Sex – Page 68 – Infinite Unknown

Vatican Embarrassed By Gay Priests Revelations: Panorama Magazine Exposes Priests Visiting Gay Clubs And Bars And Having Sex

July 24, 2010 by Infinite

A man poses by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome while reading a magazine story about gay priests. (AFP/Getty Images)

The Catholic church, already reeling from a string of clerical sex abuse scandals, is facing new embarrassment after an Italian magazine published an investigation into what it termed the double life of gay priests in Rome.

Using hidden cameras, the weekly Panorama, owned by Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, captured priests visiting gay clubs and bars and having sex. The Vatican does not condemn homosexuals, but it teaches that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered”. In one of his earliest moves, pope Benedict barred actively gay men from studying for the priesthood.

The diocese of Rome lashed out at the prime minister’s magazine, saying its aim was “to create scandal [and] defame all priests”. But it also urged gay clerics to leave both the closet and the priesthood.

Several Dozen Pentagon Workers Used Their High-Level Security Clearances To Purchase And Download Child Pornography

August 17, 2010July 23, 2010 by Infinite

Taxpayers money at work!

Security agencies were left at risk, investigators say

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have identified several dozen Pentagon officials and contractors with high-level security clearances who allegedly purchased and downloaded child pornography, including an undisclosed number who used their government computers to obtain the illegal material, according to investigative reports.

The investigations have included employees of the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — which deal with some of the most sensitive work in intelligence and defense — among other organizations within the Defense Department.

The number of offenders is a small percentage of the thousands of people working for sensitive Pentagon-related agencies. But the fact that offenders include people with access to government secrets puts national security agencies “at risk of blackmail, bribery, and threats, especially since these individuals typically have access to military installations,’’ according to one report by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service from late 2009.

Some of the individuals have been prosecuted and other cases have been dropped, while more have languished several years without resolution, according to the previously undisclosed documents about the investigations.

The more than 50 pages, compiled by the investigative service, part of the Pentagon’s Inspector General’s Office, contain summaries of investigations initiated since 2002, including some cases that remain open.

Japan bribes small nations with cash and prostitutes to gain support for the mass slaughter of whales

June 13, 2010June 13, 2010 by Infinite

Humpback Whale - two adults breaching
Japan is attempting to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling

A SUNDAY TIMES investigation has exposed Japan for bribing small nations with cash and prostitutes to gain their support for the mass slaughter of whales.

The undercover investigation found officials from six countries were willing to consider selling their votes on the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

The revelations come as Japan seeks to break the 24-year moratorium on commercial whaling. An IWC meeting that will decide the fate of thousands of whales, including endangered species, begins this month in Morocco.

Japan denies buying the votes of IWC members. However, The Sunday Times filmed officials from pro-whaling governments admitting:

– They voted with the whalers because of the large amounts of aid from Japan. One said he was not sure if his country had any whales in its territorial waters. Others are landlocked.

– They receive cash payments in envelopes at IWC meetings from Japanese officials who pay their travel and hotel bills.

– One disclosed that call girls were offered when fisheries ministers and civil servants visited Japan for meetings.

Barry Gardiner, an MP and former Labour biodiversity minister, said the investigation revealed “disgraceful, shady practice”, which is “effectively buying votes”.

The reporters, posing as representatives of a billionaire conservationist, approached officials from pro-whaling countries and offered them an aid package to change their vote.

The governments of St Kitts and Nevis, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Grenada, Republic of Guinea and Ivory Coast all entered negotiations to sell their votes in return for aid.

Australia: Travellers laptops and mobile phones to be searched for porn

May 20, 2010May 20, 2010 by Infinite

Australian customs officers have been given new powers to search incoming travellers’ laptops and mobile phones for pornography, a spokeswoman for the Australian sex industry says.

Fiona Patten, president of the Australian Sex Party, is demanding an inquiry into why a new question appears on Incoming Passenger Cards asking people if they are carrying “pornography”.

Patten said officials now had an unfettered right to examine travellers’ electronic devices, marking the beginning of a new era of official investigation into people’s private lives. She questioned whether it was appropriate to search people for legal R18+ and X18+ material.

“Is it fair that customs officers rummage through someone’s luggage and pull out a legal men’s magazine or a lesbian journal in front of their children or their mother-in-law?” she said.

The Intelligence² Debate – Stephen Fry: ‘The Catholic Church is Not a Force For Good in the World’

May 19, 2010May 19, 2010 by Infinite

Highly recommended video!

Added: 16.01.10

Related information – “By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them!”:

– 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)

– Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video (AFP)

– 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)

– Pope failed to defrock an American priest who molested hundreds of deaf boys, despite receiving letters from American bishops pleading with him to act (Times)

– 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)

– Child abuse claims sweep Catholic Church in Europe (AP)

Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of sex abuse cover-up

May 11, 2010May 11, 2010 by Infinite

Cardinal Schönborn accused the former Vatican Secretary of State of having blocked investigations into abuse (AP)

Open warfare broke out in the Vatican over the clerical sex abuse scandal at the weekend as Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, accused one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of covering up past scandals.

Cardinal Schönborn, 65, seen as a possible future Pope, accused Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 82, the former Vatican Secretary of State (Prime Minister), of having blocked investigations into sex abuse crimes committed by his predecessor in Vienna, the late Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.

Cardinal Schönborn, a former theology pupil of Pope Benedict and a close ally, also charged Cardinal Sodano with causing “massive harm” to victims by dismissing claims of clerical abuse as “petty gossip” on Easter Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of his close friend Bishop Walter Mixa in sex probe

May 8, 2010 by Infinite

Pope accepts resignation of German bishop in sex probe

Bishop Walter Mixa

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday accepted the resignation of a German bishop who has been accused of sexually abusing minors, the latest in a string of Roman Catholic prelates forced to resign over an abuse scandal.

A Vatican statement said the pope agreed Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg in Bavaria should step down. He became the first bishop to quit in the pontiff’s native Germany over the child abuse scandal that has rocked the Church in several European countries and the United States.

In recent weeks, a Belgian bishop resigned after admitting he had sexually abused a boy and three Irish bishops quit over their handling of sexual abuse cases.

German prosecutors and church officials said on Friday authorities were investigating accusations of sexual abuse by Mixa, who had already offered to step down after being accused of hitting children.

Boy Scouts of America Hit By Record $18 Million Sex Abuse Ruling

April 26, 2010 by Infinite

american-boy-scouts-hit-by-18-million-sex-abuse-ruling

Kerry Lewis was repeatedly molested

A JURY has ordered the Boy Scouts of America to pay record punitive damages of $18.5m (£12m) to a man who was sexually abused by a former assistant scoutmaster more than 25 years ago.

Following the verdict Kerry Lewis, 37, said the decision to sue and testify in open court at the trial in Portland, Oregon, had been “very scary”.

The jury heard that when he was 11 or 12 years old, Lewis was repeatedly abused by Timur Dykes, the scoutmaster. Dykes had already admitted to a Scouts official that he had molested 17 other boys. Under Oregon law Lewis, also awarded $1.4m compensatory damages, must hand 60% ($11m) of the punitive award to the state.

Lawyers for Lewis told the six-week trial that because of his ordeal he had suffered from personality problems including drug abuse and difficulties in forming relationships.

The case is particularly damaging to the Boy Scouts of America, which is unrelated to the British organisation, because it drew attention to “perversion files” that it keeps at its headquarters in Texas.

Lawyers for Lewis said the files, more than 1,000 of which were shown to the court but kept secret from the press and public, detailed many cases in which volunteers were allowed to continue working with children even after the Scouts had received complaints that they were abusers.

Belgium: Top Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Child Sexual Abuse

May 8, 2010April 26, 2010 by Infinite

Roger Vangheluwe said he was ‘enormously sorry’ for the abuse

The longest-serving Roman Catholic bishop in Belgium has resigned after admitting sexually abusing a boy for years. Roger Vangheluwe, 73, said that he was “enormously sorry” for molesting the boy from before he was made Bishop of Bruges in 1985.

The Vatican accepted his resignation only a day after a lawsuit was filed in the US against Pope Benedict XVI over sex abuse committed by an American priest.

The Catholic Church is reeling from the departures of several senior figures over abuse scandals, including Walter Mixa, a senior German bishop close to the Pope, who resigned on Thursday after admitting beating children at an orphanage.

Mr Vangheluwe is the most senior cleric to step down over child sex abuse during the crisis. In a statement read by the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop André-Joséph Leonard, the bishop said: “When I was not a bishop, and some time later, I abused a boy. This has marked the victim mentally forever. The wound does not heal. Neither in me nor the victim.”

Church officials said that Mr Vangheluwe would not be prosecuted because the crime had not been reported within the country’s statute of limitations, understood to be ten years after the victim turns 18 for cases of child sex abuse.

Database of Catholic Priests Publicly Accused of Sexual Abuse in the US

February 16, 2011April 25, 2010 by Infinite

This database is a MUST-SEE!

Access by last name, then you get an idea how big that database is.

Database of
Accused Priests

Access by
Main Search Page

Or by last name
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Or by clickable diocesan map

database-of-catholic-priests-publicly-accused-of-sexual-abuse-in-the-us

Source: BishopAccountability.org

Related information:

– Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse (CNN)

– Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video (AFP)

– 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)

Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse

April 25, 2010April 23, 2010 by Infinite

Pope Benedict XVI is named in a suit filed by an Illinois man alleging that the Vatican covered up sexual abuse by a priest.

(CNN) — An Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by a priest at a Catholic school in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit demands the Vatican release the names of thousands of Catholic priests that the suit says have “credible allegations of sexual misconduct” against them.

The alleged victim, who is now an adult, says he was molested by Father Lawrence Murphy while a student at St. John’s School for the Deaf, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“The defendant, [the] Holy See, has known about the widespread problem of childhood sexual abuse committed by its clergy for centuries, but has covered up that abuse and thereby perpetuated the abuse,” the suit says.

Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, declined to comment on the case.

Pope Benedict XVI was named as a defendant because he has the ultimate authority to remove priests and because of his involvement in reviewing sex abuse cases when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the suit says.

Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video

February 16, 2011April 21, 2010 by Infinite

(AFP) — An 84-year-old Brazilian priest caught on camera in a sex act with a choirboy has been arrested and put in detention.

The 30-day detention was ordered by a judge to prevent the priest, Luiz Marques Barbosa, fleeing pending the outcome of a criminal investigation for pedophilia, a spokesman for the police unit in the town of Arapiraca said.

“As Father Barbosa was chaplain for Sao Paulo’s military police, he has the privilege of being detained in our barracks instead of going to jail,” the spokesman said.

Barbosa’s case, which adds to a pedophile scandal tarnishing the Catholic Church, came to light a month ago when a Brazilian television channel broadcast video footage of the priest receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar.

The incident scandalised Brazil, where 74 per cent of the 190-million strong population is Catholic.

Priest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal

April 19, 2010 by Infinite

The church official who initially said it was his fault that a paedophile priest was given succour in Pope Benedict XVI’s former diocese has broken ranks, alleging he was bullied into taking responsibility to protect the pontiff.

Gerhard Gruber was Joseph Ratzinger’s general vicar in Munich during the 1980s, when Ratzinger, now Pope, was Archbishop.

Ratzinger chaired the meeting which decided to offer paedophile priest Peter H., a safe haven in Munich. The priest was also given further positions of trust in the church, and was later convicted of further child abuse.

Gruber’s friends have told Der Spiegel news magazine that when the story came to light last month, he was under immense pressure to take responsibility for the decision in order to shield the Pope from accusations of having helped a paedophile.

The magazine wrote that he was urgently “requested” to take full responsibility in order to take the Pope “out of the firing line.”

He wrote in a letter to a friend that he had been faxed a statement that he was to make, though he had been given the opportunity to suggest changes.

Gruber issued a statement in March which said, “The repeated employment of H. in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake. I assume all responsibility.”

Catholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’

April 18, 2010 by Infinite

The Catholic Church in Malta was as devious as the Mafia in covering up years of sexual abuse against orphans, one alleged victim said ahead of the Pope’s visit to the Mediterranean country on Saturday.

Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Malta on his first overseas trip since a wave of paedophile sex abuse allegations engulfed the Church.

A group of 10 Maltese orphans, now in their late thirties, say they were sexually abused in the 1980s by the priests charged with looking after them. They believe hundreds of other Maltese boys and teenagers were also abused, but have been too afraid or ashamed to come forward.

“The Church on Malta is like the Mafia. It is very powerful, and people are afraid of it,” said Joseph Magro, 38, one of the alleged victims.

But seven years after they officially launched their complaint, the group claims they continue to face a wall of silence from the Church.

Among the accused is Father Charles Pulis, who still works in a Catholic-run institution adjacent to a boys’ school.

He is being investigated by a behind-closed-doors Church tribunal, which holds hearings only every four months.

“If a father abused his child like this, he would go straight to jail,” said a second alleged victim, who asked not to be named. “We want these priests to be punished as they used to punish us.”

Cardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest

April 17, 2010 by Infinite

The letter was written by Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos

The Vatican has confirmed the authenticity of a letter in which a cardinal praised a French bishop for not denouncing a paedophile priest.

The letter, originally published in the French press, was written in 2001 by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, then in charge of clergy around the world.

A Vatican spokesman said the letter showed the wisdom of a 2001 decision to centralise the handling of abuse cases.

The case comes amid a continuing child sex abuse scandal engulfing the Church.

Allegations of abuse and cover-ups have emerged recently from countries across Europe as well as the US.

The letter from Cardinal Hoyos was addressed to the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux in northern France, Pierre Pican.

Father Pican had just been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for not denouncing Rene Bissey, an abbott who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2000 for paedophilia.

‘Delighted’

“I congratulate you on not having spoken out to civil authorities against a priest,” wrote Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who at the time was prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

Bishop Pierre Pican reveived a three-month suspended sentence

“You have done well and I am delighted to have an associate in the episcopate who… preferred prison to speaking out against a son-priest.”

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the letter confirmed “how opportune it was to centralise treatment of cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”.

That step was taken in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict XVI – who headed the the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time.

Wii Fit Fall Woman Turns Into Nymphomaniac

April 16, 2010April 16, 2010 by Infinite

This condition can be (easily) ‘cured’ with acupuncture and neural therapy.

‘It began as a twinge down below…’

A Manchester woman who took a tumble from her Wii Fit board is suffering an earth-moving side effect of the Nintendo-related mishap: she’s now a nymphomaniac.

“Randy” Amanda Flowers, 24, was diagnosed with “persistent sexual arousal syndrome due to a damaged nerve”, the Daily Star explains. She’s susceptible to the “slightest of vibrations”, with anything from mobile phones to food processors guaranteed to give her a buzz.

She said: “It began as a twinge down below before surging through my body. Sometimes it built up into a trembling orgasm.”

The Star says the Harpurhey catering worker now requires “10 sex sessions a day”, although since she’s currently single she’ll have to make do with food processors, or preventative measures.

Catholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession

April 14, 2010 by Infinite

VIENNA—Austrian authorities have launched legal proceedings against a Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography and sharing it with others online.

Prosecution spokesman Erich Habitzl in the eastern city of Wiener Neustadt says the priest is not in custody but will soon have to defend himself in court.

Habitzl says the pornographic material was found on a hard drive.

He did not identify the priest or give further details in Monday’s announcement.

Public broadcaster ORF reported that investigators secured more than 400 files on the priest’s computer and that he has since been relieved of all his religious duties.

The priest faces up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Belgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints

April 14, 2010 by Infinite

BELGIAN bishops have failed to punish any clergy over 300 complaints of paedophilia brought to their attention in the 1990s, claims a priest who helped many victims.

”We brought forward between 1992 and 1998 more than 300 complaints from victims of abuse committed by priests, but only 15 ended up with admissions” of guilt, Father Rick Deville told the Flemish dailies De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad yesterday.

”A priest accused would most often be moved, but was never punished,” he complained.

Connecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill

April 14, 2010 by Infinite

The proposed change would put “all Church institutions … at risk,” a letter from Connecticut’s Catholic bishops says.

Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) — A bill in Connecticut’s legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure.

Under current Connecticut law, sexual abuse victims have 30 years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. The proposed change to the law would rescind that statute of limitations.

The proposed change to the law would put “all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk,” says the letter, which was signed by Connecticut’s three Roman Catholic bishops.

Richard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’

April 12, 2010April 12, 2010 by Infinite

– Pope ‘has no UK arrest immunity’ (Press Association):

Mr Stephens said: “The courts will examine the claim of immunity. I believe that an English court would reject it. If the Pope was here on a state visit, ordinarily a head of state would have sovereign immunity. What I believe is that because he’s not a sovereign, not a head of state, he’s not entitled to the defence.”

He said that the Vatican was declared to be a state by Benito Mussolini, but this had no standing in international law.

Pope ‘has no UK arrest immunity’

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

Germany says Vatican covered up severe sexual abuse

May 11, 2010April 12, 2010 by Infinite

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger at the chancellery in Berlin March 3, 2010/Thomas Peter

Germany’s justice minister accused the Vatican today of covering up severe sexual abuse in the Church after fresh reports surfaced at three Catholic schools in Bavaria.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called the developments “frightening” after the cathedral choir in Regensburg, the Benedictine monastery school at Ettal and a Capucian school in Burghausen revealed new cases of sexual and physical abuse.

The revelations followed reports last month that Catholic priests had sexually abused over 100 children at Jesuit schools around Germany, which led to a public apology from Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops Conference.

“In many schools there was a wall of silence allowing for abuse and violence,” Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a secular liberal politician who has been the government’s leading critic of the Church, told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.

“Even the most severe cases of abuse are subject only to papal secrecy and should not be disclosed outside the Church,” she said, citing a 2001 Catholic congregation directive.

Church officials rejected her charges. Bishop Stephan Ackermann, who speaks for the Church on abuse matters, called the minister’s comments “absurd”.

“Our guidelines insist that we involve state prosecutors,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Catholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint

April 11, 2010 by Infinite

“The lawsuit claims Father Fiala gave the teen a ride in a church truck to Big Spring for the teen to visit his girlfriend but stopped at a San Angelo Motel 6. There, he raped the teen at gunpoint in a room and said, “If you tell anyone what happened, I will hurt you and your family,” according to the suit.

On other occasions, the priest manipulated the teen into performing oral sex, once by leveraging his gift of a car and another time pulling a revolver on him, according to the suit.

The teen eventually ran away from home and attempted suicide, the suit says. A school counselor learned of the alleged abuse and contacted the Sheriff’s Office.”

Priest named in sexual abuse lawsuit

A Catholic priest from a rural parish west of San Antonio is accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy at gunpoint and during private catechism sessions two years ago.

The suit, which names outgoing Archbishop José Gomez as a defendant and claims he sought to conceal the matter, comes three days after the Vatican named Gomez as the next archbishop in Los Angeles.

Norway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims

April 11, 2010April 11, 2010 by Infinite

(AFP) — Norway’s Roman Catholic Church received so many email tip-offs about possible pedophile priests following revelations of abuse by a bishop that its computer crashed, a senior cleric said.

“I received so many email tip-offs about possible aggressions and other sexual abuse that the computer server crashed,” Bishop of Oslo and Trondheim Bernt Eidsvig was quoted as saying by the tabloid paper Verdens Gang.

Bernt disclosed on Wednesday at the request of the Vatican that one of Norway’s former bishops, German Georg Mueller, had abused a choirboy in the early 1990s.

Pope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys

April 4, 2010 by Infinite

John Paul ‘ignored abuse of 2,000 boys’

Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer abused an estimated 2,000 boys for decades without sanction

When John Paul II died five years ago the crowd that packed St Peter’s Square for his funeral clamoured “Santo subito (Saint now)!” in a spontaneous tribute to the charisma of the Polish pontiff.

As the faithful marked the anniversary of John Paul’s death on Good Friday, however, he was being drawn into the scandal over child abuse in the Catholic church that has confronted his successor, Benedict XVI, with the worst crisis of his reign.

Allegations that the late pontiff blocked an inquiry into a paedophile cardinal, promoted senior church figures despite accusations that they had molested boys and covered up innumerable cases of abuse during his 26-year papacy have cast a cloud over his path to sainthood.

The most serious claims related to Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, an Austrian friend of John Paul’s who abused an estimated 2,000 boys over decades but never faced any sanction from Rome.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Groer’s successor, criticised the handling of that scandal and other abuse cases last week after holding a special service in St Stephen’s cathedral, Vienna, entitled “Admitting our guilt”.

Schönborn condemned the “sinful structures” within the church and the patterns of “silencing” victims and “looking away”.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – who became Pope Benedict – had tried to investigate the abuses as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Schönborn. But his efforts had been blocked by “the Vatican”, an apparent reference to John Paul.

7-year-old girl gang-raped by two adults and three juveniles after 15-year-old stepsister sold her during a party

April 4, 2010 by Infinite

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Two adults and three juveniles have been charged with gang-raping a 7-year-old girl who police say was sold by her 15-year-old stepsister during a party at a crime-ridden New Jersey apartment building.

Details on the arrests were announced at a Saturday night news conference at police headquarters in Trenton, the state’s capital city.

The arrested people include a 20-year-old man who already had been charged Friday with having sex with the 15-year-old. The other four are a 19-year-old Trenton man and three boys ages 13, 14 and 17. Each is charged with aggravated sexual assault and child endangerment.

Police say further arrests may be made.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story is below.