Vatican Priest: Abuse Uproar Like Anti-Semitism

[sabra]

Source: CBS News/AP

Pope's Personal Preacher Defends Pontiff, Says Accusations Against Church Like "Collective Violence" Suffered by the Jews

(CBS/AP) Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to "collective violence" suffered by the Jews.

The Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa said in a Good Friday homily with the pope listening in St. Peter's Basilica that a Jewish friend wrote to him to say the accusations remind him of the "more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism."

The 82-year-old pontiff looked weary as he sat near the central altar during the early evening prayer service a few before he was scheduled to take part in a candlelit Way of the Cross procession near the Colosseum which commemorates Christ's suffering before his crucifixion.

...

The "coincidence" that Passover falls in the same week as Easter celebrations, said Cantalamessa, a Franciscan who offers reflections at Vatican Easter and Advent services, prompted him to think about Jews.

"They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms," the preacher said.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/02/world/main6357321.shtml?tag=stack

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Poor analogy.

[dflprincess]

10. Not entirely

the Church didn't do a whole lot about the Holocaust either. They just turned a blind eye to the sins those Gestapo members waltzing up to the Communion rails (and yes, a good chunk of them listed their religion as Catholic) were committing - just like they've done with pedophile priests.

Probably not a good idea for the Vatican to remind anyone of other times it has put its own interests above doing what it is right.

[dorkulon]

55. Good point.

I guess there are similarities, although not the ones this guy was thinking.

[TheLastMohican]

69. The head of Vatican

used to be a member of Hitlerjugend in his young days.
Tells a lot about their "values".

[Ian David]

2. Does he mean the collective violence suffered by The Jews at the hands of The Vatican? n/t

[gmoney]

3. Now the Catholic priests are molesting the Jews?

[HereSince1628]

6. The Spanish Inquisition was about pedophilic priests and Jews?

well, could be...

[struggle4progress]

24. No, the Spanish Inquisition was one of King Ferdinand's fund-raising projects

[HereSince1628]

61. Thanks for getting me _straight_.

[Ian David]

17. I'm sure that if it does happen, it's extra bragging-rights or something. n/t

[OnyxCollie]

48. LOL!

[valerief]

22. Only if they're minors. nt

[Socal31]

4. What in the holy hell.....

[Stuart G]

44. There is nothing holy about it...nt

[Tempest]

5. The church is scrapping the bottom of the barrel

In a failed attempt to deflect criticism of their sexual abuse crimes.

Don't they realize just how poorly they are coming across to the world?

[HereSince1628]

8. The Church is desperately looking for someone to scapegoat

Seems they are more likely to run into modern day "Martin Luthers"

[CountAllVotes]

7. The 82-year-old pontiff looked weary

Hmmm ... :tinfoilhat:

I wonder how long it will be before the pope is in the hospital or something.

The Vatican can't allow this to go on ... too many Catholics dumping the Church en mass.

[Nancy Waterman]

9. Except for the small fact the Jews weren't pedophiles

They were persecuted for their ethnic origin not their deeds. What a poor and really offensive analogy.

[KittyWampus]

60. Nancy, have you looked at the Catholic Church chart lately?

[Loge23]

11. Disgusting comment.

What a senseless, idiotic comment that is.
This guy is comparing a righteous outcry against sexual abuse to the holocaust??
That in itself is anti-semitism - even if "one of his best friends" is Jewish.
We've all heard that one before.
What are these people doing? By not taking a stand themselves they are reinforcing the image of the Pope as infallible. If this is so, then they are also condoning sexual abuse by their own hands as acceptible.
This organization is rapidly falling into the worst type of cult status.

[Rozlee]

45. "One of best friends Jewish?" Is that like a teabagger saying one of his best friends is black?

Just wondering.

:shrug:

[Loge23]

72. Yes, exactly. (eom)

[sulphurdunn]

73. Beats me.

I didn't say it. The priest did. :shrug: But we all know what a friend of the Jewish people the Vatican has been throughout its history. :rofl:

[pundaint]

12. Has the vatican engaged Republican PR firms? Criminals called out = innocents murdered, indeed!

Once a Nazi, always a nazi, it appears. Is there any truth to the rumor that Obama plans to introduce legislation to end this - the first step will be that all young boys must sign up to be altar boys, and a commission will be set up of priests to adjudicate complaints.

[StarlightGold]

13. This is from The Onion, right?

Come on, no one would possibly make this comparison out loud and in public. CBS should not be publishing stories from satire/joke sites.

[AngryOldDem]

14. They're like animals when backed into a corner.

What these dolts/felons don't get is that it would just be a hell of a lot easier to just come clean about it all.

And they've played this card before as it comes to defending their role as it concerned Jews in WWII. They point out that they also suffered and died in the camps too, as if it's some kind of game of one-upmanship.

It's just damned sad to see an institution basically unable to admit any kind of fault or culpability. They are sapping their own strength, which right now is not necessarily a bad thing.

[Stuart G]

41. So much like the Watergate ...same denials,,etc..etc..This one comment

will keep this going much longer. So much like Nixon...

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[coffeenap]

18. WTF??

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

16. NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Apparently not even the Spanish Inquisition...

:shrug:

[jwirr]

19. No it is not. Anti-Semitism is about who you are. What we are thinking

about the priest is about what they do. They were told as far back as the early 1500s to let their priest marry and they did not listen. Now they have the problem public. I do not feel sorry for them.

[No Elephants]

38. I dont't feel sorry for them, but child molestation is not the result of being unmarried.

Lots of single folk don't molest and lots of married folk do molest.

[Rozlee]

49. I feel child molestation is the result of enforced celibacy

I worked at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Hospital when I was a student nurse. Since it was a Catholic hospital, it had a tiny ward of "retired" nuns and 3 priests. The nuns were in between 60-90 and suffered from depression to schizophrenia. The priests were just sickos. One guy had a problem with masturbating like 8 or 9 times a day. I know, someone out there is going to say, I do that all the time! Well, bully for you. But, this fellow like wiping off everywhere. Walls, his dresser, his bedframe. Another stared at all the females (thank god they were females) and would do this comical number of bugging his eyes out, pursing his lips like a fish and smacking several times. The other one just kept his hand on his crotch and rarely took it off. I honestly believe that it's the unnatural view the church drills into them about sexuality. That it's a sin to do it and to even think of doing it. This really puts a pressure cooker on their sexuality. And children are vulnerable because they can't fight back like adults can.

[jwirr]

56. I was not suggesting it was but since living in sin is a no no then that

leaves marriage if they are going to deal with sexual needs. I was not saying that every unmarried person is likely to abuse children.

[Toasterlad]

58. I Think You Have It Backwards. I Think People Become Priests Due To Sexual Disfunction

Very few people would voluntarily choose a life of enforced celibacy were they not suffering from some kind of sexual hangup. Many priests are gays who hide behind the collar so that no one questions why they never date or marry (my parish priest was one of these). And then there are the pedophiles, who either eagerly join the priesthood for the access to children, or desperately join in the hopes that god will "save" them from their affliction, or both.

[superconnected]

20. Why can't they admit and correct. His foot is pretty far down his throat

now.

[valerief]

21. What about the kids with the sore a$$holes? I think they're suffering more than the Vatican.

God, I get more and more angry every time I see this Roman douche in drag beating his I'm a Victim drum.

[Democat]

51. The pope and the church are victims here, not the children!

Didn't you hear the priest? The abuse of thousands of children is not the problem. The problem is that anyone dare question the church about the abuse of children.

[I Have A Dream]

23. delete

husband inadvertently logged in as Dream.

[I Have A Dream]

25. delete

husband inadvertently logged in as Dream.

[Jefferson23]

26. PATHETIC, now go and help the children, you freaking hypocrites.

[Toasterlad]

59. I Think They've Done Enough For the Children.

Any person with an ounce of sense would keep their child far from the catholic church.

[Jefferson23]

68. I wish they would, but I have seen no evidence of parents collectively

protesting the church....this should be happening in significant numbers.

Ultimately, the Vatican needs to help the children with some layer of honesty. But I agree with you,
why anyone trusts them is beyond me. And why no outrage for the victims, I don't get it.

[Walk away]

27. Ex-Nazi suffers from anti-semitism?

If this criminal is tired perhaps he should quit. I would prefer he have to answer questions about his policy of legitimizing Holocaust deniers and welcoming them back into his church after they had been expelled by a non-Nazi Pope.

[sulphurdunn]

28. Wait a minute.

Is this priest saying that denouncing priests who bugger children is like supporting SS thugs who gassed Jews because some unnamed Jewish friend of his says so? :crazy:

[sabra]

30. and the "coincidence" that it's Passover this week...

:crazy:

[Odin2005]

29. LOL, these nitwits are pathetic.

[Metta]

31. One of the pope's mouthpieces in this is the guy who covered up the Boston rapes for years.

Scum rises to the top while those on the bottom get burned. Happy karma.

[Submariner]

32. Pope's just pissed because he got caught LYING n/t

[Stuart G]

33. This is a place the Vatican really didn't want to go to...and it has went..Well,.

The Jews, myself included, do not like having any kind of connection to these jerks.
These leaders, Benedict at the top, had better watch out where they step with this nonsence..Looks like the end game to me.

[Chulanowa]

34. That is the stupidest thing I've heard

No, seriously, that is so fucking stupid that... goddamn, I can't even come up with an analogy for stupidity like that. jesus fucking christ that's... Sooooo fucking stupid!

[Stuart G]

37. Yes, you said it clearly.."So fucking stupid..." and I agree nt

[pattmarty]

35. This is not the road they should be taking. This will create mucho backlash.

[mitchum]

36. Holy projection, Godman!

[No Elephants]

39. LOL!

[No Elephants]

40. Pope Benny?

Talk about tone deaf.

[Stuart G]

42. This is the Number 1 story at BBC. News...not good for the Pope..here is link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8601084.stm

[laylah]

43. As a "recovering" Catholic, I say

BULLSHIT! May they all rot and burn in their own created Hell! :mad:

[Rage Inc.]

46. Worst of all.....

...it further waters down the term "anti-Semitism," which has been thrown about so much lately that it has lost most of its impact.

[defendandprotect]

47. Anti-Semitism begins in the Pope's Jewish Ghettoes where Jews were forced to wear Yellow Stars-!!

Jews were forced into Jewish Ghettoes by the Vatican and isolated from society --

barred from education, professions, society -- for 1,100 years!!!


Anti-Semitism was introduced by the Vatican and after 1,100 years when the Jews were

released from the Papal ghettoes by first the French - "All are created equal" --

and then by the Italians -- the Vatican then proceeded with another 100 years of vile

propaganda against the Jews. Any wonder that it was so easy for Hitler to arouse anti-Jewish

sentiment?

Also keep in mind that Jesus was a Jew and the son of a Hebrew god --

which gives us just a brief glimpse of how distorted and convoluted the teachings of the

RCC are!


The Vatican is at war with nature, women, Jews, homosexuals, Africans, Native Americans,

Pagan peoples -- anyone who denies their version of events or reality!

One of their most harmful wars we need to overturn is on Nature -- "Manifest Destiny" and

"Man's Dominion Over Nature" --

[Democat]

50. The church - not the children - are the victims here?

What strange planet does this priest live on where the church - and not the children who were abused - are the victims in this case?

I can't believe it.

[booley]

52. Except Blood Libel was made up

BTW, you would think that a catholic church rep would know to steer clear from making people think about the history of anti-semitism.

The Church's record on that isn't too stellar either.

[closeupready]

53. self-delete

self-delete

[Toasterlad]

54. Fucking Shameless

Catholic = Yay, pedophilia!

[dorkulon]

57. Is this narcissism, or sociopathy, or both? I can't tell anymore.

Inability to take responsibility, feelings of persecution when held accountable....?

[newspeak]

76. I'd say sociopathy

Don't think of all those poor small victims-we are really the victims.

[and-justice-for-all]

62. the church needs to go the way of the dinosaur....

these child molesting freaks are revolting.

[Stuart G]

63. For a while, I did think that the Pope and his direct followers, those that

are responsible, could somehow get this story to .."go away.."
This one incredible comment by a so called "church leader" ended that. In fact, now they are going to have to apologize for this comment, then for the whole mess, and I doubt they will do anything like that ...Oh, it is ..."taken out of context..." they will say.


Well good for them. That leadership is going to get what it gets....and it won't be pretty.

[Stuart G]

64. For a while, I did think that the Pope and his direct followers, those that

are responsible, could somehow get this story to .."go away.."
This one incredible comment by a so called "church leader" ended that. In fact, now they are going to have to apologize for this comment, then for the whole mess, and I doubt they will do anything like that ...Oh, it is ..."taken out of context..." they will say.


Well good for them. That leadership is going to get what it gets....and it won't be pretty.

[fascisthunter]

65. OMG that is Extremely Disgusting!!!!

[crim son]

66. Can you believe THIS was the comparison made?

Incredible and vile.

[harry_pothead]

67. The only thing going on is that people are getting wise to the Vatican

and Pope Ratzinger's final solution to the "Little Boy Question."

[RainDog]

70. the pope thinks he and all the pedophiles he shielded over the years are above the law

he thinks they do not have to answer to the governing bodies where they have churches.

well, he's wrong.

any ruling that gives him diplomatic immunity, etc. (as in Bush) is wrong.

this is the problem. the hubris of this institution is that the pope thinks no one has any right to say anything to him because he made the decision to shield pedophiles from punishment AND, to add injury upon injury, ALLOWED THEM TO CONTINUE TO ABUSE CHILDREN.

he should be thrown in jail for obstruction of justice. no one is above the law in this nation.

if this is what the pope thinks, then we need to let American Catholic churches decide to either comply with the law of the U.S. or shut their doors. If they want to break with this pedophile and assume their place within this nation of citizens who may have various religious beliefs, great.

this institution and its leader thinks it is not liable for DESTROYING LIVES. please, understand this: THE POPE IS DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR DESTROYING THE LIVES OF HUNDREDS IF NOT THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN IN THIS NATION.

And he things he should not face any penalty for doing so. he's like Bush and Cheney and their war crimes. he's like Saddam Hussein and his torture rooms. he's like the man who was just put in jail for 50 years for murdering a doctor who provided health care services to women that the man didn't like.

that's what the pope doesn't want to face. WE DO NOT think he deserves any special treatment because of his position. He cannot make anyone think of him as an emissary of god when he acts like the leader of an international pedophile ring.

[JerseygirlCT]

71. They really need to pull their collective heads from their collective

posteriors, and quit with the victim game.

These men were not the victims, and they are not being victimized now. It's insulting, horribly so, to have them claim they are.

They were the enablers and the perpetrators of horrific crimes against the most helpless people put into their care. Children who were horribly harmed because of the trust they had in these men.

It's time to practice that great sacrament of reconciliation. And not as the ones administering it.

[Politicub]

74. Wow - sickening and pathetic

If they really feel maligned about covering for child rapists or are trying a PR move, it's despicable either way.

[TankLV]

75. Boy - that's rich! Fucking asshole...