Fenomen seksualnog zlostavljanja u Crkvi: od zataškavanja do priznanja i zaštite žrtava

Tonči Matulić - Izvorni znanstveni članak

The Phenomenon of Sexual Abuse in the Church: from Cover-up to Recognition and Protection of Victims

Sažetak
Autor u ovom radu donosi analize i promišljanja o fenomenu seksualnog zlostavljanja djece i maloljetnika od strane katoličkoga klera, dakle u okrilju i u ustanovama Katoličke crkve. U uvodu predstavlja začetke fenomena seksualnog zlostavljanja u Crkvi, a to su događaji koji su seksualno zlostavljanje od strane katoličkoga klera nepovratno stavili pod reflektore šire crkvene i svjetovne javnosti. Nakon toga, u prvom dijelu rada autor kratko predstavlja i analizira neka poznatija službena izvješća o razmjerima seksualnog zlostavljanja u pojedinim mjesnim Crkvama, biskupijama i zajednicama. U drugom dijelu promišlja o službenom crkvenom držanju spram fenomena seksualnog zlostavljanja, a koji je desetljećima bio zarobljen kulturom sustavnog zataškavanja, zaštite zlostavljača i posramljivanja žrtava. Ovu činjenicu u trećem dijelu rada autor analizira i kritički propituje u svjetlu dominantne kulture hijerarhizma hranjene institucionalnom moći kao glavnom uzroku prokazane i osuđene kulture klerikalizma, a koja je već prije prepoznata kao jedan od glavnih izvora zala u Crkvi, uključujući i seksualno zlostavljanje. Upravo kad je kruta kultura hijerarhizma prepoznata kao glavni uzrok crkvene krize izazvane seksualnim skandalima, došlo je radikalnog zaokreta u crkvenom odnosu prema žrtvama koje su deklarativno i stvarno stavljene u središte zauzimanja tijekom rješavanja konkretnih slučajeva seksualnog zlostavljanja i kanonskih kaznenih postupaka protiv klerika zlostavljača, a o čemu autor kritički promišlja u četvrtom dijelu rada. U posljednjem, petom dijelu rada autor analizira doprinose koje je tom radikalnom zaokretu dao kardinal Ratzinger i kasnije kao papa Benedikt XVI., a u nastavku ukazuje na ključne i odlučujuće doprinose pape Franje s brojnim odlukama, dokumentima i izmjenama kanonskoga kaznenog zakonodavstva. Na kraju, umjesto zaključka, autor donosi promišljanja u obliku nekoliko važnih napomena o ovoj mučnoj i bremenitoj temi.

Abstract
In this paper, the author presents analyzes and reflections on the phenomenon of sexual abuse of children and minors by the Catholic clergy, that is, in the auspices and institutions of the Catholic Church. In the introduction, he presents the origins of the phenomenon of sexual abuse in the Church, which are the events that irreversibly put sexual abuse by the Catholic clergy under the spotlight of the wider ecclesial and secular public. After that, in the first part of the paper, the author briefly presents and analyzes some better known and official reports on the extent of sexual abuse in certain local Churches, dioceses and religious communities. In the second part, he reflects on the official Church attitude towards the phenomenon of sexual abuse, which for decades back has been trapped by a culture of systematic cover-up, protection of abusers and shaming of victims. In the third part of the paper, the author analyzes and critically questions this fact in the light of the dominant of the so-called culture of hierarchicalism fed by institutional power as the main cause of the denounced and condemned culture of clericalism, which has already been recognized as the source of all evils in the Church, including widespread sexual abuse of children and minors throughout the Catholic Church. Just when the rigid culture of hierarchicalism was recognized as the main cause of the Church crisis caused by sexual scandals, there was a radical turn in the Church’s attitude towards the victims, who were declaratively and really put in the center of attention during, and not only during official processes of specific cases of sexual abuse and canonical criminal proceedings against abusive clerics, but in general, and about that the author reflects critically in the fourth part of this paper. In the last, fifth part of the paper, the author analyzes certain contributions made to that radical turn in the Church’s attitude towards the victims by Cardinal Ratzinger and later as Pope Benedict XVI, and in continuation points out the key and decisive contributions of Pope Francis with numerous documents, decisions, and changes especially to canonical criminal legislation. At the end, instead of a conclusion, the author brings reflections in the form of several important notes related to this painful and burdensome topic.