Sex crimes and the Vatican

[Seb]

Bucking fuggers!

I missed the BBC Panorama prog tonight, will have to watch it online.

Sex crimes and the Vatican

A secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church is examined by Panorama.
Crimen Sollicitationis was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope.

It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders.

Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.

Bishops condemn BBC abuse claim

The Catholic Church has accused a BBC documentary of a "deeply prejudiced attack" on the Pope over claims of a systematic cover-up of child sex abuse.
Panorama examined a document which allegedly encourages secrecy in dealing with cases of priests abusing children.

It says this was enforced by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope.

[Glen Livet]

Well having listened to the RC official spokesman on Radio4 this morning I'd say they are damning themselves with every sentence they utter.

His so called 'rebuttal' was so full of 'I can't answer that' 'I don't know' and 'I have no knowledge about that' that far from being a rebuttal it started to look like a cover up in itself.

I did see the programme. For once we were dealing in hard proven fact, not vague allegations. In each proven case of child sex abuse there was a direct link back to Rome.

[Moosey]

Hmm well i don't think anyone will be surprised by the knowledge that the vatical was covering up child sex abuse though, will they?

[Benkyo]

No-one on this forum, perhaps.

[Jinx]

It is nice to see evidence, though. Can you impeach the pope?

[Moosey]

I don't know. I suppose the present pope wasn't in place when most of this was going on.

[Jinx]

Er... Moosey, if I've read it right the present pope was the one organising this.

[Puck]

But not while he was pope. Now that he's god's own pope, he's got a direct connection to god, so he can do no wrong.

[Seb]

I'm having problems watching this online. Every time I try to watch something in windows media player from a website it gets closed down, "send error report" etc.

It's really annoying? Does anybody know what could be going wrong? The Media Player works fine apart from when trying to stream something from a webpage. Doh!

[Jinx]

Originally Posted by Puck

But not while he was pope. Now that he's god's own pope, he's got a direct connection to god, so he can do no wrong.

All right, how about arrested?

[Pyrogenesis]

Is this thread about that paedobaptism thing I was reading about in the objective ministries site?

[Meathead]

On a similar note, Dennis Hastert, the republican house speak, knew for a very long time that his fellow republican congressman, Mark Foley, is a sexual predator of young boys. The reason why the higher ups never came out with it, of course, is that doing so would affect their interests in that they would lose a republican vote and also perhaps lose the seat to a democrat. Bunch of sick f*cks.

[Puck]

All right, how about arrested?

I would think that as long as he stays in Vatican City, he's free and clear. It's it's own Country, isn't it? Who there would have the balls or legal right to arrest him? And who in another Country would? Maybe a Muslim country, but none other that I can think of.

Too bad the old pope got shot, now Ratty has a Pope Moblie to tool abouts in.

As an aside, am I the only one who thinks a pope is a funny, silly, stupid thing? I just find the whole concept comical and unrealistic and...stupid.

[Ikari Gendou]

As an aside, am I the only one who thinks a pope is a funny, silly, stupid thing? I just find the whole concept comical and unrealistic and...stupid.

The Pope claiming infallibility is unrealistic. I seriously do not know how religious followers can believe such a thing. Besides all of this craziness, I have always wondered how the Catholic Church reconciles their lavish surroundings, with the teachings of Christ. With all of the gold the Church owns, they could help fight world hunger. Humility is another thing the Catholic Church has thrown out the window, because Jesus Christ's teachings did not fit their teachings and wants. Why should they follow his teachings, He is only their Lord and God.

[Puck]

Ikari, I suspect they'd say it was to preserve history, not their own greed for lush surroundings.

And yes, many catholics seem to think that the pope is not capable of mistakes, that god is guiding him all the way. I think they worship the pope right after the trinity and Mary.

[Pastafarian]

Originally Posted by Ikari Gendou

The Pope claiming infallibility is unrealistic. I seriously do not know how religious followers can believe such a thing.

I don't know. If you can digest the rest of the package, I don't see that papal infallibility would be so tough to swallow. Besides, I understand the Catholic Church does not claim blanket infallibility for the pope, only infallibility under certain apparently-arguable conditions. Also, ecumenical infallibility seems to be claimed for more statements than papal infallibility.

None of it makes any sense to me.

[Ikari Gendou]

Ikari, I suspect they'd say it was to preserve history, not their own greed for lush surroundings.

Unfortunately for the Church, the argument falls flat on its face. They are going to proclaim to the world, History is more important than human lives. I do not think so. That is why the Church would have to shy away from the question as much as possible.

I don't know. If you can digest the rest of the package, I don't see that papal infallibility would be so tough to swallow. Besides, I understand the Catholic Church does not claim blanket infallibility for the pope, only infallibility under certain apparently-arguable conditions. Also, ecumenical infallibility seems to be claimed for more statements than papal infallibility.

None of it makes any sense to me.

You have to remember, the average Catholic does not research his or her beliefs. They go to Church every Sunday, and believe it makes them a good person. It is much easier to believe something which is distant, (you proclaim you have faith) than it is to believe something with is tangible.