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'Inside the Vatican' Editor Discusses Sex Abuse Scandal

Aired April 24, 2002 - 10:01   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Up first, we have another story you. It is the continuing story of the crisis in the priesthood and the emergency summit under way at the Vatican. At that hour, U.S. cardinals and the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church resumed their talks to confront the sex scandal in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Our Rome bureau chief, Alessio Vinci, brings us up to date.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN ROME BUREAU CHIEF: Hello, Leon. Actually my understanding is that the meeting will resume in about a half hour. And then later on today, we are going to hear -- you know, receive a communique that will be issued first by the U.S. bishops and cardinals, who have traveled here to Rome, eventually. We don't really know exactly what the Vatican press office is going to do.

But basically what they all talked today were about what to do with those priests who are accused of being sexual molesters of young children and teenagers, and what to do with them. First of all, should there be a zero tolerance policy as some U.S. cardinals have suggested, one strike and you're out? Or should there be a more lenient and more softer approach towards those priests?

The pope yesterday spoke clearly by saying there should be no room, there is no place for those who harm young children in the religious life, in the church. But at the same time he also said that there should be redemption. That people must be given opportunity to walk away from sin and return toward God. So the pope there making basically both statements. Some cardinals understood this as a clear statement from the pope saying that zero tolerance is the best way to go. Some other said, no.

And Vatican officials with whom I have spoken there saying, look, the church backs a zero tolerance policy to the extent that the priests must be removed from the place where he has committed the crime and the sin. On the other side, they should not be thrown back into society, not being taken care of, because the church has a moral duty to take care of these people, to help them out, to rehabilitate them. And eventually those who are in good shape, and those who are repenting and obviously are not serial offenders should be allowed to remain within the church.

The other big issue is who has the authority to defrock a priest? Should bishops do this alone? Should they have a panel of clerics and lay people to discuss all of this? So all of this is basically information and discussions that is held here inside the Vatican in the last two days.

Yesterday, in a more formal way, each cardinal giving a speech. Today it was more of a debate between the two sides. And eventually, we are going to hear the statement and this communique which probably will not give us a good, clear indication of what exactly those guidelines would be. But as some of the cardinals have been telling us now during the recess, this is just a work in progress. This is a way for us, for the cardinals and bishops, to work a series of guidelines, bring them back to the United States, discuss them further, make them perhaps into some national guidelines and even national binding rules for the U.S. Catholic Church.

And Vatican officials, by the way, are saying that if those rules then work for the U.S. Catholic Church, well, they are not ruling out the possibility to make them binding also for other the parishes around the world, where as you know the sex abuse scandals have not just taken place in the United States. They have been (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in the United States recently, but there have been similar cases in Ireland, in France, in Poland, the mother country of the holy father, as well as here in England -- Leon.

HARRIS: Alessio, as you were just speaking to us, we were just now getting a note of a word of a new development that's crossing right now, the Associated Press, word that we are hearing now from Cardinal McCarrick, who represents the Washington, D.C. area, is saying that there has been some consensus reached on the one strike and you're out policy, but only for future cases of any abuses. We are just now hearing word of that.

VINCI: This is one possibility, Leon. I think that one should also look at how the Vatican and the bishops are looking at this issue. You know we are all, by the way, addressing scandals, if you want, or events that have taken place 10, 15, 20 sometimes even 30 years ago. And some of the Vatican officials are saying, look, you cannot ask us, you know, 30 years ago to extinguish a fire with sprinklers, when sprinklers didn't exist.

So they are saying, look, we have to look at this in sort of a modern way. We know that we made a mistake. Now, let's try to fix it and make sure that it doesn't repeat itself in the future.

About a zero tolerance policy, Leon, I spoke to Vatican officials. They are telling us that there already exists a way to defrock priests in a faster way, but first and foremost, they are saying, there is no point of defrocking a priest and putting him back into society, where he can hurt again. They are saying, let's make sure that those people who are guilty, that the church has a moral duty to take care of those people, even if they are former priests -- Leon.

HARRIS: Alessio Vinci, thank you very much -- Alessio reporting to us live from Rome.

Let's get an insider's view of the heart and mind of the Roman Catholic Church. Our next guest has been joining us every day for the last couple of days. Delia Gallagher is the managing editor for "Inside the Vatican," a magazine that focuses on the church's leadership and the issues they confront. So Delia joins once again from Rome. She is there covering these meetings.

Delia, thanks again for your time today -- we appreciate it. Let me ask you about this new development that we just heard. I'm not sure if you were able to hear what Ii just told Alessio. But we have heard, and we are seeing this on the wires right now, that Cardinal McCarrick is saying that a consensus there has been reached on at least one matter, and that being the matter of one strike and you're out policy for any future cases of any kind of abuse. Are you hearing the same thing there?

DELIA GALLAGHER, "INSIDE THE VATICAN": Well, we don't have the official communication of that, but it would seem to follow from the various discussions that they would implement such a zero tolerance policy, because in fact it would mean that the priest would be removed from active ministry, I should think. Again, I don't have the official news, but I would think that it would mean he is removed from active ministry, not necessary (UNINTELLIGIBLE) defrocked as a priest. So that would seem to be what that means.

HARRIS: All right. But this line of thinking that has been followed there, what of the cases that are currently right now under scrutiny, the cases where the priests are being accused right now? Anything to be done with them?

GALLAGHER: Well, certainly I think that this policy would take effect immediately, so as soon as it's decided and, you know, it's implemented, it will take effect for any current cases and future cases.

HARRIS: If this is the only point upon which there is a consensus and that there is some sort of a decision made with any finality here out of these meetings, can this meeting -- can they be termed as a success, or are we to expect more?

GALLAGHER: Well, it depends on whose expectations you are talking about. I suppose many people expected a sort of a third Vatican council where moral issues would be discussed and moral teaching of the church would change. That was clearly an unrealistic expectation.

Insofar as the particular cases of abuse and pedophilia, which was the reason for the meeting, I think the expectation has been met, because it was that they would meet and come up with some guidelines.

HARRIS: Let me ask you about what is being termed as some mixed signals being sent out by the pope. I am sure you are quite familiar by now with what the pope said at the opening of the meetings here. I just want to give you two quick quotes here. One, "People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young,." he says, at one point. But then the next -- later on we hear him say, "We cannot forget the power of Christian conversion, a radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God."

That would seem to show that the pope may be of two minds here, and that may be causing part of a problem with reaching a consensus here.

GALLAGHER: Well, again, I think that goes back to division that is made between a priest and active ministry and a priest, because of course, a priest, even a laicize priest, according to the church, is always a priest. So he may not be a priest who is involved in ministry to children or indeed to anybody, but he would still remain a priest. And therefore, in a personal sense could have forgiveness etcetera. So I think that's the division that the pope is making.

HARRIS: OK. Finally one last question, and this one actually may affect you. You know, one reason why this is all happening is because of the press coverage that this issue received here in the U.S. And we have also seen this remarkable occurrence there in Rome, where the archbishops -- the bishops, rather, and the cardinals have been speaking to the press openly while they have been there. Are we seeing here, I guess, the opening of a new day in terms of relations between the church and the press?

GALLAGHER: I think it is the continuation of what has been an opening. Certainly the American cardinals have to report back to their archdioceses and their dioceses, so it's more important for them to speak to us. And then, as far as the curious concern, they have always spoken through their spokesman at the press office, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and I suspect they will continue to operate in that manner.

HARRIS: Oh, OK. We will be watching to see how things turn out. Delia Gallagher, thank you very much -- we really do appreciate your time and your insight.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

HARRIS: Good luck to you.

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