Italian Bishops to produce report on abuse. Zuppi: 'We owe it to victims'
By Salvatore Cernuzio
âNo cover-up, no resistance from the bishops. We will take the beating we have to take and also our responsibility. We owe it to the victims; their pain is the priority. And we owe it to Holy Mother Churchâ. The announcement of a national report by the Italian Bishopsâ Conference (CEI) on cases of abuse within the Italian Church took up about half of Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppiâs two-hour-long press conference. It was the first press conference held by the archbishop of Bologna as since he was named president of the Italian Bishopsâ Conference by the Pope three days ago.
In the Institute of the Holy Infant Mary - a place familiar to the Archbishop because it was his old kindergarten â Cardinal Zuppi reported on the work of the 76th General Assembly of the CEI and answered journalistsâ questions on the war in Ukraine, nuclear weapons, the synodal path, and ethical issues. But above all Zuppi addressed the issue of abuse. It was the âbig questionâ asked of Cardinal Gualtiero Bassettiâs successor as CEI president, a question raised in recent months by several associations, who asked Cardinal Zuppi, as his first commitment, to respond to hundreds of victims in Italy by following other European churches by setting up an independent commission to shed light on old and new cases of clerical sexual abuse of minors.
A national report
There will be an investigation. The 223 Italian bishops gathered for their General Assembly have drawn up five action plans âfor more effective prevention of the abuse phenomenon,â according to the bishopsâ final communique. In addition to strengthening the Listening Centres that cover 70% of Italian dioceses, the action plans also provide for the implementation of a first national report on cases of abuse reported or denounced to the network of diocesan and inter-diocesan services over the past two years, and the launch of an analysis of data maintained by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on presumed or verified crimes committed by clerics in Italy in the period from 2000-2021. The national report will be produced with the âcontribution of independent centresâ of university institutes of criminology and victimology. The report is expected to be published on 18 November, the day chosen by the Italian Bishopsâ Conference itself to remember victims and survivors of abuse, as a tribute to these people whose âpainâ is the fundamental point of reference.
The âItalian Pathâ
The Italian response to abuse, then, differs, therefore, from the approaches adopted by the churches of Germany, France, Portugal and more recently also Spain: It is a distinctly âItalian path,â as Cardinal Zuppi described. He emphasized, firmly and repeatedly, that the Italian bishops' decision is not intended to be merely lip service, and much less an attempt to hide from or escape the consequences of the abuse crisis. On the contrary, he insisted that the bishops intend for the report to be âa serious, real thingâ that leaves no room for controversy â as happened, for example, in France with the work done by the Ciase commission, which gave rise to âextensive discussionsâ. Cardinal Zuppi said, âWe donât want to argue, we donât want to sidetrack. The report does not serve as a sedative, but to do things seriously.â
Survey from 2000 to 2021
This is why the Italian Bishopsâ Conference decided to analyse the last 21 years and not go back as far as the 1940s, as was the case with the aforementioned foreign reports. âWith regard to the past twenty years, there is nothing to be done: it has to do with us, it involves us directly. It feels much more serious to us, it hurts much more. 1945 was 80 years ago. I believe that judging something from 80 years ago by todayâs criteria, something that was was judged by other criteria at the time, creates difficulties of evaluation,â the Cardinal explained. He noted, too, that there was no âresistanceâ to the plan among the bishops.
The call for dialogue with Rete LâAbuso
The choice of a time limit was, however, criticised by some present at the press conference, including Francesco Zanardi, president of the victimsâ association Rete LâAbuso. Zanardi, himself a victim of a priest in the past, pointed out that it could be âdiscriminatoryâ to analyse relatively recent cases that would cut out those that occurred in previous years â including cases that were never reported to the judiciary because they were beyond the statute of limitations; nor to the Church, which allegedly ignored them.
On the subject of reparations, Zanardi pointed out that there is also a risk of creating inequality because they are only destined for victims of abuse from the last twenty years, whereas there are survivors who still suffer from very serious physical and psychic pathologies (Rete LâAbuso cites some 1600 cases). After listening and taking notes on his agenda, Cardinal Zuppi invited Zanardi to dialogue: âLet us meet! We would be very happy to meet with you. If you have a case, tell us. I donât know if youâve already done so, Iâm speaking only for myself... Then thereâs the State, you go to the police. Surely it will be very useful to make a report,â said the cardinal. He added, âThe State has rules, [but] for us there is no moral prescriptionâ. With regard to reparations, Cardinal Zuppi said it is âa very open questionâ. In any case, he added, âthe problem is not just about quantity, we also need quality. There is no desire not to give numbers: the collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith demonstrates thisâ.
Listening
On the issue of abuse, but also in general on the challenges that the Italian Church is facing, the new president of the Italian Bishopsâ Conference has indicated that the path forward is through âlisteningâ. As he had said in his first statement a few hours after his appointment, it is a âlistening that has to hurt.â The cardinal reiterated the idea on Friday, exhorting the Church to be âa Church that listens, that feels like a travelling companion, and that has the attitude of a mother who wants to start walking togetherâ. The âpandemicsâ â Covid and the war â âhave revealed that we are âbrothers allââ, he said, adding, âWe must mature this awareness, and the Church must find answers to suffering and to questions of meaningâ.
The importance of the synodal path
In this sense, said Cardinal Zuppi, the ongoing synodal path is âvery importantâ. One journalist pointed out, however, that the path desired by the Pope seems ânot to have taken offâ. For Cardinal Zuppi, part of the reason for that is the pandemic, which âhas made it difficult to find each otherâ. In spite of this, however, the cardinal reported that 205 reports had arrived at the Bishopsâ Conference secretariat, the result of syntheses from 50,000 diocesan groups, many of them made up of groups of laypeople.
Do not forget other wars
The press conference also addressed the war in Ukraine. First of all, Cardinal Zuppi called for refugees to be welcomed â a welcome, he said, that must last over time. âMany have tried to return to Ukraine, [but] many remain and their inclusion is fundamentalâ. However, he said, the âimmediate and affectiveâ concern for the eastern European country must not make people âforget the other pieces of the other world warsâ. âAfghanistan, Libya are demanding answers. We must not forget the many people missing in the Mediterranean, the tragedy of migrants. Sometimes the connections are lostâ.
No to nuclear weapons
The president of the Italian bishops then assured reporters that the Italian Bishopsâ Conference will make every possible effort to ensure that Italy ratifies the UN treaty to ban nuclear weapons. âOnce again we are talking about nuclear war again. We cannot get used to this. Accession to the UN treaty is important so that we do not grow accustomed to returning to hypotheses that make us lose the awareness on which Europe was born, the defence of rightsâ. Similarly, Cardinal Zuppi said, âwe cannot get used to warâ, which he called a âtragedyâ and âa scandal for Christians. With regard to the sending of weapons, the cardinal insisted: âWe must not only reason according to the logic of arms. Legitimate defence is a right, but the greatest right is peaceâ.
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