Vatican Embassy Protestor

[StealthySkeptic]

I was walking home today along Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington D.C., when I noticed an elderly gentleman standing in front of the Vatican embassy with these signs:





So I approached him and took these pictures. He told me his name is John Wojnowski, a Polish Catholic who in 1958 was molested at the age of 15 by a Catholic priest. Sadly, we all know that this is an all too common occurrence but it was so traumatic that John repressed this memory until a Texas boy was abused in 1997.

John is now 70 years old and has walked an hour each way every single day from 4 PM until dark for the past fifteen years to stand in front of the Vatican embassy, only to be insulted, spat at, and cursed to hell by ignorant sheeple who are so cowed by the Catholic oligarchy that they will happily sit on the sidelines and support its proclamation to be the salvation of the world while at the same time doing these monstrous things and getting away with it. As long as the world buys Pope Francis's PR and misdirection, however, nobody's going to give a shit- until the next scandal. Whenever Frankie boy dies, he will be replaced by another puppet who presides over a golden palace while thousands of victims are treated as opportunities to save face in pointless meetings and children dig through Rome's dumpsters for food.

John is only one elderly protestor, but in one afternoon, he shook me out of my malaise when it comes to the situation and now I'm hopping mad. After his story, I'm convinced the Vatican is nothing but a stain, and I will continue to keep John in my thoughts until the Vatican does something to change or its grip on a billion Catholics ends. Hope this story inspires you as it did me.

[Purplundy]

He has a right to be angry. Francis is a nice guy and all, and he IS acknowledging the problem of child molestation, but he's just. Not. Fixing it.
Francis' gotta grab this papal bull by the horns, so to speak, and make this a thing of the past.

[MJ the Skeptical]

The Catholic church will probably never go after their pedophile priests, which is estimated around 1 in 50, or 2%. It just doesn't make sense for them to turn over those priests and admit that they can do wrong. Islam and Christianity will continue to shuffle away those pedophiles from justice until we the people hand them justice or we all demand it. Because their god(s) sure as fuck aren't stopping little kids from being raped. If I was a god I know I would stop a child's rape instead of watching it, plus there is no free will if you know everything ahead of time, so why not just stop the guy from raping the kid. Do it in a way which the rapist doesn't even realize he's being stopped, like when Yahweh froze the Pharaoh's heart. Just make every rapists' penis go flaccid.

[ShaMan]

LOVE THE OLD DUDE!

Francis' gotta grab this papal bull by the horns, so to speak, and make this a thing of the past.

If you're talking about making child rape a thing of the past, then you had better propose a schematic for a revised Human experience. This is a 'Human' thing, and not just a 'Catholic' thing. One man, no matter how influential, cannot change Human nature with his words or actions.

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ETA: If you're talking about the way the Catholic Church handles its mistakes, well then I'm afraid I'll just have to redirect to my above comment about Human nature and the experience of Mankind at its current state of evolution.

[vorlon13]

What, 1400 years or so of recorded child abuse just within Catholicism, maybe they need to get honest with themselves and decide it'a sacrament.

They can talk to the Afghanis about setting up a bacha bazi system.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The Church could make a HUGE dent in this problem, and refurbish its image (to an extent) by simply adopting the policy that the sexual abuse of children isn't just a sin, it is also an indictable offense. Announcing that any and all clergy suspected or accused of abusing children will be immediately handed over to the secular authorities for investigation would send the message that the Church will no longer be a haven for paedophiles.

That Francis hasn't taken this step is shameful. I hope it ruins his sleep.

Boru

[ShaMan]

I hope it ruins his sleep.

Boru

DUDE!

[Clueless Morgan]

He has a right to be angry. Francis is a nice guy and all, and he IS acknowledging the problem of child molestation, but he's just. Not. Fixing it.
Francis' gotta grab this papal bull by the horns, so to speak, and make this a thing of the past.

Why not really make an impression and grab the bull by the balls?

[StealthySkeptic]

The Church could make a HUGE dent in this problem, and refurbish its image (to an extent) by simply adopting the policy that the sexual abuse of children isn't just a sin, it is also an indictable offense. Announcing that any and all clergy suspected or accused of abusing children will be immediately handed over to the secular authorities for investigation would send the message that the Church will no longer be a haven for paedophiles.

That Francis hasn't taken this step is shameful. I hope it ruins his sleep.

Boru

Yep. And it's such a simple thing to do as well. The fact that he hasn't done that means that he's in the pocket of the cardinals.

[ShaMan]

The fact that he hasn't done that means that he's in the pocket of the cardinals.

Those assholes have all the pull