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CNN Live At Daybreak
Sexual Abuse Controversy Lands in Corridors of Vatican
Aired April 23, 2002 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now for more on today's summit at the Vatican we go live to CNN Rome bureau chief Alessio Vinci -- Alessio, has the meeting gotten under way?
ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol.
It started early this morning at around 9:30 a.m. local time. It started, the meeting started with a prayer. You know, for many, many months, Vatican officials here believed that this scandal, the sexual abuse scandal was merely a problem in the United States and that the American press was growing it out of proportion.
Well, with this meeting now here, the controversy is landing in the corridors of the Vatican. And not just anywhere in the corridors, but in the very same rooms very close to where Pope John Paul II lives and works. U.S. cardinals and top Vatican officials are meeting now. They're discussing a series of guidelines on how to deal with this pressing issue of sex abuse among priests and in the U.S. Catholic Church as well as a number of guidelines on what to do in order to prevent those cases in the future.
There is, of course, both Vatican officials and U.S. cardinals are saying that we should not expect too much out of this meeting. No clear guidelines will come out of it, but this is just an opportunity to discuss those issues and to come up, perhaps, with a series of guidelines and of policies that which then the U.S. bishops can bring back to the United States, discuss among themselves and perhaps make them public during their meeting in Dallas in June when all the U.S. bishops will meet together.
Now, joining me here in our studios just outside the Vatican is Robert Mickens. He is the correspondent, the Vatican correspondent to the London-based "The Tablet."
Thank you very much for joining me here.
ROBERT MICKENS, REPORTER, "THE TABLET": You're welcome.
VINCI: First of all, why do you think it took so long for the Vatican officials to realize that the problem was just not an American problem only?
MICKENS: Well, first of all, Alessio, the thing we have to realize, they know that it's not an American problem, at least pedophilia. What is peculiar American is this media hype that's surrounded this thing. You hear words like witch hunt coming from the corridors of the Vatican. They talk about the media going after these bishops.
But it has, in a very odd way, shone a spotlight on some real deep crises within the hierarchy of the church. Because the scandal right now is not about pedophilia, it's about what looks like, anyway, to be a cover-up. And the reason they were having these meetings right now is because the bishops have asked for these meetings.
VINCI: What do you know is happening inside the meeting at this time now?
MICKENS: Well, as you said, there are going to be some speeches, some welcoming and whatnot, and each cardinal is going to get a chance to make his own statement, his own concerns. And again, I think that we shouldn't get our hopes up too high because there's not a whole lot that can be accomplished in a couple of days.
VINCI: You think the resignation of Cardinal Law will come up?
MICKENS: I suspect that that's probably something because people have been talking about it. Whether or not any one particular cardinal will have the courage, and I underline this word, courage, to bring this up is another question.
VINCI: There has been a lot of, as you said, a lot of calls from both Vatican officials and the cardinals themselves saying there is, people should not expect too much out of this meeting. But something will have to come out to increase, to make people feel happy and to call this meeting a success. What is the minimum they'd have to come up with, do you think, to call this meeting a success?
MICKENS: Well, first of all, this is about damage control, at least for the United States. Vatican officials did not want this. They like bishops to handle problems on their own. However, I have to say that part of this problem is because of the Vatican's policy in the last 15, 20 or 30 years to emasculate the Episcopal Conference in the country, which gives them hardly any power to make binding decisions on all the members, and also weakening each individual bishop.
So it's no wonder that now these bishops, they don't have the courage, perhaps, or at least the confidence and the any experience in dealing with problems because they always have to get permission from Rome. They can't even translate a psalm, one psalm, without the permission of Rome.
VINCI: Ten seconds, give me one last answer. Do you think the pope will issue an apology?
MICKENS: Well, Wilton Gregory happen, Bishop Wilton Gregory said that the time for mea culpas is over, now we need action. It would be strange if Pope John Paul does because it would say that there's something that's not in synch between the Bishops' Conference in the United States and the Vatican. VINCI: Robert Mickens, thank you very much for joining us.
MICKENS: You're welcome.
VINCI: Carol, back to you.
COSTELLO: Alessio Vinci, thank you.
And we should find out more about this top level meeting at the Vatican in a briefing later this morning. Of course, we'll bring that to you live on CNN as soon as it happens.
Also, a reported high level campaign to force Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston to resign is not supported by at least two other cardinals and a spokesman for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops says it's a complex issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BISHOP JOSEPH GALANTE, NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS: That's not a unilateral decision. I think that Cardinal Law, along with the priests and people of his diocese, have to prayerfully discern can he be an effective shepherd of his people? And I think that's, to my mind, that's a key component.
CAROL LIN, HOST: But what about if the pope believes that he should resign, then, in fact, he should submit his resignation and it would be accepted. You do believe, though, it's up to his parish?
GALANTE: No, what I'm saying is I don't think it's just a unilateral decision. I think it's got to be based on can he be an effective shepherd of his people. Everybody who has input into that should have that kind of input.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: As you probably know, Law has been under pressure to resign because of allegations that he didn't do enough to protect children from pedophile priests.
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