Word: vaticans
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...institutions prize symbolism as much as the Roman Catholic Church does. And over the past few months, as news surfaced about the sexual abuse of children and teens by priests from Boston to Los Angeles and evidence of official cover-ups grew, American Catholics looked to the Vatican for some kind of sign. The silence out of Rome was deafening until last Monday, when the Pope finally issued a call. America's embattled Cardinals--all 13 of them--were summoned to an unprecedented meeting to be solely devoted to the spreading uproar...
...celibacy, women priests or homosexuality, it's not likely to happen anytime soon. The usual diversions designed to avoid these subjects were thrown about with abandon. This is a purely American problem, some church spokesmen argued, as if scandals weren't exploding elsewhere: an ABC News report charged the Vatican itself with covering up abuse claims against a priest previously praised by the Pope. Then there was the scapegoating of gays. Equating homosexuality with child abuse is one of the oldest slanders there is - but this church didn't hesitate to invoke it to deflect attention from its own culpability...
...issue stands now, the Vatican supports a sort of modified zero-tolerance policy for America's 47,000 priests: call it "a couple of strikes and you're out." Priests who are found to be "notorious and guilty of the serial, predatory sexual abuse of minors" will automatically be defrocked by the local bishop. But the fate of priests who "are not notorious" (i.e. first offenders) will be left up to a local diocese. The Vatican's relatively conciliatory approach disappointed some American Catholics who feel betrayed by the Church, and it has left some American Catholic clergy feeling that...
...Neither should the symbolism of ecclesiastic spectacle be underestimated. In a departure from Vatican tradition, the Cardinals' meeting is expected to provide daily briefings to the press. Few expect full disclosure of the discussions. The talks may range from debates on a formal policy to prevent and handle further abuse cases to deeper doctrinal conversations about celibacy and female priests. They will certainly set the agenda for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' meeting, scheduled for June in Dallas. Meanwhile, the appearance of high-level openness may help calm troubled waters...
...Weigel expects little material progress from the Vatican sessions. "It's two days," he says. "Two days! And these are extremely complex issues." But at least they are finally being confronted by the only men with the power to resolve them...