: "To the victims and their families, wherever they may be, I express my profound sense of solidarity and concern."
John Paul invited the Americans to continue the talks over lunch with him Wednesday.
One new idea proposed here is formation of a national blue-ribbon panel of prominent laymen and women to monitor the church's performance.
Two disputes are off the table, Mahony said: whether Boston's embattled Cardinal Bernard Law should resign and whether the church should consider relaxing the celibacy rule for priests. The first is a matter between the pope and Law, he said. The second does not fit this meeting's purpose, though Mahony indicated it would be on the church's future agenda.
"Our focus is on what can help the church today and next week," he said.
While Catholic liberals see ending celibacy as a long-term remedy, conservatives -- notably including the pope's spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls -- want new enforcement to keep all homosexuals out of the priesthood, even if they maintain celibacy.
Cardinal Adam Maida of Detroit said behavioral scientists think "it's not truly a pedophilia type problem but a homosexual type problem." He said bishops need to "cope with and address" the extent of a homosexual element in Catholic seminaries.
And Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, acknowledged "it is an ongoing struggle to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men."
Allegations of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests also have surfaced recently in Austria, Ireland, France, Australia and the pope's native Poland.
Mahony said he made that point in his own remarks to the meeting and emphasized the importance of priests in religious orders as opposed to "diocesan" priests. Many of the American investigations have involved "diocesan" priests who are under direct jurisdiction of bishops. Priests in orders are often "moved from country to country" and make up half the world's clergy.
John Paul also said "the church herself is viewed with distrust and many are offended at the way in which the church's leaders are perceived to have acted."
No leader is more under fire than Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law. George told reporters that when the American delegation first gathered informally on Monday night, Law told the group that "had he not made some terrible mistakes we would not be here. And he apologized for that."
Maida joined those calling for Law to stay on. "I've known him for years, almost as long as he's been bishop, over 30 years. He has been such a great influence on our own conference of bishops in the United States, and the world."
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington also said Law should remain in place.
The meeting, in a frescoed conference room, brought together 12 U.S. cardinals, three representatives of the U.S. bishops' conference and eight top Vatican officials. Each of the Americans spoke for 15 minutes, with simultaneous translation into Italian available for the Vatican officials.
The top Vatican participation could make it easier for the American bishops to act collectively in June and impose binding nationwide rules for each individual bishop to follow. But it's unclear whether such a policy would need Vatican endorsement. Church law and tradition give local bishops great leeway, particularly in the disciplining of errant priests.
Baltimore's Cardinal William Keeler said he was "very touched" by the meeting Tuesday in the pope's personal library. "He spoke of issues that were close to our heart when he said how moved he was, how involved he felt."
The extraordinary meeting itself underscores that papal engagement. Normally, Vatican meetings of this importance are prepared months if not years in advance. This one was pulled together on a week's notice.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ARTICLE II ON VATICAN DEALING WITH PREISTS AND SEXUAL CHARGES
Vatican holds meet to discuss charges against priests
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NDTV Correspondent
Tuesday, April 23, 2002 (Rome):
Twelve American Cardinals are in Rome as the Vatican holds an unprecedented meeting on sexual abuse by priests. The US Cardinals will attend a Vatican summit to discuss widespread revelations of molestation of children by Catholic priests.
The Cardinals have begun the two day talks to decide whether to apply a "one strike and out" rule to priests accused of sexually molesting children and whether to hand guilty priests over to civilian authorities.
"It presents an enormous challenge to the church. The first challenge that it presents is to bring justice and I suppose the beginning of healing at least to the victims of this abuse because here we're dealing with a very serious evil," said Bishop Willie Walsh, Diocese of Killaloe, Ireland.
The latest sexual abuse controversy began in January when reports disclosed that Boston Cardinal Bernard Law and other church leaders had moved a priest accused of pedophilia from parish to parish despite the allegations.
In February, a former priest John Geoghan was convicted of molesting a child. That opened a floodgate prompting hundreds to step forward with accusations of abuse.
"When I was 12 years old, I was in hospital and the chaplain of the hospital was a priest and over the weeks I was there he abused me," alleged Marie Collins, victim of sexual abuse by a priest.
It?瞽璽?î«ÂÂÂÂçÂÂÂÂÂÂÂÂＴ€îµÂÂÂÂââ€Â¬ not just a crisis of credibility. The Church's finances have also been battered by legal settlements, which run into millions of dollars.
Though the Pope has called priestly pedophilia the most grievous form of the mystery of evil, Vatican observers say the unprecedented meeting in Rome is just one step towards the reform of the clergy and a restoration of the faith in it.
Article III--On Vatican Involvement in Catholic Priest Sexual Abuse.
Catholics too angry to absolve Vatican
27apr02
WASHINGTON: US Catholics expressed outrage yesterday at the Vatican summit on sex abuse, which they said did more harm than good. They pledged to step up their campaign for reforms.
The 13 American cardinals flew home yesterday to discover that the limited agreements reached in Rome on how to deal with priests who molested children, particularly the distinction between "serial" abusers and others, had only fuelled the crisis.
Victims, lawyers, priests and laity all said that the failure to discuss the hierarchy's role in protecting pedophiles, and the failure to discuss the possible resignation of some cardinals, was unsatisfactory.
"I was extremely disappointed," said Father Charles Dahlby, of St Rita's Church in Kincaid, Illinois. "They vastly underestimated the level of anger and made a huge mistake. No question about it, the Rome meetings made it worse."
The summit did little to ease the frustrations of victims and their families, who said they were disappointed with the apparent lack of sympathy from either the Pope or the cardinals.
"I see them all sitting up there and they're laughing," said Paula Ford, an abused boy's mother. "And I'm thinking, 'What's wrong with this picture?' I don't think anything has been accomplished."
In Boston, Catholics planned a protest overnight against the church leadership, saying the crisis was not over.
"I was appalled by Rome, but each new revelation will keep the momentum going," said Catholic activist Terry McKiernan.
Even conservatives, who opposed reforms such as ending celibacy or allowing ordination of women, said the Rome summit would prompt more protests.
Article IV on Vatican Involvement in Catholic Priests Sexual Abuse.
Catholics too angry to absolve Vatican
27apr02
WASHINGTON: US Catholics expressed outrage yesterday at the Vatican summit on sex abuse, which they said did more harm than good. They pledged to step up their campaign for reforms.
The 13 American cardinals flew home yesterday to discover that the limited agreements reached in Rome on how to deal with priests who molested children, particularly the distinction between "serial" abusers and others, had only fuelled the crisis.
Victims, lawyers, priests and laity all said that the failure to discuss the hierarchy's role in protecting pedophiles, and the failure to discuss the possible resignation of some cardinals, was unsatisfactory.
"I was extremely disappointed," said Father Charles Dahlby, of St Rita's Church in Kincaid, Illinois. "They vastly underestimated the level of anger and made a huge mistake. No question about it, the Rome meetings made it worse."
The summit did little to ease the frustrations of victims and their families, who said they were disappointed with the apparent lack of sympathy from either the Pope or the cardinals.
"I see them all sitting up there and they're laughing," said Paula Ford, an abused boy's mother. "And I'm thinking, 'What's wrong with this picture?' I don't think anything has been accomplished."
In Boston, Catholics planned a protest overnight against the church leadership, saying the crisis was not over.
"I was appalled by Rome, but each new revelation will keep the momentum going," said Catholic activist Terry McKiernan.
Even conservatives, who opposed reforms such as ending celibacy or allowing ordination of women, said the Rome summit would prompt more protests.
Article V--Vatican Involvement in Catholic Priets Sexual Abuse
The Cardinals Who Weren't Called to Rome
The Post's opinion and commentary section runs every Sunday.
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By Fintan O'Toole
Sunday, April 28, 2002; Page B01
DUBLIN
Victims breaking their silence to talk about abuse at the hands of the priests they trusted. A system of dealing with complaints that hovers between complacency and complicity. Bishops and cardinals disappearing from view as questions rain down on them. Awkward news conferences at which church leaders set out to look humble and contrite, and end up looking arrogant and uncaring. Enraged victims protesting at church ceremonies. The faithful, disillusioned and bewildered.
All of these events are familiar to those who have followed the crisis in the American Catholic church. They are no less familiar, however, to anyone like me who lives and works in the Republic of Ireland. Here, too -- in one of the traditional heartlands of Catholicism -- the bitter story of abuse, denial, collusion and revelation has been playing itself out over recent weeks. For the beleaguered Cardinal Law of Boston, read the embattled Cardinal Connell of Dublin, whose flock, according to opinion polls, wants him to follow the path of one of his best-known Irish colleagues, Bishop Brendan Comiskey of Ferns, who resigned April 1.
There is, however, one chapter of the American story that is starkly different from the otherwise similar tale in Ireland. Last week, during his extraordinary meeting with the leaders of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, Pope John Paul II personally acknowledged the calamity in their church. The pope, however, has not intervened publicly in the Irish situation, or for that matter in similar crises around the world. It seems clear that the Vatican views the American scandal as a much more serious affair for the universal church than the collapse of public trust in the Irish church.
Why should the troubles of American Catholicism, however deep, cause this special anxiety in Rome? To most Americans, the answer may seem obvious. The Irish church is important historically for its missionary role in spreading the faith around the world. Those days, however, are gone. Ireland is now producing barely enough priests to minister to its own 3 million Catholics. In the big picture of the universal church, it is no more than a quaint little corner with an interesting past. It is not terribly surprising that the Pope and his advisers should have more important things to worry about.
On the other hand, there are a great many Catholics in the United States. With about 60 million members, the Catholic church is America's biggest. For the pious, that is a lot of souls to be saved; for the cynical, a lot of dollars on the collection plate at Sunday Mass.
From a global perspective, however, this apparently obvious explanation doesn't quite add up. Americans make up just 6 percent of the 1 billion Catholics worldwide. They are, moreover, part of a declining minority. The future of the church lies in Latin America, Africa and Asia, where about two-thirds of the world's Catholics currently live, and where populations are rising far faster than in North America or Europe. Neither now nor in the decades to come does the health of the church depend crucially on Boston or Chicago, any more than on Dublin or Belfast.
All the more puzzling then, that the Vatican's public concern for the church in the United States should contrast so starkly with its understated response to scandals elsewhere. In both the old Catholic heartlands of Europe and the new frontiers of the developing world, the church has been damaged by the activities of sexual predators within its ranks. In none of these cases has the pope signaled his concern the way he did last week with the American hierarchy.
In 1998, for example, the Catholic bishops of Austria admitted that accusations that the former archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, was a pedophile were "in essence true." Last September, Pierre Pican, bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux in France, received a three-month suspended prison term for concealing his knowledge that a priest was sexually abusing children. Last month, Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan, in the pope's native Poland, resigned after an investigation revealed a long history of sexual advances to teenage seminarians in his diocese.
And the litany continues: Last year in Australia, a parliamentary inquiry confimed a shocking history of sexual and physical abuse at church-run orphanages -- a scandal much like ones that unfolded in Newfoundland in the mid-1990s and in Ireland in the past two years. In Mexico and Brazil, the two most populous Catholic countries in the world, the church authorities are facing up to sex abuse scandals no less serious than those in the United States. In Africa, a continent crucial to the church's future development, concerned Catholics have revealed the widespread sexual abuse of nuns by priests.
None of these cases, however, produced the kind of reaction from the Vatican that we saw last week. What is special about the U.S. scandal, in other words, is not the scale of the crimes (nor is it the media coverage, which has been agressive in almost all countries) but the seriousness of the response. The official reaction is different because, from the Vatican's point of view, the potential consequences are much worse. Quite simply, the pope and his colleagues are haunted by the fear of a split in American Catholicism and what it mightdo to the unity of the church worldwide. The Catholic church in the United States is unique in one respect: It is both a huge organization and a minority religion. In numerical terms, the United States is one of the world's top 10 Catholic countries. In each of the other nine, however, baptized Catholics make up at least 80 percent of the population. The surrounding culture, in other words, is overwhelming Catholic.
In the United States, on the other hand, Catholics make up less than a quarter of the population, surrounded by a wide variety of Protestant and other faiths. This simple demographic fact makes a big difference, both to the way American Catholics see their own church and what they might do when that church alienates them.
One of the things that is most striking for an outsider spending time in the United States, as I did for a few years living in New York, is that American Catholicism is, in some respects, remarkably Protestant. A Protestant church in America isn't just a place of worship. It is a means of belonging, a way into the community. It feels both local and democratic. And this religious culture has touched ordinary American Catholics, too. If you listen to them protesting against their cardinals in recent weeks, what you hear over and over again is the phrase "This is my church." There is a sense of ownership that Americans take for granted but that is, to European eyes, quite remarkable.
The other Protestant dimension of American Catholicism is its culture of dissent. It is not, of course, that the divide between liberal and conservative Catholics is uniquely American. The dispute with orthodoxy in the United States, however, is unusually confident and intellectually rich. With the possible exception of Germany (where Catholics also form a minority in a largely Protestant culture), there is no other part of the church where internal dissent is so well organized and so self-assured. Here, too, the outsider can see the influence of a surrounding Protestant culture in which the right to take a different view is endorsed and upheld.
These factors give the Vatican good reason to fear that the consequences of a rebellion against the hierarchy could be much more profound in America than elsewhere. In Europe, disillusioned Catholics tend to walk away. They simply stop going to Mass. The church, of course, regrets their absence and prays for their return. The church is not, however, greatly threatened. If the result is that the hierarchy is left to govern a more orthodox, more obedient flock, the blow is cushioned by the prospect of a quieter life for the leadership.
The American sense of ownership and tradition of dissent, however, make the possible consequences of widespread disaffection much more serious. If the crisis subsides only to re-emerge every few years with renewed power, the alienation of many Catholics from their leaders could become an unbridgeable chasm.
It is hard, however, to imagine American Catholics simply walking away from a church which, as they insist, belongs to them. Galvanized by a culture of religious dissent and with the support of an impressive array of liberal Catholic intellectuals, they just might be pushed into the ultimate rebellion against Rome -- breaking away. Given America's disproportionate influence and prestige in the wider world, such a rebellion would set off an earthquake in the global church.
In the day-to-day world of secular politics, this kind of scenario may seem excessively melodramatic. The Catholic church, however, is used to imagining history on an epic scale, and no one more so than the present pope, who is animated by a sweeping vision of a re-unified Christendom, in which the Eastern and Western churches, sundered in early Medieval times, will be brought back together. John Paul has sought to impose strict orthodoxy in Catholic dogma because, as he sees it, there is no other way to hold together a global organization operating in a huge variety of cultures and contexts. To ensure that this project will survive his own death, he has appointed conservatives as the cardinals who will elect his successor.
If this long-term project of imposing a unified orthodoxy is the dream, then the possibility of a split in Catholicism in the world's wealthiest and most influential society is the nightmare. The message from the Rome summit last week was, above all, that the Vatican fears the anger of American Catholics.
Its attempts to assuage that anger, however, are severely limited by the need to keep the dream of unity alive. Side-by-side with an acknowledgment of the terrible failures, there is a reassertion of the principles of orthodoxy: no married priests, no female priests, no new understanding of the role of gays within the church.
It is oddly like the strategy of the communist leaders in central and Eastern Europe as their system began to be challenged by a disgruntled public more than a decade ago: Admit the failures of the past but insist that the old orthodoxies remain valid. As a Pole who did so much to bring down that system, John Paul should know better than most what happens to hierarchical, dogmatic systems that can't understand the anger of those they purport to serve.
Fintan O'Toole is a columnist with the Irish Times.
?ç©¢ 2002 The Washington Post Company
Article VI on Vatican Involvement in Catholic Priests Sexual Abuse
from the April 26, 2002 edition
Catholics raise doubts about Vatican moves
Some US groups want stronger zero-tolerance policy and more accountability.
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
After two extraordinary days of high-profile attention on Vatican City and the scandal shaking the Roman Catholic Church, US prelates now turn to the task of firming up a national set of standards on clergy sexual abuse that will convince American Catholics their concerns are being addressed.
The cardinals issued proposals at the close of the Rome meeting with the pope that aim to make it easier to remove priests who abuse minors. But they failed to agree on specifics raised during their sessions, such as a zero-tolerance policy for removing abusers or a national panel of lay advisers who would monitor church performance.A special committee of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops will be responsible for turning the proposals into specific standards that all US bishops can approve at a June meeting in Dallas.
"It was a high-stakes meeting 璽?砂€?their backs were to the wall," says Chester Gillis, chairman of the theology department at Georgetown University in Washington. "The US cardinals and Rome were under a microscope to respond adequately and firmly."
No strong national policy
While the summit gave convincing evidence the church was focusing on the problem of protecting children, it fell far short of a uniform policy with the pope's imprimatur. "The document is a skeletal outline. There is much, much more work to be done," admitted Bishop Wilton Gregory, president of the US Conference of Catholics Bishops.
The cardinals said they will propose a special process to speed dismissal of a priest "who has become notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory, sexual abuse of minors," and another process for those priests who are not "notorious" but still may pose a further threat.
The idea that some priests involved in abuse might still be returned to active religious life is distressing to many victims and their supporters.
"We weren't terribly optimistic to start with, but we're disappointed," says David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests. "Yesterday the pope said there is no place in ministry for an abuser, but today the cardinals seemed to be saying, well, maybe sometimes, some cases. This backtracking so quickly is disturbing."
The cardinals also seem to make a distinction between pedophiles and those who abuse older minors. Some involved in treatment strongly disagree. "That specific distinction is deplorable," says Peter Isely, a psychotherapist in Milwaukee, Wisc. "A felony is a felony, whether it's a child or a minor."
He acknowledges that some individual priests fall into gray areas. "But these are not engineers or plumbers or accountants 璽?砂€?they're guardians, in a position of public trust."
A. W. Richard Sipe, a California psychotherapist who has worked with both victims and abusive priests, says that distinction is wrong, but there needs to be a more personalized approach than just one strike and you're out, and local review boards could help to make those calls.
Every diocese needs an independent lay board to investigate allegations, agrees Thomas Reese, editor of "America," a Jesuit weekly. "No professional group is good at policing itself."
Celibacy and homosexuality in the priesthood were also on the agenda. The cardinals simply reaffirmed priestly celibacy, but there is considerable debate over how homosexuality relates to the abuse problem and whether homosexuals should be precluded from the priesthood. The proposals call for special attention to the admission requirements of seminaries and their moral teachings.
Didn't go far enough
Many Catholics in the US are disappointed by the summit, feeling the church still isn't acting like a church.
The pope's statement of "solidarity and concern" for the victims was "a minimal acknowledgement that can't be applauded," says Anne Barrett Doyle, a Boston parishioner. "I was looking to him, as our spiritual leader, for a real pouring forth of compassion, remorse, humility, and love for these people. This is not a pastoral response, one that will heal."
As for the management failures 璽?砂€?the coverups that have stirred dismay and anger 璽?砂€?some felt the pope simply followed the same line as his bishops, blaming mistakes on bad advice from clinical experts. "It's a step forward to focus on the problem, but there is still not a full acceptance of responsibility," says Mr. Sipe. "People are beginning to see that this is a pattern, the way the church handles sexual complaints and problems."
But who do the bishops answer to?
The issues of accountability are troubling many people. John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, just completed a tour around the US. "The issue with Catholics there has shifted from sexual abuse to accountability, and the larger question of to whom exactly are the bishops accountable," he says.
"How can you restore credibility without addressing the institutional flaws that led to the failure to deal with the problem?" asks Jim Muller, a cardiologist from Wellesley, Mass, who heads a new group called Voice of the Faithful, which advocates more lay involvement in church decisions. "The difficulty comes from absolute power."
Some Catholics say the story isn't finished until the pope himself meets with victims of abuse. Voice of the Faithful, a Boston-based group that has grown quickly to 2,000 members from 12 countries, is requesting a meeting with the Vatican to express concerns of the laity. Their delegation would include some people who were abused. "We've asked the 12 US cardinals to support our request," says Dr. Muller.
Siamo pronti a fornire ogni aiuto
Un patto per la sicurezza a Napoli fra sistema delle imprese e forze dell'ordine. Il questore Franco Malvano incontra il presidente della Camera di commercio partenopea Gaetano Cola e la Giunta dell'ente camerale. L'obiettivo è rendere concreta la presenza dello Stato accanto agli operatori economici.
