Smoking Gun: Vatican Told Priests Not to Report Abuse

I think the cover-up could prove far more embarrassing than had they taken on the issue directly and dealt with the priests appropriately when the matter first came to light. My opinion is that it's a result of demanding celibacy of your clergy... whose going to consider priesthood as a life calling under those circumstances?

Again, just my opinion.

 

I agree. It seems that they just continue to make it worse for themselves.

I think for a lot of people, the whole celibacy issue is too much to ask. Not sure I would say it's the cause of paedophilia/ child abuse though. I'm sure many Catholic priests have sex regardless of their vows.

 

I read a little while ago that the first five or so Pope's were married and had children. It wasn't until a few generations on down the line that celibacy was introduced as a requirement for that lifestyle. I don't know why it was introduced, the article didn't say.

 

Not that I've read.

As for the rest though, it could have been as you said, perhaps when they re-wrote the bible to make Jesus celibate ("sinless") it could have been made a requirement of the Pope/priests. I'm just speculating though, I'm not aware of the timeline.

 

I wasn't suggesting that it causes pedophilia, but the celibacy requirement result in a group of candidates willing to choose a life that bars the possibility of marriage and the intimacies that are usually part of such an arrangement you will likely have a group disproportionately given to such urges as compared to the general population. The catholic churches own selection process is what creates the problem... and by covering it up and refusing to deal with offending priests- allowing some to move up the political hierarchy within the church they have pursued policies that ensure that the problem gets worse... concurrent with a culture that seeks to raise rape awareness and seems to want to demonize the male gender as predisposed to abusing-- presumably in the interest of protecting women.

Yet an institution that proselytizes about the supposed narrow path to ethical purity and might emphasize the importance of putting the welfare of others before selfish desires would willfully look the other way to enable the victimization of children at the hands of individuals that people are expected to look up to-- this for the "ethically pure" purpose of safeguarding its own reputation. Any thinking person could pretty much conclude that there was widespread and systemic enabling of the offending clergy yet people still remain faithful to the church and defend its hierarchy who demonstrate that, like criminal politicians, they care far more about themselves than they do about regular people and the institution they run has anything but a spiritual agenda.

 

Feel kinda disgraced to be Irish. I mean, not that the public did anything wrong, but for just being so apathetic towards the church.

 

i hope st malachy was right

 

I think it all started by what one Pope degreed... I forgot his name but he was really down on women and thought of them as dirty so he introduced this requirement for priests (around 1300's maybe?). Don't think this has to do with re-writting anything. The Catholic church holds the pope as the human representative of Jesus so whatever he says goes even if it contradicts other parts of their belief.

Found the Pope, here it is if interested:

Twelfth Century Link
1123-Pope Calistus II: First Lateran Council decreed that clerical marriages were invalid.
1139-Pope Innocent II: Second Lateran Council confirmed the previous council’s decree.

 

From wikipedia-

So this guy left his wife and children to become Pope at which time he decreed that all priests should do the same. However I can't find why he felt the need to leave his wife and children and abstain from sex.

The only conclusion is that it was for these reasons VVV

 

When young men decide to enter the priesthood they are fully aware of the comitment that is required. Celibacy is part and parcel of that commitment and should be adhered to. I think it's important to mention in the same thread that nuns were (and are?) responsible for terrible acts of cruelty in schools and orphanages in the name of making the children grow up to be good god fearing catholics. This has also been swept under the carpet by the Vatican.

 

Hmm, don't know why that site I provided declares that this began much later. Thanks Lunaverse

 

These are really exciting times. It was obvious for years that this would happen one day, just sort of a shock that it's actually happening. It's a shame that Catholics are being murdered for being associated with these matters, though.

 

I think the issue isn't so much as embarrassment as being discredited. I mean, dating back to the 1940s?
These are times when the church had much more sway, was much more respected, and much more of an integral part of believers' practices. Cover-up could've been for ideological reasons as much as it was management.

 

I was raised Catholic. This among many other reasons are why I never go to church anymore. Not sure if there even is a god anymore. At least not the one described in the bible. Don't know if this has ever been said before but it is my belief that men become priests because they think they are damaged people or sinners. They have feelings and urges that they believe to be evil and become a priest to try to right themselves in the church's eyes. Unfortunately you can't always bury these feelings and they come out later down the road in the form of child molestation. This document is very damaging to the church. But besides that, wouldn't it incite more molestation? If you had already molested a child the letter basically says "don't worry the church has your back". Or if you wanted to but didn't want to get in trouble it says the same.

 

people become priests for power, the same reason they become doctors, or lawyers or entertainment producers of hollywood.

can't reach god yourself, get lazy and get a priest.
can't reach justice yourself, get lazy and get lawyer.
can't reach wealth yourself, get lazy and get banker
can't reach entertainment yourself, get lazy and watch a movie or porno or listen to a band.
can't reach leadership yourself, get lazy and hire a politician. vote.

u got to do it yourself. meditate. go out in nature. take care of your temple (your body, and your mind). live from your heart.

the priest is not needed. the people must do it themselves.

then all this paedophilia problem goes away.

power (over others) corrupts.
When the natural, biological mother and father should be there,
instead they hand the young one over to the STATE corporation.
Before then, it was the Church.

same s(/t.

 

You make an excellent point. Covering up is one thing but reassigning offending priests to different areas and not confiscating the credentials of someone who has demonstrated their affinity to take advantage of innocence for such heinous acts is beyond despicable. It reflects a similar blatant disregard for the well being of the masses as reflected in the rhetoric that emanates from government.

I think that much (not necessarily all) of the loss of respect for churches in general is of their own doing. You and I- and anyone else can go back and forth about what we think is at the core of the institutional enabling that took place over decades and has affected people from many generations. It boils down to the simple fact that the church did nothing to effectively stem the abuse before it spread- but it was they who knowingly relocated pedophile priests to unsuspecting parishes. To me the cover up is only part of the equation.