FILIPPO DI GIACOMO
ROMA

Sulla porta dell'ufficio che occuperà, nella segreteria di Stato vaticana, c'è già il suo nome. Si chiama Jeffrey Lena l'avvocato americano che la Santa Sede ha assunto per occuparsi del contenzioso che la oppone, in vari stati del mondo, alle vittime di abusi sessuali da parte di preti. Questa, la motivazione ufficiale.

In a new legal offensive by the Vatican, American lawyer Jeffrey Lena will now handle all future cases of clergy sexual misconduct that arise throughout the world.

According to data from the archives regarding 150,000 priests in the United States who served the Catholic Church since 1980, there is a conclusion that only 500 priests were accused of crimes related to pederasty. That is only 0.3 percent of the clergy. Those proven guilty were only 0.2 percent. The data were also found to be correct after it was checked with other archives at other ecclesiastical locations.
According to those studies, the real problem arises from presence of many ministers with a homosexual bent.

The estimated number varies from what Donald Cozzens, rector of a Cleveland seminary, says in his book, "The Changing Face of the Priesthood," which puts the number at between 23 to 80 percent.
Another scholar, Leon J. Podles, suggests that the rate is about 20 percent, which is seven or eight time more than the average in the ordinary population. Michael Rose, in his book "Goodbye! Good Men," says there is an active homosexual subculture in the Catholic Church and according to many this subculture is a consequence of the disciplinary and doctrinaire tumults deriving from Vatican II, more acceptance of homosexuality in society at-large. That climate has facilitated many active homosexuals to access the priesthood and often to access important positions in the church.


Another important issue faced in the La Stampa article is about Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, who name arose during the scandal involving Antonio Fazio, former president of the Bank of Italy.
Fazio had given inside information to a known speculator, Mr. Fiorani, to enable him to buy an important bank in the north of Italy. Investigators recorded telephone calls between Fazio and Fiorano which served as the basis for their arraignment. After Fiorani was freed from jail, he was heard complaining to the cardinal that when he fell into disgrace nobody had ever called his wife to ask about his health. The cardinal answered, "The church is composed of men and men make mistakes." Fiorani answered, "Yes, it's true. It's made of men but I'm speaking with you. I'm not speaking with a country parish priest." Fiorani had given monetary help to the church and Fazio was a close friend of the cardinal. It no seems the cardinal is going to lose his job.