A Meeting of the Minds

摘要

His office said he was in seclusion, spending his time in prayer. But somehow Boston's embattled cardinal, Bernard Law, managed to slip past the American paparazzi stationed outside his mansion, board a plane unnoticed and make it to a haven inside Vatican City. Not even his fellow American bishops, who were lunching with the pope, knew that Law had secretly arrived for his own private sit-down with John Paul II. And not until they arrived back in the United States last week did they learn that-in part because of Law's surreptitious visit-the pope had decided to act in the growing scandal of sexual abuse by priests. To the bishops' delight, the pope called for an emergency summit this week, directing a dozen American cardinals plus the top two officers of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to meet with Vatican officials in the Sala Bologna of the Papal Palace. Clearly, neither John Paul II nor his Vatican counselors realized the depth of the crisis that's gripping the American church. At the same time, however, the pope's abrupt decision to call the cardinals to Rome raises more hopes for answers to that crisis than a two-day meeting can possibly satisfy. At a minimum, the Americans want a papal mandate requiring all U.S. bishops to implement tough, uniform standards for dealing with clergy accused of child molestation. They also want a clear word from Rome that the church's main concern is safeguarding children, not protecting abusive priests. For their part, Vatican officials want to know what the U.S. seminaries are doing to screen out potential child-abusers. And Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who will chair the meeting, will likely raise the issue of sexually active homosexuals in the U.S. clergy.