On the NYT's Piece About a Cleric Abuser from Winsconsin

Contatcted today by the BBC on account of an article published by the New York Times, I was baffled to see an enduring enimity towards the present Catholic Pontiff. The BBC producer asked me to express an opinion on the said article, so here it is:

I think that, horrible as the facts involving children in Wisconsin may have been, the article published in the NY Times concerns facts that took place between 1950 and 1974. It added nothing new to the present discussion.

All it did was to attempt to smear the reputation of the Church a little further on a “dark past” that’s already been amply commented and that is already being addressed at the present, after Pope Benedict’s pastoral letter of last week.

The attempt to link this story to the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is, to my view, incomplete and unsuccessful. The fact that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith led by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was notified only some 20 years after the fact, in 1996, and that by then the civil authorities of Wisconsin had dropped any charges against the supposed malefector, should be clear enough evidence that the Pope was not involved in any "cover up" of the Wisconsin accusations.

However, there's more that points to the integrity of the Pope: for by the time the Congregation received news of the accusations in 1996, the accused, who was actually in his deathbead and died 4 months latter, was indeed submitted to a canonical investigation authorised by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith against him. Had he not died, I'm sure it would have followed through to its bitter end.

More to the point, as I understand it, in US soil, particularly at the present, the Constitution takes precedence over any other institution’s internal rules, however cherished they may be. It must then follow as a surprise that this felon hasn’t been prosecuted by the authorities of the State of Wisconsin, even in the face of a report to the authorities in 1973. Where were they? Why haven't the media pointed fingers at the deputy of police, the xeriff and the like?

Hence, in view of the copious amount of evidence pointing to the honesty of purpose of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith whilst under Joseph Ratzinger, and in view that no other authority has been even questioned as to why things turned out the way they did, this latest media effort reeks of malice and seems to use the reputation of the Pope lightly and irresponsibly.

After the Pope’s unprecedented letter of last week, the standing instruction of the Pontiff is that such cases must be dealt with in conjunction with properly constituted authorities and in accordance to the civil authorities and the laws of a sovereign state.

The odd thing to me is that I have seen very little about Bishop Magee’s resignation in Ireland in the news. This is an event, which was a direct result of affirmative action by the Pope and Vatican, but I saw next to nothing about it in the media.

What I do see is another derogative story dug up in Wisconsin. I can't help but think that some institutions in the media are engaged on a witch-hunt against the Catholic clergy. If you are looking for all the facts, have a look here:

http://www.zenit.org/article-28750?l=english