Pope Benedict XVI, while still a cardinal, soughtin vain to expedite the process for defrocking priests guilty of gravecrimes, according to a 1988 letter published in the official Vaticannewspaper.
The letter, which appears in the Thursday (Dec. 2) edition ofL'Osservatore Romano, could have important implications for the pope'srecord on child sex abuse.
The letter appears in an article by Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, theNo. 2 official at the Vatican's Pontifical Council for theInterpretation of Legislative Texts. Arrieta said it recently resurfacedduring preparations for a planned revision of the Catholic Church'ssystem of penal law.
Known at the time as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and in charge of theVatican's doctrinal office, Benedict wrote in February 1988 to thethen-head of the Council seeking a "more rapid and simplified procedure"for removing priests found "guilty of grave and scandalous behavior."
As head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithat the time, Ratzinger evaluated requests from ordained men seekingdispensation from their priestly obligations, including celibacy.
Noting that such dispensations were ordinarily considered favors tothe petitioners, Ratzinger argued in the letter that, "for the good ofthe faithful," the dispensation should not be granted to the guiltybefore they had been convicted and penalized with "reduction to the laystate."
"Given the complexity of the procedure," Ratzinger wrote, it wasunsurprising that bishops "should encounter not a few difficulties incarrying it out."
The response, three weeks later from Cardinal Jose Rosalio CastilloLara, was sympathetic but discouraging. Bemoaning a "relaxation ofecclesiastical discipline," Castillo said the problem lay with bishops,who held responsibility to initiate trials that could lead to defrockingguilty priests. Many bishops, he suggested, preferred instead to let theVatican dispense such priests without a trial.
The exchange is relevant to a recent controversy over Ratzinger'shandling of the case of Stephen Kiesle, a priest who was convicted by aCalifornia civil court in 1978 of sexually abusing two young boys.Citing the "good of the church" in a 1985 letter, Ratzinger recommendedagainst granting Kiesle's request for dispensation from his priestlyobligations. (It was granted two years later.)
Kiesle's bishop in Oakland, Calif., had failed to initiate a churchtrial in his case, which could have provided the prerequisite fordispensation that Ratzinger stipulated in his later letter to Castillo.
The process of laicizing or otherwise disciplining pedophile priestsbecame much speedier after 2001, when Pope John Paul II gave Ratzinger'soffice jurisdiction over all cases of clerical sex abuse.
The letter, which appears in the Thursday (Dec. 2) edition ofL'Osservatore Romano, could have important implications for the pope'srecord on child sex abuse.
The letter appears in an article by Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, theNo. 2 official at the Vatican's Pontifical Council for theInterpretation of Legislative Texts. Arrieta said it recently resurfacedduring preparations for a planned revision of the Catholic Church'ssystem of penal law.
Known at the time as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and in charge of theVatican's doctrinal office, Benedict wrote in February 1988 to thethen-head of the Council seeking a "more rapid and simplified procedure"for removing priests found "guilty of grave and scandalous behavior."
As head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithat the time, Ratzinger evaluated requests from ordained men seekingdispensation from their priestly obligations, including celibacy.
Noting that such dispensations were ordinarily considered favors tothe petitioners, Ratzinger argued in the letter that, "for the good ofthe faithful," the dispensation should not be granted to the guiltybefore they had been convicted and penalized with "reduction to the laystate."
"Given the complexity of the procedure," Ratzinger wrote, it wasunsurprising that bishops "should encounter not a few difficulties incarrying it out."
The response, three weeks later from Cardinal Jose Rosalio CastilloLara, was sympathetic but discouraging. Bemoaning a "relaxation ofecclesiastical discipline," Castillo said the problem lay with bishops,who held responsibility to initiate trials that could lead to defrockingguilty priests. Many bishops, he suggested, preferred instead to let theVatican dispense such priests without a trial.
The exchange is relevant to a recent controversy over Ratzinger'shandling of the case of Stephen Kiesle, a priest who was convicted by aCalifornia civil court in 1978 of sexually abusing two young boys.Citing the "good of the church" in a 1985 letter, Ratzinger recommendedagainst granting Kiesle's request for dispensation from his priestlyobligations. (It was granted two years later.)
Kiesle's bishop in Oakland, Calif., had failed to initiate a churchtrial in his case, which could have provided the prerequisite fordispensation that Ratzinger stipulated in his later letter to Castillo.
The process of laicizing or otherwise disciplining pedophile priestsbecame much speedier after 2001, when Pope John Paul II gave Ratzinger'soffice jurisdiction over all cases of clerical sex abuse.
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