New Archbishop of Glasgow reaches out to survivors of abuse

The new Archbishop of Glasgow has praised survivors of abuse within the Catholic Church for speaking out about what happened.

William Nolan also insisted the Church must “change our ways to ensure what happened in the past does not happen again”.

His comments came as he was installed as the new leader of Scotland’s largest Catholic community at a mass in the city’s St Andrew’s Cathedral.

Pope Francis had nominated the former Bishop of Galloway for the role after the former archbishop, Philip Tartaglia, died following contracting Covid-19 last year.

Provided by The Independent Archbishop Philip Tartaglia died in January this year. (Danny Lawson/PA)

As he was welcomed into his new role, Mr Nolan spoke about “scandals” which have impacted the Church in recent years and “in particular the child abuse scandal”.

He praised those who had been abused and who had gone on to speak out for having “taken what happened in the dark and brought it to light”.

He told the congregation: “I was here a few years ago in this Cathedral when Archbishop Tartaglia, my predecessor, apologised to the victims of child abuse in the Catholic Church, and I would like to repeat that apology today.

“I would also like to say how much I admire those victims, those survivors, who have come forward and told their story, who taken what happened in the dark and brought it to light and therefore challenged us to face up to the reality of what was happening.”

He said while “theologians have always told us that a church is a church of sinners”, it was only in recent years he had “realised how sinful people in the Church can be”.

The abuse scandal “affected everyone” in the Church, not just its victims, he added.

Mr Nolan said: “Everyone associated with the Church can only hold their head in shame at what has happened.

“And that is not enough. We have to reach out to the victims, the survivors and try to help them and we have to change our ways to ensure what happened in the past does not happen again.”

Hundreds attended at the cathedral for the special mass to install the new archbishop – which was attended by the Papal Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Bishops of Scotland and more than 100 priests – together with representatives of almost 100 parishes in the Glasgow Archdiocese.

Local politicians were also present including Lord Provost of Glasgow Philip Braat. 

Reference: Independent: Katrine Bussey

Vatican spy story takes center stage as fraud trial resumes

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican’s big fraud and extortion trial resumes Friday after exposing some unseemly realities of how the Holy See operates, with a new spy story taking center stage that is more befitting of a 007 thriller than the inner workings of a papacy.

Provided by Associated Press Pope Francis arrives at the opening of a 3-day Symposium on Vocations in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022. The Vatican’s big fraud and extortion trial resumes Friday after exposing some unseemly realities of how the Holy See operates, with a new spy story taking center stage that is more befitting of a 007 thriller than the inner workings of a papacy. According to testimony obtained Thursday, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers brought in members of the Italian secret service to sweep his office for bugs and commissioned intelligence reports from them on key individuals, completely bypassing the Vatican’s own police force in the process.(AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

According to written testimony obtained Thursday, one of Pope Francis’ top advisers brought in members of the Italian secret service to sweep his office for bugs and commissioned intelligence reports from them, completely bypassing the Vatican’s own police force in the process.

The reported actions of Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, raise some fundamental questions about the security and sovereignty of the Vatican City State, since he purportedly invited foreign intelligence operatives into the Holy See's inner sanctum, and then outsourced internal Vatican police spy work to them.

Peña Parra hasn’t been charged with any crime, though his subordinates have. They are among 10 people, including a once-powerful cardinal, on trial in the Vatican criminal tribunal in connection with the Vatican’s bungled 350 million euro investment in a London property.

In the trial, which resumes Friday, prosecutors have accused the Holy See’s longtime money manager, Italian brokers and lawyers of fleecing the pope of tens of millions in fees and of then extorting the Vatican of 15 million euros to finally get full ownership of the property.

Pe ñ a Parra’s role in the scandal has always been anomalous, since he authorized his subordinates to negotiate the final contracts in the deal, and then triggered a suspicious transaction report when he sought a 150-million-euro loan from the Vatican bank to extinguish the mortgage on the property. But prosecutors at least for now have spared him indictment.

The new testimony, reported by the Italian agency adnkronos and “Domani” daily and obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, provides another twist in the affair and underscores the Hollywood levels of intrigue that plague the Vatican and have rarely come to light. Until now. 

Reference: By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

Living in a woman’s body: the Taliban fear our beauty, strength – and resistance

As a child, I never rode bicycles or played sports such as gymnastics and karate because it was “not good for girls”. I later understood it was to avoid the risk of breaking my hymen and “losing” my virginity, but I only understood the magnitude of this “loss” when my cousin and best friend got married. She had been abused by a mullah – a religious cleric – as a baby. Her mother was less worried about the trauma caused to her daughter by the abuse than she was about her daughter’s hymen having been broken as a result.

Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images

These fears were not misplaced. When my cousin did not bleed on her wedding night, she was sent back to her mother’s home the next morning beaten black and blue. Nobody questioned or blamed the husband.

As I got older, I was always told by my grandmother to avoid wearing tight-fitting clothes that showed my body, and not to put on makeup or leave my hair open (without a burqa), because it would take away from my character. I was not allowed to wax my eyebrows before getting engaged. I grew up in a society where a woman’s worth is her beauty and body, and it is measured in herds of animals, given as a dowry when she is married off.

As Afghan women, our bodies have suffered under fundamentalism, misogyny, violence, patriarchy and US occupation. Today, under Taliban rule, the oppression and violence against women has only worsened. Women wearing nail varnish, high heels or perfume, or leaving their homes without a male companion, or laughing loudly in public, are deemed “immoral”, as are women who venture out of their homes for work or education. Women are paying the price for having dreams because of their bodies; bodies that many people believe are only created to fulfil men’s lust, and therefore have to be covered and hidden, not decorated and revealed.

However, the tide is beginning to change. Afghan women have long felt miserable and ill-fated because of their bodies, as well as guilty about what they are told their bodies do to men. Now, many are beginning to realise that the Taliban burying women’s aspirations beneath a burqa is actually a sign of their weakness. They are fearful of our beauty, strength, resilience and resistance. The brave and glorious protests by women in Afghanistan are proof that we will no longer be silenced. We will continue to fight, resist and rise against fundamentalism, inequality, violence and patriarchy. The Taliban cannot repeat today what they did two decades ago.

I am not ashamed of my body. My body is a symbol of resistance against the forces who want to use it to control me. I will make sure that my daughter also sees her body in this way. Her hymen and virginity will not define her. I will make sure that she rides a bicycle, plays sports and dances freely. She will be proud and courageous. In a society that is exceptionally cruel to women, our bodies will not weigh us down.

Nazia (not her real name) is based in Kabul Reference: The Guardian: Nazia

Pope Benedict XVI Asks for Forgiveness Over Handling of Church Abuse Cases

Former Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged in a letter published earlier this week by the Vatican that he failed to act against other church officials who were accused of sexual abuse when he was the Archbishop of Munich-Freising.

The former pope apologized for his inaction, expressing "profound shame, my deep sorrow," the letter states. He also asked for forgiveness in the letter from the victims and from God.

The letter marks the now 94-year-old former pope's first public comments in response to a report commissioned by his former archdiocese that was released last month. The report alleged that Pope Benedict knew about at least four clergy members who were found to have committed sexual abuse, and the men remained in their roles within the archdiocese while he was archbishop.

Pope Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratiznger, served as the archbishop in Munich from 1977 to 1982, and the report analyzed allegations of abuse and how they were handled by church officials from 1945 through 2019.

The report identified at least 497 victims over that 74 year period, four of which were during Benedict's time as archbishop, according to The New York Times.

Former Pope Benedict XVI wrote a letter earlier this week apologizing for his mishandling of sexual abuse cases while he was an archbishop in Germany. Above, Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims for the last time as head of the Catholic Church from the window of Castel Gandolfo where he will start his retirement today on February 28, 2013, in Rome, Italy.FRANCO ORIGLIA/GETTY IMAGES

Shortly after the report was published, Benedict's secretary told a German news outlet that Benedict was, in fact, at a January 1980 meeting over potentially moving one of the allegedly abusive priests, something the former pope had not confirmed prior to the publication of the report. At the time and again in Benedict's letter February 6, he apologized for the "oversight" and said it was a simple mistake that he did not admit to being at the meeting.

"To me it proved deeply hurtful that this oversight was used to cast doubt on my truthfulness, and even to label me a liar," Benedict wrote.

During his career in the church, Benedict wrote, he has met with many victims who had been abused by priests, and "seen at first hand the effects of a most grievous fault."

"As in those meetings, once again I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness. I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church," Benedict wrote. "All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate. Each individual case of sexual abuse is appalling and irreparable. The victims of sexual abuse have my deepest sympathy and I feel great sorrow for each individual case."

Pope Benedict resigned in 2013, citing "exhaustion," becoming the first pope in over 600 years to do so, the BBC reported.

Update 2/8/2022 11:55 a.m.:This story was updated with additional context on the pope's response to the report released last month. 

Reference: Newsweek: BY AARON MCDADE