Victims of clerical sex abuse have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict’s claim yesterday that paedophilia wasn’t considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s.
In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI also claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by society.
“In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,” the Pope said.
“It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a ‘better than’ and a ‘worse than’. Nothing is good or bad in itself.”
The Pope said abuse revelations in 2010 reached “an unimaginable dimension” which brought “humiliation” on the Church.
Asking how abuse exploded within the Church, the Pontiff called on senior clerics “to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred” and to help victims heal through a better presentation of the Christian message.
“We cannot remain silent about the context of these times in which these events have come to light,” he said, citing the growth of child pornography “that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society” he said.
But outraged Dublin victim Andrew Madden last night insisted that child abuse was not considered normal in the company he kept.
Mr Madden accused the Pope of not knowing that child pornography was the viewing of images of children being sexually abused, and should be named as such.
He said: “That is not normal. I don’t know what company the Pope has been keeping for the past 50 years.”
Pope Benedict also said sex tourism in the Third World was “threatening an entire generation”.
Angry abuse victims in America last night said that while some Church officials have blamed the liberalism of the 1960s for the Church’s sex abuse scandals and cover-up catastrophes, Pope Benedict had come up with a new theory of blaming the 1970s.
“Catholics should be embarrassed to hear their Pope talk again and again about abuse while doing little or nothing to stop it and to mischaracterise this heinous crisis,” said Barbara Blaine, the head of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,
“It is fundamentally disturbing to watch a brilliant man so conveniently misdiagnose a horrific scandal,” she added.
“The Pope insists on talking about a vague ‘broader context’ he can’t control, while ignoring the clear ‘broader context’ he can influence — the long-standing and unhealthy culture of a rigid, secretive, all-male Church hierarchy fixated on self-preservation at all costs. This is the ‘context’ that matters.”
The latest controversy comes as the German magazine Der Spiegel continues to investigate the Pope’s role in allowing a known paedophile priest to work with children in the early 1980s.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Source: The Belfast Telegraph
Related information – “By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them!”:
…and by their signs:
Satanists love pedophiles and child porn
Picture from the Satanic Bible
This is a handsign of the devil worshippers (goat horns).
Horned Hand or The Mano Cornuto: this gesture is the Satanic salute, a sign of recognition between and allegiance of members of Satanism or other unholy groups.
– Exorcists Wanted: Apply to Catholic Church (Reuters)
– UK Paedophile Priests Remain In The Priesthood (Guardian)
– Catholics, It’s You This Freemason-Satanist Pope Has Abused (Independent)
– Vatican rejects resignations of Irish bishops over child sex abuse scandal (Telegraph)
– Vatican Embarrassed By Gay Priests Revelations: Panorama Magazine Exposes Priests Visiting Gay Clubs And Bars And Having Sex (Guardian)
– Catholic Priest Stole $1.3 Million From Church To Pay For Male Escorts, Designer Clothes And Luxury Hotels (Independent)
– And Now Financial Scandals: The Hidden Wealth Of The Catholic Church (Spiegel)
– The Intelligence² Debate – Stephen Fry: ‘The Catholic Church is Not a Force For Good in the World’
– Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of sex abuse cover-up (Times)
– Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of his close friend Bishop Walter Mixa in sex probe (Reuters)
– Belgium: Top Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Child Sexual Abuse (Times)
– Database of Catholic Priests Publicly Accused of Sexual Abuse in the US (BishopAccountability.org)
– Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse (CNN)
– Priest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal (The Local)
– Catholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’ (The Telegraph)
– Cardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest (BBC NEWS)
– Catholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession (AP)
– Belgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints (AFP)
– Connecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill (CNN)
– Richard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’ (Times)
– Catholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint (My San Antonio)
– Norway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims (AFP)
– Pope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys (Times)
– Ireland Archbishop Stunned by Archbishop of Canterbury’s Criticism of Catholic Church (Times)
– Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism (AP)
– ABC Nightline: What the Pope Knew About Father Maciel (ABC NEWS)
– Pope Benedict Appointed Bishop Accused of Ritually Beating Orphaned Children (The Raw Story)
– 40% of Americans view Pope Benedict XVI favorably (Gallup)
– 1963 letter indicates former pope knew of abuse (AP)
– Germany’s Catholic Church sexual abuse hotline received 1,000 calls the first day (Digital Journal)
– Austrian Catholic Church Abuse Hot Lines Log 566 Reports This Year (Austrian Independent)
– Australian Bishop says ‘vast amount’ of sexual abuse cases yet to emerge (Sydney Morning Herald)
– Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse FOR YEARS (New York Times)
– Christopher Hitchens Slams Vatican, Pope Over Sex Abuse Scandal (Huffington Post)
– The Pope Is Not Above the Law (Slate)
– Sex Abuse Victims to Sue Vatican (Times)
– Pope Benedict Signals Won’t Be Intimidated By Abuse Critics, Uses Popemobile For First Time On A Palm Sunday (New York Times/AFP)
– Vatican knew of abuse in Ontario: Victim (Toronto Star)
– A church sex scandal where the truth is crucified (Toronto Star)
– Sinead O’Connor: ‘There Should Be A Full Criminal Investigation Of The Pope’ (LA Times)
– Catholic Church quietly expelling and punishing children, homeless (Irish Central)
– Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests (Flashback):
Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony turned over to Milwaukee County’s district attorney on Thursday.
– Swiss Catholic Church Investigating 10 Abuse Cases (Reuters)
– Irish Catholic Church Paid Child Sex Abuse Victim To Keep Quiet (Guardian)
– Catholic Church Child Abuse: Nuns Now Also Accused (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)
– Church: Pope Had Role in Moving Molesting Priest (Bloomberg)
– Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry (Times)
– Pope will struggle to survive abuse scandal (Irish Independent)
– Benedict’s involvement ’shows extent of cover-ups’ (Irish Independent)
– Sinead O’Connor: I’d help Jesus to burn down the Vatican (Irish Independent)
– RIGHTS-GERMANY: ‘Catholic Church Protects Paedophile Priests’ (IPS)
Oh that Mano Cornuto has been freely flashed by the Clintons and Bushes too….Benedict has been speaking openly of a New World Order….( which we know is calling for genocide on a huge scale and an eventual totalitarian world government.
To open a full enquiry into the Pope and the secret workings of the Vatican would be a good place to begin. Benedict should have his resignation demanded ….can we form a centre for this action ?