Damned Pervert Priests - and other assorted Holy Scumbags

[Pat Mustard]

Cologne cardinal stays, despite sex abuse cover-up scandal

The pope has said Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki should remain as Cologne’s archbishop, but accused him of big mistakes. The senior cleric was accused of protecting priests suspected of sexual abuse.

The second document, released in March this year, showed 314 people — mainly boys under the age of 14 — were abused by clergy in the Cologne diocese between 1975 and 2018.

Woelki himself was cleared of wrongdoing by the report and has repeatedly rejected calls for his resignation.

High-ranking members of the organization were accused of failing to follow up on or report cases of abuse, not sanctioning perpetrators, or not caring for victims.

Earlier this month, Pope Francis rejected the resignation of Hamburg's archbishop Stefan Hesse. Hesse had offered to step down in March after he was accused of mishandling sexual abuse allegations in the second report commissioned by Woelki.

Hesse in particular was faulted for 11 cases of neglecting his duty. He conceded that he had made "mistakes'' in the past, but denied actively aiding efforts to shield abusers.

https://www.dw.com/en/cologne-cardinal-s...a-59296833

So nobody was punished for all the rapings of children?

And if nobody was punished let alone went to jail, what is stopping priests to rape children again?

Of course, the pope's favourite altar boy was made a priest and put in a powerful position despite it being known that he was abusing other altar boys. The catholic leopard will never change its shorts.

[Fake Messiah]

3,000 paedophiles in French Catholic church since 1950s - inquiry head

Days before publication of its report, Jean-Marc Sauvé said the commission’s investigations had uncovered between 2,900 and 3,200 paedophile priests or other church members, adding that this was “a minimum estimate”.

It also looked into “the mechanisms, notably institutional and cultural ones” within the church which allowed paedophiles to remain, and will offer 45 proposals, he said.

It remains unclear, however, exactly what actions the church will take against offenders, and in many cases prosecution could be unlikely because the abuse took place beyond French statutes of limitations.

Last year, a defrocked French Catholic priest, Bernard Preynat, 75, was sentenced to five years in jail for sexually abusing boy scouts aged between seven and 14 in his care between 1971 and 1991, following allegations his superior had covered up the abuse.

After he was first denounced in 1991, the priest was prevented from leading scout groups but was later allowed to teach children and held positions of authority in parishes until the scandal became public in 2015.

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon, was given a six-month suspended sentence in 2019 for not reporting Preynat’s crimes.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/o...lic-church

[Fake Messiah]

Catholic Church sex abuse claims: Vatican has immunity, rules ECHR

The Vatican has sovereign immunity that protects it from being sued in local courts over sexual abuse cases, the European Court of Human Rights said in a chamber ruling on Tuesday.

It dismissed a case brought by 24 French, Belgian and Dutch nationals, who said they were sexually abused by Catholic priests when they were children.

The European court agreed with the Belgian court that the Holy see enjoyed "diplomatic immunity" and "state privileges under international law".

https://www.euronews.com/2021/10/12/cath...rules-echr

But why would the Vatican want to be above the law if it's made of good and honest men? If they were good and honest, as the Vatican advertises itself, then they would pass all the laws with flying colors and would never be bothered by breaking laws so why bother making sure that the laws don't abide them?

[The Grand Nudger]

It remains unclear, however, exactly what actions the church will take against offenders, 

-nah, they'll ask for yet more money to (not) fix it.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

@Fake Messiah

Pretty sure the church hasn't claimed to be made of good and honest men for centuries. Lower level monks and priests especially were seen as flawed human beings.

Until a few hundred years ago, a member of the clergy could not be tried by a civil court for any crime whatsoever. The alleged miscreant had to be turned over to special church court and they would judge him/her.

After that dodge was no longer permitted, the church still had an ace in the hole so-to-speak. Until the present day, it has been Catholic church teaching that church canon law trumps civil law. Exceptions [if any] are determined by the church. The attitude seems to have been that the issue of paedophile priests is no one's business except the church. Common practice was that the maggot in question would confess, be given a penance, forgiven and moved to a new community. The community would not be warned.

The church is still being dragged kicking and screaming into civil courts. Although there have been a few clergy of high rank sent to prison. Far too few in my opinion, considering the catholic church has about 5,600 bishops worldwide.

Trivia; Bishop is actually the highest level in the Catholic church. An archbishop oversees a bunch of arch bishops, cardinals oversee the arch bishops and the pope, autocratic head of the church,[technically] oversees everyone. The proverbial buck stops with him. He is referred to as 'the bishop of Rome'

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A pending scandal, and one which is peculiarly Irish in numbers as far as I know: The matter of priest's families. It has not been uncommon for priest in Ireland to enter into a defacto marriage and produce children. This is a deep embarrassment to the church, so of course the church officially ignores it. The result is a matter of criminal neglect and indifference towards the women concerned and much more so the children, who are the innocent victims of the bloody mindedness of the Church on clerical celibacy.


"Pope Gregory VII told priests to "escape from the clutches of their wives". Pope Urban II ordered priests' wives to be sold into slavery and their children to be abandoned"

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/dream...n-1.909011

[Fake Messiah]

@Fake Messiah

Pretty sure the church hasn't claimed to be made of good and honest men for centuries. Lower level monks and priests especially were seen as flawed human beings.

Priests are supposedly "men of God" who are teaching us, laymen, about morality, what is good or bad, and the Vatican is supposedly Crème de la crème of the clergy with the Pope being one of the "original" apostles.

So not exactly "mere humans" - wouldn't you say?

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

@Fake Messiah

Pretty sure the church hasn't claimed to be made of good and honest men for centuries. Lower level monks and priests especially were seen as flawed human beings.

Priests are supposedly "men of God" who are teaching us, laymen, about morality, what is good or bad, and the Vatican is supposedly Crème de la crème of the clergy with the Pope being one of the "original" apostles.

So not exactly "mere humans" - wouldn't you say?

Traditionally over centuries, priests have most certainly been 'mere humans'. In England it remained common for second or third sons of the nobility to go into the Church right  until the end of the nineteenth century.. During the so-called dark ages, priests were not always much more educated than their flock. Joining the church became  a way to avoid starvation for oneself and family, if any.   The church was also a career for poor but clever young men.

However, it's fair to say that some of the clergy I've run across have seen themselves superior to the hoi poloi.   At the boys school I attended , one of the brothers smugly explained how the celibate life of the clergy is superior to married life. Neither I nor most of my friends at school bought that shit.

On the other side of the coin, I also met good, humble men who served their parish as well as they could.

I guess that your claim is at least partially true. However, I haven't seen enough evidence to support your claim as a general principle.

[brewer]

Excusing religion for it's hypocrisy is just excusing religion for it's hypocrisy. I'm your moral authority, but then again, I'm not.

The 'good and humble men' should recognize the bullshit and stand up. Unfortunately they don't.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Excusing religion for it's hypocrisy is just excusing religion for it's hypocrisy. I'm your moral authority, but then again, I'm not.

The 'good and humble men' should recognize the bullshit and stand up. Unfortunately they don't.

 
I do not excuse hypocrisy, religious or otherwise. I do recognise that hypocrisy is part of the human condition. That society simply would not function if we all spoke the truth even most of the time.

I also recognise how hard it can be to go against the status quo.  Especially from within organisations with a rigid hierarchy :Eg a church, a bureaucracy or one of the armed forces.  I think I need to fix my own problems before having the gall to judge others. Not up to me to tell anyone what they should do.

In terms of doing something, in late 1970's early 1980's  there was a catholic movement called "liberation theology" which politicised some of teaching of Jesus. Especially those helping the oppressed. The instigators tended to be priests, and laymen would join. It was active on the island of Negros, Philippines when I visited in 1979.  It annoyed the Vatican, which the movement criticised.  The response of the big land owners and others in power (Marcos was still president) was that some lay members were murdered.

Don't know about you, but I can't think of any ideal for which I'm willing to die. Certainly not for any cynically vague notion such as 'my country' .

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"Liberation theology is a Christian theological approach emphasizing the liberation of the oppressed. In certain contexts, it engages socio-economic analyses, with "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples."[1] In other contexts, it addresses other forms of inequality, such as race or caste.


Liberation theology is best known in the Latin American context,[2] especially within Catholicism in the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council, where it became the political praxis of theologians such as Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, and Jesuits Juan Luis Segundo and Jon Sobrino, who popularized the phrase "preferential option for the poor". This expression was used first by Jesuit Fr. General Pedro Arrupe in 1968 and soon after the World Synod of Catholic Bishops in 1971 chose as its theme "Justice in the World".[3][4]

wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberation_theology

[brewer]

The 'good and humble men' don't need to die, they can quit, resign, renounce,..........

Oh, wait, not suited for any other occupation so they're stuck, right?