Homosexuality should not to be condemned. But celibacy should be.
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Vatican Sex Sting
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In defense of the Vatican, officials are at pains to point out that cases of rogue officials are rare. Vatican staff are some of the finest, they say, both in terms of moral rectitude and work performance. In an interview this week in the Italian daily La Repubblica, Cardinal Julian Herranz, head of the Vatican's disciplinary commission, said his organization is "almost out of work" because there are so few cases. "Anyone can make a mistake," he said. "But the church knows how to intervene." Herranz also described the Stenico situation as an "isolated case." "[Such cases] cause sadness, assuredly, but we are aware that these cases are exceptions," he told the newspaper.
Indeed the Vatican's response to this "abuse of office" has been applauded in some quarters. Father Robert Gahl, a professor at one of Rome's Vatican universities, praised the speed at which the Vatican acted and because it did so "not out of hypocrisy but genuine coherence to her doctrine"—evidence, he said, that the institution is in good shape. He added that the Vatican's decision to allow Stenico to defend himself at a tribunal was "proof of the church's respect for all people, whatever sinfulness or disorders with which they may be tainted."
Nonetheless, some are voicing concern that it took a television program to draw attention to this issue. As with the sexual abuse crisis that broke in 2002, many Catholics believe it shouldn't be up to the media to expose such scandals but for clergy superiors and colleagues to deal with offenders internally before the media gets hold of them. Only when these initiatives are taken at the local level, they say, could the institution truly be deemed healthy.
Ironically, some church officials even believe that it could be good for the church if Stenico's case exposes other gay officials in the Holy See. In 2005, shortly before he became pope, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spoke about how much "filth" there was in the church, especially the priesthood. He was referring mainly to sexual abuse of minors, but many on the conservative wing of the church—who consider pedophilia to be closely linked to homosexuality—believe he was referring to practicing gay clergy as well. Herranz said this week a priority of the Holy See was to "cleanse itself from within," while respecting human rights and the rule of law. For Catholics disturbed by this case, it could be the welcome beginning of that cleansing.
© 2007
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