The Pope Assumes Responsibility

[truthBtold]

I wonder if while people are in church and the priest is talking his bullshit up at the pulpit, how many people think to themselves. ..... hhmmm I wonder if he ever molested a child. . Or hhmm.. is there a little kid under his robe right now..

[Minimalist]

[Crossless2.0]

I wonder if while people are in church and the priest is talking his bullshit up at the pulpit, how many people think to themselves. ..... hhmmm I wonder if he ever molested a child. . Or hhmm.. is there a little kid under his robe right now..

I wonder if it ever occurs to these imbeciles that their collection offerings are helping to fund a criminal conspiracy.

[Esquilax]

I wonder if it ever occurs to these imbeciles that their collection offerings are helping to fund a criminal conspiracy.

Given that one could charitably call all of organized religion fraud, I have to say the Catholics aren't alone in falling victim to one of those.

[Coffee Jesus]

Turn priests into eunuchs, or let them marry and have sex, or something else.

I doubt that will work. Many of these people are primarily or exclusively attracted to minors. I would exprect this to be particular true of the pedophiles who become preists rather than marry.

Regarding the statistic below, the sample is probably biased toward more severe cases because it consists only of the pedophiles who came to seek help (some were convicted already, some weren't), but there could be a similar bias among the pedophiles who become preists.

"Of these 241 interviewees, 57.7% (N = 139) expressed a sexual preference for prepubescent
minors and, thus, were diagnosed as pedophiles, which could be differentiated
into the exclusive type (N = 90) and the non-exclusive type (N = 49)
according to DSM-IV-TR. 27.8% (N = 67) reported a preference for
pubescent minors. For 10.8% (N = 26) a sexual preference toward mature
adults could be established following the clinical interview. Finally, 3.7%
(N = 9) could not be reliably categorized regarding their sexual preference."

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.10...0903174188

[cromwell]

Unfortunately, this isn't just a problem with the catholic church. children brought up in care homes, children in young offenders institutions, the list goes on, all these people where covered for by their superiors. It's shocking to think of the scale this went on at across a whole range of institutions. Pedophiles have and always will find a place where they know they can be given trusted positions around children and young vulnerable people. The priest hood was just one of the many places they used to get what they truly wanted.

[JesusHChrist]

No not just a problem with the Catholic Church. What is different about the child abuse at the RCC is the way the investigations have been stonewalled, the perpetrators protected and in some cases spirited away out of the country, the lack of concern for the most vulnerable and a pervasive holier than thou attitude - at least until they started losing billions in judgments. It took decades of denials and coverups before the first inkling of accountability was shown. Even now, they are still in protect their asses mode.

If a corporation behaved this way, it would be sued into oblivion and rightly so.

The PR damage has been enormous. The Catholic "Brand" (of bullshit) forever tarnished. The butt of jokes on South Park and late night TV. Part of pop culture even.

Fuckers.

[Coffee Jesus]

The Bishop in Chicago recently released a bunch of letters exchanged between high ranking clergy and preists suspected of pedophilia. They acted like everything was cool and they were still buddies... Maybe they were faking it.

[Esquilax]

The Bishop in Chicago recently released a bunch of letters exchanged between high ranking clergy and preists suspected of pedophilia. They acted like everything was cool and they were still buddies... Maybe they were faking it.

Faking it is kind of the Catholic church's M.O.

[ThomM]

No pope has ever taken personal responsibility for the tens of thousands of children who were molested by priests over decades as bishops moved them from parish to parish rather than reporting them to police. Pope John Paul II denounced priests who hurt children, saying there was no place for them in the priesthood. Pope Benedict XVI expressed sorrow and regret to victims, met with them and even wept with them. But neither ever took personal responsibility for the scandal or begged forgiveness as Francis did.

If it didn't happen on his watch as pope or as Bishop or archbishop, then the responsibility is not Francis' to take. It is those who prepetrated the acts and those who directly protected the prepetrators who must be held responsible whether they "take " responsibility or not.

The only reason why francis might choose to "take responsibility" that is not his is he knows he stands to lose nothing by taking responsibility. Instead he stands only to gain in personal standing amongst the impressionable by "taking responsibility". What is more, by thus risking nothing while gaining something, he also deflects further criticism from his church.

If he wants to do the right thing, then don't take responsibility. Instead hold those who are guilty responsible.
[/quote]

Sorry - but the reason why he chose to take personal responsibility is MONEY

While there are still those believers who still say that NO priest ever did these things and the people who claim them are just out for the money - the problem is that these are likely to be older members of the church - and they are dying off.

The aging and dying off of the believers is an obvious and ominous trend for the Pope. ANd doing "something" to make the church relevant again for those who were alienated is a priority. While MY personal experiences could NEVER be overcome by anything they say - or do - there are still some who might be brought back by pandering like this. Especially in the third world countries which is the only place where the church is still growing.