Latin America confronts sexual abuse by Catholic priests

[struggle4progress]

By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer / April 12, 2010
Mexico City

Tomasa Andrade, a nurse in Mexico City, has been a Roman Catholic all her life. Praying in an empty church before a weekday mass begins, she says the controversy sweeping the Vatican over the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests has not tested her faith. "I believe in God, not in priests," she says. "They are human and can commit the worst crimes there are."

But, she adds, her faith – and her faith in the institution – are two different things. "There should be justice," she says, adding that so far the leaders in Latin America are not taking a strong enough stance against the sex-abuse cases that have surfaced in the region and the ones across Europe now rocking the Vatican ...

Some leaders have had a muted response. "Latin America is looking at it from a distance, with a 'proceed with caution' attitude," says Manuel Vasquez, a religious studies expert at the University of Florida in Gainesville. "I don't think we've seen the full extent of the crisis in Latin America" ...

In Chile, the Archbishop of Santiago said recently that the Catholic Church is investigating a handful of cases. The most recent involves a Spanish priest arrested for possessing child pornography. In 2003, another priest was sentenced to 12 years in prison for abusing and raping a minor. In Brazil, three priests were accused recently of sexually abusing altar boys and have been suspended ...

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0412/Latin-America-confronts-sexual-abuse-by-Catholic-priests/(page)/2

[jonusb]

1. what

what what what what what what what what

[iris27]

2. "There should be justice..." YES.

Good for Sra. Andrade.

[Facebook Group]

3. Justice will prevail

We all await the time when all of the abuses by the leaders of the Catholic faith, whom in the name of God have acted in inhumanely for centuries will be forced into penance. If not for the blind faith of millions of catholics, then the reign of this kingdom would have ended long ago. There is now a facebook page called "Down with Pope Benedict XVI" I hope millions of people around the world join this group as a show of force against Ratzinger, who is a blemish on an institution that has long been corrupt.