Lima, Peru, Sep 30, 2011 / 15:55 pm
Peruvian journalist Daniel Brousek published a Sept. 29 article calling the insults leveled against Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani of Lima, Peru “a blow to the entire Church.”
“I’d like to know what many Catholics and even bishops and priests do when a pastor of the Catholic Church is attacked or insulted. Do they pray? Do they smile sarcastically? Or are they indifferent? Do they show solidarity with that person via email, telephone or in a quiet way? Do they realize that hurting a religious person is a blow to the entire Catholic Church?” Brousek asked.
His comments were in reference to a incident outside the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru on Sept. 23. On that day, the university assembly rejected a request by the Vatican to modify its statutes in accord with the apostolic constitution on Catholic universities, “Ex Corde Ecclesiae.”
“In recent days Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani has been the target of an media offensive to undermine him and destroy his image as a pastor” by students from the university, its rector Marcial Rubio, “many professors” and some left-wing journalists, agnostics and atheists,” Brousek continued.
“They act triumphantly because a Catholic university has been kidnapped by relativism, and its captors cynically claim to be Catholic. They offend the cardinal, the Church hierarchy and the Pope. They slam the door on the apostolic visitor sent by Benedict XVI,” he said.
True Catholics understand what it means “to appreciate and respect their priests, bishops, cardinals and the Pope. They have left everything, they have given up their lives to serve God and guide men toward salvation,” Brousek continued.
He also criticized the lack of voices defending Cardinal Cipriani from attacks against him. “Where are all the truly committed Catholics?” he asked. “I don’t see any expressions of solidarity. What negligence on the part of these Catholics in name only, these lukewarm bishops (a press release is not enough) and lukewarm priests,” Brousek said.