Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a controversial intermediary in Vatican power for more than a quarter of a century accused of covering up one of the Catholic Church’s most notorious sexual abusers, has died at the age of 94.
Key points:
- Sodano is believed to have prevented the Vatican from investigating Father Martial Maciel
- Maciel lived a double life as a pedophile, a woman, and a drug addict
- Sodano denied allegations that he was aware of Maciel’s double life
Cardinal Sodano, who had been ill for some time and died on Friday night, was secretary of state under two popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, holding the second Vatican hierarchy for 16 years between 1990 and 2006. .
It was widely believed that Cardinal Sodano, along with John Paul’s secretary, then Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, led the Church in the last years of the late pope’s life, as his health deteriorated due to of Parkinson’s and other diseases. John Paul died in 2005.
In a series of expositions to the National Catholic Reporter in 2010, author Jason Berry, a leading expert on the Church’s sexual abuse crisis, wrote how Cardinal Sodano prevented the Vatican from investigating Father Marcial Maciel. , dishonored founder of the religious order of the Legion of Christ.
Father Martial Maciel was the dishonored founder of the religious order of the Legion of Christ. (Wikipedia: Dominik Hoffmann)
Following the death of John Paul, Pope Benedict intensified his investigation into Maciel and withdrew him in 2006, when the Vatican acknowledged that the accusations that had been rejected for decades were true.
The order of worship of the Legion of Christ, the rules of which prohibit criticizing its founder or questioning its motives, later acknowledged that Maciel, who died in 2008, lived a double life as a pedophile, a woman. woman and drug addict.
Cardinal Sodano repeatedly denied accusations that he knew of Maciel’s double life and that he had covered it up.
Maciel, a conservative seen as a bulwark against liberalism in the Church, was known for making generous economic gifts to the Vatican.
In 2010, four years after Pope Benedict replaced Cardinal Sodano as Secretary of State, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna accused Sodano of blocking a large-scale investigation into former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.
Groer left the post of Archbishop of Vienna in 1995 following allegations that he had sexually abused young seminarians in the past. He died in 2003 without ever admitting guilt or facing charges.
Cardinal Sodano also denied the allegations.
Cardinal Sodano is believed to be one of the two men who led the Church in the last years of Pope John Paul II when his health deteriorated. (AP: Massimo Sambucetti)
In 2010, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy condemned Cardinal Sodano for saying in a public Easter speech that the abuses were primarily “gossip.”
Ordained a priest in 1950, he joined the diplomatic service several years later. He served in the Vatican embassies in Ecuador, Uruguay and Chile before being called back to the Vatican to hold senior administrative positions, including second place.
Vatican experts have said that even after his retirement, Cardinal Sodano, who continued to live in the Vatican, had a significant influence on the career of Vatican officials for the rest of Benedict’s pontificate. Benet resigned in 2013.
Reuters