《罗马观察家报》及圣座新闻发布中心驳斥《纽约时报》指控

梵蒂冈和拉青格枢机（现教宗本笃十六世）从未“掩盖”美国七十年代遭到警方调查的一名娈童司铎的案件。《罗马观察家报》痛斥旨在打击教宗和教宗助手的“无耻企图”

梵蒂冈城（亚洲新闻）—在此，我们全文发表《罗马观察家报》今天驳斥美国《纽约时报》报道（24/03/2010）的文章。《纽约时报》撰文介绍了一名七十年代遭到美国警方调查的娈童司铎劳伦斯·墨菲神父案，并指责梵蒂冈和教宗本笃十六世，即当时的圣座信理部部长拉青格枢机不但没有采取任何措施，将墨菲降为平信徒，还试图掩盖事实。在此，我们全文刊登圣座新闻发布中心主任费德里克·隆巴尔蒂神父就这篇报道致函《纽约时报》的声明（英文版）。

《罗马观察家报》文章：

No cover-up

Transparency, firmness and severity in shedding light on several cases of sexual abuse by priests and religious: these are the criteria that Benedict XVI is indicating, with constancy and serenity, to the entire Church. A work method - consistent with his personal history and more than twenty years of experience as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – that is feared by those who apparently do not want the truth to be asserted but who would prefer to exploit, without any foundation in fact, horrible episodes and painful events in some cases dating back to decades ago. The most recent example of this is seen in an article published today by the U.S. newspaper “The New York Times”, along with a commentary about the serious case of the priest Lawrence C. Murphy, responsible for abuses committed on hearing-impaired children in a Catholic institution, where he worked from 1950 to 1974.

According to the reconstruction made in the article, based on the wide documentation provided by the lawyers of some of the victims, the reports concerning the conduct of the priests were only sent in July 1996 by the then Archbishop of Milwaukee, Rembert G. Weakland to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – of which Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was prefect and Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, secretary - in order to obtain information on the proper canonical procedure to be followed. The request was not in fact referring to allegations of sexual abuse, but to the violation of the sacrament of penance, perpetrated by soliciting in the confessional, which occurs where a priest urges the penitent to commit a sin against the sixth commandment (canon 1387) .

It is important to note - as stated by the Director of the Holy See Press Office - which the canonical question presented to the congregation was in no way connected to any potential civil or criminal proceedings against Father Murphy. Moreover the archdiocese had already begun a canonical process against him, as is evident from the abundant documentation published online by the newspaper in New York. The archbishop’s request was responded to by a signed by then-Archbishop Bertone, March 24, 1997, with an indication as to proceed according to lines established in Crimen sollicitationis (1962).

As one can easily deduce from reading the reconstruction made by the New York Times, there was no cover-up in the case of Father Murphy. And this is confirmed by the documentation that accompanies the Article in question, which includes a letter that Father Murphy wrote in 1998 to the then Cardinal Ratzinger asking that the canonical process be interrupted because of his deteriorating health condition. Again the congregation responded, through Archbishop Bertone, calling on the ordinary of Milwaukee to carry out such pastoral measures as provided for under cannon 1341 to make amends for the scandal and ensure the restoration of justice.

The purposes have been indisputably confirmed by the Pope, as evidenced by his recent pastoral letter to Catholics in Ireland. But the prevailing trend in the media is to ignore the facts, preferring instead to force interpretations in order to disseminate an image of the Catholic Church as almost solely responsible for sexual abuse, a view that does not correspond to reality, and which is furthermore in function of the rather obvious and ignoble intention of attacking Benedict XVI and his closest collaborators at all costs.

圣座新闻发布中心主任费德里克·隆巴尔蒂神父有关“墨菲神父案”声明

美国密尔沃基总教区令人悲痛的劳伦斯•墨菲神父的个案，关系到特别弱小无助的受害者，他们因他的作为而受到可怕痛苦。墨菲神父对失聪儿童的性侵犯行为，是犯法行为，更严重的是，他辜负了受害者对他的信赖。70年代中叶，一些受害者向政府当局控告墨菲神父对他们的侵犯，当局于是对墨菲神父展开调查。虽然如此，据报导，调查后来停止了。

圣座教义部是在20年后才被告知这个问题。

有人指受害者没有向政府当局控诉这个案件，与教会实行“引诱罪”文件的指示有关。但其实两者毫无关联。

事实与新闻界流传的一些言论恰好相反，无论“引诱罪”文件或教会法典都从不禁止揭露神职人员侵犯儿童的罪行。

90年代末，即在向教区当局和警方控诉侵犯行为的20多年后，教义部才首次被问及应该如何根据教会法典来处理墨菲案件。教义部被告知这个问题是因为引诱罪发生在进行告解圣事中，这亵渎了忏悔圣事。应该指出，教义部提出教会法典问题与对墨菲神父可能进行的民事或刑事诉讼毫无关联。

对类似的案件，教会法典没有自动惩罚的规定，而是建议对当事人作出裁判，不排除判处教会中最严重的惩罚，就是，撤销圣职身份。由于墨菲神父已经年老而且身体虚弱，他独自生活，20多年再没有被控告其他的侵犯事件，为此，教义部建议密尔沃基的总主教考虑处理这个事件，比如，限制墨菲神父公开进行神父职务，并要求墨菲神父担负他行为的全部严重责任。墨菲神父在四个月后去世，死前没有发生其他意外事件。