In the monthly issue of the “Wpis” there was an article by Jolanta Sosnowska proving the constant efforts of St. John Paul II on the moral purity of priests quoting among others: unknown letter from the Polish Pope to American Bishops related to pedophilia. Here are excerpts from the article:
With passing years, it is puzzling that, at the first meeting with American Bishops, John Paul II considered it appropriate to remind clergy from across the ocean how important and fundamental are fidelity to doctrine and adherence to discipline, including moral, in the life of every priest. And this was the first meeting of the new Pope with the Bishops of the world which took place only 24 days after the election! It was held on November 9, 1978 as part of visits ad limina Apostolorum. In the context of the pedophile scandals that will erupt in the U.S. 15 years later, there seem to be prophetic words: “The hopes for the Life of the Church– pure doctrine and strong discipline – entirely depend on each new generation of priests who, with generous love, continue their church devotion to the Gospel. (…) Today, I have a great wish that a new emphasis on the rank of doctrine and discipline may be the post-Vatican Council contribution of your seminarians, so that ‘the Lord’s message may spread quickly, and be received with honor” (2 Thes3:1).”
Can one doubt what values St. John Paul II placed in his priestly life and what he promoted throughout his life?
Clearly, courageously
The frequency of meetings between the Polish Pope and the American bishops must be emphasized; regularly and there were dozens of them. There was no negligence. John Paul II never failed in converting his co-brother, bringing them on the right path in line with the Gospel commandments. He also did not shy away from confronting problems; he absolutely did not turn a blind eye to them.
There was an intensive teaching of the clergy, including hierarchs, during pilgrimage, including to the United States. At a meeting with alumni in Los Angeles on September 16, 1987, the Holy Father emphasized that “to educate means to create personality.” On the same day, he reminded the hierarchs, “Each of us, Bishops, was ordained to be a living sign of Jesus Christ.” And, on December 11, 1980, speaking in the Throne Room to 40 American priests who completed a course of contemporary theological thought in Rome, he asked that the Word of God always be the context of their lives. These are unequivocal words for clergy.
Every year audiences for American priests participating in renewal courses were organized at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. During a series of visits ad limina Apostolorum of American Bishops in 1983, which was the Holy Year of redemption, John Paul II discussed with them in various aspects the need to strive for personal holiness, “profound conversion, lasting conversion, renewed conversion.” (…)
On September 24, 1983, John Paul II unequivocally reminded them: “in order to avoid any trivialization or desecration of sexuality, we must teach that sexuality transcends the purely biological sphere and concerns the innermost being of the human persons as such. Sexual love is truly human only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and a woman commit themselves totally to one another until death. This full self-giving is possible only in marriage.”
It is impossible to quote in one article all the speeches to bishops and clergy, letters written to episcopates, not only in the USA, in which the Polish Pope invariably preached the same untainted teaching of the Church based on the authentic Word of God.
Woe to the world due to scandals
In April 1993, another canonical visit of the Bishops of the United States to the apostolic thresholds began. This time, however, a bomb of public scandal was to erupt, which was planted by some American priests and religious men, misrepresenting their vocation, completely ignoring the order of life in purity and going to the crime of pedophilia. When John Paul II was notified, the Pope raised this painful issue directly on June 8, 1993 during an audience for American bishops from Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
It was a terrible, unimaginable blow to John Paul II, who so strenuously fought for the sanctity of priests. He wrote letters on Holy Thursday to them, encouraged to celebrate the anniversaries of ordination and renew the promises, insisted “we are priests from the priesthood of Christ” and gave testimony with his personal example. This uncompromising defender of the family and the most vulnerable, a group which also include children, was shocked and hurt immensely along with victims.
However, with this very painful and extremely difficult problem John Paul II did not go to the media, as hunters and sensationalists wished as this way de facto mischief is propagated. First, in prayer, he entrusted this wound of the Church to God, and on June 11, thus three days after his meeting with the American Bishops, he wrote to them a letter “in connection with cases of sexual abuse committed by some priests in the United States.”
Only a few people know about this very important document, which testifies the immediate reaction of the Polish Pope to the revealed of the pedophilia sin. It was not published by the Polish edition of “L’Osservatore Romano”, and to this day it exists only in two languages – English and Italian and it is really not easy to find it. Thus, it is worth to make it public in Polish translation, because John Paul II did not try to justify the villains or to downplay the scandal. Not only did he use very harsh words, but he urged the appropriate penalties. The Catholic Church already had clearly developed standards of conduct for clergy who committed the crime of sexual exploitation of minors. The first instruction on this matter was established in the Holy See in 1922, the next 40 years later.
Shocked Pope wrote to American bishops
“Woe to the world because of scandals!” (Mt. 18:7).
During these last months I have become aware of how much you, the Pastors of the Church in the United States, together with all the faithful, are suffering because of certain cases of scandal given by members of the clergy. During the ad Limina visits many times the conversation has turned to this problem of how the sins of clerics have shocked the moral sensibilities of many and become an occasion of sin for others. The Gospel word “woe” has a special meaning, especially when Christ applies it to cases of scandal, and first of all to the scandal “of the little ones” (Cf. ibid. 18:6). How severe are Christ’s words when he speaks of such scandal, how great must be that evil if “for him who gives scandal it would be better to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (cf. ibid.).
The vast majority of Bishops and priests are devoted followers of Christ, ardent workers in his vineyard, and men who are deeply sensitive to the needs of their brothers and sisters. That is why I am deeply pained, like you, when it seems that the words of Christ can be applied to some ministers of the altar. Since Christ calls them his “friends” (Jn. 15:15), their sin – the sin of giving scandal to the innocent – must pain his heart indeed. Therefore, I fully share your sorrow and your concern, especially your concern for the victims so seriously hurt by these misdeeds.
Every sinner who follows the way of repentance, conversion and pardon can call on the mercy of God, and you in particular must encourage and assist those who stray to be reconciled and find peace of conscience. There is also the question of the human means for responding to this evil. The canonical penalties which are provided for certain offenses and which give a social expression of disapproval for the evil are fully justified. These help to maintain a clear distinction between good and evil and contribute to moral behavior as well as to creating a proper awareness of the gravity of the evil involved. As you are aware, a joint Committee of experts from the Holy See and the Bishops’ Conference has just been established to study how the universal canonical norms can best be applied to the particular situation of the United States.
I would also draw your attention to another aspect of the whole question. While acknowledging the right to due freedom of information, one cannot acquiesce in treating moral evil as an occasion for sensationalism. Public opinion often feeds on sensationalism and the mass media play a particular role therein. In fact, the search for sensationalism leads to the loss of something which is essential to the morality of society. Harm is done to the fundamental right of individuals not to be easily exposed to the ridicule of public opinion; even more, a distorted image of human life is created. Moreover, by making a moral offense the object of sensationalism, without reference to the dignity of human conscience, one acts in a direction which is in fact opposed to the pursuit of the moral good. There is already sufficient proof that the prevalence of violence and impropriety in the mass media has become a source of scandal. Evil can indeed be sensational, but the sensationalism surrounding it is always dangerous for morality.
Therefore, the words of Christ about scandal apply also to all those persons and institutions, often anonymous, that through sensationalism in various ways open the door to evil in the conscience and behavior of vast sectors of society, especially among the young who are particularly vulnerable. “Woe to the world because of scandals!”. Woe to societies where scandal becomes an everyday event.
So then, Venerable Brothers, you are faced with two levels of serious responsibility: in relation to the clerics through whom scandal comes and their innocent victims, but also in relation to the whole of society systematically threatened by scandal and responsible for it. A great effort is needed to halt the trivializing of the great things of God and man.
I ask you to reflect together with the priests, who are your co–workers, and with the laity, and to respond with all the means at your disposal. Among these means, the first and most important is prayer: ardent, humble, confident prayer. This whole sad question must be placed in a context which is not exclusively human; it must be freed from being considered commonplace. Prayer makes us aware that everything – even evil – finds its principal and definitive reference point in God. In him every sinner can be raised up again. In this way sin will not become an unfortunate cause of sensationalism, but rather the occasion for an interior call, as Christ has said: “Repent” (Mt. 4:17). “The Lord is near” (Phil. 4:5).
Yes, dear Brothers, America needs much prayer – lest it lose its soul. We are one in this prayer, remembering the words of the Redeemer: “Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation” (Mk. 14:38).
Misuse of freedom
When two months later John Paul II flew to Denver for World Youth Day on August 14 in a homily delivered during the Mass. at the McNichols Sports Arena, he mentioned the “scandal caused by the sins of some servants of the altar”, a letter to bishops on this matter, but also of the infamous role of the media in publicizing scandals and cases of scandal in order to sow even greater scandal. The Holy Father asked the question twice: And who is responsible for the media? Finally, to be well understood, he emphasized: “The Pope does not speak against freedom, especially against American freedom. He speaks for the proper use of freedom.”
On October 5, 1993, during an audience for the 34 American Bishops, John Paul II said that the encyclical letter Veritatis splendor, which was published two months earlier, on August 6, was the answer of the Magisterium of the Church to the moral secret in today’s society. We find, among others, the following words: “Those who live “by the flesh” experience God’s law as a burden, and indeed as a denial or at least a restriction of their own freedom. On the other hand, those who are impelled by love and “walk by the Spirit” (Gal 5:16), and who desire to serve others, find in God’s Law the fundamental and necessary way in which to practice love as something freely chosen and freely lived out.“
John Paul II did not stop at words but began to act. In agreement with his closest and trusted colleague Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, called on all bishops to report to the Holy See all information on pedophile crimes committed by Catholic clergy on minors; similar cases were also revealed in Ireland and Germany. The Pope also obliged individual episcopates to develop specific guidelines and standards of conduct to avoid similar cases. John Paul II initially trusted that national episcopates could handle it themselves, but when he noticed that this was not the case, he issued an indult for the United States in 1994, and in 1996 he expanded it to Ireland. The indult spoke of a zero-tolerance policy against the crimes of pedophilia. He also delegated to the Bishop’s courts the powers to expel from the clerical state the villains who committed this crime.
Therefore, the tools given by the Pope were there to be used in specific cases. If this has not been followed, against the clear instructions, then the sin of cover-up, thus contributing to the escalation of pedophilia among clergy, lies with the local episcopates. No one, not even the Holy Pope, can be responsible for the sins of his associates, especially the distant ones, for everyone is responsible for his or her actions before God– even if, by using various chicaneries he/she hides them from men or with the help of, for example, media will direct an attack on the innocent.
Monthly magazine “Wpis”
