CNS STORY: Dark spots only small part of church's reality, says Vatican official

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CNS Story:

BERTONE-CHURCH Aug-21-2007 (520 words) xxxi

Dark spots only small part of church's reality, says Vatican official

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Dark spots exist in the Catholic Church, but they are only a small part of the reality of the church and its members, said Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state.

In an Aug. 20 interview with Vatican Radio, the cardinal said media that focus only on the failures of church members are giving the public a distorted vision of the church.

"It is as if they presented a dark fragment of the great, restored Sistine Chapel, which is a splendor and has reacquired Michelangelo's original colors," the cardinal said.

As a historical record, the restoration workers left a few spots untouched to show the dirt and grime that had accumulated over the centuries.

"If someone pointed a television camera at one of these dark spots to show the Sistine Chapel instead of focusing on the splendor of the Sistine Chapel (as a whole), it would be a falsification," he said.

The dark spots are part of the chapel, he said, but they do not portray accurately the overall impact of Michelangelo's masterpiece.

In the same way, Cardinal Bertone said, "the church is a great masterpiece of God's and of the men and women of the church," who have done and continue to do "an immense volume of good in every part of the world."

Cardinal Bertone said that "sometimes it seems that there is a plan" on the part of the media to present only negative stories about the Catholic Church and to focus on them long past the time they are news.

The cardinal also was asked to comment on the formal decision of Amnesty International leaders meeting in Mexico Aug. 11-17 to support the decriminalization of abortion and defend women's access to abortion when their health or human rights are in danger. The human rights organization adopted the position as part of its campaign to Stop Violence Against Women.

"Certainly one must combat violence against women, the inhuman form of violence which is rape, and struggle together to defend the dignity of women, of any woman," the cardinal said.

However, he said, one can never push for the taking of another human life, "even if it is the fruit of violence."

Vatican Radio also asked Cardinal Bertone about remarks he made in an Aug. 19 homily about the struggle between good and evil.

He told the radio there are many signs that the devil continues attacking all that is good and all that is of God.

"Think of violence, which is so widespread and which erupts almost spontaneously, even in places that should be sanctuaries of love: within a family, in forums of sharing, reconciliation and friendship; and the violence that explodes on the part of religions," he said.

"Religions were created for peace because they look toward the same God of all," he said.

"Each of these are signs of the furious attacks of the evil one in our age, which we must oppose with a strong faith, the faith of one who follows Christ," Cardinal Bertone said.

END

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