Pope insists all institutions, not just church, be held to standards against child sex abuse

[n2doc]

FRANCES D'EMILIO
Associated Press
9:12 a.m. CST, November 26, 2011

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI insisted on Saturday that all of society's institutions and not just the Catholic church must be held to "exacting" standards in their response to sex abuse of children, and defended the church's efforts to confront the problem.

Benedict acknowledged in remarks to visiting U.S. bishops during an audience at the Vatican that pedophilia was a "scourge" for society, and that decades of scandals over clergy abusing children had left Catholics in the United States bewildered.

"It is my hope that the Church's conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society," he said.

"By the same token, just as the church is rightly held to exacting standards in this regard, all other institutions, without exception, should be held to the same standards," the pope said.

more

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-vatican-sex-abuse,0,7517540.story

[Speck Tater]

1. Ah, the famous "Everybody's Doing It" defense.

Like when you point out some Republican lie and your Republican friend's only response is "Well the Democrats do it too." Like that makes it OK.

[pennylane100]

2. That is one delusional pedophile.

His statement "The churches conscientious efforts to confront this reality will help the broader community to recognize the causes, true extent and devastating consequences of sexual abuse, and to respond effectively to this scourge which affects every level of society," is a joke. Some estimations of how much the church has paid out run as high as a billion dollars. That would have paid for a lot of purple dresses and pointy hats, not to mention a fleet of popmobiles, so he may want to lay of the self congratulation about the success of his efforts.

[Angry Dragon]

3. now that you caught us, it is time for everyone to play nice

[MADem]

4. He's a fan of Penn State's rival football team, is that it? nt

[libinnyandia]

5. The Church is an easy target. The truth is it happens not only in

churches. Any place where people do not question authority or consider the institution more important than individual rights is a place where susch things can happen.

[Sal Minella]

6. When the Pope starts providing cushy Vatican Library jobs to

pedophiles from other assorted institutions, I'll think he's serious about treating all organizations equally in this regard.

[rrneck]

7. Correct me if I'm wrong

but the rest of them already are. It's the church that has been getting getting away without scrutiny.

[MarkCharles]

8. The smug arrogance of the papacy, throughout history, never ceases

to astound me.

[rug]

9. Who can disagree with that?

[MarkCharles]

10. Not disagreeing with the statement, more of a case of ...

being stunned by who is the speaker of these words, and the institution which he represents, still after dozens of years the very same institution still mired in the scandal, and until most recently, at least, if not still ongoing, moving the culprits and those that covered up the culprit's acts around, so as to avoid prosecution.

[rug]

11. I'm glad you don't disagree wth the Pope's statement.

:thumbsup:

[MarkCharles]

13. Why would it matter if I do or do not? More important, why would

you be glad?

There is probably not a more arrogant statement made by any worldwide figure, not one more deserving of scorn for the hypocrisy involved. This is something you are glad that poor little me, an atheist, agrees with? Why?

[darkstar3]

12. I can. Not all institutions NEED to be held to such standards. Some already ARE.

Some states, schools, and national therapeutic organizations are so strict, in fact, that sex with people under your tutelage/care is illegal even if they are of age, because there are serious psychological issues involved. These are groups that don't need to be held to any other standards, because they're doing pretty damn well on their own right now.

I will agree, though, that the Church needs to be held to some form of standard, and I think a good place to start would be to jail the priests that have been confirmed to be involved, no matter how much money has been paid.

[cleanhippie]

17. Considering that he is the head poobah who also protects and hides child-rapers and all...

Lack of disagreement does not mean he is not a stunning hypocrite.

[skepticscott]

14. Let's remind the pope

that organizations which claim to have superior morality and moral authority because of their direct connection to gawd, and which presume to dictate that morality to individuals and sovereign governments all over the world, should be held to even HIGHER standards than everyone else, or be held up to ridicule as the blatant hypocrites they are.

[MarkCharles]

15. If you manage to get that message through to the Pope, send him an email or

something like that.

I think we should have a chapter of Occupy the Vatican, actually, as the best way to get in contact with that guy.

After all, when all is said and done, one has to ask why there is not already an Occupy Vatican movement going on over there.

I doubt the Pope does email or answers questions on his Vatican web site.

http://www.vatican.va/phome_en.htm

[NMMNG]

16. Most of them are

More importantly, most of them don't proclaim themselves the arbiters of everyone's morality while diddling children. The Pope needs to stop playing tu quoque and just deal with the skeletons in his closet.