Vatican Declined to Defrock U.S. Priest Who Abused Boys

[hardball]

SANTIAGO, Chile – The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.

"Many psychologists and psychiatrists have demonstrated that there is no relation between celibacy and pedophilia. But many others have demonstrated, I have been told recently, that there is a relation between homosexuality and pedophilia. That is true," said Bertone. "That is the problem."

They just don't get it, do they? The abuse is not the only shocking thing about this...it's the illegal and SYSTEMATIC COVERING UP and protection of the abusers at the expense of the children abused, stupid.

[Mr He]

I do not know if you can read this, but this was a good summing up:

http://www.economist.com/world/internat ... d=15868530

They could weed out a lot by merely allowing them to marry, and also make sure that pedo priests were turned over to law enforcement.

[Fortigurn]

Finally, responsible leadership from Benedict.

VATICAN CITY—Calling the behavior shameful, sinful, and much more frequent than the Vatican was comfortable with, Pope Benedict XVI vowed this week to bring the widespread pedophilia within the Roman Catholic Church down to a more manageable level.

Addressing thousands gathered at St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday, the pontiff offered his "most humble apologies" to abuse victims, and pledged to reduce the total number of molestations by 60 percent over the next five years.

The Pope said he was deeply disappointed to learn that the number of children sexually abused by priests was almost 10 times beyond the allowable limit clearly outlined in church doctrine.

As a "goodwill measure," Cardinal Re said all churches will also be required to display a sign next to the altar showing the number of days since the last molestation.

Details here.

[Mr He]

Hahaha. Good one.

[ice raven]

I seem to recall you seeing nothing wrong with pre-emptive strikes...

Not from my personal point of view, from the point of view of international law and military strategy. But you knew that.

I didn't, actually. In that thread you were coming across, at least to me, as very pro-military, and indeed strongly promoting the idea that pre-emptive strikes (violence) solved problems, rather than prolonged them. Hence, I was very surprised to find you now saying "I feel the same disgust for those Christians who have practiced violence in the past." But, whatever.

Giving to charities of a different religion is very noble, I guess. I myself would find that very hard, especially as they will then later be trumpeting about how much they helped people and how great they are, together with their religious symbols of choice. I'd rather give money to the UN.

[ice raven]

Interesting post, Fortigurn, though still somewhat disturbing.

edit: D'oh! Just realized it's completely a satirical parody! LOL! Very good!

[Fortigurn]

I seem to recall you seeing nothing wrong with pre-emptive strikes...

Not from my personal point of view, from the point of view of international law and military strategy. But you knew that.

I didn't, actually. In that thread you were coming across, at least to me, as very pro-military, and indeed strongly promoting the idea that pre-emptive strikes (violence) solved problems, rather than prolonged them. Hence, I was very surprised to find you now saying "I feel the same disgust for those Christians who have practiced violence in the past." But, whatever.

You must have missed this post:

I don't advocate war at all. My personal view of what Israel should do is completely different.

That's very clear.

Giving to charities of a different religion is very noble, I guess.

No it isn't.

I myself would find that very hard, especially as they will then later be trumpeting about how much they helped people and how great they are, together with their religious symbols of choice. I'd rather give money to the UN.

That sounds like an ad hoc excuse to justify refusing to donate to religious charities, and a very bad one at that. What would you say if you met people whom those charities support? Would you say 'I'm sorry, I chose not to relieve your suffering because I thought those to whom I donated would brag about it'? Even if you had evidence that 'they will then later be trumpeting about how much they helped people and how great they are' (and we both know this is ridiculous), so what if they did? What about how UNICEF trumpets about how much they helped people and how great they are?

[hardball]

April 13 (Bloomberg) -- The house in which Pope Benedict XVI was born in the southern Bavarian village of Marktl am Inn was vandalized overnight with an “obscene” phrase spray- painted above the main door, police said.

The blue graffiti was discovered early today, Bavarian police said in a statement on their Web site. Authorities, who estimate the damage at 1,500 euros ($2,040), have painted over the text to cover it up. Police are searching for the person who vandalized the house.

“You can presume” the graffiti was related to the sex- abuse scandal linked to the Catholic Church in Germany, police spokesman Konrad Rutzinger said by phone from southern Germany. He declined to give details on the content of the graffiti.

[bismarck]

Maybe something will be done...

Tearful Pope says church will better protect young

VALLETTA, Malta – Pope Benedict XVI met Sunday with a group of clerical sex-abuse victims and told them with tears in his eyes that the Catholic Church would seek justice for pedophile priests and implement "effective measures" to protect young people from abuse, the Vatican and victims said...

...It was the first time Benedict had met with abuse victims since the worldwide clerical abuse scandal engulfed the Vatican earlier this year, and it marked his most personal and forceful statement on the spiraling scandal since a letter to Irish faithful a month ago...

...In the end, the private meeting was only confirmed after it had occurred — as was the case when Benedict met with abuse victims in the United States and Australia in 2008...

...The main U.S. victims group, Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said it was easy for Benedict to make promises about taking action to protect children.

"Not a single adult should feel relieved until strong steps are actually taken, not promised, that will prevent future child sex crimes and cover ups," said Peter Isely, the group's midwest director.

Guess only time will tell if anything is going to be done about it...

[Dougster]

I'm just surprised that all these allegations have taken so long to surface. The catholic church has been inflicting genocide on the world for the last 2000 years. What about the millions of other sufferers that have been forgotten about? Catholic Church RIP