Vatican Departments Clash Over Clerical Abuse Case

Oct 20, 2024 | 0 comments

HQ of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has overruled the intervention of the Vatican Secretariat of State in the case of an Argentinian priest investigated by the DDF on allegations of child sexual abuse.

In September 2024, when the DDF was due to confirm the canonical conviction of Argentinian Fr Ariel Principi, the chief of staff at the Vatican Secretariat of State told the priest’s former bishop that it was suspending his laicisation.

Two weeks later the same bishop received a message from the DDF confirming that Principi had been expelled from the clerical state, and that the case was closed.

Marie Collins

Marie Collins, an Irish survivor of clerical sexual abuse, complained to the Tablet about what she called an “effort to overturn a proper disciplinary sanction”.

Marie Collins resigned in 2017 from the Pontifical Commission for the Safeguarding of Minors, protesting at curial resistance to the commission’s recommendations. She has also protested a claim made in print by a former curial official, Cardinal Gerhard Müller that she had accused him of lying.

As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the former name of what is now the DDF, Cardinal Müller also sanctioned the Irish Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery in 2012.

To read the complete Tablet report, click here.

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ACI’s Campaign for Lumen Gentium 37

The Promise of Synodality

What we have experienced of synodality so far gives ACI real hope that a longstanding structural injustice in the church may at last be acknowledged and overcome.

As all Irish bishops well know, the 'co-responsibility' they urge lay people to share - as numbers and energies of clergy decline - has been sabotaged time and again by canonical rules that deny representational authority and continuity to parish pastoral councils.  ACI's 2019 call for the immediate honouring of Lumen Gentium Article 37 becomes more urgent by the day and is supported by the following documents - also presented to the ICBC in October 2019.

The Common Priesthood of the People of God and the Renewal of the Church
It was Catholic parents and victims of clerical abuse who taught Catholic Bishops to prioritise the safeguarding of children in the church

Jesus as Model for the Common Priesthood of the People of God
It was for challenging religious hypocrisy and injustice that Jesus was accused and crucified. He is therefore a model for the common priesthood of the laity and for the challenging of injustice - in society and within the church.

A Suggested Strategy for the Recovery of the Irish and Western Catholic Church
Recovery of the church depends upon acknowledgment of the indispensable role of the common priesthood of the lay people of God and the explicit abandonment by bishops and clergy of paternalism and clericalism - the expectation of deference from lay people rather than honesty and integrity.

For the full story of ACI's campaign for the honouring of Article 37 of Lumen Gentium, click here.

Prayer

"Come Holy Spirit, Renew Your wonders in this our day, as by a new Pentecost. Grant to Your Church that, being of one mind and steadfast in prayer with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and following the lead of blessed Peter, it may advance the reign of our Divine Saviour, the reign of truth and justice, the reign of love and peace. Amen."

Saint Pope John XXIII, 1962 - In preparation for Vatican Council II, 1962-65.

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