Vatican and Canadian church officials knew Ottawa bishop Bernard Prince molested several altar boys a decade before police did, according to a 1993 letter from a Pembroke bishop made public on Friday.
Bishop Joseph Windle, who has since passed away, sent the letter to the Pope's envoy to Canada, Carlo Curis.
"In conscience, and before God, I must inform your Excellency that I am adamantly opposed to Fr. Prince receiving any papal honour or ever being promoted to the episcopate," read the letter, published on the Globe and Mail website on Friday.
"The consequences of such an action would be disastrous, not only for the Canadian Church but for the Holy See as well, given the climate which exists in Canada at this time."
Willing to keep matter a secret
With Prince sent to a new position in Rome away from his diocese in the Ottawa Valley, Windle wrote that initially he thought it would be easy to keep the matter a secret since he had heard of only one child being abused.
Upon writing to more of Prince's former dioceses, however, he uncovered at least four or five instances of sexual abuse and that none of Prince's supervisors were working to counsel or supervise him in light of these incidents.
"Were he to be honoured in any way, it could easily trigger a reaction among the victim(s), or others who are aware of his previous conduct, and this would prove extremely embarrassing . . . not to mention the possibility of criminal charges being laid and a civil lawsuit ensuing," Windle wrote.
He noted that the victims he knew of were from Poland and "their respect for the priesthood and the Church" so far had stopped them from coming forward, but he didn't count on that happening forever.
The letter appears to support victim's assertions that the church knew about the abuse and did nothing. Prince was also a friend of the late Pope John Paul II.
"As your Excellency is well aware . . . the mere passage of time does not ensure that charges will not surface in the future since there is no statute of limitations for such inappropriate activity."
With files from The Canadian Press
