I'm sure it's shear coincidence that he's stepping down so close to the shocking revelations in this documentary. The moderator edited one of my posts because some were very upset that I referred to the pope as the 'pedophile pope'. I have always tried to conduct myself in such a way to preclude such things from taking place and I certainly understood why he did what he did. In light of the ever growing scandal in the catholic church that has appeared to go unchecked for centuries, I still stand by what I said. His tolerance and even friendship with Marcial Maciel speaks volumes. Maciel was 'sentenced' to a life a 'prayer and reflection' in Florida to live out his days.I wonder what became of Maciel's victims, including his many illegitimate children. I wonder what their sentence was? Then we have the Elvis pedophile priest, Tony Walsh, in Ireland who was strongly defended until convicted of the rape of a young boy.. He had molested over 200 children that we know of. The catholic church with their untold, ill-gotten fortune and tolerance of pedophiles has done irreparable damage to itself with just cause. They have driven away thousands and they are not coming back.
kcat
I had a conversation last week with two of of my catholic friends (I WAS a catholic). They are both of the opinion that there were a 'few rogue' priests that committed these heinous crimes against children, but more along the lines of a 'few bad apples'. A few bad apples, I said, how about an entire orchard !!! They say it is a coincidence that Ratzinger is stepping down within such close proximity to the release of the documentary which singles him out among many who aided these pedophiles and befriended them. Two out of the seven children my parents had no longer believe in the catholic church. We believe in God, treating others with respect and love and that some day God will have a day of reckoning with those 'few bad apples'....:-(
kcat
One thing I have learned in my 61 years on this earth is that most people can be described as 'nice' - the sort of people who never knowingly hurt another person. I can think of no reason why there should be more paedophiles among Catholic Priests than in the rest of the population. It quite clearly is NOT every priest.
Also we cannot judge actions of 70 or 80 years ago by the standards of today. Today child abuse or regarded as abhorrent. Back in the 30's it was hidden. If the church set up a rehab clinic for priests they were aware were abusing children - i one way you could say they were ahead of their time. They recognised it was wrong - and tried to stop it.
This documentary has been around for a while although it has only just been shown over here. It seems unlikely that Pope Benedict has resigned because of the documentary.
No I am not a catholic, I am not religious. Like you I believe in a god but not a religion .But I don't believe in conspiracies. I personally think Pope Benedict has not been a patch on John Paul ll. - who was a truly remarkable man. I think the church will be better with a new Pope - and frankly I admire Benedict's courage in bucking the trend and retiring. It takes a an honest man to recognise when they are no longer capable of doing a job that means so much to them. I know you will disagree with me and I am not expecting you to change your mind, I am just looking at things from a different viewpoint
Tashanie posted:
Also we cannot judge actions of 70 or 80 years ago by the standards of today. Today child abuse or regarded as abhorrent. Back in the 30's it was hidden. If the church set up a rehab clinic for priests they were aware were abusing children - i one way you could say they were ahead of their time. They recognised it was wrong - and tried to stop it.
This documentary has been around for a while although it has only just been shown over here. It seems unlikely that Pope Benedict has resigned because of the documentary.
My reply:
I would contest three points with you, Tashanie:
1) These actions weren't 70-80 years ago.
2) This documentary was released Feb 7th, 2013.
3) Documentation of this depravity reportedly has existed in the catholic church for centuries.
The first pope to step down in almost 600 years-that's really something to think about....
I still feel that this is only the tip of an enormous iceberg. Although some priests were put into rehab, many were placed in other parishes and their past was not disclosed. Eleven years ago the present pope issued a directive that all cases of sexual predation were to go though his office, regardless of the country of origin. The catholic church has already admitted to spending over $2 billion dollars worldwide to settle claims of this nature. This documentary will only serve to bring more out with proof of what they claimed and had denied by the catholic church, law enforcement, and others.
kcat
Another one bites the dust-this one in the UK. I'm sure it's all a coincidence....the highest ranking one......the heat is really coming on strong....people are waking up to what has been tolerated for too many years.....it's getting hard for pedophiles to find a hiding place.