What to say about the Danneels/Vangheluwe tapes, the recorded conversation between then-Bishop Vangheluwe, Cardinal Danneels and Vangheluwe’s nephew who was sexually abused by him? Well, generally there is nothing to say that hasn’t been already been said. I’ll add one thing, and that is my fear (and, I suspect, a reasonable one) that this is, once more, an example of the incredible naivety in the Church in western Europe. In Belgium, but also in the Netherlands and other countries.
From lay Catholics with delusions of grandeur to bishops who stumble in interviews by giving overly complicated answers to protect their own or others’ image, naivety or misguidedness rears its ugly head often. This should be alien to the Church if she wishes to follow the words and commandments of Christ: like He was very much aware of how the world works, so too the Church must be.
In Caelo et in Terra 