Many thanks to Jane Hall for bringing the recent Papal visit to the attention of the psychoanalytic community. (Click here to read Jane S. Hall’s editorial.) An international event of this importance has the potential to elicit deeply held emotions in individuals that rise to the surface and reverberate in our society at large. Having attended the Papal Mass at the Washington Nationals Stadium, I witnessed both the hushed attentiveness of over forty thousand faithful in the stands as well as several placard-carrying protestors shouting outside the front gates. Not unexpectedly, people expressed strong feelings around this event. As a psychoanalyst as well as a practicing Roman Catholic, the Papal visit and the reactions to it were of great interest to me.I would now like to share some psychoanalytic thoughts about a particular incident that occurred during this time. My intent is to show that the effects of clerical sexual abuse might be evident in one victim’s encounter with the Pope. As a psychoanalyst I’ve chosen to look at some of the potential unconscious aspects of the meeting between these two men. I write this with the understanding that we cannot truly know a person’s unconscious fantasies and motivations unless they are able to confirm our hypotheses, usually in the consultation room.
Several victims of clerical abuse from the Boston Archdiocese attended the Papal Mass in Washington on Thursday morning April 17th. Following the Mass they met with Pope Benedict in a chapel at the Vatican Nunciature. Accounts from this meeting were reported two days later in The Washington Post on Saturday April 19th. One of the victims at this meeting, now a middle-aged man, told Pope Benedict, “when I was an altar boy, in the sacristy of the church…that’s where I was abused… I was not only sexually abused, I was spiritually abused.” When the Pope heard this he “recoiled like an electric shock.” The man further reported, “we (he and the Pope) were both feeling the moment as a deep sorrow… (Then) I pulled out the Irish (soda) bread from my mother…that was my sign of peace to him.”
I was struck by the Pope’s reaction to hearing about this abuse directly from one of the victims. The words “recoiled like an electric shock” made me think that Pope Benedict had been traumatized by this man’s words. As psychoanalysts we understand that those who have been victimized may unconsciously and inadvertently traumatize others. In the consultation room an analysand may unknowingly attempt to traumatize us as a way of coping with their own abuse. These incidents tend to intensify in the analysis as the transference deepens. In the case of this man and Pope Benedict, the man’s transference could potentially be very intense to him as the Pope is a priest himself as well as a father figure and leader of the Roman Catholic Church. One then has to wonder if though a transference-countertransference interaction the Pope himself experienced the pain and sadness that this man experienced as a result of his sexual abuse.
It is significant that the meeting between the Pope and the victims took place in a chapel. As the abuse had taken place in the sacristy of a church, meeting in this setting would be more likely to elicit memories and intense emotions associated with the victim’s trauma.
I think it is also noteworthy that the man offered the Pope a loaf of Irish soda bread. This gracious gesture may also have a deeper meaning because it may link his abuse specifically with the Mass. It was not reported exactly what the loaf of bread looked like, but Irish soda bread is typically baked in a round, relatively flattened loaf. Holy Communion which Catholics receive during the Mass traditionally is in the form of round wafers of bread. It is possible that this loaf of bread symbolized Holy Communion. The man added “(the bread) was my sign of peace to him.” Catholics offer a “sign of peace” to one another (usually in the form of a handshake) just before receiving Holy Communion.
The sacristy of the church is where the priest and altar servers don their vestments for the Mass. It is most likely then that the abuse occurred just before or immediately following the Mass when the priest would usually be in the sacristy with the altar servers. Because the victim was an altar boy, he most likely received Holy Communion from the priest just before or shortly after the abuse. Following the above interaction with the Pope, he offered the Pope the bread, quite possibly as a way of recreating the scene of the priest offering him Holy Communion just before or after his own trauma. The man expressed feeling sexually and spiritually abused which could add to the intensity of the emotional experience during his meeting with Pope Benedict. It might also further explain the Pope’s reaction, “recoiled like an electric shock,” upon hearing of this account directly from the victim.
The meeting between Pope Benedict and this man has many other elements to it, including the creation of an atmosphere of healing and forgiveness which is important for the individuals involved as well as our society and should not be overlooked. As psychoanalysts we know that victims of trauma often attempt to manage their horrifying experiences by unconsciously repeating elements of their trauma with others. This may occur in the consultation room, in everyday life, and in the public arena. In the consultation room we can be more certain of the person’s unconscious conflicts. When applying psychoanalytic principles to a public event, it is more speculative.
Joseph P. Collins, Jr. D.O.
New York Freudian Society, Washington Division
Bethesda, MD