Jackie Brown Meets Bugsy Ratzinger

Is Quentin Tarantino a Catholic? The latest sequel of sordid revelations in the Vatican’s pedophile priests collusion and cover-up campaign is reminiscent of a scene from ‘Jackie Brown’ where crime-don Samuel L. Jackson opens the trunk of his car to show Robert de Niro a corpse:

“Who’s that ?

That’s Beaumont.

Who’s Beaumont?

An employee I had to let go.

Wha’d he do?

He put hisself in a position where he was going to have to do ten years in prison, that’s what he did. An’ if you know Beaumont, you know ain’t no goddamn way he can do ten years. An’ if you know that, then you know Beaumont’s gonna do anything he can to keep from doing them ten years - including telling the Federal Government any and every motherfuckin’ thing about my black ass. Now that, my friend, is a clear cut case o’ him - or me. An’ you best believe it ain’t gonna be me.”

When German weekly magazine Der Spiegel opened the trunk of the popemobile last week, in Beaumont’s place it found the allegorical remains of Fr. Gerhard Gruber, the vicar-general of the archdiocese of Munich in 1980 when Pope Benedict – then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger –approved a proposal to allow pedophile priest Peter Hullermann to return to full pastoral duties where he had unrestricted access to – and influence over young boys.

"Take the Pope out of the firing line"

Hullerman had been accused by three sets of parents in Essen of sexually abusing their sons, including forcing an 11-year-old boy to give him oral sex. Initial questions about Ratzinger’s failure to protect children by ensuring that Hullerman was barred from working with minors were fuelled by allegations of complicity, and as pressure on the Pontiff increased, church authorities issued a statement placing exclusive responsibility for the decision to reinstate Hullerman on Father Gruber.

Der Spiegel however had a copy of a letter from a friend of Father Gruber saying that he had been pressured by Church officials last month to sign a prepared statement accepting full responsibility – to “take the pope out of the firing line”. A clear cut case of him – or Ratzinger, and we all know from Ratzinger’s past record of evading responsibility for his role in covering up for pedophile priests how Gruber ended up in the trunk of the popemobile (right).

"Rejoicing" the protection of pedophile priests

In another astonishing episode, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, author of a 2001 letter congratulating a French bishop for colluding with a pedophile priest who was later convicted for the repeated rape of a boy, also ended up in the trunk of the popemobile. Hoyos revealed last week that Pope John Paul II had approved the letter and authorized him to send a copy to bishops all over the world as an example of how to resist pressure to report offending clergy to the civil authorities. 

Father René Bissey was given an eighteen year prison sentence for the repeated rape of one boy and the sexual assault of ten others. His bishop, Pierre Pican had known about the abuse but refused to report Bissey to the police. Pican was sentenced to three months in prison for failure to report Bissey’s crimes. 

Cardinal Hoyos (left) was head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy, and a colleague of Cardinal Ratzinger. He wrote – with the approval of the Pope, he says, – to Pican, praising him for covering up for the rapist priest: “I congratulate you for not having reported the priest to the civil authorities. You have done well, and I rejoice at having an associate in the episcopate who, in the eyes of history and of all the other bishops of the world, will have chosen prison rather than speaking out against his priest-son”. Hoyos added that he would be sending a copy of the letter to all the bishops’ conferences “to encourage the brothers in this very delicate area.”

Excommunication the price of Cooperation

In another clear cut case of him or me, the Vatican responded to the horror generated by the revelations about Hoyos’ letter by issuing a press release claiming that this was another example of why it was necessary to bring all these cases under the “competence of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith” to ensure a “rigorous and coherent management” of abuse cases. The truth is that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith responded to its new responsibility by issuing a letter – signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – to bishops and cardinals warning them that such cases should be referred in secret to the Vatican and that breaching the pontifical secret – by, for example, reporting pedophile priests to the police – carried penalties up to and including excommunication.

So, we have an Archbishop, a future pope, who – knowing that a priest had admitted to sexually abusing young boys – allowed him to take up a new posting where he was free to take advantage of other young boys; and a high-ranking Vatican cardinal (a close colleague of the same pope) who writes and distributes a letter congratulating a bishop for refusing to take action against a priest who has repeatedly raped a young boy and assaulted ten others.

Brady must go

Meanwhile Cardinal Seán Brady (right) head of the Catholic Church in Ireland continues to serve as the head of the Catholic Church in Ireland. Brady - who admitted he was part of a church cover-up squad that forced a 10-year-old and a 14-year-old who had testified against notorious pedophile priest Brendan Smyth at a church enquiry to sign secrecy oaths – has rejected repeated calls for his resignation. Smyth later admitted to molesting and raping about 100 children in Ireland and the United States and was convicted and jailed. 

Many of these offenses were committed after the abuse enquiry that Brady was involved in. Brady maintains that he will only resign if the Pope asks him to do so. Another clear cut case of him or me.

And these are the people who lead the Catholic Church? You couldn’t make it up.

Why are these people above the law? Where are the criminal charges against the church officials like Brady who colluded in and covered up for rapist priests and christian brothers and facilitated their transfer to new parishes where they were free to prey on other children?


Please take time to join the Facebook campaign to break the silence and bring Cardinal Sean Brady and the Irish Catholic Church to justice.

/SD is Sean Deeley, a HDEO newcomer - this is his second installment, read the first one here.