Benedict "A Saint!" and Other News

So saith an abuse victim:

In an emotional interview with Vatican journalist Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale, an abuse victim who met with Pope Benedict XVI during the Pontiff's visit to Malta said that the session had restored his faith.

"I did not have any faith in priests. Now, after this moving experience, I have hope again," said Joseph Magro. "You people in Italy have a saint. Do you realize that? You have a saint!"

And this saint is busy:

Almost lost in the recent furor over clerical sex abuse is that Pope Benedict XVI just turned 83 and is approaching one of the busiest stretches of his pontificate. At an age when most church officials have long retired, over the next six months the German pontiff will make six trips, preside over dozens of public liturgies, close the Year for Priests, chair a Synod of Bishops on the Middle East and keep up a steady stream of audiences, both public and private. A major document on Scripture in church life is expected before summer. In his spare moments -- which are few -- the pope is still working on his second volume of "Jesus of Nazareth." Recent media reports have drawn a portrait of a weary pope, overwhelmed by the onslaught of criticism over the church's handling of sex abuses cases. Yet on the public stage, Pope Benedict has shown few signs of succumbing to job fatigue. In Malta in mid-April for a 27-hour visit, he appeared to nod off for a few seconds during Mass. But although that moment was well photographed, it was the exception to the rule. Throughout the visit, he appeared happy and relaxed -- notably as he chatted with young people aboard a boat in Valletta's Grand Harbor. If the story line was a dispirited pope alarmed by a drop in approval ratings, he clearly wasn't following the script. Nor is the pope about to go into hiding. There's far too much on his schedule... As he turned 83, Pope Benedict looked as though he could keep up the pace indefinitely. Only one pope has lived longer in the past century -- Pope John Paul II, who was 84 when he died.

In other news: Clarification has come to internal Vatican struggles over dealing with the abuse scandal:

veteran Vatican analyst Jean-Marie Guenois of Le Figaro explains what happened. The Congregation for the Clergy, under Cardinal Castrillon, argued for protective treatment of accused abusers. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) under Cardinal Ratzinger, argued for decisive disciplinary action. Sometimes Cardinal Ratzinger had his way, as in the handling of the Groër case; sometimes he was frustrated, as with Maciel case; sometimes the results were indecisive, as with the Burresi case.

Then in 2001, after the abuse scandal exploded in the US, Cardinal Ratzinger won a major victory, with the assignment of abuse cases to the CDF. The lenient attitude of the Congregation for Clergy was no longer a factor; prompt and serious discipline was possible. The second, decisive victory came in 2005 with the election of Pope Ratzinger. Within weeks the Maciel and Burresi cases were resolved.

And the Milwaukee suit against the Vatican makes a claim almost any Catholic in good standing would know is utterly false:

In the federal lawsuit, attorney Jeffrey Anderson makes the novel argument that the Catholic Church is a worldwide business enterprise, with the Vatican controlling every detail of the "commercial activity" down to the parish level.

While expressing sympathy for the victims of the late Father Lawrence Murphy, who are the named plaintiffs in the suit, attorney Lena notes that the Vatian "knew nothing of his crimes until decades after the abuse occurred, and had no role whatsoever in causing plaintiffs' injuries."

The suit, he said, is being exploited as "a platform for a broader attack" on the Catholic Church. It is, Lena said, "simply the latest attempt by certain U.S. lawyers to use the judicial process as a tool of media relations."

And American Papist has a useful graph of the abuse crisis, representing the frequency of cases.