Vatican reveals secrets of worst sins- Cracker discretion worse than genocide

[Ichingcarpenter]

The sins are considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them


The Apostolic Penitentiary, or "tribunal of conscience", has been shrouded in secrecy ever since it was established by Pope Alexander III in 1179 and until now has never provided details of the cases it scrutinises.
They are considered so heinous by the Catholic Church that only the Pope can grant absolution to those who perpetrate them.

While priests and bishops can deal with confessions of sins as grave as murder or even genocide, the tribunal is reserved for crimes which are viewed by the Church as even more serious.


They include attempting to assassinate the Pope, a priest abusing the confidentiality of the confessional by revealing the nature of the sin and the person who admitted to it, or a priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act.

A third type of case that comes before the tribunal involves a man who directly participates in an abortion - even by paying for it - who then seeks to become a priest or deacon.

"That is an irregularity and it means he should not receive the ordination without a dispensation from the Pope," said Cardinal James Francis Stafford, the American who heads the Apostolic Penitentiary.
Defiling the Eucharist, which Catholics believe is the body and blood of Christ, is also considered a sin of extreme gravity and one which is on the increase, the high-ranking members of the tribunal said.


In July last year an American academic, to make a point about freedom of thought and religion, drove a nail through a Communion wafer and then threw it in a rubbish bin.




Such sins, which can only be dealt with by the Pope, acting through the tribunal, bring automatic excommunication from the Church. If the Pope decides to grant absolution, the excommunication is lifted.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/vaticancityandholysee/4247756/Vatican-reveals-secrets-of-worst-sins.html?whaargarbl

[leftstreet]

1. "a sin of extreme gravity and one which is on the increase"

:wtf:

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. Yeah, those are some mad writing skillz there.

:sarcasm:

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. He has every right to do that. Just don't expect to make many Catholic friends. nt

[DemBones DemBones]

4. You'll notice he doesn't have the balls to desecrate the Koran. nt

[Bill McBlueState]

8. Are you talking about PZ Myers?

If so, see here: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/the_great_desecration.php#more

specifically here:

[Xipe Totec]

5. I'm going straight to hell...

Obleas con cajeta:

This little treat from Mexico really shows how diverse candy can be and still be interesting. What you get here is caramel sandwiched between something that resembles a communion wafer. You might be asking, what's the deal with the goat on the package. Well from what I've been told, the caramel in this treat is made from goat's milk.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. Ah, yes, the Vatican's vaunted moral authority.

Now, if you'll excuse them, they have some pedophile Priests they need to help avoid law enforcement.

[hedgehog]

7. You know, in theory, most of the pedophile priests should have ended up

before this tribunal:

"a priest who has sex with someone and then offers forgiveness for the act."

Didn't most of these priest tell their victims that it wasn't a sin?

[damntexdem]

10. But if the victims believed that it wasn't a sin, then the priests didn't have to absolve it.

Nor would the victim need to tell another priest about it. Get the picture?

[hedgehog]

11. Givren the Vatican's prediliction for bureacractic technicalities over truth,

you're probably right. A rapist who tells his victim that the crime is the victim's fault because the victim is so tempting but that the victim is forgiven because the rapist is a priest, that is certainly a horrendous sin. The case could be made that it is one of the few sins Jesus denounced directly ("And whosoever shall be a snare to one of the little ones who believe in me, it were better for him if a millstone were hung about his neck, and he cast into the sea.")

However, since this doesn't technicallyconstitute absolution, the Vatican boys would probably let these guys off the hook.


I am sure that there will be many comments on this thread denouncing the Catholic Church. No one has done as much harm to the Church as the men who claim to be her shepherds!

[Warren DeMontague]

13. I'm not worried about "Sin", I'm worried about "Crime". And as far as I can tell

there's evidence that the Vatican hierarchy; all the way up to the dude at the top, right now- have been at least ancillarily involved in what looks to me to be a deliberate international conspiracy to help these guys escape justice.

Not only don't I give a shit about their pompous opinions on abortion, birth control, etc.. I think they all ought to consider themselves lucky they're not in jail.

[hedgehog]

15. It is very rare for a white middle class man to be punished for his crimes.

I'll give latitude for what happened before a certain date, say about 1985 or 1990. Most people were pretty ignorant about sexual abuse back then and a case could be made that the bishops didn't know any better. If a bishop knew about something that happened after that date and didn't call the police, then he's guilty of aiding and abetting.


Even today, we were told if we suspected something, we should talk to the pastor or someone in charge. Maybe that'll protect he innocent, but aren't most crimes reported to the police?

[Warren DeMontague]

18. This looks pretty damning, to me.

If you'll excuse the pun.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/aug/17/religion.childprotection

[hedgehog]

19. I would really like to know the history of that document.

On the one hand, it seems totally out of character for John XXIII to have signed off on this. Maybe he never saw it?

On the other hand, people were very naive back then. Middle school kids know more about sexual abuse now than most adults knew back then. A lot of bishops (most bishops?) back then had been sent to seminary in high school and were woefully unfamiliar with normal sexuality, let alone pedophilia! I can understand how a bishop back then could panic when confronted with a pedophile who was a brother priest rather than the stereotypical bum from the rail yard. Don't forget, until about 20 or 30 years ago, it was quite common for a rapist in an American criminal court to defend himself by putting the victim's sex life on trial.

We've come a long way since those days. I can forgive bishops for what happened back then, but I hold them fully responsible for everything they've done in the last 20 to 30 years.

[damntexdem]

9. Genocide -- schmenocide: we gotta hit attacks on our processes.

The Vatican, devoted to two saints: Santo Testosterone and and Santa Bureaucracia.

[rug]

12. Never mock with your fly open. The word is desecration.

[Xipe Totec]

20. You would have to wash the blood for that

consecration - blessing with blood

desecration - removing the blood

[mmonk]

14. Unleavened bread or "wafer".

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. Do you mean "desecration"?

N.T.

[Ichingcarpenter]

17. You will burn in hell now

for pointing out my spelling mistake. No crackers for you!!!

Yes, I saw that but it was too late to edit. LOL