Cardinal Ad Simonis´s use of a Second World War catch phrase to comment on the sexual abuse of children is indeed loaded, writes Hanneke Sanou.

So the pope has written a letter of apology covering all sexual abuse cases in Ireland, without opening the door to action against the priests involved.
And now Dutch cCardinal Ad Simonis comes out with ‘Wir haben es nicht gewüsst’, ‘a loaded term perhaps’, he says.
A loaded term indeed, and mostly because we know that a large percentage of those who used the phrase did know and chose to turn a blind eye.

Comparison
A bit like the Catholic church really, and perhaps that was the reason the phrase drifted into the cardinal’s head.
It certainly can’t be because he feels the comparison with the Holocaust is in any way appropriate or hang on..no, let’s not get into the role of the Catholic church during the Second World War. These waters are muddy enough as they are.
Huub Oosterhuis, liberation theologian and ex-Jesuit priest is not as surprised as the cardinal purports to be.
Celibacy

In an interview in NRC he says he understands what has happened because he ‘recognises the world he has left’. It’s celibacy that’s at the root of it, he says. And he should know because for six long years he flagellated himself to drive out his sexual urges.
Oosterhuis tells of priests having relationships with other priests and a corrupt church that lets priests who abuse children off the hook. All this is related to celibacy, he says.
But homosexual relationships within the church happen between consenting adults. Children by definition are victims. Not of celibacy. Of power. And that is an altogether darker aspect of the church.