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Vatican living in denial
Q:A senior Vatican priest last week compared outrage at Pope Benedict's handling of sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews. Church leaders disavowed the comments, but went on to complain about a "vile," anti-Vatican media campaign aimed at weakening the papacy and its authority. Is the news media being fair to the pope? Is the media biased against the Catholic Church or its hierarchy? How would you advise the pope?
Over the years the popes have all but ignored the problem of sexual exploitation and abuse. Now, and again, it has exploded into a universal problem. By branding the media coverage of the matter as biased and akin to "anti-Semitism," the Vatican is not serving the Church or the people.
These are not allegations made by people who are outside the Catholic family, nor are they allegations cooked up by the media. The allegations have come from within the Catholic family. Brushing it under the carpet will not help anyone, least of all the future of Catholicism.
Pedophilia is a growing menace and we need to look at this not simply as a Catholic problem but as a problem that affects human civilization. The question that arises is not simply what are the Catholics going to do or what is the Pope going to do but what are we going to do to reinforce the sanctity of sex between two consenting adults?
Unfortunately, the modern justice system works on the premise that "getting rid of the bad guys will get rid of the problem." For generations we have seen that no problem has been resolved in that way. Such problems just grow deeper and wider while we continue to incarcerate the perpetrators. It is time that we begin to turn our attention to the problem in all its dimensions and try to bring back moral integrity into society that seems to be going berserk.
The Pope can help this process by providing that moral and ethical leadership that the world requires now.
By
Arun Gandhi
|
April 4, 2010; 4:58 PM ET
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Posted by: Jigsaw | April 13, 2010 11:00 AM
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I simultaneously applaud and reprimand you for your remarks. Yes, this problem has gone on under-investigated and unpunished for centuries because of the fear instilled into the media and governments by the power wielded by the Vatican. The pope can help this problem by not hiding behind legal semantics and validate his claim to being the spiritual leader of the catholic church. He can’t have it both ways and if he wants to have his cake and eat it too then he should be “Christ-like” and turn himself in for and being an “accessory after the fact” to the criminal conspiracy of mass pedophilia perpetrated by catholic priests upon thousands of children.
In the United States, and most parts of western civilization, A person who learns of the crime after it is committed and helps the criminal to conceal it, or aids the criminal in escaping, or simply fails to report the crime, is known as an "accessory after the fact". Crimes have been committed, he was apart of efforts to conceal relocate pedophiles, and he is now head of an organization which harbors criminals. He doesn’t have the strength and conviction of his faith to stand before those he has indirectly harmed. Or if his legal team still wants to claim that he is “head of state” then why can’t he be tried in the World Courts like other heads of states who are criminals?
Instead of the Vatican legal team debating why he can’t come into a court of law how about he direct them to providing spiritual succor to the victims. What would Jesus do…