Cardinal Castrillón praised French bishop Pierre Pican in a letter of 2001. The reason was that Pican did not denounce to the civil authorities the abbot Rene Bissey, who was accused of rape a boy and sexual assault against other 10. Bissey received a sentence of 18 years in prison.

But the tribunals called to sentence the bishop as well for covering the crimes of Bissey. Pican is the first bishop to appear in a tribunal since the French Revolution in the 18th century. Some French priests are now in prison and 19 are waiting for prosecution under the charge of child abuse.

The prosecution

Mgr. Pierre Pican, Bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, north of France, knew in December 1996 that abbot Rene Bissey was abusing children. It is declared that Pican knew it from his general vicar, Michel Morcel, who knew it by his time from one of the victim’s mothers. It is said that the bishop and the vicar tried to hide the scandal. They sent the priest out of the parish to a house of repose, but they gave him a new parish some months after.

Bissey was arrested by the Police in early 1999 and he was sentenced to live 18 years in prison. But the authorities went further: they arrested also his bishop under the charge of covering a criminal of children abuse.

Bishop Pican argued that he could not denounce a priest. When he was asked by the lawyer of one of the victim’s families if he would do so now if he knew of a similar case, Pican answered that not, but he would try that the priest denounces himself. However, at the end the bishop recognized that it was an error of appreciation. Pican was sentenced to three months in prison.

The debate on denounce or not

It ignited the debate again of why bishops do not denounce the priest predators of children. The president of the episcopal conference of France, Lous-Marie Billé, declared after the sentence of Pican, that pedophilia is for the Church a serious offense.  In the last months, the Vatican is showing that it prefers that perpetrators face civil tribunals.

But the case of Pican came again to the top of public opinion last week. Cardinal Darío Castrillón praised the attitude of Pierre Pican in not denouncing the priest to the civil authorities. He sent a letter in 2001 to him saying:

‘I congratulate you for not denouncing a priest to the civil administration. You have acted well and I am pleased to have a colleague in the episcopate who, in the eyes of history and of all other bishops in the world, preferred prison to denouncing his son and priest.’

Castrillón declared in a conference in Murcia, Spain, last week, that the letter was authorized by late Pope John Paul II. Castrillón exalted Bishop Pican as a model of all bishops for his attitude.

The Colombian prelate added that the Pope knew the letter, gave him the authorization to send it and they published it on the Internet.

After his speech, Castrillón, who is considered of the conservative wind of the Catholic Church, was congratulated by the participants of the conference, where there were bishops, archbishops and cardinals.

Of course, the words of Castrillón are challenging in this time. The questions are: Why he said that? And further more: Why Pican hold even on the Tribunal that is was right not to denounce Bissey?

According to La Verdad, a regional Spaniard journal, the French bishop did not denounce the priest because he knew it by the first instance under the Sacrament of Confession. According to the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, a priest cannot denounce the matter that is given to him under the gravity of Confession. It includes crimes.

If it is true and it is likely the outcome, Pican was acting accordingly to the gravity of Confession and only in this way it is possible to understand the 2001 letter of Cardinal Castrillón with the Pope’s authorization.

Of course, still the problem: Why Pican did put Bissey in another parish? If his vicar knew it, why the vicar did not denounce Bissey to the authorities?

Anyway, the Vatican took distance from the words of Castrillón and put in evidence that certain policies within the Church are going to change, especially for the real and effective protection of children.

The solution of the problem of the Farc hostages should be a priority for government and guerrilla alike, said the Church through its main spokesman, Mgr Hector Fabio Henao, director of the social pastoral department.

Henao opened officially the Week for Peace in the Main Cathedral of Colombia in Bogotá and said in his speech that it is an occasion to ask for the return of all hostages to their homes.

The Catholic Church is also concern for the increase of murders in the main cities, the disappearance of young people and the different manifestations of violence in the country. For this reason, it chose this year the slogan ´Life is Unique and Death is Irreversible.´ The Colombian bishop invited the different Catholic communities – the religion of the majorities in the nation, – to put symbols of dialogue in every place of work and study.

This week the Catholic Church will lead in Bogotá journeys of reflection with different institutions to look for proposals of peace and dialogue in Colombia.

Schools and universities, territories of peace

The Church is worry for the increase of violence in schools and centers of education as well.

In an interview to Caracol Radio, Mgr Héctor Fabio Henao said that the proposal of ´schools and universities as territories of peace´ has been thought from years ago, looking that schools become a center of dialogue for the communities around them.

The Church underlined that teachers and students have a very important role in society as agents of peace, tolerance and dialogue. They have by nature manuals of coexistence designed on bases of human right and democracy and those documents are already an excellent principle to empower peace in Colombia.

The Church is worry for the increase of murders in different sectors of the main cities like Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. Young people are particularly involved in this new situations of violence.

Mgr Henao referred to the threat pamphlets of ´social cleansing´ that were distributed in March 2009 in different regions of Colombia. ´Is it necessary to recover the space of dialogue of the young people´ said the bishop.

The schools have other natural elements that must be empowered in society like the associations of parents, ready to create spaces of dialogue.

Schools under threat

Schools and universities have been victims of violence by armed groups in different times. Recently, the new war drug in Medellín have caused a reduction in the attendance of young people to classes. According to IPC, an independent agency of press of Medellín, different schools in the poor quarters of the city have lost the number of attendance due to clashes among gangs. One of the examples is Institución Educativa La Esperanza in Barrio Castilla where in the last three months about 300 students stopped their classes. The school has a total number of 1,200 students. The reason is threats of murder, forced recruitment of boys in the criminal gangs and general fear. The schools of the 6th Commune is the most affected with the problem of violence.

The problem is that the different gangs have their own territories. Students from a different barrio of the school are afraid to come to study. In many cases their schools are located in the territory of a different gang. Even if the young people are not involved in the gangs, the fact that he comes from the other territory, makes him an easy and innocent victim.

On 28th July a boy, Edison Andrés Rodas, was assassinated when he was leaving the school in Institución Educativa Kénnedy. The event made that 18 other students asked the administration to continue their studies from home. They were just afraid to come because they thought they were going to be killed just because they live in the other barrio of the other gang. After the murdered of Rodas, the assistance to the Kennedy school was reduced in 40 percent, said one of the directives.

But also teachers have been victimazed by this kind of violence. According to the reports of ADIDA, the Secretary of Education of Medellín and the Personery, 81 teachers working in poor quarters of the city, have been moved to other institutions because they were threated by violent groups of the barrios.

“If the Catholic Church at national level or even the Vatican, the Secretary of State of Vatican or the person or institution assigned by His Holiness (Benedict XVI), can help in the release of the hostages, the Government authorized it and welcome,” said Uribe in Bogotá to the means of communication.

Before he leaves in a trip to the United States, the President reminded that his government has always authorized the gestures of peace made by the Catholic Church in Colombia.

“In any moment the Government has authorized and welcome any gesture of peace for the release of the hostages made by that Catholic Church,” said that President.

President Uribe declared also that through the Red Cross, the government is bringing guarantees to continue with the process of release of the hostages hold by Farc.

“The Government will give all the facilities in order that the International Committee of the Red Cross can contribute in the best way,” said Uribe.

By its part, members of the Colombian Catholic Church said that they do not know the proposal of President Uribe that suggested that a delegate of the Vatican could participate as a guarantee for the release. However, the Catholic Church expressed its disposition to work for the best results of the humanitarian process.