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Vatican Outraged Over Belgian Police Raids On Church Property

06/26/10-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State and number two in charge of the city-state, is livid over a recent set of raids carried out by the Belgian police on Catholic properties in that nation. He even went as far as to say “there are no precedents, not even under the old communist regimes.” Apparently, some priests were detained without food or water for nine hours, at least according to Vatican reports. Priests holding a meeting at one of the Church premises were prevented by police from leaving for several hours while the property was searched for clues relating to allegations of child sexual abuse.

Police in Leuven confiscated some five hundred documents and a computer from the Church commission investigating child sexual molestation by priests. Police also investigated the Cathedral north of Brussels where the archdiocese is based. Prosecutors in Belgium have stated that the investigation was in relation to the “abuse of minors committed by a certain number of Church figures.” Police have even searched the tombs of certain members of the Church in order to determine if any documents or other materials were hidden there relating to these crimes. Investigators drilled holes into the tomb walls and sent in small cameras to determine if there were hidden documents. According to Church sources, there were not.

The Vatican lambasted the confiscation of the materials related to their investigation into the child abuse scandal as a “violation of confidentiality of precisely those victims for whom the raids were carried out.” The Vatican also went on to express their “shock over how the searches were carried out by Belgian judicial authorities and indignation over the violation of the graves of the Cardinals Jozef-Ernest Van Roey and Leon-Joseph Suenens.”

The Vatican is facing increasing pressure over their handling of the child sexual abuse scandal throughout the years. For the most part, they remained silent as priest after priest was accuse of violating the physical purity of young girls and boys, and often simply moved priests around in order to hide their crimes. The Vatican has often stated that they would assist the local authorities in the matter of child sexual abuse, but seem more than willing to continue to do their job of hiding away from taking full responsibility.