Pope John Paul II and Paedophilia

With the considerable commitment of Pope John Paul II, the new Catechism of the Catholic Church is published as the official compendium of the truths of the Christian faith. Paedophilia is addressed in four paragraphs, i.e., 2285, 2353, 2356, and 2389, and named scandal and depravity. It is pointed out that “the young (...) will remain scarred by it all their lives.”

2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea". Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.

2356 Rape is the forcible violation of the sexual intimacy of another person. It does injury to justice and charity. Rape deeply wounds the respect, freedom, and physical and moral integrity to which every person has a right. It causes grave damage that can mark the victim for life. It is always an intrinsically evil act. Graver still is the rape of children committed by parents (incest) or those responsible for the education of the children entrusted to them.

    Full text of the Catechism in English

Indult on Canon Law provisions on paedophilia, issued for the United States. The indult, i.e., permission to depart from canon law, was intended to align the application of Canon Law norms with US legislation. It was the result of the work of an expert committee set up for this purpose. It raised the age of protection for minors from 16 to 18 and extended the statute of limitation for crimes of sexual abuse of minors to 10 years from the age of 18 for the person harmed by the crime.
Similar procedures for the whole Church were adopted with the document “Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela” in 2001.

1. In March 1995, the weekly “Profil” published a series of interviews with Josef Hartman accusing Cardinal Hans Hermann Groër, Archbishop of Vienna, of sexual abuse in the 1970s, when Hartmann was a student of Groër (then a priest of the Diocese of Vienna). The event was preceded by a series of accusations by the Vienna Homosexual Initiative (HOSI) against the Austrian episcopate for the latent homosexuality of its hierarchy, i.e., Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Andreas Laun of Salzburg, Egon Kapellari of Klagenfurt, and Klaus Küng of Feldkirch. The bishops then took the defamation case to court and won. In the case of the new accusations, this time against Groër, the episcopate and the Vatican stood in solidarity with the accused, considering the charges to be a further round of defamation.
2. In April 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed Christoph Schönborn, auxiliary bishop of Vienna, as coadjutor, i.e., with the right to replace Groër, which is interpreted as a transfer of actual authority in the diocese to the new candidate. Following this appointment, Groër stepped down as President of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference. Officially, the old cardinal was retiring — the Pope’s usual intention was to extend his Archbishop’s service — but growing doubts surrounding the matter caused a change of heart. In this situation, the Vatican, through the Nunciature, informed Hermann Groër of the non-renewal of his service. After stepping down as Archbishop, Groër became prior of the Benedictine monastery of Maria Roggendorf as a retired bishop.
3. In 1996, the newly appointed Archbishop Christoph Schönborn established the Office of the Ombudsman for Victims of Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Vienna, which developed rules for reporting abuse and protecting victims.
4. In January 1998, when further accusations were made, the Benedictine Abbot of Göttweig, Clemens Lashofer (who had formal authority over the Benedictine province), dismissed Groër as abbot and asked the Vatican to send an extraordinary apostolic visitation to Göttweig (where Groër had moved) to clarify the affair thoroughly. The allegations this time concerned the former Benedictine activities of the retired bishop (Groër joined the Benedictine order in 1974 and was active as a monk until his election as Archbishop of Vienna).
5. On 27 February 1998, four members of the Austrian episcopate, i.e., Johann Weber, Cardinal Archbishop Christoph Schönborn and Salzburg Archbishop Georg Eder, and Archbishop Egon Kapellari issued a statement demanding an explicit declaration from Groër on the accusations. They also announced that they had reached “moral certainty” that the allegations against the cardinal had “in principle proved to be correct”.
6. A visitation from the Vatican was held on 2–7 March 1998. It was conducted by the President of the Benedictine Confederation in Rome, Abbot Marcel Rooney, accompanied by Herman von Zuydtwyck, a Franciscan from Germany. The findings of the investigation have not been made public. Abbot Rooney said he would report directly to the Holy See.
7. On 14 April 1998, the Nunciature in Vienna published a statement in which Groër apologised for his actions, renounced all titles and church privileges, and left Austria. He pointed out that he was doing so “at the request of Pope John Paul II”. Groër’s statement did not end the matter, as its wording “In the past three years there have been many often-incorrect statements concerning me. I ask God and the people for forgiveness if I have brought guilt upon myself” suggested that Groër, despite everything, did not admit his guilt. Three days afterwards (17 April), Archbishop Schönborn also apologised on behalf of the Archdiocese of Vienna and, as its successor, offered help and reparation to the victims. The case, which has been widely publicised in the Austrian Church, has divided both the faithful and the bishops into those who are convinced of the cardinal’s guilt and those who believe in his innocence (e.g., Bishop Kurt Krenn of St. Pölten).
8. In June 1998, Pope John Paul II visited Austria — the deposed cardinal was in one of Germany’s monasteries. After Groër was diagnosed with cancer, he returned to Austria as a sick patient and settled in a convent run by Cistercian nuns in Marienfeld. He died in March 2003.
9. On 24 March 2003, a solemn funeral ceremony was held at St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, concelebrated by three hierarchs, i.e., the former Archbishop of Vienna Franz König, the current Archbishop of Vienna Christoph Schönborn, and the German Metropolitan of Cologne Joachim Meisner. They all praised the deceased and listed his services to the archdiocese. Schönborn himself — the previous deceased’s accuser — said: “In the face of death, the painful questions of the past can be confidently placed in God’s hands. It applies to Cardinal Groër, as it does to every Christian. Gratitude for the positive actions he has carried out and intercessory remembrance remain”. The positive tone of the statements made by the hierarchy during the funeral shows their scant belief in the harmfulness of the deceased’s actions. The telegram of condolence sent by the Vatican after Groër’s death (officially signed by Pope John Paul II, in fact, edited by Secretary of State Angelo Sodano*) had a similar warm tone.
* This is discussed in more detail in a newspaper article by investigative journalist Giuseppe Aloisi "Un terremoto nella Chiesa: cosa c’è dietro la fine di Sodano" (“Il Giornale” of 27.12.2019). In describing this event, Aloisi stated that the author of that and many other documents treating Groër positively was the then Secretary of State of the Holy See — Cardinal Angelo Sodano — rather than Pope John Paul II. Sodano did not believe the reports of Groër’s paedophilia and tried to defend him to the end.

Extension of the 1994 indult issued for the United States to Ireland. The first press reports of sexual abuse by Irish clergy appeared in the late 1980s. In response, the Irish episcopate set up commissions to tackle the problem. The Pope’s indult raised the age of protection for minors from 16 to 18 and extended the period of limitations for crimes of sexual abuse of minors to 10 years from the age of 18 for the person harmed by the crime.
Similar procedures for the whole Church were adopted with the document “Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela” in 2001.

1. Following revelations about sexual misconduct by the founder and chairman of the Legion of Christ organisation, a Vatican investigation was launched in October 1998. The Congregation prepared the indictment for the Doctrine of the Faith headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger on 18 February 1999.
2. The proceedings were suspended on 24 December 1999 following a meeting of the heads of the Roman Curia. At the meeting, contrary to media reports, Pope John Paul II was not present which Pope Francis explained, among others, in an interview with Mexican television (28 May 2019) “Pope John Paul II was not present at this meeting. It was a meeting of the heads of the Curia, of the various dicasteries, to consider the case of Maciel”.*
3. An important argument is the testimony of the Congregation Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2005 to 2012, Cardinal William Levada. In 2007, “Il Giornale” Vaticanist, Andrea Tornielli quoted a document authored by Cardinal Levada from Pope John Paul II’s beatification process regarding the Maciel case “Nothing is known of any personal involvement of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II in the proceedings against Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado.
4. The Pope’s public praise of the Legion’s founder during a general audience of Legionnaires on 30 November 2004 may be questionable. However, a close reading of this speech suggests that it did not deviate from the usual courtesy of Pope’s meetings with representatives of such organisations.
5. The investigation against Degollado was reopened during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II in December 2004 (a few days after the audience mentioned above), involving the sending of the prosecutor (i.e., promoter of justice) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Charles Scicluna, with another lawyer to the USA and Mexico to hear witnesses. The death of Pope John Paul II found the envoys abroad. Cardinal Ratzinger then instructed them to continue the investigation. It allowed Pope Benedict XVI in 2006 to recognise Maciel’s crimes by banning him from any public service and ordering a life dedicated to penance and prayer. The dying Pope John Paul II did not have time to learn the final findings of the investigation.

1. Pope John Paul II asked to investigate the reports about Archbishop McCarrick in November 1999, when he was presented as a candidate to succeed the Archbishop of New York. The reason was a letter from the former New York metropolitan, Cardinal John O’Connor, to the Apostolic Nuncio in the US, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo. The letter included reports on Archbishop McCarrick’s behaviour suggesting homosexual practices, including with clerics (no credible accusation of McCarrick molesting minors had emerged until 2017). The author of the letter stipulated that he had no evidence. The case was investigated in November 1999 by Archbishop Agostino Cacciavillan, the previous Apostolic Nuncio to the USA. In May 2000 — again at the behest of Pope John Paul II — Archbishop Montalvo verified the reports. At his request, four bishops, who knew Archbishop McCarrick, gave testimony. The investigation confirmed the existence of rumours, but no one found evidence of guilt.
2. Archbishop McCarrick had been mentioned among the candidates to succeed the Archbishop of Washington since May 2000. Archbishop Giovanni Battista Re, who was soon to become prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, formed the opinion, based on the previous investigation findings, that despite the absence of any evidence of the candidate’s guilt, he should not have been entrusted with the archbishopric of Washington, so as not to allow renewing the accusations. On 8 July 2000, Pope John Paul II followed this opinion and decided to block the candidature.
3. On 8 August 2000, Archbishop McCarrick wrote a letter to the Pope’s secretary, Bishop Stanisław Dziwisz, in which, in an emotional tone, he declared his willingness to resign from the Archdiocese of Newark if he lost the Pope’s trust, and that he had“ never had sexual relations with any person”.
4. As a result of this statement, Pope John Paul II departed from blocking his candidacy for Metropolitan of Washington, leaving it to the Congregation for Bishops. The Pope also asked the Congregation to re-examine the case. After further investigations, the Congregation for Bishops considered Archbishop McCarrick’s candidacy to be the best. At the request of the Congregation for Bishops, Pope John Paul II appointed Archbishop Theodore McCarrick Archbishop of Washington in October 2000.
Full text of the report on McCarrick in English

• It defines the gravest crimes (delicta graviora) reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Among these, the abuse of persons under 18 by clergy is mentioned.
• It sets out the procedure for dealing with the offence of sexual abuse of a person under the age of 18 committed by a cleric.
• It extends the prescription period and introduces the possibility of suspending the statute of limitation. In these cases, the statute of limitations was set at ten years, starting from the victim’s eighteenth birthday.
• It introduces the obligation to inform the Vatican (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) of all allegations of sexual abuse of minors after a preliminary investigation. The Congregation then indicates how to proceed in the case, with the right of appeal against the first instance judgment being maintained only to the Supreme Court of the Congregation.

*Motu proprio (Latin: on one’s initiative) — a Pope’s letter in the form of a decree issued on the Pope’s initiative.

Pope John Paul II requested representatives of the American episcopate to come to the Vatican for joint consideration of the problems of sexual abuse of minors. The visit was preceded by a series of articles on paedophilia in the Archdiocese of Boston published in the Boston Globe magazine since January 2002. In a speech to the US bishops on 23 April, the Pope stressed that “The abuse of the young is a grave symptom of a crisis affecting not only the Church but society as a whole”. “People need to know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young..,” the Pope added. The Pope pointed out that the decisions taken by the bishops were wrong.  
Text of the speech in English