1. Comment #161465 by Vaneigem on April 15, 2008 at 10:19 am

See also the Mighty Hitchens on same...

http://www.slate.com/id/2188971/

Hat Tipped to the DSTPFW)
http://drinksoakedtrotsforwar.com/2008/04/14/hitchens-on-catholic-child-rapists-and-their-protector-pope/

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2. Comment #161466 by mjwemdee on April 15, 2008 at 10:21 am

Pope Benedict told reporters on his flight this morning from Rome to Washington, D.C., he would do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the scandal.

So that's all right then.

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3. Comment #161467 by MrPickwick on April 15, 2008 at 10:22 am

Little warm up:
1. Lovely link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimen_sollicitationis

"Crimen sollicitationis":Crimen sollicitationis (Latin for "the crime of soliciting") was a letter sent in 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, to "all Patriarchs, Archbishops, Bishops and other Local Ordinaries, including those of Eastern Rite". It laid down rules for procedures to be taken against clerics (priests or bishops) of the Roman Catholic Church accused of having used the sacrament of Penance to make sexual advances to penitents.

2. Instructive commercial (Priest Off!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGZSvdSsoAE

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4. Comment #161468 by michabo on April 15, 2008 at 10:25 am

If any country leaders had a spine, they would charge the Catholic Church as a criminal organization with conspiracy to commit child abuse.

If anyone in the church knew that child abuse was occurring and the best they did was "exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry" and not turn them in to the authorities, then they should be charged as an accomplice. That's what we'd do to any other organization.

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5. Comment #161476 by Diacanu on April 15, 2008 at 10:32 am

michabo-

If any country leaders had a spine, they would charge the Catholic Church as a criminal organization with conspiracy to commit child abuse.

Holy shit, I was just going to post almost those exact words!!

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6. Comment #161485 by Jolly Bloger on April 15, 2008 at 10:41 am

My comments here: http://jollybloger.blogspot.com/2008/04/audacity-of-pope.html

With the best blog post title ever, if I do say so myself :)

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7. Comment #161490 by j s bach on April 15, 2008 at 10:46 am

Christopher Hitchens' motto for the Roman Catholic Church is so apt here:

"No child's behind left."

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8. Comment #161494 by Raiko on April 15, 2008 at 10:50 am

Imagine ANY other organization, group or cult had done this. You'd have posters up all over the place with their leader or representatives on them and "SUPPORTER OF PEDOPHILES" in red ink all over them, as a conscience raiser - like others in the past have displayed slaughtered animals next to fur coats to raise people's consciousness (though the proper equivalent of that would be an image of--- well, I am not sure I'd support that).

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9. Comment #161495 by Zamboro on April 15, 2008 at 10:52 am

It's as though nothing they're convicted of will ever 'stick'. This incident should have been the end of the church as a whole, when combined with their interference with condom distrubution and campaign of misinformation about contraception in Africa.

Instead, they poop out some conciliatory platitudes and go on about their business as though nothing happened, and somehow they get away with it every time.

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10. Comment #161500 by bluebird on April 15, 2008 at 10:54 am

It rankles that the White House/President is rolling out the red carpet for the Pope. The reverence rendered him is sickening.

JB, clever blog title!

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11. Comment #161505 by Matt H. on April 15, 2008 at 10:58 am

"As a Catholic, I have to sadly conclude that he is not serious about ridding the church of corrupt bishops," said Anne Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a group tracking public records involving the bishops.

Seems like a very un-Catholic thing to say.

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12. Comment #161522 by kintaro_crab on April 15, 2008 at 11:16 am

According to the group, of the 19 bishops "credibly accused of abusing children," none has lost his title, been publicly censured by the Vatican or referred for criminal prosecutions.

History repeats itself, this time I guess being a sexual predator is better in the eyes of the catholic church then marrying a divorced protestant.

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13. Comment #161537 by Animavore on April 15, 2008 at 11:40 am

No wonder my mother didn't let me become an alter boy.
(What? I was 6 at the time. I still believed in Santy for dogs sake.)

I wish the Catholic Church would just shrivel up and die. I'm sick of them thinking they still have a say in this country (Ireland) and sick of non believers in this country not going to church but still getting marriges, communions, confirmations, funerals and christenings because it's 'tradition,' meanwhile paying ever increasing prices for these services and subsequently keeping the priests housed and fed and supplied with nice plump children. Even my own brother. I know, I know, it's more his girls idea and he, like too many men, doesn't care, just goes along with it but, she's a non-believer too. Nabdabbit.
Now I have to go to my nieces communion and try to smile through grit teeth and express how happy I am for her.
(and believe me, I have a Dr. Cox type personallity, this will make my face ache and it will test my patience).

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14. Comment #161540 by Wosret on April 15, 2008 at 11:44 am

I'm sure he will try hard to avoid another scandle...and maybe he can do something about the sexual predation while he's at it...you know, if he has the time.

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15. Comment #161557 by BicycleRepairMan on April 15, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Also see Bill Maher ripping the pope a new one, watch till the end, one of the best rants ever:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Bill-Maher-New-Rules-April-11-2008

Other Comments by BicycleRepairMan

16. Comment #161558 by Geoff on April 15, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Nothing new here.

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17. Comment #161585 by Copernic on April 15, 2008 at 12:28 pm

For every topic that gets the Catholic Church's imput (stem cell research, AIDS education, embryologic research, etc) there should be a resounding response of....
"No one gives a shit about what the Catholic Church thinks, so shut it!"

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18. Comment #161688 by Colwyn Abernathy on April 15, 2008 at 2:04 pm

See also the Mighty Hitchens on same...

http://www.slate.com/id/2188971/

Posted yesterday? Sweet! Thanks for the link! :)

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19. Comment #161703 by Colwyn Abernathy on April 15, 2008 at 2:13 pm

Pope Benedict told reporters on his flight this morning from Rome to Washington, D.C., he would do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the scandal.

Because the Vatican dealt with it so nicely the FIRST time...what about Cardinal Bernard Law, Emperor Palpatine?

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20. Comment #161714 by Colwyn Abernathy on April 15, 2008 at 2:20 pm

This is worth posting in its entirety...hope you don't mind Jolly Bloger. ;)

Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The Audacity of Pope
So the Pope has come to America for a visit. One of his goals is to "heal sex abuse wounds" of the countless victims of priest rape. The audacity of this man astonishes me. No matter how good his intentions are, he has no right to get further involved in these cases. The catholic church has lost the right to be a source of comfort to the people it has abused.

Think about it, this is an organization that commits a crime, denies the crime, covers it up, protects the criminals, blames the victims, and THEN has the balls to try to "help" the victims sometimes up to forty years later. He probably expects praise for it too. To me, that's basically the same idea as a doctor going around with a tyre iron smashing people's kneecaps, then tenderly putting them in a cast and giving them a bill.

Pope supporters will surely be crowing about all the wonderful things the catholic church has done to heal abuse wounds after this. Sorry, it doesn't count when you apologize for damage that you have caused.

Oh, but it's going to be alright from now on right? Because the Pope "vowed to keep pedophiles out of the priesthood". Sorta like the vow of celibacy the pedophile priests took eh? I call bullshit.

Fuck the popo.

[nitpicking]The term "popo" colloquially refers to the police, and not in a nice way. Still, it's a funny word nonetheless.[/nitpicking]

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21. Comment #161717 by Colwyn Abernathy on April 15, 2008 at 2:24 pm

No wonder my mother didn't let me become an alter boy.
(What? I was 6 at the time. I still believed in Santy for dogs sake.)

HA HA HA! Mother's instinct...

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22. Comment #161720 by Colwyn Abernathy on April 15, 2008 at 2:27 pm

(and believe me, I have a Dr. Cox type personallity, this will make my face ache and it will test my patience).

You mean THIS Dr. Cox? ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-b6GIo1g68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZdT34upCKE

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23. Comment #161732 by theantitheist on April 15, 2008 at 2:44 pm

Hey,

Can one of us (not me though i'm busy) run for leader in what ever country your in and then once you're in denounce the church and list it as a criminal empire??

Surely someone out there has some spare time to do this?

Other Comments by theantitheist

24. Comment #161734 by D'Arcy on April 15, 2008 at 2:45 pm

Well bully for the Pope! If he can get all his cardinals, bishops, priests and whoeever else down the hirearchy, personnel to behave properly, the rest of us can then assume that all Catholic clergy are wankers!

Other Comments by D'Arcy

25. Comment #161741 by Jolly Bloger on April 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Colwyn:

The 'popo' line is an intentional reference to the term for police. I've been critical of the cops on my blog before so there's a relevant double meaning there.

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26. Comment #161748 by woe-monger on April 15, 2008 at 3:42 pm

So, all they have to do is append the question "Are you a pedophile?" to the application form for seminaries.

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27. Comment #161754 by CraigB on April 15, 2008 at 4:02 pm

I believe the Pope has said he wants to stop paedophiles from becoming priests. Shouldn't he be more concerned about stopping priests from becoming paedophiles?

Other Comments by CraigB

28. Comment #161767 by Jolly Bloger on April 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm

Beautifully said CraigB, I'm going to have to steal that sometime :)

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29. Comment #161781 by GordonYKWong on April 15, 2008 at 4:47 pm

I have only one question for the Pope:

Why hasn't God intervene in the first few dozen drafts of the bible to instruct his followers that the rape of children is an especially grevious sin?

Surely a being as powerful and loving as God would factor this in from the beginning or somewhere along the way. Mt Sinai? Jesus? Revelations? Papal prayers?

Or maybe these acts of sexual violence are permissable under God's laws? And we as his lambs are breaking his rules by forming morality on our own.

Hmmmm...

Other Comments by GordonYKWong

30. Comment #161791 by Damien White on April 15, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Before I jump to conclusions and have my self-righteous passions enflamed by this article, i'd like to know what some of the accusations were, and who decided they were 'credible'.

Consider: if a bishop get accused and is actually innocent, what then? No-one deserves to be hounded out of office on mere accusations, even if they are terribly deluded in their religious beliefs. The stereotype of the paedophile priest is firmly entrenched in our society but that's all it is, a stereotype, and not indicative of every priest.

Perhaps the article should provide some substance to it's claims of 'credible accusation' lest it be accused of scaremongering and incitement.

Other Comments by Damien White

31. Comment #161796 by black wolf on April 15, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Good point in fairness, Damien.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/
lists the cases in more detail. Most are inconclusive, as accusations have been mostly denied and proceedings ended by death of the accused, or were denied and not brought to charges. 6 of the 19 mentioned are dead, and only 2 are active bishops.

Other Comments by black wolf

32. Comment #161803 by Ed-words on April 15, 2008 at 5:38 pm

WE INTERRUPT THIS THREAD TO BRING YOU AN
IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM POPE-ATHON CENTRAL!


The missing Pope has been spotted running
through Times Square screaming, "Abstain or
die!" A Swat team has been dispatched.

Other Comments by Ed-words

33. Comment #161813 by Lucas on April 15, 2008 at 5:58 pm

CraigB - Those were my words exactly. The assumption seems to be that they are pedophiles before they are priests, whereas I've always assumed repressed sexuality might have something to do with it. Does celibacy warp one's sense of sexual taboo? Hmm.

Other Comments by Lucas

34. Comment #161840 by chuckgoecke on April 15, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Owing to the reluctance of many to report abuse, I wonder if the abuse reported within the Catholic church isn't the proverbial tip of the iceberg. South Park had an episode that suggested that this priest on alter-boy abuse has always gone on. I don't know. I wonder what percent of priests were alter-boys. This would seem to be something that might propagate down through the generations, with the help of proper cover-up. My favorite line from that episode: "Sex with women, no no no, do you realize that Galgemeth females have 3 foot wide vaginas fill with razor sharp teeth"

Other Comments by chuckgoecke

35. Comment #161875 by Roland_F on April 15, 2008 at 8:03 pm

6. Comment #161485 by Jolly Bl

So the Pope has come to America for a visit. One of his goals is to "heal sex abuse wounds" of the countless victims of priest rape. The audacity of this man astonishes me.

The Catholic church was called from an insider (Prof at a Catholic theological university in Germany) as the " biggest transnational gay organization". Some cases in Germany were hardly prosecuted based on the shame of the parents and the pressure of the surrounding Catholic community not to go against priests. So complaint letters to the Bishop just resulted into the re-assignment of the pedophile priest to the next village, mainly because the Catholic church is running out of new priests and have to stick with the few they have whether pedophile or not.
Somewhere I remember there were 11,000 cases of child abuses in the USA not sure if this is the tip of the iceberg or the entire iceberg ?

But what would religious fundamentalist like Vox Day or Dinesh D'Souza spinning out of this ? Maybe something like the statistics show that there are much more injuries of young boys caused from sport accidents than altar boys injuries after anal priestly accidents of a torn sphincter.
Spin doctoring about torn sphincter.
So all parents better bring your boys to the church so they become altar boys and not enroll them to sports.

Other Comments by Roland_F

36. Comment #161888 by eclampusvitus on April 15, 2008 at 8:12 pm

To be sure, there would be precious little difference if Gore or Kerry were President, but what hypocrisy becomes apparent when America lectures North Korea or Sudan about "human rights" while we maintain diplomatic relations with the Vatican. That Medieval institution has protected and enabled an "elite army of child molesters".

What's next? Diplomatic relations with the Grand Mullah of the Kaaba?

ECV

Other Comments by eclampusvitus

37. Comment #161902 by Bigorra on April 15, 2008 at 8:23 pm

All Benedict has managed to do is say that he'll try to not have another scandal. He's ashamed, but he's not saying that he's sorry. This is like the German church reporting on forced labor. They made no apology, then said that compared to other forced laborers those "employed" by the church had good. This time Benedict says he's ashamed (no apology) and that he won't let this happen again. I wonder if he means the scandal or the pedophilia? "We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry," he said, but how in the hell are they going to know? Pedophiles don't walk around with a scarlet 'P' on their foreheads.

Other Comments by Bigorra

38. Comment #161914 by dragonfirematrix on April 15, 2008 at 8:30 pm

Strange is it not, that the religious bitch so much about humanity's sexual activities with the opposite (and same) sex while all the time engaging in acts against which they preach.

I think the religious hate sex.

Better watch out. The religious are probably peaking in our windows to find out what we are doing with our partners.

Other Comments by dragonfirematrix

39. Comment #161936 by EvidenceOnly on April 15, 2008 at 8:57 pm

Today, the leader of "No child's behind left" was welcomed by the leader of "No child left behind".

They really deserve each other, don't they?

Also, the Pope was careful to say that he wants to stop pedophiles from becoming priests and NOT that he wants to stop priests from becoming pedophiles.

Maybe he does not have enough money to start a "No priest left behind" program!

Other Comments by EvidenceOnly

40. Comment #161988 by Ygern on April 16, 2008 at 1:16 am

As an ex-Catholic, I have seen first hand how the Church covers up and protects criminal priests by removing them to a new parish and hoping the scandal would go away.

This incident was in South Africa where the local priest was arrested for shop-lifting condoms. To his credit, at least his tastes were for consenting adults. A trivial 'crime', but none the less, one he should have had to face in court.

I also listened to the sickening excuses of members of the congregation trying to justify what had been done by the Church.

I couldn't stick with an immoral organisation like that. I hope that other Catholics start to feel the same way in the US.

Other Comments by Ygern

41. Comment #161990 by Adam Morrison on April 16, 2008 at 1:18 am

NEWS REPORT:

In an unrelated story, sales of young boys' iron underwear have skyrocketed in recent weeks....


Re:Dragonfirematrix

No, no, no, the religious don't hate sex. They seem to love it (after all priests and clerics are always involved in sex scandals). They just want YOU to hate it. Just like they want YOU to give all your worldy goods away (to the church incidently)

Other Comments by Adam Morrison

42. Comment #162005 by Animavore on April 16, 2008 at 1:57 am

Yes Cowlyn. That Dr. Cox.

Other Comments by Animavore

43. Comment #162013 by j.mills on April 16, 2008 at 2:09 am

Why is the Catholic church against child abuse? I don't remember any condemnation of it in the Bible - on the contrary, if anything.

Granted it's against the LAW of course, but then so is driving over the speed limit, and there's no push from the Vatican to root out the speeding bishops.

So has the Vatican decided that something is wrong even though there's no word from God on the matter? Whither now, 'absolute universal morality'?

Other Comments by j.mills

44. Comment #162016 by Hobbit on April 16, 2008 at 2:14 am

I am waiting to see how the defenders of the catholic faith on this site will spin this!

fides? Are you there fides? Helloooooooo?

Any one?

The thing that really sickens me is that many in the catholic church will still believe that these monsters will go to heaven if they just say sorry!

What a pack of pricks!

Other Comments by Hobbit

45. Comment #162018 by lievemebe on April 16, 2008 at 2:16 am

My advice to Anne Doyle is to quit the Catholic Church and become an atheist. Come to think of it, the Pope should do likewise and dispense with hypocracy at the same time. That would make him a great leader instead of a phoney moralist.

Other Comments by lievemebe

46. Comment #162025 by irate_atheist on April 16, 2008 at 2:35 am

An new article about this in Slate, by Christopher Hitchens:

http://www.slate.com/id/2188971/

Other Comments by irate_atheist

47. Comment #162046 by Noodly on April 16, 2008 at 3:54 am

Animavore

Now I have to go to my nieces communion and try to smile through grit teeth and express how happy I am for her.

I know it's not easy but you are part of the problem.

I would (and have done so) politely refuse to attend the communion ceremony, but show up at the party afterwards.

Other Comments by Noodly

48. Comment #162054 by DanielK on April 16, 2008 at 4:36 am

I just read an article about the 8 year old girl in Yemen, who had to go to court herself (as no one in her family dared to support her) to get divorced from her 30 year old rapist husband.

This on the same day the pope declares he will do anything in his power to avoid another pedophile scandal, while, as far as I could tell, leaving out any apology or word of comfort to the victims of priestly pedophilia.

I have three children. This makes me so angry and physically sick that I have difficulties typing.

Then they have the arrogance to argue that without religion we would have no morals. And wonder why some atheists are angry.

Other Comments by DanielK

49. Comment #162081 by latsot on April 16, 2008 at 6:19 am

When I was a kid, our local vicar suddenly....disappeared...under an obvious cloud. It was several months before he was replaced, so it was presumably unexpected. I have no idea what the issue was and in no way wish to suggest any wrongdoing on his part, but I found the community's reaction extremely uncomfortable.

Nobody spoke about it, although there were plenty of veiled references to something that seemed shameful in some way. Direct questions were met with different answers depending on who I asked and more often than not I was told to stop asking questions. There was a definite air of suppressed information and all the adults I knew in the village (all Christian) seemed to collaborate in this. They all seemed to know what had happened and were determined that nobody else should find out.

I was only about 8 and this was quite some time ago, but this is how I remember it and damn sinister it seemed too.

Other Comments by latsot

50. Comment #162090 by latsot on April 16, 2008 at 6:36 am

> I know it's not easy but you are part of the
> problem.
>
> I would (and have done so) politely refuse to
> attend the communion ceremony, but show up at the
> party afterwards.

I'm not sure we should be so judgmental about this kind of thing. It's up to individuals to take a stand wherever they see fit.

It would be equally reasonable to criticise you for going to the celebration of the sorry event. Not going to the church simply because it's a church and yet contributing to the celebration of that event doesn't seem particularly logical.

Personally, I'd avoid both, but my relationship with my family is terrible anyway, so I have nothing to lose. Others place different emphasis on family relationships and I find it difficult to judge them harshly for that.

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