In discussion with those affected

adminonNovember 16, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

Reinhard Cardinal Marx in conversation © Markus Nowak (KNA)

Cardinal Reinhard Marx met with international representatives of victims of abuse this Friday during the bishops' meeting at the Vatican. Marx would also pass on the experiences and concerns of those to Pope Francis.

As part of the anti-abuse summit at the Vatican, Cardinal Reinhard Marx met with international representatives of victims on Friday. The discussion in Rome with 16 members of the network "Ending Clergy Abuse" (ECA) lasted about one and a half hours, the spokesman of the German Bishops' Conference, Matthias Kopp, announced afterwards. Marx had primarily listened to the experiences of those affected; in addition, they had discussed the understanding of "zero tolerance".

In the evening, Marx also wanted to inform Pope Francis about the discussion and bring greetings, Kopp said. The spontaneous meeting was organized by the German representative at ECA, Matthias Katsch from the "Eckiger Tisch", and Kopp.

Own events of the victims' associations

Victims of abuse and representatives of associations such as ECA and the US initiative "BishopAccountability.org" accompany the worldwide meeting of bishops this week with their own events. Thus, they demand a worldwide uniform "zero tolerance" policy against abuse and its cover-up, as well as adequate compensation.

The associations also criticized in advance that their representatives would not be heard at the bishops' meeting. On Wednesday, there was a meeting between twelve ECA representatives and the organizers of the Vatican summit, which was also arranged at short notice. The atmosphere of the conversation was open, even if there were partly different ideas on both sides about the duration and feasibility of measures, participants said afterwards.

Publish data on abuse worldwide

For the first time, concrete legal proposals discussed at Vatican anti-abuse summit. The Vatican also wants to inform in the near future about the number of all clergy who were punished for sexual abuse of minors under church law. This was announced on Friday by the Pope's chief investigator for sexual crimes, Archbishop Charles Scicluna.

The Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where all cases of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy have been tried for nearly 20 years, is working to capture and release the relevant statistical data, Scicluna explained.

U.S. Cardinal Blase Cupich from Chicago presented a twelve-point plan on Friday to supplement and tighten existing canonical norms. According to this, it should be possible to remove bishops who have failed in dealing with abuse.

Appointment to Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has caused a stir: Social scientist Jutta Allmendinger joins other celebrities in campaign for more women in leadership positions.

CBA: Professor Allmendinger, were you surprised when you learned of your appointment?

Allmendinger: I was really surprised, I had not expected that. The Pontifical Academy recently contacted me by e-mail, I declared my readiness, and last week I received the official letter of appointment, which I am very happy about.
CBA: You are considered a representative of a very modern image of women and families. Together with several other celebrities, you recently launched a campaign for more women in leadership positions. The Catholic Church is having a rather difficult time. Do you also want to cooperate so that something changes there??
Allmendinger: Since I was appointed, I ame that my expertise and my position are also welcome. It's certainly an advantage that I have an unbiased attitude toward the Catholic Church and am basically an optimistic person. It would certainly be exaggerated to believe that I alone can change something in the church with my advice and expertise.

But I am happy to enter into the discourse and show that women have a different place in society than the one the church often assigns them. As a social scientist who has headed major research institutions since 2003, I am experienced in dealing with different disciplines and points of view. I'm happy to contribute this experience and my joy in dialogue.

CBA: Are you yourself church-affiliated?
Allmendinger: I come from a Protestant family and continue to belong to the Protestant Church. I have good contacts with the Catholic Church. I know Cardinal Reinhard Marx well and benefit a lot from his suggestions and ideas. At the same time, however, I have many contacts with other religions.
CBA: What is the significance of your Protestant upbringing?
Allmendinger: My parents' home was very sheltered, so my confirmation class at the age of 13 was the first place where I met young people from other social classes and milieus. I have learned an incredible amount from them and benefited greatly from the meetings. These and other encounters were important motivations for me to study social sciences.
CBA: Can you explain this in more detail?

Allmendinger: I deal a lot with the question of what can bring people from different circles together. The rooms of the church are very important for me there. We're noticing that right now in these pandemic times when we're going to physical distance and church services are often only possible digitally.

In the same way, I would like to follow up on the debate on trust initiated by economist Kenneth Arrow, who died in 2017 and was also a member of the Pontifical Academy. He described trust as the lubricant for society.

CBA: Among many believers, that's exactly what has been lost – that is, trust in the institution of the church in light of the abuse crisis, for example. How can the church win this back??
Allmendinger: I am firmly convinced that we need the churches. Lost trust can only be regained by the church with honesty, seriousness, openness and above all self-criticism. You can't say that often enough to those who are in decision-making positions. You must appear with a strong backbone, both internally and externally. And that's why it's good when this is admonished from the outside, after all, the Vatican has enough to do with reform processes right now itself.
CBA: Currently, even the members of the Pontifical Academy only meet digitally. Look forward to seeing the Vatican premises sometime soon then?
Allmendinger: I know Rome and the Vatican City State, and of course the culture and history of the place carry with them a special significance once again. But honestly, it doesn't matter whether the meetings take place in Rome or somewhere else in the world. What's important to me are the ideas and the people I meet with. I am happy when we all sit at one big table and I can contribute something to the upcoming debate.
CBA: Look forward to a possible meeting with Pope Francis?
Allmendinger: Of course. I like the openness that I sense in Pope Francis. And his modesty, which he showed as soon as he took office, for example by dispensing with ostentatious stagings.

In terms of content, I also see a desire for change toward more modernity in social ies. So Pope Francis takes a clearly more liberal position toward homosexual people than his predecessors did. Even a blessing of homosexual partnerships seems to be no longer excluded. Still only first steps. For the catholic church it would be very important in my eyes that they are followed by actual changes.

It is the culmination of a career that is probably unparalleled in the film world. With just five feature films in 40 years, American director Terrence Malick has always made himself very scarce at major festivals. Now he won the competition of the 64 with "Tree of Life". Cannes Film Festival.

The festival came to a close Sunday night with the awarding of the Palme d'Or. Malick's first film, "Badlands," was awarded the Golden Shell in San Sebastian in 1974. In 1978 he was represented in Cannes with "In the Embers of the South" and received the prize for Best Director. A good 20 years later, in 1999, he won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale for "The Thin Red Line".

When it was announced that his latest film, "The Tree of Life," would be shown at Cannes this year, it was immediately awarded favorite status. Although the film was greeted with some boos and rather mixed reviews during the festival, the jury, chaired by Hollywood star Robert De Niro, honored it with the highest award.

The 67-year-old Malick, who is said to be very shy and even pathologically publicity-shy, did not show up at the award ceremony either. Producer Bill Pohlad accepted the award in his place, but he ared that Malick was extremely happy about the honor.

With so few films in so many years, it's no wonder that Malick wanted to pack a whole life and more into "Tree of Life" so to speak. The film is a work of great ambition, combining the story of a childhood in the 1950s with spectacular images of becoming and passing on Earth and in space. More philosophical speculation than gripping narrative, the film impresses with its courage to touch on the very big questions of life. It was this obvious ambition that won over the jury, as De Niro indicated.

Lars von Trier causes a scandal
Great ambitions also characterized the film by Danish director Lars von Trier, "Melancholia", which was ultimately about nothing less than the end of the world. The only difference is that von Trier almost lost his film any chance of winning through his own fault. He caused a scandal in Cannes with remarks about Hitler. The festival saw fit to declare him "persona non grata". "Melancholia", however, remained as an entry in the competition.

With the award for Best Actress to Kirsten Dunst, the jury then brought the affair to a close in a way that was initially surprising for the audience, but also very successful: In "Melancholia," Dunst plays a manic-depressive young bride in a haunting manner, but who demonstrates great strength of nerve in the face of the impending apocalypse – a well-deserved award for the American actress.

The jury's sense of balance, this time between "old hands" and newcomers, between arthouse and genre cinema, was also evident in the rest of the awards. The Grand Prix, the festival's silver medal, awarded in equal parts to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Once Upon A Time in Anatolia" and "Le gamin au velo" by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, honored two different, equally great varieties of European auteur cinema. Ceylan's crime drama about men conquers the audience with its quiet wit and the great calm of its images. The Dardenne brothers, in their own unique style that always maintains great closeness to their characters, tell the poignant story of a home-bound child in search of a new home. Its child protagonist Thomas Doret was given a small standing ovation at the ceremony.

Two big losers
Another kind of intimacy with the characters is created by director Maiwenn Le Besco in her film "Polisse", which tells the story of a police unit specializing in sexual abuse. The French director received the Jury Prize for her work, which was very well received by the audience. The director's award to the Dane Nicolas Winding Refn can be interpreted as an unusual concession to popular cinema. His "Drive" is a bloody, straightforward action drama rarely seen at an "arts festival" like Cannes. At the same time, Refn's references to European auteur cinema are unmistakable.

There were two big losers of the evening: On the one hand Aki Kaurismaki, whose whimsical social fairy tale "Le Havre" was much loved by the critics and had been considered a hot favorite for the Palme d'Or. On the other hand, Pedro Almodovar, who has not yet been able to win one of the three main prizes with any of his films. Many had therefore believed that his hour had finally come with the thriller "The Skin I Live In".

German cinema, not represented in the competition, had a nice triumph this time in the side section "Un certain regard". Andreas Dresen won the main prize with "Halt auf freier Strecke," a moving and extremely realistic film about the death of a cancer-stricken family man. However, he had to share the prize with the Korean Kim Ki-duk and his experimental self-portrait "Arirang," which is hardly likely to dampen his joy.

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