Pope Benedict XVI today (June 27, 2010) criticized as "surprising and deplorable" a raid on church property last week by police in Belgium investigating sex abuse by clerics, according to the New York Times website.
In an extremely rare personal message -- as well as a rebuke of a sovereign country -- the pontiff stressed the church's "autonomy" to conduct its own investigations and criticized the "deplorable methods" of the Belgian police who last week detained bishops, confiscated files, and even drilled into the tomb of at least one cardinal in the Brussels cathedral in a search for documents.
"On several occasions I have personally reiterated that such serious issues should be attended to by both civil and canon law, with respect for their reciprocal specificity and autonomy," the Pope said in a statement circulated by the Vatican today.
He also expressed his "closeness and solidarity" with Andre-Joseph Leonard, the archbishop of Belgium and the president of the Belgian Bishops' Conference, and the Belgian clergy.
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