Sinead O’Connor: ‘There should be a full criminal investigation of the pope’
By Henry Chu – Los Angeles Times
March 24, 2010 | 11:30 a.m.
Reporting from Bray, Ireland – She shot to fame 20 years ago with her shaved head, chiseled cheeks and haunting rendition of the song “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Then she gained notoriety when she tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on American TV, calling him “the enemy” and urging people to fight child abuse.
Sinead O’Connor is still singing. And she’s still speaking out against abuse — only now her 1992 stunt on “Saturday Night Live” almost seems prescient as the Roman Catholic Church faces a growing catalog of complaints about child sexual and physical assault by priests in her Irish homeland and across Europe.
Such mistreatment was rampant here in Ireland, going back decades. By 1987, the Irish church was alarmed enough that it took out an insurance policy against future lawsuits and claims for compensation stemming from sexual-abuse allegations.
This past weekend, Pope Benedict XVI issued a “pastoral letter” apologizing to the flock in Ireland for the church’s past failures. He did not outline any disciplinary action against the bishops who many here say covered up priestly misdeeds, though on Wednesday he accepted the resignation of Bishop John Magee, who had been accused of failing to report suspected pedophile priests to police. The pope also pinned no blame on the Vatican itself for a culture of secrecy that critics say it deliberately fostered.
O’Connor, now 43 and a mother of four, spoke to The Times on Tuesday at her seaside home in Bray, south of Dublin, about the abuse scandal.
Do you feel the pope’s letter was enough?
It’s a study in the fine art of lying and actually betraying your own people. . . . He starts by saying that he’s writing with great concern for the people of Ireland. If he was that concerned, why has it taken him 23 years to write a letter, and why did he or the last pope never get on an airplane and come to meet the victims in any of these countries and apologize?
The letter sells the Irish [church] hierarchy downriver by stating again and again that the Irish hierarchy has somehow acted independently of the Vatican. . . . The documents are there to prove that that’s a lie. . . .
If you were the boss of a company and some of the employees of your company were known to sexually abuse children, you would fire them instantly. You would also go instantly to meet the people who had been abused and profusely apologize and offer your help in any way whatsoever to deal with this. . . . That has never happened.
As a cardinal, the pope wrote an order in 2001 demanding that abuse cases be dealt with in secret. But doesn’t the directive also mention cooperating with civil authorities?
That document stated that all matters of abuse were to be sent to him in Rome, where he would decide whether they would be dealt with by Rome or locally by the bishops. They were to be dealt with exclusively by the church, and they were subject to pontifical secret, which means you can be excommunicated if you breach the secret. . . .
[It’s true that] it’s the first time ever that any document coming from the Vatican actually does say to the clergy that they should cooperate with civil authorities. . . . What I object to here is, the first time they said that was 2001. They knew back in 1987 at least that this was an issue. . . . They knew so much that they took out an insurance policy.
So what should the pope do?
There should be a full criminal investigation of the Catholic hierarchy of any country in which this has been an issue. There should be a full criminal investigation of the Vatican.
There should be a full criminal investigation of the pope. The pope should stand down for the fact that he did not act in a Christian fashion to protect children, and for the fact that his organization acted to preserve their business interests decade after decade rather than be concerned about the interests of children, and for showing so much disrespect for Christ, God, the victims, the rest of us, their own clergy. . . .
The Vatican and the pope need to get on their knees and confess the full truth in the same language they make us use in Mass. . . . They need to get on their knees, open everything up, be transparent, tell the truth, ask the people for forgiveness and prayers.
That confession is their only hope of survival into the 21st century. It’s a rickety bridge, but it is a bridge. And personally, I would be willing to bring them across that little bridge into the 21st century and help them. . . .
If they don’t do that, they will not survive. . . . I hope they do survive, because there’s a lot that’s really beautiful about Catholicism. Even though there are those of us who are fighting it like you would fight an abusive parent, you love the parent still and you want it to be healed.
What about the abuse victims?
He [the pope] says his concern is “to bring healing to the victims.” But he’s denying them the one thing which might actually bring them healing, which is a full confession from the Vatican. . . .
You’re talking about some very broken people. . . . Life is very difficult for them. They can’t hold down jobs, can’t hold down relationships. . . . Life is difficult. Therapy costs a lot of money. These people don’t make much money; hardly any of them are actually fit to work. They need the Vatican to cough up some of its billions [to] pay for these people to be able to live their lives.
Should Irish bishops resign, as a few have offered?
Resignation gets them off the hook. They should be criminally prosecuted. . . . If you or I covered up crimes like that, we’d be slap-bang in jail in five minutes, and rightly so. There’s a double standard. . . .
What should the Irish people do?
It’s the good-hearted, sweet Catholic people who go to Mass still despite all of this — they are the people who have the power in their hands to get the Vatican on its knees and confess. . . . How these people can do that is by refusing to go to Mass, boycott them until they actually come to their knees and confess. . . .
The way we are at the moment, we’re in a very dysfunctional relationship with an organization that’s actually abusing us. And we can’t see what’s being done to us. We have the mentality of a battered wife who thinks it’s her fault. If we had a friend in a similar relationship, we would beg him or her to walk away.
Yet you still consider yourself a Catholic?
I’m a Catholic, and I love God. . . . That’s why I object to what these people are doing to the religion that I was born into. . . .
I’m passionately in love and always have been with what I call the Holy Spirit, which I believe the Catholic Church have held hostage and still do hold hostage. I think God needs to be rescued from them. They are not representing Christian values and Christian attitudes. If they were truly Christian, they would’ve confessed ages ago, and we wouldn’t be having to batter the door down and try to get blood from a stone.
They can no longer hide behind there lies
There was once 12 kingdoms of 13 Eire was the Kingdom of the thirteenth the King of Kings. The Ard Ri or High King.
Another example of our heraldry was Brigid Her lineage provided the Weaving grass and reeds for when we returned to Eire after the Age of Ice which left our land bare and leached by the Ices retreat at the end of the Ice Age. We built Dowth, Newgrange and Knowth a Celestial Mapper. We where the Tuahta De Nanan founders of the Enlightened. We sought Solutions and understanding. We Founded the Indo European Celtic Empire not by War but Sharing and providing benefit. Watch what a Glacier leaves after melting. It would take millions of Years to replaced by nature what the Ice Age destroyed in the Celtic Isles and northern Europe. We used Plaguing methods. Fast Breeding Insect and Animals. Part of my Reclaim the Deserts solution. Dump Hay in bails and stacks and release Locusts etc… They eat travel and die. Add rest and major Organic Build up as well as brings own Moisture. Dump Fast germinating Weaving Grasses to hold in moisture and generate a Large scale Self generating Environment. Desert Animals like Kangaroo Emu Ostrich love those conditions. Use Medicative herbs to smoke Massive Insect Clouds to fall and large Organic Covering. Also use Volcanic finest dust Sprayed over Insect Clouds. Removes Self contained Moisture in Insect Cloud and they Drop. Frogs and other insect eating plaguing Animals eat. Big de desertification Add Trees and Ancient Forest Back.
The Snake twisted Psychology of the Beast of Rome Church is the teaching that Jesus was a man who harmed no one. Even reattached the Ear of a Roman Solder cut off by his disciple. When the Romans abuse you claiming they are Christian and you react in defence they hurt you more by claiming you are unforgiving and anti Christian. Christian would not harm in first Place. They are just Devils and Demons in Man Apes Form. The religion exclude those to spirits and possession. But The ancient Faith they where Man Apes that choose without care or Mercy to harm in knowledge of the harm they where doing. Most from ancient Legends a generic representations of them in Society e.g. Solicitors and word manipulators = Snakes. I have found a Medusa in my Life. My Ex’s Mother. Reference to some was in nature. Shepard’s Clothing. Beast was a reference to Paedophile as are Werewolves. Vampires like to destroy the essence and suck out the happiness in another’s life. I face Hydra’s when going to court clear win. Then Corruption to destroy claim, then many other cases on top. E.G Settlement with church Case over. Then Family and Solicitor Destroy settlement and more cases. In Australia a Workers Comp Claim, Treating Doctor Colluded and blocked Evidence now more cases. Law Society methods. Can not win a case go corrupt and use corrupt licensed professionals to undermine Claim. Any way Sinead I agree. My family lineage subjected by the Roman invasion 1000 years ago where the Councillors to the Assembly of Eire the High Kings dating to prehistory. Ended by the similar depiction of Jesus except 3 days and 3 ravens. Not 3 crosses and 3 days. The Celt’s are back as will be our Justice.
The days of secrecy are now over.
These men are not men of god at all, just a self perpetuating cult of evil predators.
Sick sadistic predators who preyed on the weak and the innocent.
They were the lowest of the low, yet portrayed themselves to be the greatest of the great.
They had no spiritual connection to the Universe, because if they had then the equal male- female energy would be accepted and taught.
Sinead, you were way ahead of your time back then, and now all can see how right you were.
Pope Benedict has obstructed justice. He issued the order in May 2001 ensuring church’s investigations into child sex abuse claims be carried out in secret – and ONLY by priests. The order was made in a confidential letter in May 2001 which was then sent to every Catholic bishop on the planet.
It asserted the church’s right to hold its inquiries behind closed doors and keep the evidence confidential for up to 10 years after the victims reached adulthood. The letter was signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who is now the pope.
Lawyers acting for abuse victims claim it was designed to prevent the allegations from becoming public knowledge or being investigated by the police. They accuse Ratzinger of committing a ‘clear obstruction of justice’.
The letter, ‘concerning very grave sins’, was sent from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and was overseen by Ratzinger. It spells out to bishops the church’s position on a number of matters ranging from celebrating the eucharist with a non-Catholic to sexual abuse by a cleric with a minor below the age of 18 years.
Ratzinger’s letter states that the church can claim jurisdiction in cases where abuse has been ‘perpetrated with a minor by a cleric’. It orders that ‘preliminary investigations’ into any claims of abuse should be sent to Ratzinger’s office, which has the option of referring them back to private tribunals in which the ‘functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases ONLY by priests’.
‘Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret,’
Ratzinger’s letter concludes. Breaching the pontifical secret at any time while the 10-year jurisdiction order is operating carries penalties, including the threat of excommunication. The letter is referred to in documents relating to a lawsuit filed against a RC church in America and Ratzinger on behalf of two abuse victims. By sending the letter, lawyers acting for the victims claim the cardinal conspired to obstruct justice.
Daniel Shea, the lawyer for the two victims who discovered the letter, said: ‘It speaks for itself. You have to ask: why do you not start the clock ticking until the kid turns 18? It’s an obstruction of justice.’
Father John Beal, professor of canon law at the Catholic University of America, gave an oral deposition under oath on 8 April 2004 in which he admitted to Shea that the letter extended the church’s jurisdiction and control over sexual assault crimes.
The Ratzinger letter was co-signed by Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone who gave an interview in 2003 in which he hinted at the church’s opposition to allowing outside agencies to investigate abuse claims. ‘In my opinion, the demand that a bishop be obligated to contact the police in order to denounce a priest who has admitted the offence of paedophilia is unfounded,’ Bertone said.
Shea criticised the order that abuse allegations should be investigated ONLY BY PRIEST in secret tribunals. ‘They are imposing procedures and secrecy on these cases. If law enforcement agencies find out about the case, they can deal with it. But you can’t investigate a case if you never find out about it. If you can manage to keep it secret for 18 years plus 10 the priest will get away with it,’ Shea added.
When asked in 2005 a spokesperson for the Vatican declined to comment when told about the contents of the letter said: ‘This is not a public document, so we would not talk about it,’