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Now Pope linked to child abuse cover-up

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,854 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    what would be the consequences if it was proved that he knowlingly moved a priest?

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 27,351 ✭✭✭✭super_furry


    None, they'd lie, bluster and bully their way out of it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2 maireadmconroy1


    any man who wears red prada shoes has to be very dodgy


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,182 ✭✭✭Tiriel


    No rest for the wicked as exorcist comes to town

    Odd line to finish the article on..

    Sickening reading that.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    Sadly comes as so surprise. Tip of the iceberg I suspect.

    As for...
    The revelations come as the Pope faces increasing criticism for a 2001 Vatican letter he sent to all bishops advising them that all cases of sexual abuse of minors must be forwarded to his then-office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that the cases were to be subject to pontifical secret.

    This is well known. He issued orders that such secrets were to be kept in-house and that the police/etc of countries were not to be told of their brethren's sex crimes.
    That to me is as much absolutely disgusting, if not more so and just further shows how rotten at the core the religious Mafia in Rome truly is.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    what would be the consequences if it was proved that he knowlingly moved a priest?

    He'll be promoted to God? I'm not exactly sure. Accountability & Catholicism don't seem to mash well together.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    As it has been the practice of the Church down the centuries to rewrite history to suit themselves, maybe the words of Jesus, "Suffer the little children" have been interpreted in a literal rather than archaic sense.
    As a long time agnostic, who experienced the version of fraternal love which John Charles Mc Quaid espoused, nothing can be written about the Church that would surprise me. The only good point is that nowadays it can be written.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,672 ✭✭✭anymore


    The article must raise the question of whether the Pontiff is detached enough to deal with the issue of how the Church dealt with these priests and also whether he should consider resigning.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭Poly


    any man who wears red prada shoes has to be very dodgy

    and starts early life as a nazi boy scout!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,786 ✭✭✭✭Hagar


    I can't say I'm surprised, you don't get promoted to the top of any organization without knowing how it works from the bottom up.


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  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 9,796 Mod ✭✭✭✭Manach


    If by that you mean conscripted into the armed forces into an anti-aircraft company as Germany's City were being reduced to ruins.

    As for resigning, our own Irish government no doubt show the way by ministers always resigning for serious blunders committed by their subordinates.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭Poly


    Manach wrote: »
    If by that you mean conscripted into the armed forces into an anti-aircraft company as Germany's City were being reduced to ruins.

    As for resigning, our own Irish government no doubt show the way by ministers always resigning for serious blunders committed by their subordinates.

    That defence didn't work in Nuremburg, "I was just following orders"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,854 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    Poly wrote: »
    That defence didn't work in Nuremburg, "I was just following orders"

    I nominate this as post Fail of the day. Its bad taste and pure ignorance to equate the normal duties of conscripts in the army and the stuff the trials were about. Dont they teach history in schools anymore?

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,672 ✭✭✭anymore


    69 wrote: »
    I can't say I'm surprised, you don't get promoted to the top of any organization without knowing how it works from the bottom up.[/QUOTE

    I think Ratzinger was more invloved in the academic side than in pastoral or parish work.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,075 ✭✭✭MoyVilla9


    The Church is a disgrace. May just be beyond repair at this stage.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    anymore wrote: »
    69 wrote: »
    I can't say I'm surprised, you don't get promoted to the top of any organization without knowing how it works from the bottom up.[/QUOTE

    I think Ratzinger was more involved in the academic side than in pastoral or parish work.
    Point to note: Its the academic side that makes the rules, see they are carried out and punishes those that don't do the "party" line.

    The edict that he, Ratzinger issued as to not tell the authorities of the evil-doer's work still stands, as still church law - it hasn't been revoked!
    If one wants to know where Rome's loyalties are and who they only really care for, all Rome has to do is look in the mirror for the answer.
    There they will see their devils too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100313/tts-uk-germany-abuse-pope-ca02f96.html

    So, that's all right then. Doesn't say whether the Polizei were informed, you would imagine that that would be the first response of any right thinking cleric whose first concern was for the innocents in his flock.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    bmaxi wrote: »
    http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100313/tts-uk-germany-abuse-pope-ca02f96.html

    ...Doesn't say whether the Polizei were informed, you would imagine that that would be the first response of any right thinking cleric whose first concern was for the innocents in his flock.
    As already mentioned, not a hope in hell of that happening - it would break his enforced ruling that they don't tell.
    What a nice man he truly is! :mad:

    I love the PR spin that they say "His line has always been one of rigour and consistency in tackling even the most difficult situations."
    Right! So that includes moving a pervert from one place to another, telling no one of his actions that should be informed and letting he continue do what he clearly subsequently did, on the suffering new victims there was later!
    He was just moved and allowed to freely run riot again! Absolutely disgusting.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Biggins wrote: »
    As already mentioned, not a hope in hell of that happening - it would break his enforced ruling that they don't tell.
    What a nice man he truly is! :mad:

    I love the PR spin that they say "His line has always been one of rigour and consistency in tackling even the most difficult situations."
    Right! So that includes moving a pervert from one place to another, telling no one of his actions that should be informed and letting he continue do what he clearly subsequently did, on the suffering new victims there was later!
    He was just moved and allowed to freely run riot again! Absolutely disgusting.


    The Vatican seems to share the exact same attitude towards the people as our own government does. "The thicks will buy anything" seems to be the order of the day - and the worst part is they're right.

    If this was any other institution they'd all be in jail.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,969 ✭✭✭hardCopy


    This should finally undermine any notion of there being a 'few bad apples'. Any good priests that are left should be walking away in protest by now.

    Surely those who covered up these abuses, and ordered that they be covered up, could be pursued as co-conspirators. There should be arrest warrants issued for this scumbag.


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  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    hardCopy wrote: »
    This should finally undermine any notion of there being a 'few bad apples'. Any good priests that are left should be walking away in protest by now.

    Amen.

    Surely they can't consider themselves to be followers of Jesus while continuing to work for this institution which has shown itself time and time again to be evil and corrupt.

    And for them to judge others...ha. If there was ever a good argument for the existence of the devil, these lads would be it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 345 ✭✭Pappy o' daniel


    Joey Ratz is Gods representative on earth. How can he be wrong?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,262 ✭✭✭✭Joey the lips


    69 wrote: »
    I can't say I'm surprised, you don't get promoted to the top of any organization without knowing how it works from the bottom up.

    There is a pun in that line... I wonder was it intended.

    I have to say as a catholic and pratacising I am very sad with the church I always have been. But it wont stop me beliveing in god


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,025 ✭✭✭zod


    The pontiff's role in policing procedures for dealing with child abuse was well-documented in the BBC Panorama documentary Sex Crimes and The Vatican in 2006.
    The documentary presented by child abuse survivor and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland revealed how the then Cardinal Ratzinger wrote to Catholic bishops in 2001 to remind them of the penalties for leaking details of inquiries into offences such as clerical sex abuse
    The then cardinal issued a secret Vatican edict to Catholic bishops all over the world, instructing them to put the Church's interests ahead of child safety, the BBC reported.
    The document recommended that rather than reporting sexual abuse to the relevant legal authorities, bishops should encourage the victim, witnesses and perpetrator not to talk about it.
    To keep victims quiet, it threatened that if they repeated the allegations they would be excommunicate, the report said
    .

    Read more: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/299368,irish-victims-of-child-abuse-angry-at-vatican-response--feature.html#ixzz0i5GG0SI1


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    Rojomcdojo wrote: »
    Surely they can't consider themselves to be followers of Jesus while continuing to work for this institution which has shown itself time and time again to be evil and corrupt.

    Well, members of the catholic church have a fundamental problem there
    Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, Creatorem caeli et terrae,
    et in Iesum Christum, Filium Eius unicum, Dominum nostrum,
    qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto, natus ex Maria Virgine,
    passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus, mortuus, et sepultus,
    descendit ad ínferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis,
    ascendit ad caelos, sedet ad dexteram Patris omnipotentis,
    inde venturus est iudicare vivos et mortuos.
    Credo in Spiritum Sanctum,
    sanctam Ecclesiam catholicam, sanctorum communionem,
    remissionem peccatorum,
    carnis resurrectionem,
    vitam aeternam.
    Amen
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed

    The belief in the holy catholic church is part and parcel of their belief in God.
    Remove the church from your belief, doubt the church ... and you're doubting God. Leave the church and you're leaving God.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    peasant wrote: »
    Well, members of the catholic church have a fundamental problem there


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostles%27_Creed

    The belief in the holy catholic church is part and parcel of their belief in God.
    Remove the church from your belief, doubt the church ... and you're doubting God. Leave the church and you're leaving God.

    AFAIK catholic, in this instance, means universal rather than specifically RC. As your wiki link attests, Anglicans, Lutherans etc. also refer to the "catholic" church in the profession of faith.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    bmaxi wrote: »
    AFAIK catholic, in this instance, means universal rather than specifically RC. As your wiki link attests, Anglicans, Lutherans etc. also refer to the "catholic" church in the profession of faith.

    doesn't change the basic "you're either with us or you're out" idea though


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    peasant wrote: »
    doesn't change the basic "you're either with us or you're out" idea though


    It gives the option of being a member of the "catholic" church without being a member of the Roman Catholic church.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    what would be the consequences if it was proved that he knowlingly moved a priest?
    heard it today on radio, it is all over for the catholic church, if the head saw nothing wrong with it, all over , no recovery, not a hope


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 16,786 ✭✭✭✭Hagar


    bmaxi wrote: »
    AFAIK catholic, in this instance, means universal rather than specifically RC. As your wiki link attests, Anglicans, Lutherans etc. also refer to the "catholic" church in the profession of faith.
    Any links to child molestation in the Anglican, Lutheren etc flavours of this catholic church? Or is it just the madcap celebacy policy of the Catholic church that is at the heart of this whole shambles?


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 34,567 ✭✭✭✭Biggins


    goat2 wrote: »
    heard it today on radio, it is all over for the catholic church, if the head saw nothing wrong with it, all over , no recovery, not a hope
    Just one more thing to be buried, re-written in history and conveniently forgotten about.
    Welcome to the Roman Catholic Church where dogma is absolute according to whom it favours.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭Poly


    I nominate this as post Fail of the day. Its bad taste and pure ignorance to equate the normal duties of conscripts in the army and the stuff the trials were about. Dont they teach history in schools anymore?
    69 wrote: »
    I can't say I'm surprised, you don't get promoted to the top of any organization without knowing how it works from the bottom up.[/QUOTE

    I think Ratzinger was more invloved in the academic side than in pastoral or parish work.

    Lads, Lets not be naive here any more, this is a not like a Fr.Ted case of the raffle money going missing.
    This is the systematic abuse of Children and the lengths an organisation went to hide the culprits, this involved the strategic moving of the culprits around to protect them from prosecution.

    Silverharp, at what level do you imagine the corruption and blatant criminality stopped?

    I would consider myself a good Christian and follower of Christ, right now, if I were Ratzinger I would be ashamed and on my knees begging forgiveness for the sins that were committed against these people.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    Poly wrote: »
    I would consider myself a good Christian and follower of Christ, right now, if I were Ratzinger I would be ashamed and on my knees begging forgiveness for the sins that were committed against these people.

    The perverse thing is, he's probably doing just that right now ...begging forgiveness from God.

    But not from the victims and certainly not from wordly authorities.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,619 ✭✭✭fontanalis


    I hope what they claim to believe is true as there would be a special place in hell reserved for them. And to think this organisation saw fit to lecture other people on marals and their shortfalls, sickening.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,807 ✭✭✭Poly


    fontanalis wrote: »
    I hope what they claim to believe is true as there would be a special place in hell reserved for them. And to think this organisation saw fit to lecture other people on marals and their shortfalls, sickening.


    I do feel sorry for the genuine caring and kind people in the church who do their best to help the needy people in this country.

    I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of them. This must be devestating for them.
    I’ve also met some arrogant, pompus ar$eholes in the church too.
    It's sound very American and cliched but" What would jesus do?"


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    69 wrote: »
    Any links to child molestation in the Anglican, Lutheren etc flavours of this catholic church? Or is it just the madcap celebacy policy of the Catholic church that is at the heart of this whole shambles?

    I can't supply any links but it's certainly not unknown. I doubt though, that it is anything like as widespread or as institutionalised in these churches, then again they wouldn't have anything like the numbers of the RC church.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,619 ✭✭✭fontanalis


    Poly wrote: »
    I do feel sorry for the genuine caring and kind people in the church who do their best to help the needy people in this country.

    I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of them. This must be devestating for them.
    I’ve also met some arrogant, pompus ar$eholes in the church too.
    It's sound very American and cliched but" What would jesus do?"

    I think this shows the disconnect between parish/everyday ordinary people and the upper ranks of the church which frankly seems like an old boys club (literally) that cares only about itself. Like you say there are alot of decent people in the church.
    Personally I see a massive difference between a regular priest (doing good work in the community, being there for people through some of the worse tragedies/situations imaginable) and these morons who live a life utterly disconnected from reality. What a waster of their years!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,939 ✭✭✭goat2


    fontanalis wrote: »
    I think this shows the disconnect between parish/everyday ordinary people and the upper ranks of the church which frankly seems like an old boys club (literally) that cares only about itself. Like you say there are alot of decent people in the church.
    Personally I see a massive difference between a regular priest (doing good work in the community, being there for people through some of the worse tragedies/situations imaginable) and these morons who live a life utterly disconnected from reality. What a waster of their years!
    the pope is as guilty as the rest, since he did not defrock the priest, only moved him on to do more wicked deeds, which means that the head of the roman catholic church has lied his way to the top
    the rch has no head now, which means we as catholics should decide by vote what to do with all the property the rch has sell some and hand he proceeds over to the people who have been hurt by this


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,093 ✭✭✭Amtmann


    Are people jumping the gun a bit here? BBC is carrying only a minor article about this at the moment. It doesn't seem to be the media storm that many here are claiming.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭ei.sdraob


    Furet wrote: »
    Are people jumping the gunvatican-defends-pope-munich-abuse a bit here? BBC is carrying only a minor article about this at the moment. It doesn't seem to be the media storm that many here are claiming.

    3000 articles already about it in all sorts of newspapers

    but if course its all a lie :rolleyes: and Vatican are denying it all

    Pope-Benedict-XVI-has-sai-001.jpg
    The pope's spokesman has launched a vigorous counter-attack against a report linking Benedict XVI to a sex abuse cover-up while he was archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1981.

    Father Federico Lombardi appeared to suggest in an interview on Vatican Radio that the pope, who also has strong links to the city of Regensburg, was the victim of a plot.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,859 ✭✭✭bmaxi


    Poly wrote: »
    I do feel sorry for the genuine caring and kind people in the church who do their best to help the needy people in this country.

    I’ve had the privilege of meeting some of them. This must be devestating for them.
    I’ve also met some arrogant, pompus ar$eholes in the church too.
    It's sound very American and cliched but" What would jesus do?"

    If you think there are arrogant and pompous people in the church today you should have been around fifty years ago.
    As to what Jesus would do, well based on his track record so far, nothing. You'd think that a Deity, who saw fit to change water into wine for a wedding piss-up, and is apparently currently painting self portraits on frying pans and doughnuts, could take time off from His busy schedule to do some little thing to protect those, whom He himself described as "the kingdom of God". If there is a God, then on the last day I'll feel as much justified in asking Him to account for His actions as He will mine.
    I'm not in the business of shaking anyone's belief or faith, I really don't care that much but it's time that we stopped touching the forelock to these people. Ireland celebrated her freedom from what was seen as foreign tyranny by voluntarily succumbing to another form, as perpetrated by church and state in collusion.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 670 ✭✭✭Tail Wagger


    Jase's doe's any of them fancy a nice woman, or are they all sicko's


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 436 ✭✭Ultravid


    St. Basil said:

    "The cleric or monk who molests youth or boys, or is caught kissing or committing some depravity with them, let him be whipped in public, deprived of his crown (tonsure) and, after having his head shaved, let his face be covered with spittle and let him be bound in iron chains, condemned to six months in prison, reduced to eating rye bread once a day in the evening three times per week. After these six months of living in a separate cell under the custody of a wise elder advanced in the spiritual life, let him make prayers, vigils, and manual work, always under the watch of two spiritual brothers, without being allowed to have any relationship...with young people".

    St. John Chrysostom said:

    "All passions are dishonorable, for the soul is even more damaged and degraded by sin than the body is by disease. But the worst of all passions is lust between men...The sins against nature are more problematic and less satisfying, so much so that one cannot even say that they procure pleasure, since true pleasure is only that which is according to nature. But when God abandons a man, everything is turned on its head! ".

    Tough words indeed, but food for thought. In the latter text, referring to lusts between men, they are not referring to those who struggle and resist same-sex attractions and choose to remain chaste and pure (and therefore please the good God), but to those who have actually yielded to the disordered attractions and commit sins. In these modern times, I suggest that psychologists were listened to by Bishops, so that men were sent back out into the community; instead, they should have been dealt with in a different way.

    The elephant is still in the corner of the room folks.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    This is an interesting read:
    Interview with the Promotor of Justice at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, Regarding Clerical Sexual Abuse Cases
    http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=363896

    Please not that the current pope was the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith before he became pope.

    excerpts from the article:
    The accused, then, are three thousand. How many have been tried and condemned?
    Currently we can say that a full trial, penal or administrative, has taken place in twenty percent of cases, normally celebrated in the diocese of origin - always under our supervision - and only very rarely here in Rome. We do this also in order to speed up the process. In sixty percent of cases there has been no trial, above all because of the advanced age of the accused, but administrative and disciplinary provisions have been issued against them, such as the obligation not to celebrate Mass with the faithful, not to hear confession, and to live a retired life of prayer. It must be made absolutely clear that in these cases, some of which are particularly sensational and have caught the attention of the media, no absolution has taken place. It's true that there has been no formal condemnation, but if a person is obliged to a life of silence and prayer, then there must be a reason...
    A recurring accusation made against the ecclesiastical hierarchy is that of not reporting to the civil authorities when crimes of paedophilia come to their attention.
    In some English-speaking countries, but also in France, if bishops become aware of crimes committed by their priests outside the sacramental seal of Confession, they are obliged to report them to the judicial authorities. This is an onerous duty because the bishops are forced to make a gesture comparable to that of a father denouncing his own son. Nonetheless, our guidance in these cases is to respect the law.

    And what about countries where bishops do not have this legal obligation?
    In these cases we do not force bishops to denounce their own priests, but encourage them to contact the victims and invite them to denounce the priests by whom they have been abused. Furthermore, we invite the bishops to give all spiritual - and not only spiritual - assistance to those victims. In a recent case concerning a priest condemned by a civil tribunal in Italy, it was precisely this Congregation that suggested to the plaintiffs, who had turned to us for a canonical trial, that they involve the civil authorities in the interests of victims and to avoid other crimes.
    A final question: is there any statue of limitation for delicta graviora?
    Here you touch upon what, in my view, is a sensitive point. In the past, that is before 1898, the statute of limitations was something unknown in canon law. For the most serious crimes, it was only with the 2001 motu proprio that a statute of limitations of ten years was introduced. In accordance with these norms in cases of sexual abuse, the ten years begin from the day on which the minor reaches the age of eighteen.

    Is that enough?

    Practice has shown that the limit of ten years is not enough in this kind of case, in which it would be better to return to the earlier system of delicta graviora not being subject to the statue of limitations. On 7 November 2002, Venerable Servant of God John Paul II granted this dicastery the power to revoke that statue of limitations, case by case following a reasoned request from individual bishops. And this revocation is normally granted.

    If you read this this between the lines, underneath all the semblance of justice and openess, this is basically a "how to" on cover-ups ...backdoors aplenty to choose from


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 436 ✭✭Ultravid


    VATICAN CITY, 13 MAR 2010 (VIS) - Given below is the text of an interview, published today by the Italian newspaper "Avvenire", with Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna, promoter of justice of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, concerning the investigative and judicial activities of that dicastery in cases of "delicta graviora", which include the crime of paedophilia committed by members of the clergy:

    Msgr. Charles J. Scicluna is the "promoter of justice" of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He is effectively the prosecutor of the tribunal of the former Holy Office, whose job it is to investigate what are known as "delicta graviora"; i.e., the crimes which the Catholic Church considers as being the most serious of all: crimes against the Eucharist and against the sanctity of the Sacrament of Penance, and crimes against the sixth Commandment ("thou shall not commit impure acts") committed by a cleric against a person under the age of eighteen. These crimes, in a "Motu Proprio" of 2001, "Sacramentum sanctitatis tutela", come under the competency of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In effect, it is the "promoter of justice" who deals with, among other things, the terrible question of priests accused of paedophilia, which are periodically highlighted in the mass media. Msgr. Scicluna, an affable and polite Maltese, has the reputation of scrupulously carrying out the tasks entrusted to him without deferring to anyone.

    Question: Monsignor, you have the reputation of being "tough", yet the Catholic Church is systematically accused of being accommodating towards "paedophile priests".

    Answer: It may be that in the past - perhaps also out of a misdirected desire to protect the good name of the institution - some bishops were, in practice, too indulgent towards this sad phenomenon. And I say in practice because, in principle, the condemnation of this kind of crime has always been firm and unequivocal. Suffice it to recall, to limit ourselves just to last century, the famous Instruction "Crimen sollicitationis" of 1922.

    Q: Wasn't that from 1962?

    A: No, the first edition dates back to the pontificate of Pius XI. Then, with Blessed John XXIII, the Holy Office issued a new edition for the Council Fathers, but only two thousand copies were printed, which were not enough, and so distribution was postponed sine die. In any case, these were procedural norms to be followed in cases of solicitation during confession, and of other more serious sexually-motivated crimes such as the sexual abuse of minors.

    Q: Norms which, however, recommended secrecy...

    A: A poor English translation of that text has led people to think that the Holy See imposed secrecy in order to hide the facts. But this was not so. Secrecy during the investigative phase served to protect the good name of all the people involved; first and foremost, the victims themselves, then the accused priests who have the right - as everyone does - to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The Church does not like showcase justice. Norms on sexual abuse have never been understood as a ban on denouncing the crimes to the civil authorities.

    Q: Nonetheless, that document is periodically cited to accuse the current Pontiff of having been - when he was prefect of the former Holy Office - objectively responsible for a Holy See policy of covering up the facts...

    A: That accusation is false and calumnious. On this subject I would like to highlight a number of facts. Between 1975 and 1985 I do not believe that any cases of paedophilia committed by priests were brought to the attention of our Congregation. Moreover, following the promulgation of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, there was a period of uncertainty as to which of the "delicta graviora" were reserved to the competency of this dicastery. Only with the 2001 "Motu Proprio" did the crime of paedophilia again become our exclusive remit. From that moment Cardinal Ratzinger displayed great wisdom and firmness in handling those cases, also demonstrating great courage in facing some of the most difficult and thorny cases, "sine acceptione personarum". Therefore, to accuse the current Pontiff of a cover-up is, I repeat, false and calumnious.


    The rest can be read here:
    http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/e1_en.htm

    There is also this:

    NOTE ISSUED BY HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE DIRECTOR

    VATICAN CITY, 13 MAR 2010 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today issued a note entitled "A clear route through stormy waters".

    "At the end of a week in which a large part of the attention of the European media has been focused on the question of sexual abuses committed by people in institutions of the Catholic Church, we would like to make three observations: ...


    read more:
    http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/e0_en.htm


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,619 ✭✭✭fontanalis


    To be fair they mightn't know how to dal with crimes. You'd have to do something awful like get pregnant out of wedlock before they could offer advice.
    http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0313/abuse1.html


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 436 ✭✭Ultravid


    "We can say that about 60% of the cases chiefly involved sexual attraction towards adolescents of the same sex, another 30% involved heterosexual relations," he said.

    "The remaining 10% were cases of paedophilia in the true sense of the term; that is, based on sexual attraction towards prepubescent children."
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8565986.stm

    Elephant. Room. Corner.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,619 ✭✭✭fontanalis


    Ultravid wrote: »

    What elephant?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 436 ✭✭Ultravid


    fontanalis wrote: »
    What elephant?

    The exact nature of the majority of the abuse. There is an article attached to this post, it is addressing this issue.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,271 ✭✭✭kev9100


    Ultravid wrote: »
    Tough words indeed, but food for thought. In the latter text, referring to lusts between men, they are not referring to those who struggle and resist same-sex attractions and choose to remain chaste and pure (and therefore please the good God), but to those who have actually yielded to the disordered attractions and commit sins. In these modern times, I suggest that psychologists were listened to by Bishops, so that men were sent back out into the community; instead, they should have been dealt with in a different way.

    The elephant is still in the corner of the room folks.

    I don't want to be rude, but what the hell are you talking about? I apologise if i have misunderstood you, but are you really comparing homosexuality to what these bastard priests did?


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