The Pope was complicit

[kpete]

Hitchens takes on the Vatican over pedophile scandal - the Pope was complicit
by John Aravosis (DC) on 3/17/2010 02:25:00 PM
Wash Post:

The great Catholic cover-up

By Christopher Hitchens
Slate contributor

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/03/the_great_catholic_cover-up.html

Very much more serious is the role of Joseph Ratzinger, before the church decided to make him supreme leader, in obstructing justice on a global scale. After his promotion to cardinal, he was put in charge of the so-called "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" (formerly known as the Inquisition). In 2001, Pope John Paul II placed this department in charge of the investigation of child rape and torture by Catholic priests. In May of that year, Ratzinger issued a confidential letter to every bishop. In it, he reminded them of the extreme gravity of a certain crime. But that crime was the reporting of the rape and torture. The accusations, intoned Ratzinger, were only treatable within the church's own exclusive jurisdiction. Any sharing of the evidence with legal authorities or the press was utterly forbidden. Charges were to be investigated "in the most secretive way ... restrained by a perpetual silence ... and everyone ... is to observe the strictest secret which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office ... under the penalty of excommunication." (My italics). Nobody has yet been excommunicated for the rape and torture of children, but exposing the offense could get you into serious trouble. And this is the church that warns us against moral relativism! (See, for more on this appalling document, two reports in the London Observer of April 24, 2005, by Jamie Doward.)

Not content with shielding its own priests from the law, Ratzinger's office even wrote its own private statute of limitations. The church's jurisdiction, claimed Ratzinger, "begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age" and then lasts for 10 more years. Daniel Shea, the attorney for two victims who sued Ratzinger and a church in Texas, correctly describes that latter stipulation as an obstruction of justice. "You can't investigate a case if you never find out about it. If you can manage to keep it secret for 18 years plus 10, the priest will get away with it."

via:
http://www.americablog.com/2010/03/hitchens-takes-on-vatican-over.html

(i know its hitchens, but still....recovering catholic-kpete)

[FiveGoodMen]

1. How can anyone follow that fucker?

[global1]

2. Are You Referring To Hitchens Or The Pope?......nt

[kpete]

3. the story

mostly...kp

[FiveGoodMen]

4. The pope.

[Kalun D]

6. Church

(edit after reading all posts)

the church has a strong history with things like Hitler and pedophilia.

there are quite a few "fuc*ers" in the Catholic hierarchy to be exact.

for the record I don't see anything wrong with religion per-se, especially when you look at what it does for the followers, it's the leaders that frequently seem to be corrupt.

[elfin]

5. Of course he was (and is)

However, he will skate, being infallible and all.

[Call Me Wesley]

9. I'm not sure of this.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel just called the Vatican out. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7937561

There is investigation besides the Church underway. If this all goes through, he still might skate, but it'll be within the walls of the Vatican.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. this approach goes back to the days when owning a bible was forbidden

because if a layperson could look up a section, and learn that their head sheep tender was lying through his teeth, the church would lose authority.

Only the church can determine right and wrong, and the relative nature of the sin in question. Protecting each and every warrior of christ is far more important than protecting children from sexual predation, if the predators are priests. And since the church is the source of all authority, of all definitions of right and wrong, and since the church can do no wrong, protection of the priest predator class is far more important than the tight little butts of those sexy six year olds.

bastards all.

[Call Me Wesley]

8. "Within the church's own exclusive jurisdiction."

I don't think there will be an easy way out of the vast avalanche of recently filed accusations (350+ so far and counting.) Not even for the Pope, who's now in the spotlight along with his brother.

[malaise]

11. They are all scumbags

Fuck all of them - they should be among the prison population being treated the way child molesters are treated by fellow criminals.

[happyslug]

10. This was for INTERNAL CHURCH DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS NOT CRIMINAL REPORTS

The Vatican has made that clear, it admits the English translation could be viewed as saying the bishops can NOT report allegations of abuse but it is clear on reading the actual document that the only thing prohibited is talking about the INTERNAL CHURCH INVESTIGATION to outsiders. i.e. The bishops involved are to keep their investigation SECRET to protect both the name of the accused AND the accuser. As to the ten year statute of limitation that was a change from the previous five years statute of limitation (Most States have only a two year statute of limitation AND then it is from the date of the crime NOT when the child reaches 18). Furthermore the pope clearly stated that any Bishop under a LEGAL OBLIGATION TO REPORT ABUSE TO THE STATE MUST DO SO.

This was reported on 3-15-2010 (Monday) at the following DU Cite:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7921117

The Vatican response to this report:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/e1_en.htm

[katandmoon]

12. Did the bishops report the cases? Did the pope investigate to ensure that they did?

[happyslug]

13. The "Inquisition" only has jurisdiction over internal church items

One of my favorite Stories about the Spanish Inquisition was when a Moslem was brought before the Spanish Inquisition and declared in open court he had always been a Moslem. He had NEVER passed himself off as a Christian. As such the Spanish Inquisition had to leave him go, for they had no jurisdiction over him for he was NOT a Christian (Most of the Jews and Moslem investigated by the Spanish Inquisition were "Convertors" i.e. those who had "converted" to being Catholic. As such the Inquisition had jurisdiction over them.

The same with "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" it involves only internal issues of the Church. Given that no Country, even Countries that has the Catholic Church as a State Church, permit the Church to question someone's religion today the sole area the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" has jurisdiction over today is the Priests themselves. The "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" does NOT even have jurisdiction over the victims, so such victims can NOT bring any action in "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith".

A good comparison would be a private company firing an employee for abusing a child. Such a termination is within the discretion of the private company. The victim has no say in it and WHY the private company does do can be kept secret from anyone else. Now if the private company has a duty to report the crime, it must do so, but that does NOT mean it can NOT exercise its own "punishment" to the perpetrator AND keep quiet about it. The private company do perform its own disciplinary actions on the perpetrator, even if the private company has no duty to report the crime.

Lets kept the power and Jurisdiction of the "Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith" in mind when we read of its actions and inactions. It is an internal court NOT a Criminal or Civil Court.

[K8-EEE]

14. Impossible, he's INFALLIBLE!

Cripes, I grew up in that religion and still can't believe anybody can reconcile the papal "infallible" shit with what Popes have done throughout history.

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. "Holy Father" indeed. His priorities are all too clear

and the children are nowhere near the top.