Peruvian reporter denounces witch hunt against Catholic Church

Vatican City, Apr 9, 2010 / 20:53 pm

Peruvian reporter Martha Meier recently published an article in the newspaper El Comercio denouncing the “witch hunt against the Catholic Church” being carried out by the media, which is attempting to smear Pope Benedict XVI over cases of sexual abuse by some members of the clergy.
 
Meier said those who are seeking to tarnish the Pope's image “want to bring back their outdated ideology.”
 
After noting that the full force of the law must fall upon abusive priests, Meier asked, “Are those who rend their garments over the abominable acts of pedophilia really concerned about children? Do those who spill gobs of ink really seek the truth? The answer is no.”
 
Through their disinformation, she argued, “they discredit the Catholic Church, they cast blame on everyone and want to make the more than 2 billion Catholics all feel guilty.”
 
“Sexual abuse of pre-teen children by priests is the exception, not the norm,” Meier said.  “The statistics reveal that it is an uncommon situation that involves 0.3% of the clergy.”
 
The Peruvian author then compared the treatment given to these few cases in the Church with those of humanitarian agencies such as the United Nations in emergency zones. 

“Should the UN Peacekeeping forces disappear? Are Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessors responsible?” she asked, referring to abuses carried out by peacekeeping troops. “If we followed the logic of the anti-clericals we would have to blame them, because the actions continue in those places where there ought to be help for those most in need,” she explained.
 
Meier said the kind of witch hunt being carried out against the Church does nothing to further democracy and ends up being a perverse and opportunistic form of terrorism.