Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI

It would have been easier to Google the answer in the time it took to post this.

Maybe you're looking for particular responses

Yeah he is quite old and lots going about. Flu, Covid, strep, rsv.

This is the man who, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for over twenty years, was informed of every known case of clerical sexual abuse in the world. And did nothing.

That's not true. JP2 prevented him from tackling what Ratzinger called the 'filth' (except in rare and undoubted cases). JP2 seemed to think most cases were like the framing of Polish priests under the old Communist state. After become Pope, definite rules and procedures to swiftly remove perverts from the priesthood were put in place. They remain in place.

Like most other things we are nobody's on the world stage.

Even if the whole country was catholic back in the "good old day" that 3m is nothing to the church.

As for Ratzi I hope for his sake I am right and there is no hell.

JP2 wasn't stopping him from taking action when he was bishop of Munich, but no he just covered up those cases

And what sort of person with any sort of moral compass at all would remain in a post, knowing what he knew, and just acquiesce in being "prevented" from doing anything about it? He could always have resigned, might have shaken things up a bit.

The Munich thing was publicised earlier this year. It seems a bit like propaganda for the Microsoft-Amazon Pope aka Francis. JP2 wouldn't have thought too highly of +Ratzinger if he had simply passed it directly to police, given his Eastern bloc fostered suspicion or superstition (it was valid at times in the Eastern bloc where awkward priests might be framed, even murdered, but otherwise not reasonable) that authorities investigating these matters were framing priests.

I would be very wary of the Grauniad, and its selective account of the Maciel case. Their sub editorial standards are at the level of the Daily Mail online, which is mostly about successfully shovelling mass produced celeb bilge into the minds of online consoomers, which explains if not excuses it. The Guardian aggressively avoid tax via the Scott Trust while calling for higher taxes. Anyhow JP2 wouldn't allow Benedict to do a thing to prodigious donor Maciel (altho perhaps more gulled by the false piety of that lecher and abuser and the success of his cult), but as soon as he became Pope, Benedict had Maciel removed from any position of responsibility (Maciel had the luck of the devil as his very uncle, a bishop had suspended him from the priesthood in the late 40s after sexual assaults against boys who had joined the LC were reported to him). It might be noted that Maciel reportedly died having refusing last Rites.

It must overall be noted that various sources ranging from the Australian Royal Commission on Institutional Abuse (which noted a huge number of claims against the Anglican Church along like Catholic bodies like the Christian Brothers) to media reports make clear that abuse of children is not something unique to the Catholic Church. You have some deeply stupid people in this country who verbally abuse priests in public (which if done in another countries would earn the heckler a well deserved punch from other men with respect). A bishop can have very little control over a suspected abuser priest who either deceitfully undergoes treatment or refuses to cooperate, particularly if the police are not interested. For instance the SSPX suspended a priest, sending him to an isolated monastery. Even though there was no criminal charges brought on foot of the report made to civil authorities, his attitude to youths seemed suspect. However, the moment the priest quit the SSPX, he left the monastery. It appears at least the priest is closely supervised in the association he later joined, but it isn't satisfactory.

Phil Lawler has a short piece on how Benedict dealt with abuse:

Rather ironic that you attack the Guardian for paying no taxes - it is owned by a non-profit trust (as is the Irish Times)

So... how much tax does the Catholic Church or any other church pay?

All that stuff about what Benedict was supposedly not allowed to do. If he had any sort of moral compass he would have spoken out regardless of the consequences to his career, but we are all well aware of the path he chose.

Disgusting.

Nobody is claiming that child abuse was unique to the RCC but the RCC held a bizarrely powerful position in 20th century Irish society and the more powerful any organisation is, the more it can get away with.

It's really not any surprise that almost all of the child abuse issues Scouting Ireland have to deal with are legacy issues from CBSI.

Don't trust the Guardian but ya Catholicculture.org now there is a fiercely unbiased source 🤣

Half of this belongs in CT and the other half is just the usual shut up and know your place tactics that religions love.