Transcription
[Applause] We have Pope Holy Roman Cardinal Eclipse in Ratzinger. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ladies and gentlemen, Cardinal Laboratory in the Vineyard of the Lord. [Applause] [Music]
The ideal would be a home full of love, a way of life marked from morning to night by the liturgy, by the prayers of the church, by the bells that call me to church every Sunday morning. Being able to be an altar boy and immerse myself in the world of images, wonderful music, glorious songs. At the hour of my death, I also know which ones I will sing about—a whole life marked by the joy of being able to belong and live in that culture. Whoever experiences something like that is very fortunate or receives a great gift for it. Blessed is he who can have this experience for life.
You are at the service of God. God knows everything. God is absolutely good. And everything I want and everything I ask of me, God can also ask me for everything. Because if Jesus died for me on the cross, then I cannot tell him no. The memories I have of religion as a child have to do with fear and guilt. Traditional Catholicism in Ireland sought to control people's minds; their lives and thoughts were in the hands of the church. Although there was freedom of conscience, we could only use our freedom of conscience following the teachings of the Church.
Since the Enlightenment, the Catholic Church had resisted the new times, rejecting democracy and freedom of religion and conscience as fundamental rights. The result is that many believers lived with their backs turned to the teachings. The Second Vatican Council was called to prepare the church for the modern world. [Music] The young professor of theology, Joseph Ratzinger, accompanied the German delegation. [Music] [Music]
The glory of God is the fully living person. The old church, the old sermons, did not want us to be full of life. They wanted to prevent us from falling into sin. Our generation thought we would forge a new church, that we would leave the past behind with a bright future ahead. Joseph Ratzinger was considered one of the most progressive theologians of the Council. His writings were key to the long-awaited reform of the church.
I met Professor Joseph Ratzinger at the first session of the Second Vatican Council in Rome. He undoubtedly opted for the image of a triumphant church. That was also the image of his youth—a brilliant image. In my early years as a priest, young married women came to see me. I was barely 30 years old, single, and had no experience with women. I had been in a seminary from a very young age, and they asked me for advice about their sexual relations. It was absurd, but at least they had the new interpretation of the teaching of the Church on freedom of conscience and the importance of making decisions based on one's own personal circumstances so that they could be freed somewhat from their guilt.
Another progressive theologian at the Council was Hans, a professor at the University of Tübingen, a like-minded person invited to teach. In your life, when Ratzinger taught, there was a transition phase. At first, he seemed maybe a little insecure, but then he began to raise the tone of his voice until he reached his timbre of voice, which was very clear. That is when he reached maximum concentration. Then I stopped looking at people; he just stared at the ceiling and indoctrinated. That's when he was in his element.
He formulated the doctrine of the traditional church in accessible language. Students lined up to attend his classes, but outside the classrooms, society demanded more freedom. Youth questioned the established order. Ratzinger was faced with the revolutionary demands that also shook the church throughout the world. Joseph Ratzinger is a person with a very clear thought that is very influenced by the idea that in the world, everything must be in order, and God has done so.
He thought of everything and introduced it into the system, so to speak, and the revolution is then the worst thing that can happen because it breaks with that order. In those days, he was a young professor and was not used to someone yelling at him. It seems that it traumatized him so much as to change his way of seeing certain issues in the Council. Secular modernism and secular anarchy spread and caused havoc in the 60s. The old world was dying, and a new one was being born.
I think Cardinal Ratzinger saw it as anarchy. He saw himself as a defender of the truth—a truth that is absolute and immutable in the face of modernity that threatened it on all fronts. [Music] Professor Ratzinger left your vengeance and moved to Ratismona with his brother, who was the director of the local children's choir called Don't Patsen. Ratzinger's sister, who had taken care of the home all his life, accompanied him. [Music]
During his time, Ratzinger changed his mind about the degree of reforms that the church could bear. He was then under the influence of a group of young people who believed in the Apocalypse. They stocked up on everything they needed in their home for four weeks; they bought sacred candles, waiting for evil to come. In their theology, the idea that the devil was trying to get in was always present. Paul VI once said that the devil would try to enter through the cracks in the walls like smoke.
A few years later, Joseph Ratzinger was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Frising. [Music] [Music] He swore to defend the doctrine of the church and chose the motto "cooperatoris," collaborators of the truth. The church is already surrounded by enemies. The worst of all are the secularized theologians, modern priests—modern in quotes—or those who raise critical questions that question the sexual teaching of the church, that address the issues of modernity and introduce them into theological discourse.
We have to be clear about it, and we find clarity in a liturgy and in a clear recognition of the mystery. But if the world is divided in such a way that there is one truth and everything else is false, then your personal vision is not only a true vision; it is the true vision, and you must fight for it. Because everything else is false, and you have to show it to the people. I think that was his point of view. [Music]
Cardinal Ratzinger was concerned that the liturgy was losing its character. Sacred because it is a language that we use here on earth but that should take us to the transcendental. It is the door to heaven. A heavenly experience on earth must include the language of beauty, music, and clothing. Liturgy must speak of beauty because it speaks of truth. One of the most famous liturgical verses is "House Full of Glory," in which the church is presented as a fortress where everything is in order, and outside is the world, and the enemies, the devil, attack the church but cannot penetrate it because it is a house full of glory.
On high, storm-proof, Ratzinger actually saw nothing good in the modern world, which he criticized ever more harshly. Perhaps the most typical speech that sums it all up is the famous speech, the last speech he gave as a cardinal, and there he goes on to say: the light of his thought with all clarity and precision—that thought for which he was probably elected to that position is dismissed as fundamentalism.
Professing a clear faith based on the doctrine of the church, while relativism, which means letting oneself be carried away by the winds of any doctrine, seems to be the only accepted attitude in modern times. We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and that leaves only the self and its desires as the ultimate measure. [Music]
On a trip to Germany, Pope John Paul II visited Ratzinger in his native Bavaria. The Pope asked him to work for him in the Vatican, but Ratzinger's desire was to write books, and at that time he refused. Later, he accepted the call from Rome. Ratzinger became prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has the task of defending the truth of the faith and caring for the observance of moral teaching throughout the Catholic world.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has an important task in defending the beauty and integrity of the Christian tradition. A tree that is not pruned dies. It is the same with the faith; it is a living process. The Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith has the task, on behalf of the Pope, to recognize negative developments and act against them. That is to say, to protect the faith by saying it negatively and to promote the faith by saying it positively.
In Latin America, the Liberation Theology, a reform movement that sees itself as the voice of the poor, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith condemns them as contrary to the true faith and dangerous. Ratzinger makes sure that progressive bishops are removed and replaced by those faithful to the Vatican. A single body, namely the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, decides and imposes the punishment. But if you want to appeal against the verdict, you can only do so before the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the same body that pronounced the judgment and the punishment.
In my case, I consulted civil lawyers in Dublin. When I explained how the Vatican worked, they were speechless. They said that there was nothing like it in any society that was more or less enlightened since the 16th century. How would you describe its function? Is it more of a supervisory or more of a guide? It has many components, of course. In part, it tries to follow the trends, identify the difficult ones, and in this case, stop them. But it is also about promoting them.
The most important task is to maintain unity because today we can see how the whole world is divided. In a world so plural, keeping more than 800 million believers united is a fundamental task. I think it is also a service to humanity. That is why I would say that maintaining that unity is fundamental. [Music]
It is difficult to separate his ideology and the way he lives his theology from his personality. He is a man who tends to order, to the organization. He does not like chaos. As director of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, their main concern was to maintain order. Dissidents endangered that order. They were marginalized or silenced. Some of the most creative theologians of the Catholic Church were victims of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith.
You felt constantly watched. What will they think? What will the superiors, what will the bishop think? During the entire papacy of John Paul and Benedict, there were people who dedicated themselves to informing the Vatican about anything that they considered irregular or a heresy, as they called it. It was a permanent complaint. The worst thing is that the Vatican listened to them.
In this way, a system of control, even of fear and caution, arose. No one had the courage to express themselves critically because it was known that the eyes and ears of the Vatican were everywhere. When he preached in the church, there were people there, and they wrote down what he said to inform the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and they knew what they would hear. Joseph Ratzinger contributed to building that system, that apparatus in which everything was under control.
Cardinal Ratzinger was the prefect of the Congregation for 23 years. For Joseph, for Pope Benedict, the family is a key concept, not only in his theology but also in his personal life. In the congregation, one perceived that what was his family—his parents and his brothers—so to speak, he extended it to the men and women who worked with him. He was an extension of his family. [Music]
All his life, he longed for the small town of Tronstein. It was not so much about his Bavarian home but about the family and its five members. Home was for him mom, dad, and three children—Joseph, Maria, and then Queork. Mary and Joseph were the holy family. In their parents' house, everything was always in order. They had exemplary parents; they had exemplary siblings. Everyone was religious down to the last detail. There was nothing wrong within the circle, outside like that, but not inside.
My heart reaches out that there may be so much friendship, may our home be so beautiful, may there be so many good people, and may God be so merciful to me. [Music] As in his time in Rome, Ratzinger developed close ties with the spiritual family, the work—a community of consecrated women and men who visit each other regularly. [Music] [Music]
When I initially entered, I had a feeling of great joy, of great realization. I am close to God. I can live here in the greatest simplicity and peeling vegetables, cleaning—very close to God. That made me feel happy at first, but then, as time went by, I didn't want to recognize that I was missing something. I couldn't read books; I couldn't go out without consulting. I didn't have five minutes a day to decide for myself.
I had those conversations regularly with my superior, who told me what I had to think and feel. I always told myself because it was what they told me that guided me, that brought me closer to God. But in reality, I had broken down in my community. There were things that were not said to the outside world, but within, there was a consensus. For example, the idea of a conspiracy, the world of Jews, Islam as a threat to the Christian West, the vision that democracy has no place in the church, and nostalgia for the old empire.
As well as the work of other communities seeking to infuse their enthusiasm for the church found a fertile place in the ecclesiastical institution. The church was in a process of decadence. The number of believers was falling; the number of priests too; morale was falling. And when you are drowning, you cling to any burning nail, and the closest was the new spiritual communities like Opus Dei, Communion Liberations, the work measures more.
These communities offered him absolute loyalty to the pope, an absolute commitment to papal intentions, and in which battle allies with John Paul II are not welcome. These new spiritual communities gained importance. Their task was to evangelize a society increasingly distant from the church. One of the most important were the Legionaries of Christ at a time when society was in the process of change, and there was less and less vocation for the priesthood.
The parishes were aging, and some even had to close due to lack of young blood. The Church was happy for these young Christians, the Legionaries of Christ. They understood it immediately and forged a system of proselytism. As members of the order, we were encouraged to declare our love for the church and for the pope. We had to mingle with the public. In the presentations of the Holy Father, there were always some legionaries who shouted, "Holy Father, we love you!"
We loved to show our presence, and we made the Pope understand that we know that the church is bad, but we are here; we are going to save the church. [Music] He was not able to see behind this facade. Maybe he went further. There are some indications that Ratzinger saw this in the future of the church because particularly during his period as pope, he increasingly projected the image of a smaller, purer church with a stronger faith.
For the spirituality of the Legionaries, the dualism between a maddened society that Benedict XVI called the dictatorship of relativism and the church as a bulwark of resistance that protects values and true doctrine. The angel of darkness sometimes appears in the form of an angel of light. This means that whenever I see the angel, I have to ask myself if this angel of light—these bright and enthusiastic young priests—are really angels of light or are they simply hiding behind the angel of darkness?
I entered the Legion of Christ in 1974 when I finished high school. At the age of 18, I worked at the general house of the Legionaries of Christ located in Via Urelia 677, which has been the mother house in Europe, the main one, and where the headquarters of the legion is located. The founder of the Legionaries of Christ was Father Marcial Maciel. His ability to recruit faithful made the Legionaries of Christ the community favorite of the popes. John Paul II, in particular, saw them as saviors who would return the church to its former glory.
He feels legionaries are present, as well as Father Marcial Maciel. [Applause] [Music] Founded his religious order in Mexico in 1941. Since then, Maciel had built an empire of schools and universities in 22 countries with an estimated value of 25 billion euros. While the Catholic Church was suffering a hemorrhage of prelates, the Legionaries of Christ came to ordain priests en masse—up to 60 at a time.
Marcial Maciel was a brilliant seducer, a brilliant impostor. He knew how to sell his image and communicate what people wanted to see, hear, and feel. The members venerated Maciel as a living saint. [Applause] [Music] Some cardinals were friends of the Legionaries. There were cardinals and archbishops within the Roman Curia who supported and protected the legionaries. Some, in particular, Cardinal Sodano, the Cardinal Secretary of State, received large sums of money from the Legion for charity, but it was a euphemism; the money was for him.
He did not accept anything. Cardinal Bertone, whom Ratzinger later appointed as his Cardinal Secretary of State, did not accept bribes or gifts. He was also among Maciel's defenders. In this capacity, he was involved in numerous corruption cases. One of them had to do with a Vatican-owned children's hospital, the Bambino. Yesú is a very important hospital that receives 270 million euros annually from the Italian State. It depends on the Vatican and is located on its land.
Cardinal Bertone received 200,000 euros from this hospital to renovate his apartment. The apartments of all the cardinals have 300, 500 square meters; some even 600 square meters are justified by claiming that the apartments are not just for us; there are also nuns who live with us. In 1997, eight men accused Maciel of sexually abusing them when they were teenagers. Two of the victims personally reported their cases to Ratzinger's office. No legal proceedings were opened.
The first accusation is in 1997 in Mexico in the newspapers, and he is then treated as shielding by opening schools, universities, seminaries in various places to show that God blesses the legion and blesses the charisma of Father Maciel. Why was Father Maciel protected by cardinals like Sodano, like Stannis, like Frank Rode, like Dario Castrillón? One, because they were economic partners, like the Cardinal Solano of Father Maciel. Others, because they considered that there was a good for the church in everything that he did.
Rather, let's say the end justifies the means. Other cardinals, because they thought it was going to be a very big scandal, and as someone said, it is better that eight men suffer the injustice and disqualification to cause millions of Catholics to lose faith. Then he realized that the Legionaries of Christ had gained tremendous power over the Vatican. At the same time, accusations were made more and more serious. All this threatened to explode in his face.
In those uncertain times, John Paul II died after a long illness. Holy Father Giovanni Paolo II e tornato a la casa del padre. [Music] He had served the Catholic Church for 28 years as supreme pontiff. Now the cardinals were faced with the question of who could replace him. [Music] [Applause] Joseph Ratzinger presided over the funeral and celebrated the requiem mass. [Music]
He occupied the most powerful position within the Curia. In some ways, he was even more powerful than the Cardinal Secretary of State. He was the cardinal who knew everyone and knew the system better than anyone and knew all the men who were going to vote for guilt and guilt—not even the maximum guilt. [Music] He called the conclave to elect the new pope. [Music]
His dream was to write a book about Jesus of Nazareth. And of course, he wanted to write it freed from the official burdens of official duties. After a brief conclave, Ratzinger, aged 78, was elected pope. He took the name of Benedict XVI and became the representative of Christ on earth. [Music] When the votes began to make me see that the guillotine was about to fall on me, so to speak, I felt dizzy. I thought I had already finished the work of my life and that I could now calmly await the end of my days.
Ratzinger had always been in the shadow of John Paul in the fight for the true faith. Now he was the supreme pastor of a world in dissent over the interpretation of Catholic doctrine. The next day, when we went to work as usual and found out that the Pope wanted to greet us, the first thing he did was return to the Congregation of Faith to greet us and thank those he considered his family.
If the question were to arise, who is the right person for this office, then it would certainly not be Ratzinger. But if you ask what office is suitable for Joseph Ratzinger, where is he best protected from reality? Then the papacy is the right place because as pope, he is at the same time supreme legislator, supreme interpreter of the law. He has all the charges, and no one, no matter what they do, can interfere. [Music]
I can consider the church as the successor of the crucified Christ who continues on Earth in the dust, in the dirt. Francis speaks of the bruised church, of the field hospital, and similar things. But I can also consider the church as a branch of Christ in all his splendor and all his glory. In this vessel, then my lifestyle and the position did not matter so much. The pomp I wanted to show, I am the pope, and every element of his clothing is, so to speak, part of the anonymity.
It comes to say, now I take a step back as a person for the benefit of my position and resort to elements that were actually considered outdated or that had already been eliminated by John Paul II, embodied in his own way the position of representative of Christ. [Music] [Music]
However, the problems that Ratzinger had already struggled with as a cardinal remained unresolved. I joined the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in October 2002, and in November, the first allegations of abuse came in the United States. It was a real avalanche. We are talking about dozens of cases. By the latest in the 1980s, child abuse by priests ceased to be a secret.
In 2002, journalists from the Boston Globe fought for the first time in court to have the secret files of the Boston diocese revealed. The documents confirmed that the internal policy of the church was to move pedophile priests from one parish to another. Boston showed the world the hypocrisy of the bishopric that covered up cases and then denied them. The Boston Globe journalists not only reported on individual perpetrators but also denounced the system, and that was the important thing. [Music]
He had a way of hitting the table with his hand that showed his frustration—his frustration at how people betrayed the priesthood and the holy vocation. You could see his suffering in his reaction to the reports. In his eyes at this moment, Ratzinger had all the information that had come to him about sexual abuse and other complaints about Maciel and his financial behavior, alcoholic, drug addict, and other abuses in various fields.
But he could not speak because he did not have the Pope's authorization. My conclusion is that it was never about the children that Maciel had raped. That was never his main concern. The main concern was always the shame for the Holy See, the shame for the system. That was the problem of the revelations.
The Vatican celebrated in 2004 the 60th anniversary of Maciel as a priest. Ratzinger did not participate in the celebrations in St. Peter's Square and in the subsequent event of the Legionaries. Precisely in this great event with Legionaries, cardinals, and archbishops, more, he has to a girl on her lap. Later, it will be known that she is his daughter.
She had the nerve to take her lover and her daughter to these celebrations. Why does she do it? She does it for that reason, for her ability to say here nothing will happen if they touch me. The problem is from the Vatican and from the entire Catholic Church. They will never dare to go against Maciel, who is a holy man recognized by the entire church.
In light of these events, Ratzinger began an investigation against Maciel, and a year after being named pope, he removed Father Maciel from the government of the legion and ordered him to dedicate himself to a life of prayer and penance that he never fulfilled. The Vatican published its verdict in a one-page statement. Maciel was only punished by the obligation to lead a retired life. [Music]
When Benedict XVI finally did something, it was evidently a procedure—the surgical torpedoing of Father Maciel while he was protecting the legion was like trying to pull a card out of a house of cards without the whole house collapsing. The Vatican never reported in detail about Maciel's actions. Maciel lived the rest of his life in comfort without being annoyed. [Music]
I think Ratzinger is an unrealistic man. He thinks in abstract principles. He considers himself an Augustinian; that is to say, he believes in Plato's maxims. The truth is only in heaven; there are eternal values. All we have are only shadows. That does not usually confront the everyday with what does not have a clear orientation, with that in which another aspect can always be valued. He wants principles. [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] And Christ is totally clear when he says twice that there is no alternative. If the tree is rotten, it is impossible for it to bear good fruit, in particular the greeting of the community of the itinerary of Christ. [Applause]
When I left the order, I was terrified. It was the worst day of my life. I cried and cried and hugged my mother. I was devastated, devastated. But it is strange that like many former legionaries, the day it was discovered that Father Maciel was a scoundrel who had led a double life, I started to laugh. I couldn't help it. It was horrible, but I had to laugh because all the attention and guilt disappeared.
I was not surprised that priests abused children because I knew that adults abuse children. They abused me when I was little; that is the reality. So I never assumed that priests were fundamentally different from other people just because they were ordained. Did Ratzinger really think that priests would be different? A priest follows a heavenly calling, but he also needs a good and solid human formation.
He must know himself and accept the weaknesses that he has. He can't change but must also cultivate a lifestyle that is compatible with his appointment. When priests were suffering discredit throughout the world, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed 2009 the year of the priesthood. It should be celebrated, and the sanctity of the priesthood should be made known to the public.
Then came the time of the imposition of hands, and finally, when Cardinal Forjaver said, "No longer indicate servants, be friends. I no longer call you servants but friends." I experienced priestly ordination as the insertion into the community of friends of Jesus called to be with him and to announce his message.
There is that belief, that teaching that priests by ordination are ontologically transformed. I don't know what it means for me; it never meant anything. But in some circles, it was thought that with this one received a special grace that turned you into a different person. Some victims offered their help for shedding light on church abuse cases.
In 2012, I spoke to bishops at the Pontifical University about how my torturer physically abused me at night and sexually, and the next morning he gave me the Holy Host with the same hand with which he had abused me. After hearing this, a bishop got up, absolutely horrified. He would never have seen an abuser like that because suddenly he saw the priesthood affected and asked why we didn't kick them all out of the church.
He was upset at the idea that something sacred to him would be desecrated, but my body should have been just as upsetting. I have to say that these revelations had a great impact on me. They make me very sad. It's hard to understand how it could have been so perverted—the priestly ministry. [Music]
At the end of the priestly year in 2010, the largest gathering of priests in the history of humanity took place. Despite the abuses throughout the world, Pope Benedict remained faithful to his priestly image. He trusted in the renewal of the repentance and the healing of the community. Then he came up with a very interesting formulation that I have been thinking about ever since.
He said during the priestly year, "The devil threw dirt in our faces." So I asked, who refers? Refers to the victims, refers to the press that reported on it. Who threw the earth? Who is the devil? In fact, it was diabolical that in the priestly year, the figure that was actually the center of attention that year would be revealed with what was most miserable, the deepest, and the most disgusting.
So to speak, specifically as perpetrators of child abuse. I know that Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope Benedict see the priesthood as an extraordinary vocation, especially as a call to holiness, so that a life of sin and child abuse is incompatible with the priesthood. On the other hand, Cardinal Ratzinger knew and was familiar with this reality for years.
Only the dimension of the abuse cases opens a new chapter. So to speak, at the beginning, it was thought that there were only a few isolated cases, but investigations showed that this was not the case. And then, especially in 2010, there was this tsunami of complaints, also in Ireland. A shadow of suspicion has been cast over many priests who carry out their duties with honor and integrity, with personal sacrifice.
We ask God for forgiveness and healing. We ask for ourselves and for the victims who have been treated so unfairly by those who were our brothers. In my case, I reported my abuser 25 years after the events. The vicar implied that I could have been to blame for the abuse, and he forgave me. He took the name of the priest; otherwise, he would have had to do something.
After that, I was devastated and did not speak of it again for another 10 years. But in the Murphy report, I discovered that in the seminary, he had been taught that in such cases, it was better not to record the name of the priest. John Paul and Benedict ordained people as bishops not for their leadership abilities but for their orthodoxy.
The result was that the top of the church was made up of ultra-orthodox men and therefore almost inevitably lacked any leadership ability. They were unable to think for themselves, so they were completely overwhelmed when the crisis came. Why didn't he go directly to the victims and encourage them to go to the police? Yes, maybe he should have done that, but I have so much to do.
And the shocking thing was that the church became so easy to lie to people to protect abusers, to uncover the systemic causes of abuse in church institutions. The Irish government commissioned three inquiries. The reports confirmed US figures that 7% of all priests were abusers. As a sign of my deep concern, I have written a pastoral letter on this terrible situation.
Please read this letter with an open heart and spirit of faith. I hope it will lead to repentance and promote healing and renewal. We bishops are told we have to admit grave errors of judgment and lack of leadership. Our credibility has been seriously damaged. The Vatican knew a lot about these things, and it was also talked about within the church.
The Vatican never assumed political responsibility for not listening, for ignoring, for denying. It is easy as a pope or as a cardinal in the Vatican to scold the bishops who have covered up because they have covered up while pushing the problem away from themselves. It is now very clear that they wanted to sweep the facts under the carpet, and this attitude was the same throughout the church, up to the Vatican.
Then there was a fourth report published. This revealed that the Vatican had prevented Irish bishops from referring allegations of abuse to civil authorities on the grounds that civil law did not apply to the church. The Vatican refused any support for the allegations. In a parliamentary session, Prime Minister Enda Kenny took a position on the matter. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger said that the basic rules that apply in civil societies or in democracies cannot be applied to the Church.
After the Ryan and Murphy reports, it is possible Ireland is no longer surprised by child abuse, but the report is of a different caliber. For the first time in our history, a report on child abuse has revealed that the Holy See tried to obstruct an investigation in a sovereign state. And that did not happen three decades ago, but it was three years ago.
The Cloyne report reveals the dysfunctional, distant, and elitist culture that prevails today in the Vatican. I had to comment on it on Irish radio. After it finished, my eyes filled with tears. I thought, thank you, God. This man is saying what should have been said a long time ago. He is a fairly traditional Catholic; he attends mass regularly and is conservative in many ways. No one would have expected this from him, but his words reflect the spirit of the nation in a way that I have rarely seen in a political speech in my life.
And suddenly, all the attention of Ireland was focused on the Vatican. [Music] [Music] [Music] At the heart of the problem is clericalism. That is to say, that attitude of we know better than you can do it better than you because we are the church. We still have a long way to go in terms of honesty before we deserve forgiveness. Archbishop Martin understood it, understood how serious it was, and cooperated with the government in the investigation of the Dublin archdiocese.
He handed over the files voluntarily. Abuse is not just an atrocious sexual act. Child abuse is an absolute abuse of power. This is how you tell a child that I have control over you. It's like saying that you have no value. He did something in his country, in his diocese, to protect children. Victims of sexual abuse to seek justice. Just think back to the first day in 2010 when the abuse scandal reached the Bavarian homeland of Pope Benedict XVI. [Music]
... [Music] She must have felt it. She knew the people; she lived there for a long time. It was really just heartbreaking. It was one of the worst cases of abuse. I don't remember her ever making any comments about it. [Music] [Music]
More and more reports were coming out in the media on victims' stories. The church was under siege. In 2010, Cardinal Sodano interrupted the celebration of the Easter liturgy to encourage the pope to stand firm. "Holy Father, the people of God are on your side and will not be swayed by gossip." From the moment that they test the community of believers, as Jesus said, "In the world, there is tribulation and anguish." But he added, "Nevertheless, have courage because I have overcome the world." [Music] [Applause]
A few weeks later, the new spiritual communities responded to the call to express their solidarity with the Holy Father. [Music] That is precisely the problem: the protection that is requested and the protection that is given harm the Church. It does not protect it, but that harms it because it distances the church from the recognition of the truth.
Perhaps it was a community like the one I was in; perhaps I also contributed. When he visits us and we are all there, we smile, we shake his hand, and we listen to him full of respect, and no one asks any questions. But we embody exactly what he wants to see at that moment. The fact that the sister standing in front of him was raped a few months ago by one of the priests who is also standing in front of him does not matter.
Could it be said that we protected him? Unfortunately, in a monarchy, the monarch is the most important figure. The main bishops of the Catholic Church have protected themselves and the system at all costs, and those who paid the price were the victims of abuse. They were sacrificed to save the survival and prestige of the hierarchical system. Despite the greatness of the church, its power, and its wealth, the victims have an advantage over it. In particular, they have the truth about what happened. [Music]
After 2010, Pope Benedict traveled more than ever around the world, spoke about contraception, abortion, education, and the importance of the traditional family. During Pope Benedict's trip to Mexico in 2012, 212 documents from the Vatican archives were made public, containing evidence that the Vatican was aware of Maciel's crimes since the 1950s. Some of Maciel's victims invited Pope Benedict to a meeting that he refused.
Just as I was trying to prove that they knew he was an abuser, and yet they left him in the parish taking care of children, they were the ones who lied and portrayed me in the media as a liar. They didn't care about ruining me and my reputation. They felt it was their right because in their eyes, I was attacking the church and damaging its image. The church is there for the salvation of the world, and that is why it must be protected, and its reputation must be protected.
Anyone who questions that is attacking the salvation mission of the church. As such, if someone from outside observes it and asks certain questions, it is always considered an attack. It is an attack because it destroys that image. And this image is an end in itself. In Mexico, Pope Benedict was injured. His head when he tripped in the middle of the night—an injury that was hidden at the time. His doctor advised him to stop making intercontinental trips. [Music]
The trip to Mexico was exhausting. He was very, very tired. He recovered relatively slowly, but I noticed that something had changed. That is to say, when praying, he was so to speak even more self-absorbed, and the prayers were even more intimate, even more existential. How were those years for Benedict, for Joseph? Little by little, he realized that the whole institution to which he had dedicated his life was plagued by corruption and that it was really dysfunctional.
I am facing the last stretch of my life, and I do not know what will happen to me, but that the light of God is there, that he has resurrected, that his light is stronger than all the darkness, that the goodness of God is stronger than all. It also came to light that Benedict's valet, Paolo Gabriele, had for years copied letters from his desk, which he passed on to a journalist, giving the public access to information within the Curia that would otherwise have remained hidden.
How does this leak occur? How can a journalist publish in a book letters, documents, extracts, or even internal procedures? Someone must have leaked something to the outside from within, from within, from the inner circle. Undoubtedly, one of Ratzinger's weaknesses that is often pointed out is that he was not a good connoisseur of human nature.
The Battilix scandal revealed that there were power struggles, money laundering, and corruption in the Vatican, and that the situation was out of control. In theory, there were five or six possible leaks. With two things, I saw that it could only be one person—either the Holy Father himself or myself as secretary or another person very close to him. We went to see him after the Battilix, and then he started talking about Paolo, who was the valet who stole the documents.
It was very clear to me that he was not just an employee of his; he was almost like a son. His confidant betrayed the father's trust so deeply because it was not only a material disappointment for him; it was a deeply human disappointment, familiar, one could say. His love was betrayed again. I have looked for love again, and I have not found it. And that, with time, is unbearable.
As Pope Benedict wanted to ensure that there were no more leaks, he ordered an investigation into power struggles and cliques in the Vatican. The result was a 300-page dossier. After the College of Cardinals elected a new pope in the first confidential meeting they had, Pope Benedict informed Pope Francis and then he gave him the file so that he could see it and do what he thought appropriate with it.
With this, the Matillix case was also objectively closed. Perhaps he thought that things would improve if he officially handed over the files to the next pope. You understand he wanted to save his image, or why he did it is incomprehensible. Sit down and resolve this in a reasonable way. After all, both are world leaders. What is all this coming and going?
Somehow, I still wonder what there will be in there, what will be in those papers. After all, it is about the Curia. If we remember the beginning of the 20th century, there were three noble families fighting for power in Europe: the Romans in Russia, the Young in Germany, and the Habsburgs in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. All three occupied real positions of power. They were true emperors, kings, and tsars, but they did not realize that this power was of no use to them because they neglected the needs of their people, who did not want to accept them and were not going to remain silent.
That is comparable to the Catholic Church, also an absolute monarchy. Benedict symbolized the monarchy of the Catholic Church, hoped that it would be an effective form of government, but not with the Second Vatican Council. Joseph Ratzinger hoped to renew and strengthen the church. At the end of his pontificate, he faced a crisis in his church that he had not been able to avoid despite his message. [Music]
His real intentions, his purpose, the will of his life that were directed to good, to salvation, to God, to God's love for humanity, he could not bring them to reality. That was where he failed again and again, and in that sense, you can talk about a tragedy. In reality, he didn't achieve what he wanted. [Music]
When he told me what he was going to do, I was devastated. Then instinctively, I told him, "Holy Father, you can't give up." Then he told me, "I've thought about it a lot. I've thought about it a lot. It is better for the good of the Church that I resign from office." [Music] [Music]
If one values the vision that the papacy had and all the theology that he considered as the foundation of that papacy, his vision of the world and of the Church, that resignation is not there. There is no parallel; no man can resign from a higher office than he. [Music]
And I think his failure is also the failure of an era. It is not only his personal failure but the failure of an era in which the church is once again trying to save their identity through a strong us-enemy-friend identifier and them. How can an authoritarian institution become an institution that treats people as equals and learns to listen instead of just giving orders?
Ireland was the only country to introduce, through a constitutional referendum, same-sex marriage. Ireland, a country that has always been arch-Catholic, that was undoubtedly a clear message to the leaders of the Catholic Church, not only in Ireland but also in Rome. When I was young, the Irish revered the Pope. We can see it during John Paul's visit in 1979; the welcome was incredible. The Irish, including devout Catholics, question everything much more critically. The Pope was no longer venerated automatically, but it is a drastic change within the same generation. [Music] [Music] [Music]