Pope John Paul II

== Sexual abuse scandals ==
{{Main|Catholic sex abuse cases}}
John Paul II was criticised by representatives of the victims of clergy sexual abuse for failing to respond quickly enough to the Catholic sex abuse crisis.<ref>{{cite web |last=Radio |first=Southern California Public |date=24 April 2014 |title=Clergy sex abuse victims decry sainthood for Pope John Paul II |url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2014/04/24/43763/some-victims-of-catholic-church-sex-abuse-oppose-p/ |work=scpr.org}}</ref> After decades of inaction, the scandal came to a head when [[Sinéad O'Connor]] infamously [[Sinéad O'Connor Saturday Night Live performance|tore up a photo of John Paul II]] on a 3 October 1992 episode of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' while performing an [[a capella]] rendition of [[Bob Marley]]'s "[[War (Bob Marley song)|War]]".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hess |first=Amanda |date=2021-05-18 |title=Sinead O'Connor Remembers Things Differently |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-rememberings.html |access-date=2023-08-27 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In response to mounting criticism over the next decade, John Paul II stated in 2002 that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young".<ref name="Walsh" /> The Catholic Church instituted reforms to prevent future abuse by requiring [[background check]]s for church employees<ref name="charteryouth" /> and, because a significant majority of victims were boys, disallowing ordination of men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies".<ref name="vatdocord" /><ref name="sexabusereport" /> They now require dioceses faced with an allegation to alert the authorities, conduct an investigation and remove the accused from duty.<ref name="charteryouth" /><ref>{{cite news |date=15 June 2002 |title=Scandals in the church: The Bishops' Decisions; The Bishops' Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/15/us/scandals-church-bishops-decisions-bishops-charter-for-protection-children-young.html |access-date=22 October 2014}}</ref> In 2008, the church asserted that the scandal was a very serious problem and estimated that it was "probably caused by 'no more than 1 per cent'", or 5,000, of the over 500,000 Catholic priests worldwide.<ref name="sexabuse" /><ref name="JohnJay" />

In April 2002, John Paul II, despite being frail from Parkinson's disease, summoned all the American cardinals to the Vatican to discuss possible solutions to the issue of sexual abuse in the American Church. He asked them to "diligently investigate accusations". John Paul II suggested that American bishops be more open and transparent in dealing with such scandals and emphasised the role of seminary training to prevent sexual deviance among future priests. In what ''[[The New York Times]]'' called "unusually direct language", John Paul condemned the arrogance of priests that led to the scandals:

<blockquote>"Priests and candidates for the priesthood often live at a level both materially and educationally superior to that of their families and the members of their own age group. It is therefore very easy for them to succumb to the temptation of thinking of themselves as better than others. When this happens, the ideal of priestly service and self-giving dedication can fade, leaving the priest dissatisfied and disheartened."<ref>{{cite news |author=Melinda Henneberger |date=21 April 2002 |title=Pope Takes on Scandals |work=Sun Sentinel |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-04-21/news/0204200465_1_confutes-american-cardinals-mandatory-celibacy |url-status=dead |access-date=9 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130525055205/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-04-21/news/0204200465_1_confutes-american-cardinals-mandatory-celibacy |archive-date=25 May 2013}}</ref></blockquote>

The pope read a statement intended for the American cardinals, calling the sex abuse "an appalling sin" and said the priesthood had no room for such men.<ref name="Shame" />

In 2002, Archbishop [[Juliusz Paetz]], the Catholic Archbishop of [[Poznań]], was accused of molesting seminarians.<ref>{{cite news |date=23 February 2002 |title=Europe &#124; Polish archbishop 'molested students' |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1837840.stm |access-date=17 February 2013}}</ref> John Paul II accepted his resignation, and placed sanctions on him, prohibiting Paetz from exercising his ministry as bishop.<ref>{{cite news |date=19 June 2010 |title=Watykan: Nie zrehabilitowaliśmy Paetza |language=pl |trans-title=Vatican: no rehabilitation for Paetz |work=Fakt |url=http://www.fakt.pl/Watykan-nie-zrehabilitowalismy-Paetza,artykuly,75072,1.html |url-status=dead |access-date=9 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209162445/http://www.fakt.pl/Watykan-nie-zrehabilitowalismy-Paetza%2Cartykuly%2C75072%2C1.html |archive-date=9 February 2012}}</ref> It was reported that these restrictions were lifted, though Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi strenuously denied this saying "his rehabilitation was without foundation".

In 2003, John Paul&nbsp;II reiterated that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young".<ref name="Walsh" /> In April 2003, a three-day conference was held, titled "Abuse of Children and Young People by Catholic Priests and Religious", where eight non-Catholic psychiatric experts were invited to speak to near all Vatican dicasteries' representatives. The panel of experts overwhelmingly opposed implementation of policies of "zero-tolerance" such as was proposed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. One expert called such policies a "case of overkill" since they do not permit flexibility to allow for differences among individual cases.<ref name="VaticanStudy" />

In 2004, John Paul&nbsp;II recalled [[Bernard Francis Law]] to be Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. Law had previously resigned as [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston|Archbishop of Boston]] in 2002 in response to the [[Catholic Church sexual abuse cases]] after church documents were revealed that suggested he had covered up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese.<ref>{{cite news |year=2004 |title=Abuse in the Catholic Church / Cardinal Law and the laity |work=The Boston Globe |url=http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/extras/law_timeline.htm |access-date=24 January 2012 |issn=0743-1791}}</ref> Law resigned from this position in November 2011.<ref name="Shame" />

John Paul&nbsp;II was a firm supporter of the [[Legion of Christ]], and in 1998 discontinued investigations into [[Sexual scandal of Father Marcial Maciel|sexual misconduct by its leader Marcial Maciel]], who in 2005 resigned his leadership and was later requested by the Vatican to withdraw from his ministry. However, Maciel's trial began in 2004 during the pontificate of John Paul II, but the Pope died before it ended and the conclusions were known.<ref>{{cite web |last=Piekara |first=Marek |date=2014 |title=Co Jan Paweł II wiedział o ks. Macielu? |url=https://kosciol.wiara.pl/doc/1974132.Co-Jan-Pawel-II-wiedzial-o-ks-Macielu |website=wiara.pl}}</ref> In an interview with [[L'Osservatore Romano]], [[Pope Francis]] said: "I am grateful to Pope Benedict, who dared to say this publicly (when more facts began to come to light after Degollado's death in 2008, Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 launched another investigation and on 1 May 2010 announced a declaration about the crimes of the founder of the Legionaries), and to Pope John Paul II, who dared to give the green light to the Legionaries' case".<ref>{{cite news |title=Pope John Paul II and Paedophilia |website=jp2online.pl |url=https://jp2online.pl/en/publication/pope-john-paul-ii-and-paedophilia;UHVibGljYXRpb246OTA= |access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref>

On 10 November 2020, the Vatican published a report which found that John Paul II learned of allegations of sexual impropriety against former cardinal [[Theodore McCarrick]], who at the time was serving as Archbishop of Newark, through a 1999 letter from Cardinal [[John O'Connor (cardinal)|John O'Connor]] warning him that appointing McCarrick to be Archbishop of Washington D.C., a position which had recently been opened, would be a mistake. John Paul II ordered an investigation, which stalled when three of the four bishops tasked with investigating claims allegedly brought back "inaccurate or incomplete information". John Paul II planned on not giving McCarrick the appointment anyway, but relented and gave him the appointment after McCarrick wrote a letter of denial. He created McCarrick a cardinal in 2001. McCarrick would eventually be laicized after allegations surfaced that he abused minors.<ref name="johnpaulknowledge">{{cite news |date=10 November 2020 |title=Vatican admits Pope John Paul II was warned about abusive archbishop Theodore McCarrick, while clearing Francis |work=CNN}}</ref><ref name="AP111020">{{cite web |date=10 November 2020 |title=Key findings in Vatican report into ex-Cardinal McCarrick |url=https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/findings-in-vatican-report-into-ex-cardinal-mccarrick/65-f3a47d57-95f4-4368-9945-a7ac909c5a02 |access-date=10 November 2020 |publisher=Associated Press}}</ref> [[George Weigel]], a biographer of John Paul II, defended the pope's actions as follows: "Theodore McCarrick fooled a lot of people ... and he deceived John Paul II in a way that is laid out in almost biblical fashion in [the Vatican's] report".<ref>{{cite news |last=Keane |first=James T. |date=10 November 2020 |title=The McCarrick Report and Pope John Paul II: Confronting a saint's tarnished legacy |work=[[America (magazine)|America]] |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/10/mccarrick-report-saint-john-paul-ii-sex-abuse-legacy |access-date=11 November 2011}}</ref>

In a 2019 interview with Mexican television, [[Pope Francis]] defended John Paul II's legacy on protecting minors against clerical sexual abuse. He said that John Paul II was "often misled", as in the case of [[Hans Hermann Groër]]. Francis said that with respect to the case of [[Marcial Maciel]]:

<blockquote>"Ratzinger was courageous, and so was John Paul II. ... With respect to John Paul II, we have to understand certain attitudes because he came from a closed world, from behind the [[Iron Curtain]], where communism was still in force. There was a defensive mentality. We have to understand this well, and no one can doubt the saintliness of this great man and his good will. He was great, he was great."<ref>{{cite news |date=19 May 2019 |title=En primicia el Papa en Televisa: "El mundo sin la mujer no funciona" |work=VaticanNews.va |url=https://www.vaticannews.va/es/papa/news/2019-05/papa-francisco-entrevista-televisa-mexico-migrantes-feminicidio.html |access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Bronk |first=Krzysztof T. |date=30 May 2019 |title=Pope Francis Explains the "Anecdote" and Clears John Paul II |work=John Paul II Foundation |url=https://fjp2.com/pope-francis-explains-the-anecdote-and-clears-john-paul-ii/ |access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref></blockquote>On March 6, 2023, an investigative report by the Polish television station [[TVN24]] concluded that "there [is now] no doubt" that John Paul II "knew about [[Catholic Church sexual abuse cases|sexual abuse of children by priests]] under his authority and sought to conceal it when he was an archbishop in his native Poland". The Dutch journalist Ekke Overbeek released a book on John Paul II with similar claims the following week. In response to the claims, [[Pope Francis]] stated: "You have to put things in the context of the era[...] At that time everything was covered up. [...] It was only when the [[Sexual abuse scandal in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston|Boston scandal broke]] that the church began to look at the problem." [[Polish Episcopal Conference|The Polish Episcopal Conference]] stated that "'further archival research' would be needed to arrive at a just evaluation of the decisions and actions" of Wojtyła.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Scislowska |first=Monika |date=March 7, 2023 |title=Polish TV report: John Paul II knew of abuse as archbishop |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/07/church-sex-abuse-john-paul-poland/464bed56-bcd8-11ed-9350-7c5fccd598ad_story.html |access-date=March 8, 2023 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Furthermore, other journalists have criticised the report, especially the interpretation of the sources.<ref name=":1" /> <ref name=":2" /> Another point of contention is the use of materials from the [[Ministry of Public Security (Poland)|communist secret police]] in the report. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Prof. Skibiński: komuniści podjęli szeroko zakrojoną akcję dyskredytacji duchowieństwa - Wiadomości - polskieradio24.pl |url=https://polskieradio24.pl/5/1222/artykul/3132247,prof-skibinski-komunisci-podjeli-szeroko-zakrojona-akcje-dyskredytacji-duchowienstwa |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=polskieradio24.pl |language=pl-PL}}</ref>