Release of abuse documents exposes Vatican's deceit

The "unprecedented" release of documents relating to Fr Andrew Ronan by the Vatican to "assist those in the public who wish to study the matter carefully" has little to do with transparency, and more to do with its having its hand forced. 

The Vatican today (17 August) released a tranche of files (embedded below) relating to a priest – Fr Andrew Ronan - accused of sexual abuse in both Ireland and the United States. The files were released after an attempt by a man (named in court papers as John V. Doe) who says he was abused by Ronan to hold the Vatican liable for the abuse.

According to npr:

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon ordered the Vatican to respond to certain requests for information from Doe's lawyers by Friday, the first time the Holy See has been forced to turn over documentation in a sex abuse case. The documentation includes the 1966 case file with Ronan's request to be laicized, or removed from the clerical state, after his superiors learned of accusations that he had molested minors in Ireland.

The files relating to the accused priest were published on the website of Vatican Radio, in order to, according to the press office of the Holy See, respond to allegations “that the Holy See knew that Ronan was an abuser; and that the Holy See transferred Ronan from one place to another with that knowledge.”

Indicating that the Vatican is still smarting from widespread condemnation of its handling of clerical sexual abuse in the recent past, the statement adds that the documents were released in order to “assist those in the public who wish to study the matter carefully, and to assist the United States court in resolving the remaining issues in the case.”

A second statement, from Jeffrey S. Lena, counsel for the Holy See in the case, calls the accusation that the Vatican transferred Ronan, first from Ireland to Chicago, and subsequently from Chicago to Portland, despite knowing that he posed a danger to minors “calumnious” and says:

“These newly-released documents show that the plaintiff’s lawyers’ long-standing accusations against the Holy See are false. The Holy See was not involved in Ronan’s transfers, including the transfer to Portland, and had no prior knowledge that Ronan posed a danger to minors.”

Lena also says that counsel for John V. Doe have “chosen to misuse the legal system as a vehicle to pursue a broader agenda – a decision that has misled the public and wasted considerable resources.”

The Vatican has been reticent about engaging with the public over sexual abuse cases in the past. The Catholic News Service described the release as ‘unprecedented’. However, given that this is the first time the Holy See has been successfully served in a clerical sexual abuse case, it may not be the case that today’s release is indicative of the Catholic Church having rethought its approach to transparency in the wake of widespread condemnation of its handling of clerical sexual abuse claims in the past and the recent Cloyne report.

Says Colm O’Gorman, Director of Amnesty International Ireland and founder of One in Four: “This release of documents is not some remarkable new effort at transparency or indeed accountability. The Vatican has had these particular files since 1966 at least after all. The release of the files follows a ruling by an Oregon court ordering the Vatican to hand over information.”

He goes on:

“It does however reveal that the often-repeated excuse that the Church was on a steep learning curve, both here in Ireland and in Rome, from the 1990s on is simply a deceit. These files date to the 1960s.

It also reveals the fact that the Vatican was receiving detailed reports of abuse by priests from Irish diocese some 45 years ago. Again revealing the extent of the deceit of recent years, when we were told the Vatican were never on notice, and had no part to play in managing cases until recently.”

Oregon Archdiocese file on Fr Andrew Ronan

Image top: xiquinhosilva.