Business as Usual in the Catholic Church

Yeah?

Can somebody out there fill me in on why the Roman Catholic Church always gets a free pass?

They don’t think so, of course. To them, everybody is out to get them, liberals and atheists (raise your hand, Marc) are spreading lies and filth, and the only thing these alleged victims are looking for is…you got it.

And there is a case to be made for Time magazine making Francis Person of the Year. He is, apparently, taking on the Curia—which makes him a stronger man than I. He may be reforming the Vatican Bank, which needs it. And yes, refusing to live in the palace and driving your old, beat-up car is endearing.

But let’s be very clear—theologically, he’s not budging. And if you’re standing on one leg waiting for any movement on the ordination of women, priestly celibacy, ordination of openly gay priests—well, you’d better have a great sense of balance.

Because it’s clear—it’s business as usual in the Vatican.

Think I’m wrong? Consider the case of Jozef Wesolowski, the papal nuncio to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Ooops, that’s former papal nuncio, since Wesolowski skipped town—err, was recalled by the Vatican—shortly before the allegations of child molesting were aired on Dominican television. Nor was he alone—his pal Alberto Gil was also screwing around, and shot back to his native Poland when the water got a little hot.

How can this be, you are saying in horror. Aren’t these guys supposed to stay put, face the charges? Isn’t the church supposed to be cooperating with the local authorities?

Well, that’s what I thought….

Nor was all of this confined to the Dominican Republic, since Wesolowski was also spending quite a bit of time here in Puerto Rico, investigating our archbishop for allegedly injecting politics into the church (the archbishop favors independence, and doesn’t care who knows it). So Wesolowski spent a good deal of time in the next diocese over—Arecibo—where he reportedly slept with a group of boys. Oh, and one local priest was suspended. Readers, take note. Arecibo is—in some way or another—American soil. If Wesolowski did indeed engage in criminal behavior in Arecibo, he’s subject to Puerto Rico and—by extension—US law.

Or is he? Because he is also part of the Vatican “diplomatic” corps. The Vatican, you see, is a nation as well as a church, and so gets to have diplomats. And they diplomatic immunity, which Wikipedia defines thus:

Diplomatic immunity is a form of legal immunity and a policy held between governments that ensures that diplomats are given safe passage and are considered not susceptible to lawsuit or prosecution under the host country's laws, although they can still be extradited.

Presumably this means the Wesolowski can screw all the kids in Christendom and get away with it. So for a time—in September of this year—there was a great to-do in the media. And then what happened?

The church is very wise, and moves on its own time. And if you had to bet between the church and a glacier in some imagined race? Put your money on the glacier.

The church is conducting an investigation. Now you can say “whew” and wipe the sweat off your brow. But that also means—quite reasonably—that they cannot comment on the affair. They did, however, get around to appointing a new papal nuncio to—guess where? And he was sworn in or inaugurated or whatever-it-is last month. Oh, and here’s what he the article said:

Santo Domingo - El arzobispo nigeriano Jude Thaddeus Okolo reconoció hoy, tras recibir oficialmente la bienvenida como el nuevo embajador del Vaticano en República Dominicana, que tendrá que hacer un "gran esfuerzo" para enfrentar los "desafíos" que entraña su misión en esta nación.

(Santo Domingo - The Nigerian archbishop Jude Thaddeus Okolo acknowledged today, after receiving officially the welcome as new ambassador from the Vatican to the Dominican Republic, that he will have to make a “great effort” to take on the “challenges” which are attached to his mission in the nation.)

Guys? Hope you were listening well, because guess what? That’s all you’re gonna get.

My complaint isn’t with the Vatican, which is doing what every organization would do. If the manager of a Walmart in Blowyournose, Idaho, kills stray dogs in the parking lot, The New York Times will write about it, and Bentonville will express its official horror, state that an investigation is being conducted, state that their administrative policy specifically forbids the poisoning of strays, and release a photo of Sam with his hunting dog, Ol’ Roy.

What bugs me is the lack of follow-up. Google “pederastia Arecibo” and you’ll find the most recent news to be from last month, and oh…it’ll be a great chance to bone up on your Polish.

But wait—the story gets more interesting. It now appears that Gil—who had been hiding not very originally in his parents’ house—will be tried in Poland for abusing seven minors. Oh, and the same report has this to say:

Entretanto, denunció que el exrepresentante del Vaticano fue sacado del país con documentación ilegal y habló de una presunta red internacional de pederastia detrás de los acusados Wesolowski y Gil, la cual lleva niños desde la República Dominicana a Polonia.

(Among other things, he [ex-priest Alberto Athié] decried that the ex-representative of the Vatican was removed from the country with illegal documentation and spoke of a presumed international web of pedastry behind the accused Wesolowski and Gil, who took children from the Dominican Republic to Poland.) 

And all of this happened on Francis’s watch, since a Dominican prelate had tipped the pope off in August of this year. So Time? Francis is not the Person of the Year….

…just the Image of the Year.