Vatican officials moved to stem the rising tide of anger as details emerged of separate paedophilia scandals involving Catholic priests in several European countries. Spokesman Federico Lombardi defended the response of churches to paedophile priest scandals emerging in Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and elsewhere, saying Roman Catholic leaders had reacted swiftly and decisively. He also sought to put the issue into perspective, saying the sexual abuse of children went far beyond church of walls.
Church leaders in the countries affected “have faced the emergence of problem with timely and decisive action”. Lombardi said in a statement read out on Vatican Radio. “They have demonstrated their desire for transparency and, in a certain sense, accelerated the emergence of the problem by inviting victims to speak out, even when the cases involved date from many years ago,” he said. Lombardi acknowledged that the Church’s moral responsibility made errors by clergy particularly reprehensible. But he added “All objective and well-informed people know that the question is much broader, and concentrating accusations against the Church alone gives a false perspective.”
For example, he said, data showed that during the period of the scandal in Austria, there had been 17 cases in Church institutions, compared with 510 in other settings. Lombardi’s remarks came as the head of an Austrian monastery lost his job Tuesday over allegations that he abused a boy while he was a trainee priest. The victim, now 53, told Austrian national radio Oe1 that after years of silence he confronted Bruno Becker, abbot of Sankt Peter monastery in the northern city of Salzburg, last November. The abbot admitted the abuse and offered him $6,790 to take no further action, he said. The money was meant as compensation rather than hush money, Salzburg’s Archbishop Alois Kothgasser told Oe1 radio.