| Photo by Benyamin Bohlouli on Unsplash
Part V of “Fourteen More Letters to Pope Leo XIV” Series
Public policy and decision-makers in the United States have tried to ignore the so-called “EpsteinGate” for nearly three decades now. It is a series of massive sex scandals that mainstream media say resulted in multiple attempts by vested interests to sweep them under the proverbial rug. Yes, under rugs and carpets in the corridors of power in the nation’s capital, in several states, and even in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Apparently, only God knows the truth about how said sex scandals against minors happened. And committed by whom and where?
The earliest known report to authorities regarding the actions that would become the EpsteinGate (sic) scandal occurred in August 1996. That was when an alleged victim, Maria Farmer, reported abuse by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell to the FBI and NYPD. The FBI did not open an investigation at that time.
However, a formal police investigation in Florida brought the scandal out. It led to the first charges filed in March 2005. It was after the family of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion in the Sunshine State. From then on, the sun of scandals has never set in the greatest country in the world.
It is still brewing an ugly history. The claimed scandals of pedophilia have apparently ensnared many characters. There are allegations, photos, and records linking current and former workers in the EpsteinGate to the White House, including a former White House tenant. And the dragnet has swept more celebrities, public servants, university officials, billionaires, etc., ad infinitum, to the figurative gate of eternal damnation. But then everybody invokes the constitutional right to a “presumption of innocence”.
Many Americans hope that while the wheels of judicial justice turn slowly, an early version of poetic justice may come soon. But the solution to ending pedophilia — and other crimes committed against children, minors, and teenagers that have not reached legal age — is nowhere to be found. Leaders and their followers avoid and evade discussing the problems, and even more so the solutions.
Did God choose an American cardinal to be elected pope eight months ago for the purpose of beginning a new Age of Renaissance? Yes, a rebirth of values and virtues. Perhaps as early as high school and all the way to college, the Roman laws on the protection of children by parents, grandparents, and other kin must be taught again. Yes, their teaching should not be confined to law schools.
“Many Americans hope that while the wheels of judicial justice turn slowly, an early version of poetic justice may come soon. But the solution to ending pedophilia — and other crimes committed against children … that have not reached legal age — is nowhere to be found.”
This columnist remembers lectures on Roman law by professors in both San Beda College of Law (a Benedictine school) and in the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila College of Law, where he transferred for his second and third years. The lectures were part of the civil law course, specifically on family relations. Latin terms are still being discussed in Philippine law schools.s
The term in loco parentis, Latin for “in the place of a parent,” refers to the legal responsibility of a person or organization to assume some of a parent’s functions and responsibilities.
A typical example of an in loco parentis relationship is a grandparent raising their grandchild. However, it applies to any family member, such as an older sibling raising their younger siblings, or an aunt or uncle raising their nephews or nieces.
Courts have indicated some factors to be considered in determining in loco parentis status. They include: (1) the age of the child; (2) the degree to which the child is dependent on the person; (3) the amount of financial support, if any, provided, and (4) the extent to which duties commonly associated with parenthood are exercised.
Perhaps the Vatican can instruct all Catholic educational institutions to begin teaching the Roman laws on family relations. It may help if Latin is taught as well, as the SVD Fathers did in the early 1960s at the Divine Word High School (DWHS) in Sorsogon Province, Philippines. This author is an alumnus of the DWHS, where students found a year of Latin classes helped also in understanding prayers during masses conducted in the original Romance language.
Maybe revisiting the relevant Roman laws on family relations and other civil laws may spark a rebirth of ancient virtues and values. Yes, laws protecting children and minors that some sectors of the digital-age society have apparently forgotten. Pope Leo XIV is now the most-admired American leader (as found by the Gallup Poll and other survey firms). Perhaps the pontiff may push the baton of moral leadership to his fellow American policy-and-decision makers.
Amen. Amen. Shalom.
