Nuns wave as Pope Francis delivers his blessing from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, on June 7, 2020. Pope Francis on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021 drew attention to a taboo problem that the Vatican has long ignored or downplayed: the abuses of power by mother superiors against nuns who, because of their vows of obedience, have little recourse but to obey.
(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
NICOLE WINFIELD
Sat, December 11, 2021, 10:11 AM·2 min read
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday drew attention to a problem that the Vatican has long sought to downplay: the abuses of power by mother superiors against nuns who, because of their vows of obedience, have little recourse but to obey.
During an audience with members of the Vatican’s congregation for religious orders, Francis cited a new investigative expose of the problem written by a reporter for the Holy See’s media, Salvatore Cernuzio.
Francis noted that the book, “Veil of Silence: Abuse, Violence, Frustrations in Female Religious Life,” doesn’t detail “striking” cases of violence and abuse “but rather the everyday abuses that harm the strength of the vocation.”
The book, published in Italy last month, contains 11 cases of current or former religious sisters who suffered abuses at the hands of their superiors. Most were psychological and spiritual abuses and often resulted in the women leaving or being thrown out of their communities and questioning their faith in God and the church. Some ended up on the streets, others found refuge in a home for abused women.
The book follows an article on the same topic by the Vatican-approved Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica in 2020 and earlier reports in the Vatican’s women’s magazine about the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and exploitation of them by the male church hierarchy for free domestic labor.
The new book peels back another layer of the more insidious forms of psychological abuses committed by superiors against their own nuns, which have long been covered up by a veil of secrecy. It contains a devastatingly essay by one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican, Sister Natalie Becquart, who said the cases must force the church to look at the sometimes toxic reality of life in religious orders, tend to the victims and prevent future abuses from occuring.
She said it also reinforces the need for the Catholic hierarchy to ensure that priests and nuns are trained in the correct way to exercise obedience and authority, saying the erroneous application of both had led to the problem.
Francis has tried to crack down on the near-absolute power enjoyed by religious and lay superiors as well as the proliferation of new religious movements, some of which have seen horrific cases of sexual, spiritual and other forms of abuse committed by their charismatic founders. The Vatican has recently imposed term limits for leaders and is applying a more rigorous process for new groups to be approved in the church.
The Jesuit pope, who knows well the dynamic of religious community life, told the members of the Vatican congregation Saturday that there is always the threat that founders of religious orders or new religious movements will assume too much power and exercise it improperly.
The risk, he warned, is that they claim to be the only ones who can interpret the particular spirit of the movement “as if they were above the church.”
NICOLE WINFIELD
Sat, December 11, 2021, 10:11 AM·2 min read
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday drew attention to a problem that the Vatican has long sought to downplay: the abuses of power by mother superiors against nuns who, because of their vows of obedience, have little recourse but to obey.
During an audience with members of the Vatican’s congregation for religious orders, Francis cited a new investigative expose of the problem written by a reporter for the Holy See’s media, Salvatore Cernuzio.
Francis noted that the book, “Veil of Silence: Abuse, Violence, Frustrations in Female Religious Life,” doesn’t detail “striking” cases of violence and abuse “but rather the everyday abuses that harm the strength of the vocation.”
The book, published in Italy last month, contains 11 cases of current or former religious sisters who suffered abuses at the hands of their superiors. Most were psychological and spiritual abuses and often resulted in the women leaving or being thrown out of their communities and questioning their faith in God and the church. Some ended up on the streets, others found refuge in a home for abused women.
The book follows an article on the same topic by the Vatican-approved Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica in 2020 and earlier reports in the Vatican’s women’s magazine about the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and exploitation of them by the male church hierarchy for free domestic labor.
The new book peels back another layer of the more insidious forms of psychological abuses committed by superiors against their own nuns, which have long been covered up by a veil of secrecy. It contains a devastatingly essay by one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican, Sister Natalie Becquart, who said the cases must force the church to look at the sometimes toxic reality of life in religious orders, tend to the victims and prevent future abuses from occuring.
She said it also reinforces the need for the Catholic hierarchy to ensure that priests and nuns are trained in the correct way to exercise obedience and authority, saying the erroneous application of both had led to the problem.
Francis has tried to crack down on the near-absolute power enjoyed by religious and lay superiors as well as the proliferation of new religious movements, some of which have seen horrific cases of sexual, spiritual and other forms of abuse committed by their charismatic founders. The Vatican has recently imposed term limits for leaders and is applying a more rigorous process for new groups to be approved in the church.
The Jesuit pope, who knows well the dynamic of religious community life, told the members of the Vatican congregation Saturday that there is always the threat that founders of religious orders or new religious movements will assume too much power and exercise it improperly.
The risk, he warned, is that they claim to be the only ones who can interpret the particular spirit of the movement “as if they were above the church.”
Catholic women urge Vatican to sign Europe rights convention
Vatican Pope Air ForcePope Francis delivers his speech during an audience with members of the Italian Air Force, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.
Vatican Pope Air ForcePope Francis delivers his speech during an audience with members of the Italian Air Force, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021.
(Vincenzo Pinto/Pool photo via AP)More
NICOLE WINFIELD
Sat, December 11, 2021, 5:10 AM·2 min read
ROME (AP) — A consortium of Catholic women’s groups is calling on the Holy See to join the Council of Europe and to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing that the Vatican should show consistency by expressing its firm commitment to protecting human rights.
In a petition marking the Human Rights Day declared by the United Nations, the groups said the Holy See is recognized internationally as a sovereign state and presents itself as a firm promotor of human rights and dignity. Yet they noted the Vatican hasn’t followed up by adhering to the European Convention, regarded as the gold standard for rights protections around the world.
“For years, the Holy See has acted like a state in its own right. This gives rise to rights, but also to duties,” wrote the signatories, which are European members of the Catholic Women's Council, an international umbrella group, .
The Holy See enjoys observer status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe, and has ratified a host of U.N. and Council of Europe conventions. They include the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.N. Convention against Torture, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other weapons conventions.
But it has never signed the European Convention on Human Rights, which to date has been ratified by 47 European states.
The convention obliges signatories to respect human rights, including the right to life, liberty, security, freedom of expression, assembly, religion and conscience. It prohibits torture, slavery, forced labor and discrimination based on race, religion, gender or political beliefs.
Signatories must also ensure that defendants receive fair trials before independent and unbiased judges. The convention provides recourse to the European Court of Human Rights for ultimate appeals after national appeals are exhausted.
The Vatican is an absolute monarchy in which the pope wields supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power. It would be loath to allow European commissions to evaluate its policies forbidding the ordination of women, for example, or to subject decisions of the Vatican’s criminal or ecclesial tribunals to appeals at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.
Yet the pope frequently lectures European leaders on protecting human rights and human dignity, most recently during a visit this month to Cyprus and Greece where he chided Europe for its failure to welcome migrants.
During that trip, Francis lamented that authoritarian rule was on the rise in Europe as democracy wanes.
The women's groups that participated in the petition include Catholic Women Speak in Britain; We Are Church in Ireland, Germany and Austria; Women for the Church in Italy; Voices of Faith in Rome and Liechtenstein, as well as similar progressive Catholic groups in Spain, France, Croatia and Switzerland.
NICOLE WINFIELD
Sat, December 11, 2021, 5:10 AM·2 min read
ROME (AP) — A consortium of Catholic women’s groups is calling on the Holy See to join the Council of Europe and to sign the European Convention on Human Rights, arguing that the Vatican should show consistency by expressing its firm commitment to protecting human rights.
In a petition marking the Human Rights Day declared by the United Nations, the groups said the Holy See is recognized internationally as a sovereign state and presents itself as a firm promotor of human rights and dignity. Yet they noted the Vatican hasn’t followed up by adhering to the European Convention, regarded as the gold standard for rights protections around the world.
“For years, the Holy See has acted like a state in its own right. This gives rise to rights, but also to duties,” wrote the signatories, which are European members of the Catholic Women's Council, an international umbrella group, .
The Holy See enjoys observer status at the United Nations and the Council of Europe, and has ratified a host of U.N. and Council of Europe conventions. They include the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the U.N. Convention against Torture, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other weapons conventions.
But it has never signed the European Convention on Human Rights, which to date has been ratified by 47 European states.
The convention obliges signatories to respect human rights, including the right to life, liberty, security, freedom of expression, assembly, religion and conscience. It prohibits torture, slavery, forced labor and discrimination based on race, religion, gender or political beliefs.
Signatories must also ensure that defendants receive fair trials before independent and unbiased judges. The convention provides recourse to the European Court of Human Rights for ultimate appeals after national appeals are exhausted.
The Vatican is an absolute monarchy in which the pope wields supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power. It would be loath to allow European commissions to evaluate its policies forbidding the ordination of women, for example, or to subject decisions of the Vatican’s criminal or ecclesial tribunals to appeals at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights.
Yet the pope frequently lectures European leaders on protecting human rights and human dignity, most recently during a visit this month to Cyprus and Greece where he chided Europe for its failure to welcome migrants.
During that trip, Francis lamented that authoritarian rule was on the rise in Europe as democracy wanes.
The women's groups that participated in the petition include Catholic Women Speak in Britain; We Are Church in Ireland, Germany and Austria; Women for the Church in Italy; Voices of Faith in Rome and Liechtenstein, as well as similar progressive Catholic groups in Spain, France, Croatia and Switzerland.
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