The head of the Vatican’s congregation for priests says the Church condemns sex abuse by clergy and will drive out offenders.

It also wants to work more closely with victims as they deal with the consequences of the crime, he says.

“The Church cannot tolerate [clerical sex abuse] and deals with it as a serious crime,” Cardinal Claudio Hummes, prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, told UCA News today [Feb. 11].

The 75-year-old Capuchin cardinal from Brazil was in India to attend the first national congress of the country’s Catholic priests.

Some 800 priests and several bishops from India’s three ritual Churches attended the three-day program that concluded in Vailankanni, Tamil Nadu, today.

Asked how to remedy the clergy scandal, Cardinal Hummes said the Church has decided that it cannot tolerate sex abuses by priests. “The Church cannot accept such priests,” he said.

The Church will also insist on “a rigorous selection process” for priesthood candidates. It will also push for spiritual renewal of the clergy, he added.

The cardinal said the Church was “very concerned” for the victims. “The Church wants to be closer to them, offering them sympathy, solidarity and consolation,” the cardinal said.

The outspoken cardinal, who headed Sao Paulo archdiocese for eight years before taking up the Vatican post in 2008, said he was visiting India for the first time. He was “highly impressed” with the country’s “young, jovial and enthusiastic” priests.

Cardinal Hummes said he was “positively surprised” at the “well-organized” congress that conducted its sessions in “a very fraternal” and “cordial atmosphere.”

The Vatican official hailed the congress as “the most important program” for the Catholic priests in India. “Priests here are very good and the programs were very good, especially their spiritual side,” he added.

The Vatican dignitary commended India’s three ritual Churches – the Latin, Syro-Malabar and Syro-Malankara rites. “These various liturgical and spiritual traditions make the Church in India really beautiful,” he said.

The cardinal also noted that Indian priests have a “good spirit of prayer” and support each other.

“They have lots of interest in everything, especially in promoting interreligious and inter-cultural dialogue,” he said, but cautioned that “dialogue cannot substitute for evangelization and proclamation of the Word of God.”

In an earlier address, the cardinal noted the world had some 408,000 priests in 2008, the latest statistics available. This was an increase of 1,000 over the previous year.

He said the current observation of the Year for Priests presents the Church with an opportunity to love and respect its priests and recognize what they do for Church and society.

Source: Cardinal vows to end clergy sex abuse (UCAN)

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