Papal Conclave: Two Voting Cardinals Engulfed in Separate Scandals

The Aquarius Pardigm Posted by Wes Annac March 13

Thanks to Golden Age of Gaia.

Photo: Cardinal Roger Mahony (LA) and Cardinal Angelo Scola (Milan)

Stephen Cook: My, my it’s all coming to light as the papal conclave meets. No new Pope elected after what has now been three rounds of voting – but the conversations inside must be high octane.

Two cardinals – one from the US and one from Italy;  both possible papal candidates with one a frontrunner – are enveloped in separate scandals on the outside as they remain sequestered in the Vatican.

The first story involves Roger Mahony, the Cardinal of Los Angeles, who’s hitting the headlines over his cover-up of child sex abuse cases.

The second involves anti-mafia police raiding offices in the diocese of Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan.

What’s that you say about divine timing?

Papal Conclave Story 1: Child Abuse Cases Covered Up by Papal Elector are Settled in US$10m Deal

By Staff and agencies, The Guardian – March 13, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/13/sex-cases-conclave-cardinal-settled

Roger Mahony, who is at Rome conclave choosing next pope, protected Los Angeles priest who admitted molesting children.

Two child abuse cases involving a cover-up by one of the cardinals electing the next pope have been settled as part of a $10m (£6.6m) out-of-court deal in Los Angeles.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles will make the payouts to victims of a now-defrocked priest who told Cardinal Roger Mahony nearly 30 years ago that he had molested children.

The cases involving ex-priest Michael Baker span 26 years, from 1974 to 2000. Two were set for trial next month. The cases were settled this week.

Two of the claims alleged Mahony didn’t do enough to stop Baker from abusing children, said the plaintiffs’ attorney John Manly.

Mahony retired as Los Angeles archbishop in 2011 and was rebuked by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, in February after confidential church files showed the cardinal worked behind the scenes to shield molesting priests and protect the church from scandal.

Mahony, one of the cardinals in Rome helping select the next pope, was aware of the settlement, said J Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney. “We have for a long, long time said that we made serious mistakes with Michael Baker and we had always taken the position in these cases that whatever Baker did we were responsible for,” he said.

Baker could not be reached for comment. Mahony has apologised repeatedly for his handling of clergy abuse cases. The cardinal was sequestered for the papal conclave and could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Manly said: “The person who could have stopped this in its tracks and prevented three out of four of these children from being sexually assaulted is now sitting in Rome voting for the next vicar of Christ,” said Manly. “I find that terribly troubling.”

Two of the plaintiffs, a pair of brothers, will get $4m each and the two others will get nearly $1m each, Manly said.

Confidential files show that Baker met with Mahony in 1986 and confessed to molesting two boys over a nearly seven-year period. Mahony removed Baker from ministry and sent him for psychological treatment but the priest returned to ministry the following year with a doctor’s recommendation that he be defrocked immediately if he spent any time with minors.

Despite several documented instances of being alone with boys the priest wasn’t removed from ministry until 2000 after serving in nine parishes.

Baker was convicted of child molestation in 2007 and paroled in 2011. Baker was charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims but those charges were dismissed because they fell outside the criminal statute of limitations.

Authorities believe Baker may have abused more than 20 children in his 26-year career.

The archdiocese settled more than 500 clergy abuse lawsuits in 2007 for a record-breaking $660m.

Papal Conclave Story 2: Anti-Mafia Police Raid Offices in Diocese of Frontrunner

By John Hooper and Lizzy Davies in Vatican City, The Guardian – March 12, 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/12/cardinals-overcome-divisions-conclave-pope

Roman Catholic cardinals have been urged to overcome divisions at a special mass ahead of the papal conclave, just hours after anti-mafia investigators carried out a string of raids in the diocese of the leading candidate.

In a homily before thousands of pilgrims and the most senior figures in the church, Angelo Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, made a last-ditch attempt to banish infighting, as he extolled the virtues of unity amid diversity.

But even as preparations for the mass were being made, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan – and reportedly the hot favourite to be the next pope – suffered a blow.

Anti-mafia detectives swooped on homes, offices, clinics and hospitals in Lombardy, the region around Milan, and elsewhere. A statement said the dawn raids were part of an investigation into “corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals”.

Healthcare in Lombardy is the principal responsibility of the regional administration, which for the past 18 years has been run by Roberto Formigoni, a childhood friend of Scola and the leading political representative of the Communion and Liberation fellowship. Until recently, Scola was seen as the conservative group’s most distinguished ecclesiastical spokesman.

But he has progressively loosened his ties to Communion and Liberation, and in early 2012 publicly rebuked the movement after its leader was found to have written to Pope Benedict, implicitly criticising the cardinal’s liberal predecessors in the Milan archdiocese.

The regional administration headed by Formigoni – a member of Silvio Berlusconi’s party – collapsed last October amid a welter of accusations regarding alleged corruption and misconduct. The final blow came when one of his regional ministers was arrested, accused of buying votes from the ‘Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia.

Formigoni himself is a formal suspect in an investigation into corruption and conspiracy. He denies the accusations.

Among those arrested on Tuesday was Massimo Guarischi, who in 2009 was given a five-year jail sentence after being convicted of conspiracy and auction-rigging. Guarischi is said to have organised expensive holidays for Formigoni that are central to the investigation into the former governor’s affairs.

Scola, who has headed the Milan archdiocese since 2011, is regarded as the champion of a largely non-Italian faction that is challenging the entrenched power of the Vatican cardinals. He was close to the last pope, whose household was run by women members of Communion and Liberation.

He entered the conclave as favourite after the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that his supporters were confident he had the support of up to 50 of the 115 cardinal-electors.

But Scola’s candidacy has been overshadowed by his past links to a movement that has been linked with pervasive sleaze in Lombardy. By the time Formigoni dissolved the regional assembly last year, 13 members of the governing majority were under investigation, suspected of offences ranging from taking bribes to incitement to violence.

Formigoni belongs to the Memores Domini, a core group of Communion and Liberation members pledged to live by the values of fraternal love, obedience and poverty.

At the pre-conclave mass in St Peter’s basilica in Rome, Sodano called on the faithful and electors to overcome divisions and unite behind the next pope.

“Each of us is … called to co-operate with the successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity,” he said, quoting St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

The basilica erupted in applause when Sodano, who is 85 and therefore not eligible to vote in the conclave, paid tribute to the “brilliant” leadership of Benedict XVI.

“At the same time today, we implore the Lord, that through the pastoral solicitude of the cardinal fathers, he may soon grant another good shepherd to his holy church,” he said.

In his homily, Sodano, who is seen as representing the “old guard” of the Vatican, stressed the pastoral and charitable role of the papacy, amid warnings from many that Benedict’s successor should primarily be a good manager capable of reforming the troubled Roman curia.