John Paul II does not deserve to be beatified because of his policy of turning a blind eye to sexual molestation of minors by priests – writes an op-ed in the New York Times.

In a column headlined “Hold the Halo” in this weekend’s edition of the paper, Maureen Dowd rebukes the Polish Pope for his conservative stand on social issues in general – contraception, women’s ordination, priests’ celibacy, divorce and remarriage.

Dowd admits that John Paul II was admirable in many ways. “After he became pope, he was a moral force in the fight against totalitarianism, touring his homeland and giving Poles the courage to resist the Soviet Union. […] After Communism collapsed, John Paul offered a stinging critique of capitalism, presciently warning big business to stop pursuing profits ‘at any price’,”she writes.

The majority of the editorial, however, is devoted to condemnation of his passive stand on paedophilia in the church. “John Paul forfeited his right to beatification when he failed to establish a legal standard to remove paedophiles from the priesthood, and simply turned away for many years,” claims Dowd in the New York Times.

The columnist also recalls the case of the Rev. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legion of Christ, who was formally accused of paedophilia in a Vatican proceeding only by the Pope’s successor, Benedict XVI.

“The Vatican rushed into this beatification, but after they take down the stands, the problems will still be there,” the article concludes. (di/jb)