Vatican confirms report of sexual abuse and rape of nuns by priests in
23 countries
By Frances Kennedy in Rome
Wednesday, 21 March 2001
The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday
that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually
abusing nuns.
Most of the abuse has occurred in Africa, where priests vowed to
celibacy, who previously sought out prostitutes, have preyed on nuns to
avoid contracting the Aids virus.
Confidential Vatican reports obtained by the National Catholic Reporter,
a weekly magazine in the US, have revealed that members of the Catholic
clergy have been exploiting their financial and spiritual authority to
gain sexual favours from nuns, particularly those from the Third World
who are more likely to be culturally conditioned to be subservient to
men.
The reports, some of which are recent and some of which have been in
circulation for at least seven years, said that such priests had
demanded sex in exchange for favours, such as certification to work in a
given diocese.
In extreme instances, the priests had made nuns pregnant and then
encouraged them to have abortions.
The US article was based on five documents, which senior women from
religious orders and priests have presented to the Vatican over the past
decade. They describe a particularly bad situation in Africa. In a
continent devastated by Aids, nuns, along with early adolescent girls,
are perceived by some as safe sexual targets. The reports said that the
church authorities had done little to tackle the problem.
The Vatican reports cited countless cases of nuns forced to have sex
with priests. Some were obliged to take the pill, others became pregnant
and were encouraged to have abortions. In one case in which an African
sister was forced to have an abortion, she died during the operation and
her aggressor led the funeral mass. Another case involved 29 sisters
from the same congregation who all became pregnant to priests in the
diocese.
The reports said that the cultures in some African countries made it
almost impossible for a young woman to disobey an older man, especially
one seen as spiritually superior. There were cases of novices who
applied to their local priest or bishop for certificates of good
Catholic practice that were required for them to pursue their vocation.
In return they were made to have sex. Some incidents of sexual abuse
allegedly took place almost within the Vatican walls.
Certain unscrupulous clerics took advantage of young nuns who were
having trouble finding accommodation, writing their essays and funding
their theological studies.
Forced to acknowledge the problem, the Vatican has tried to play down
its gravity. In a statement issued yesterday the Pope's official
spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, said: "The problem is known and
involves a restricted geographical area. Certain negative situations
must not overshadow the often heroic faith of the overwhelming majority
of religious, nuns and priests".
One of the most comprehensive documents was compiled by Sister Maura
O'Donohue, an Aids co-ordinator for Cafod, the London-based Catholic
Fund for Overseas Development.
She noted that religious sisters had been identified as "safe" targets
for sexual activity. She quotes a case in 1991 of a community superior
being approached by priests requesting that the nuns be made available
to them for sexual favours.
"When the superior refused the priests explained they would otherwise be
obliged to go to the village to find women and might thus get
Aids."Sister O'Donohue said her initial reaction to what she was told by
her fellow religious "was one of shock and disbelief at the magnitude of
the problem".
While most of the abuse happened in African countries, Sister O'Donohue
reported incidents in 23 countries including India, Ireland, Italy, the
Philippines and the United States.
She heard cases of priests encouraging the nuns to take the pill telling
them it would prevent HIV. Others "actually encouraged abortion for the
sisters" and Catholic hospitals and medical staff reported pressure from
priests to carry out terminations for nuns and other young women.
O'Donohue wrote in her report how a vicar in one African diocese had
talked "quite openly" about sex, saying that "celibacy in the African
context means a priest does not get married, but does not mean he does
not have children."
The head of the Vatican congregation for Religious Life, Cardinal
Martinez Somalo, has set up a committee to look into the problem. But it
seems to have done little beyond "awareness raising" among bishops.
More recently, in 1998, Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the
Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, put together a paper entitled The
Problem of the Sexual Buse of African Religious in Africa and Rome.
She tabled the document to the Council of 16, made up of delegates of
the international association of women's and men's religious communities
and the Vatican office responsible for religious life. She noted that a
contributing cause was the "conspiracy of silence".
When she addressed bishops on the problem, many of them felt it was
disloyal of the sisters to send reports.
"However, the sisters claim they have done so time and time again.
Sometimes they were not well received. In some instances they are blamed
for what happened. Even when they are listened to sympathetically
nothing much seems to be done" One of the most tragic elements that
emerges is the fate of the victims. While the offending priests are
usually moved or sent away for studies, the women are normally chased
out of their religious orders, they are then either to scared to return
to their families or are rejected by them. they often finished up as
outcasts, or, in a cruel twist of irony, as prostitutes, making a meagre
living from an act they had vowed never to do.
One of the few religious in Rome willing to talk about the report was
Father Giulio Albanese, of MISNA, the missionary news agency.
"Missionaries are human beings, who are often living under immense
psychological pressure in situations of war and ongoing violence. On one
hand it's important to condemn this horror and it's important tell the
truth, but we must not emphasise this at the expense of the work done by
the majority, many of whom have laid down lives for witness" said Fr
Albanese "The press only talks about missionaries when they are killed,
kidnapped or are involved in something scandalous" he added.
As the Vatican digests the unpalatable evidence of how their own priests
are ruining the lives of their sisters, many Catholics hope a strong
message may come from on high. With the American bishops, the Pope spoke
in clear terms about paedophile priests, telling them this was a scourge
that had to be faced. Some now hope that he may be equally courageous in
denouncing an evil which has been covered by silence and shame for too
long.
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