Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Pope Rejects Agreement Reached by American Bishops

Aired October 18, 2002 - 05:30   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 to the Vatican, where the pope has rejected an agreement reached by American bishops on how to deal with pedophile priests. A news conference is expected in about 90 minutes from now.
Jim Bittermann is standing by for that in Vatican City. He joins us by phone -- what did the Vatican object to?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's not entirely a rejection by the Vatican. The Vatican basically objects to some of the points that the bishops of the United States came up with. Bishop Wilton Gregory has been here all week long -- he's the head of the American Bishops Conference -- meeting with various Vatican officials, trying to get a feel for exactly what their objections are. Yesterday he had a one-on-one with the pope himself, to talk about the objections.

Basically the Vatican is very concerned about protecting the rights of the priests. Of course, the victims groups in the United States immediately were somewhat outraged at that because they say what about the rights of the victims?

But in any case, the Vatican says that under Canon Law, priests should have the right to appeal any accusations. They should have a day in court where they can make their case. And even if expelled from the priesthood, which is something that is provided for under the norms adopted last June in Dallas, even if expelled from the priesthood, Canon Law provides that a priest has a right to appeal to a Canonical jury in Rome to have the expulsion overturned.

So, that basically is what the Vatican is objecting to. What the Vatican is going to propose is that there be a mixed commission set up for bishops from the United States, for representatives of the Vatican who would sit down and then look over the various norms that the American bishops came up with to see how they could be adjusted and how they might be reconciled with Canon Law.

Now, the problem with all this is it really takes everything back to where it was last spring. I mean the American bishops, one of the reasons that they got together in Dallas was to take quick action to come up with a consistent and universal policy for the United States about how to handle these pedophile priest issues, which they did.

With this Vatican objection being raised, the fact is the Vatican would not give its blessing, essentially, to what the bishops did, with...

COSTELLO: Jim? Jim?

BITTERMANN: It's still rather ambiguous.

COSTELLO: Jim, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just want to boil it down. So basically what the American bishops came up with, this is a one strike thing you're out. And now the Vatican is objecting to that?

BITTERMANN: Well, yes, but that's not exactly the, I mean the Vatican has, is trying to reconcile the differences between the bishops and what the Canon Law of the church provides for. And the simplicity of the one strike you're out rule is a little bit overstated in itself. But the fact is that what the Vatican would like to see is that the priests would have some of their rights protected, as well as the victims' rights protected.

The fact is there have been several priests in the United States who have been falsely accused and whose careers have been finished by the accusations, even though the accusations turned out to be false.

So basically it's to have due process for the priests. That seems to be their central objection. But like I say, some of these objections will have to be aired and worked out in this commission that they're going to propose to reconcile things.

The problem is, though, that this is a real time scenario here. There are cases now sitting on bishops' desks in the United States which the bishops have to make decisions on. And the point of this whole meeting in Dallas in was to come up with a standardized procedure that would give the bishops some guidance on how to handle these cases. Now that's been...

COSTELLO: And they were under incredible pressure from American Catholics, too, so it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is.

BITTERMANN: That's correct.

COSTELLO: Right.

All right, Jim Bitterman, thank you very much, reporting live from Rome.

We'll have more on this subject later on on DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired October 18, 2002 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Vatican, where the pope has rejected an agreement reached by American bishops on how to deal with pedophile priests. A news conference is expected in about 90 minutes from now.
Jim Bittermann is standing by for that in Vatican City. He joins us by phone -- what did the Vatican object to?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's not entirely a rejection by the Vatican. The Vatican basically objects to some of the points that the bishops of the United States came up with. Bishop Wilton Gregory has been here all week long -- he's the head of the American Bishops Conference -- meeting with various Vatican officials, trying to get a feel for exactly what their objections are. Yesterday he had a one-on-one with the pope himself, to talk about the objections.

Basically the Vatican is very concerned about protecting the rights of the priests. Of course, the victims groups in the United States immediately were somewhat outraged at that because they say what about the rights of the victims?

But in any case, the Vatican says that under Canon Law, priests should have the right to appeal any accusations. They should have a day in court where they can make their case. And even if expelled from the priesthood, which is something that is provided for under the norms adopted last June in Dallas, even if expelled from the priesthood, Canon Law provides that a priest has a right to appeal to a Canonical jury in Rome to have the expulsion overturned.

So, that basically is what the Vatican is objecting to. What the Vatican is going to propose is that there be a mixed commission set up for bishops from the United States, for representatives of the Vatican who would sit down and then look over the various norms that the American bishops came up with to see how they could be adjusted and how they might be reconciled with Canon Law.

Now, the problem with all this is it really takes everything back to where it was last spring. I mean the American bishops, one of the reasons that they got together in Dallas was to take quick action to come up with a consistent and universal policy for the United States about how to handle these pedophile priest issues, which they did.

With this Vatican objection being raised, the fact is the Vatican would not give its blessing, essentially, to what the bishops did, with...

COSTELLO: Jim? Jim?

BITTERMANN: It's still rather ambiguous.

COSTELLO: Jim, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just want to boil it down. So basically what the American bishops came up with, this is a one strike thing you're out. And now the Vatican is objecting to that?

BITTERMANN: Well, yes, but that's not exactly the, I mean the Vatican has, is trying to reconcile the differences between the bishops and what the Canon Law of the church provides for. And the simplicity of the one strike you're out rule is a little bit overstated in itself. But the fact is that what the Vatican would like to see is that the priests would have some of their rights protected, as well as the victims' rights protected.

The fact is there have been several priests in the United States who have been falsely accused and whose careers have been finished by the accusations, even though the accusations turned out to be false.

So basically it's to have due process for the priests. That seems to be their central objection. But like I say, some of these objections will have to be aired and worked out in this commission that they're going to propose to reconcile things.

The problem is, though, that this is a real time scenario here. There are cases now sitting on bishops' desks in the United States which the bishops have to make decisions on. And the point of this whole meeting in Dallas in was to come up with a standardized procedure that would give the bishops some guidance on how to handle these cases. Now that's been...

COSTELLO: And they were under incredible pressure from American Catholics, too, so it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is.

BITTERMANN: That's correct.

COSTELLO: Right.

All right, Jim Bitterman, thank you very much, reporting live from Rome.

We'll have more on this subject later on on DAYBREAK.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com