Brutal and foolish to link Catholic scandal with Holocaust

Whatever the rate of STDs are, one case of a STD is one too many here or elsewhere.

And one of the major issues is that condoms don't provide the protection they are supposed to.

"Oral Sex and Condom Use Among Young People In the United Kingdom

By Nicole Stone, Bethan Hatherall, Roger Ingham and Juliet McEachran

CONTEXT: The development of UK national targets to reduce the transmission of HIV and other STDs has focused health promotion efforts on advocating the use of condoms during penetrative vaginal and anal sex. However, other behaviors that can facilitate STD transmission—such as oral sex and, in particular, fellatio—have received limited attention.

METHODS: Between 2003 and 2005, a sample of 1,373 full- and part-time students, primarily aged 16–18, completed questionnaires about their knowledge, attitudes and experiences related to sexual behavior and health. Chi-square tests were used to assess differences by sexual experience and gender. Supplementary data were obtained from sexual event diaries completed by 108 young people.

RESULTS: Fifty-six percent of survey respondents had experienced fellatio or cunnilingus, including 22% of those who had not yet engaged in penetrative intercourse. Of young people who had had vaginal intercourse, 70% had previously had oral sex. Among those who had experienced fellatio once, 17% had used a condom, but only 2% of respondents who had engaged in fellatio more than once reported consistent use. Reduced pleasure and lack of motivation, desire and forethought were reasons given for not using condoms during fellatio; hygiene, avoidance of the dilemma of whether to spit or swallow ejaculate, and taste were commonly cited as triggers for use.

Conclusion: Greater efforts are needed to publicize the risk of exposure to STDs that many young people face because of unprotected noncoital sexual activities before, as well as after, they enter into relationships involving intercourse.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, 38(1):6–12"

Does the US have highest STD rates in the Industrialized world? Yeals challenges this fact. Here are recent numbers - our advantage is staggering

Syphillis rates
Sweden 0.6, England 0.2, US 6.4

Gonorrhea
Sweden 1.8, France 7.7 , US **571.8** YES, that is right, 572.

Chamidia
Sweden 569, France 55, US 1132

Abortion (rates per 1,000 teens)
France 10.2, Sweden 17.2, US 29.2

SOURCE: The Alan Guttmacher Institute report on Teenage Sexuality and Reproductive Behavior in Developed Countries
Cited at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/health/daily/051606/teensex.html

Amd remember, the US has by far the highest rate of God-belief in the industrialized world, with churches and government policies that prohibit condom education/dispensing.

The Sack of Rome on 5 May 1527 was a military event carried out by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
Pope Clement VII had given his support to the Kingdom of France in an attempt to free the Papacy from Imperial domination.
The army of the Holy Roman Emperor defeated the French, but funds were not available to pay the soldiers. As a result the 34,000 Imperial troops mutinied, and forced their commander to lead them to Rome with 6,000 Spaniards, 14,000 Landsknecht (Protestant mercenaries) an Italian infantry were led by Maramaldo (He fled Naples after having murdered his wife), and cavalry under Ferdinando Gonzaga and Philibert, Prince of Orange.

Though Martin Luther himself was not in favor of sacking Rome, his followers viewed the Papal capital as a target and shared with the soldiers an avaricious desire for the sacking and pillaging of a very rich city that appeared to be an easy target.

The troops sacked Acquapendente and San Lorenzo and occupied Viterbo and Ronciglione before reaching the walls of Rome on May 5.
The troops defending Rome consisted of 5,000 militiamen and the Papal Swiss Guard.
On May 6, the Imperial army attacked the walls at the Gianicolo and Vatican Hills and captured Rome the same day.
All but 42 of the 189 Swiss Guard were massacred by Imperial troops on the steps of St Peter's Basilica.
After the brutal execution of some 1,000 defenders of Rome and the shrines, the pillaging began.
Churches and monasteries, palaces of prelates and cardinals, were destroyed and spoiled of any precious object.
On June 6, Clement VII surrendered, was forced to pay a 400,000 ducati ransom for his life and was forced to cede Parma, Piacenza, Civitavecchia and Modena to the Holy Roman Empire. Without conditions, Clement VII was coerced to cede the worldly and political possession of bishopric of Utrecht to the Habsburgs. Venice took Cervia and Ravenna.
Clement VII spent the rest of his life steering clear of conflict with Charles V, avoiding decisions that could displease him.
This marked the end of the Roman Renaissance.

Martin Luther commented: "Christ reigns in such a way that the Emperor who persecutes Luther for the Pope is forced to destroy the Pope for Luther."

In commemoration of the Sack and the Guard's bravery, new recruits to the Swiss Guard are sworn in on 6 May every year.

[It is necessary to] reduce, if not destroy, the tendency of the Vendee to practice a very great number of activities that are harmful to civilisation and to public order in society in all the countries of the world. It is necessary to stop the harm by preventing it; to prevent it it is necessary to change the Vendee. [...] Once part of their youth will take its place in our armies, they will cease to have papists interests and sentiments; their interests and sentiments will be French.
N.B.

"The god-fearing US has a MUCH higher std rate than overwhelmingly secular Europe, and the fundy communities in the US have the worst rates."

References from a medical journal or group to substantiate this are?

And please don't change the statement to fit "googling" results.

And whatever the rate of STD are, one case of a STD is one too many.

And one of the major issues is that condoms don't provide the protection they are supposed to.

To wit:

from the Guttmacher Institute-

FIRST-YEAR CONTRACEPTIVE FAILURE RATES

Percentage of women (men?) experiencing an unintended pregnancy (a few examples)

Method
Typical
Pill (combined) 8.7
Tubal sterilization 0.7
Male condom 17.4
Vasectomy 0.2

Periodic abstinence – 25.3
Calendar 9.0 –
Ovulation Method 3.0 –
Sympto-thermal 2.0 –
Post-ovulation 1.0 –

No method 85.0"

(Abstinence) 0

(Masturbation) 0

See more facts about contraceptives at

www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_contr_use.html

"The failure to deal with the problem of priestly abuse and negligence by the bishops and Vatican in a comprehensive way is now coming back to bite the Vatican big time. This was entirely predictable, and it does represent a failure of leadership."

Perhaps the greatest irony in this whole miserable story is that the pope and the Vatican can't point to the last administration and say that most of the coverups occurred during the John Paul II reign. Why? Because they're fast-tracking him for sainthood. Talk about a rock and a hard place!

Yeals yells for "References from a medical journal or group to substantiate higher STDs and teen pregnancy/abortion among religous US teens.

Google "national std abortion rates."

Read the following article from the New Yorker, whose fact-checking reputation exceeds yours
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/03/081103fa_fact_talbot

Google "gregory paul journal of religion and society."

Apology not accepted!!!

Said preacher should have been fired for his anti-Semitic comments and stupidity!!

"Rome - Pope Benedict XVI's personal preacher apologised Sunday for comparing recent attacks against the pontiff and the Catholic church over a sexual abuse scandal, to the persecution of Jews.

'If against my every will and intention I hurt the sensibility of Jews and of the victims of pedophilia, then I am sincerely sorry and I apologise,' Father Raniero Cantalamessa told Milan daily Corriere della Sera.

Cantalamessa was referring to a sermon he gave at a Good Friday ceremony in St Peter's Basilica that triggered a wave of protests.

Cantalamessa also said neither Benedict, who was present at the ceremony, nor any other Vatican official, had prior knowledge of the contents of his sermon.

'The Pope not only did not inspire (the sermon) but as with everyone else heard my words for the first time during the (Good Friday) liturgy in St Peter's,' Cantalamessa said.

During the sermon read Cantalamessa read from a letter in which a Jewish friend referred to accusations against Benedict and the Catholic church over the handling of sexual abuse of minors by priests.

Cantalamessa's friend, who was not cited by name, wrote that he was 'following with disgust the violent and concentric attacks against the Church and the Pope,' which reminded him of 'the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism'.

Many Jewish leaders around the world reacted with outrage, with some calling the comparison 'obscene,' and 'offensive'. Representatives of victims of sexual abuse by priests also condemned the analogy.

Cantalamessa said he had included the excerpt from the letter in his sermon as an example of 'solidarity with the Pope.' "

It costs 145 billion dollars to operate global Christianity, records a book on evangelization. The Church commands 4,000,000 full time Christian workers, it runs 13,000 major libraries, it publishes 22,000 periodicals, it operates 1,800 Christian Radio and TV stations. It runs 1,500 universities and 930 research centers. It has 250,000 foreign missionaries and over 400 institutions to train them. These are 1989 numbers. No wonder Church needs Nazi gold looted from Jews of Europe and drug money to support this gigantic multinational operation.

Sexual abuse and corruption in India's Catholic Churches
http://myexperimentsagainstprejudice.blogspot.com/2009/02/church-sex-and-scandals.html

"It is not a fascination..."

You are correct; I should have written:

You have a psychotic obsession with other people’s sex lives -- you should seek psychiatric counseling before you do yourself or someone else harm.

"The god-fearing US has a MUCH higher std rate than overwhelmingly secular Europe, and the fundy communities in the US have the worst rates."

References from a medical journal or group to substantiate this are?

The comments by the catholic spokesmen about the Holocaust were *obscene.*

Especially so as the RCC has been such a prime cause of anti-semitism over the past 1800 years.

yeals tells us that "std's (and sex) are out of control around the globe."

Well, it is groups like fundamentalists and fundy catholics who make the problem much worse.

The god-fearing US has a MUCH higher std rate than overwhelmingly secular Europe, and the fundy communities in the US have the worst rates.

Education is what works, and responsible and intelligent attitudes towards sex.

NOT the fear-based approach, of which the Catholic Church is unfortunately the exemplar.

"You have an unhealthy fascination with other people’s sex lives; just try not thinking about it, maybe a hobby would help."

It is not a fascination but a reality that sex is out of control across the globe as evidenced by the following:

From the CDC-2006

"Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) remain a major public health challenge in the United States. While substantial progress has been made in preventing, diagnosing, and treating certain STDs in recent years, CDC estimates that approximately 19 million new infections occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24.1 In addition to the physical and psychological consequences of STDs, these diseases also exact a tremendous economic toll. Direct medical costs associated with STDs in the United States are estimated at up to $14.7 billion annually in 2006 dollars."

But maybe some commentators on this blog enjoy paying for the misbehavior of others!!!

What is the core of the Holocaust? The treatment of a member of the human family without any respect for their sacred dignity as a child of God?
Clericalism is not the problem at all It is a failure of individual souls to be true to their vows and the giving in to the dark side that is at the base of this deep and ugly wound. In focusing on those priests and religious who was seduced by the devil people should not forget all those good priests and religious who lived lives of pure love and service.There but for the grace of God could go any one of us. Now is the time to strive for personal holiness and bring back light into our darkening world.Whatever faith tradition we have grown up in now is surely the time to go down on our knees and pray humbly for God's graces to pour down into the hearts and minds of our troubled humanity.

"Neither is being elected president of the US!!! e.g. Billy "Boy" Clinton."

"Neither is being the blessed with athletic skills!!! e.g. Tiger Woods, Wilt Chamberlin"

You have an unhealthy fascination with other people’s sex lives; just try not thinking about it, maybe a hobby would help.

The topic is about the RCC pedophilia horror only because the pedophilia in the ranks of Southern Baptists, Jehovah Witnesses, and Judaism to include coverups has not been widely known. It is now and needs to be addressed by the leaders of these other religions since the problem is not relegated to the RCC. And please note that over 50% of those convicted of pedophilia are married men.

And once again, obviously ordination in any religion is not assurance of good behavior !!!!!

Neither is coronation!!! e.g. Henry VIII, King David.

Neither is being elected president of the US!!! e.g. Billy "Boy" Clinton.

Neither is being the blessed with athletic skills!!! e.g. Tiger Woods, Wilt Chamberlin

This blog is about the catholic scandal. Of course all pedophilia is repulsive, however here we are discussing the catholic cover-up.

It was a serious mistake for the Roman Catholic Church to not deal more forcefully with the sexual misconduct that a small percentage of its clergy committed. And today, it demonstrably has corrected that mistake. But where are the headlines of concern, the statements of moral outrage, and the institutional lawsuits about the other 98% (as documented in a recent study by a Ph. D at Hofstra U.) of the sexual predators remaining - the ones that still populate the other Churches, synagogues, mosques, and public schools?

"Why should such stunning insensitivity, such historical ignorance, such defensive asininity, be excoriated rather than dismissed?"

Historical ignorance? "What is history but a fable agreed upon". Perhaps the comments of the Pope's personal preacher should be excoriated or dismissed. So to should this article.

I made the same comments on my blog:

http://usedkarma.net/ramble/2010/04/a-long-list-of-papal-denial/

In light of Church heinous negligence during the Holocaust, the antisemitism comment is ironically offensive. To make themselves into a victim on the back of the real victims under their purview is equally so.

It's particularly stunning given that the Pope himself was a member of the Hitler Youth.

Given also the fact that the Vatican was a formal ally of Mussolini, who himself murdered Jews, and handed them over to Nazis.

Given that Nazism was strongest in the Catholic parts of German-speaking Europe (Bavaria and Austria) and that German Catholic priests were notably absent among the few churchmen who dared oppose Hitler.

Facism has risen three times in Europe: Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco. Each time the Catholic Church was an ally.

Above all, it's disgusting when there ARE crimes against humanity is this story - but all of them were committed by Catholic priests, not by their critics.

No, I think the Vatican has far more in common with the Nazis than with their victims.

I agree
(except you left out the bishops)
Regarding:

Post by FuzzyGem:

The Jews and others had no choice,thanks to Nazi guns, but to go into railroad cars and ultimately into ovens.

The Catholic Church's Pope, Cardinals and Priests had a choice. They could shield themselves or protect the children. The Church chose NOT to protect children even though they were future congregants and believers.

Now the Church has another choice: Fix the situation or disappear.

Amen, Brother FuzzyGem

The failure to deal with the problem of priestly abuse and negligence by the bishops and Vatican in a comprehensive way is now coming back to bite the Vatican big time. This was entirely predictable, and it does represent a failure of leadership. The piecemeal approach approach to reform, failure to acknowledge the role of the institutional church in remitting this abuse to go on and the slow response by the Church are direct causes of the current outrage. The defensiveness and self martyrdom attitude of some in the Church has only fanned the flames and is symptomatic of the Church's failure to recognize that this is not about them, it is about the victims, and in order to heal, there needs to be TRUE contrition, reconciliation and pennance. I don't believe the Poe needs to resign, but he must stop the half measures, and, as leader of the Church,lead by example with a public confession and pennance.

The Jews and others had no choice,thanks to Nazi guns, but to go into railroad cars and ultimately into ovens.

The Catholic Church's Pope, Cardinals and Priests had a choice. They could shield themselves or protect the children. The Church chose NOT to protect children even though they were future congregants and believers.

Now the Church has another choice: Fix the situation or disappear.

The Jews and others had no choice,thanks to Nazi guns, but to go into railroad cars and ultimately into ovens.

The Catholic Church's Pope, Cardinals and Priests had a choice. They could shield themselves or protect the children. The Church chose NOT to protect children even though they were future congregants and believers.

Now the Church has another choice: Fix the situation or disappear.

I had a very interesting conversation over the phone with Sinéad O'Conner about this whole issue. You can hear it Sunday April 4 at 8 PM EST at http://wbkm.org or as a podcast a few hours later at http://paradigms.bz

Get a grip. It is not the entire church, just the administrators of it that have failed in the area of sexual predation. Especially the top echelon.

The knowledge of how incurable pedophilia is has come about recently. The voracious appetites of pedophiles has also been underestimated. The arrogance of those in power is a condition of hierarchy, and the pope was never suited to be in the position of minister to the flock - just look at his face - talk about sinister!

But the catholic tradition is also splendid in helping the poor, in education and art, in promoting social equality. These wonders are also the legacy of the church. There have been many millions of catholic members that have failed to be saints, but many have been inspiration to millions by their good deeds and words.

And truthfully we must admit that thousands of evil people have hidden in their catholic vestments preying on the innocent thousands upon thousands of children left in their care.

Without this reckoning of the wrongs committed, all the beautiful accomplishments will become hollow. What, just because with one hand you feed the homeless, we should ignore that the other hand is molesting our children? Where is the humility?

Voltaire is laughing.

Fine, you guys hate the Catholic church. Got it. So answer me this, oh thee of the perfect religions: How many innocent people has the Jewish State of Israel KILLED in the past 60 years?

Millions of the world's Catholics are kind, thoughtful, insightful, and nurturing people ... by accident. The Catholic Church does not lead its flock in any positive direction. The institution is a historical fraud, created as a power base, not out of any concern for the well being or welfare of the innocent. The Church's claims to moral authority are insulting in light of centuries of defending preying on their flock and denying the humanity of their many enemies. The many good people inside their fold is a testiment to mankind's potential in overcoming the frailties and vices that the Catholic leadership represents so well.

Young American Catholics are voting with their feet and leaving the Church in droves. No way in the world we'd let our children be preyed upon by professional child molesters who are aided and abetted by one the largest organizations in the world. The faithful assure us that "only" 4% of priests will permanently traumatize hundreds of children and be shielded by the Church until death. Thanks, that's very reassuring and I wouldn't allow my child to be around a priest without him/her being next to me at all times.

Meanwhile, they're breaking out more shovels in the Vatican and digging themselves in deeper and deeper and deeper with these moronic comments about how priests are the victims. WTG! Cry me a freaking river, those mean people who were raped as children by priests have the nerve to complain about it and the rest of us have the nerve to think we don't want it to happen to our kids. Boo freaking hoo.

Why is no one speaking out about the Vatican's sheltering of Bernard Law from testifying in US Courts in the Boston rape cases? Isn't this a failed litmus test of the church's cooperation in resolving this outrage?

What mother or father in their right mind would agree to let their 8 year old son or daughter spend even 5 minutes alone with a Catholic Priest?????

The comparison of the current criticism of the Pope and the Vatican with the murder and pillage against the Jews before WW II is simply flabbergasting. Where do these bozos bury their conscience?

I think the Pope's priest had a good point, he just mixed up his casting. The Catholics who raped countless thousands of children, and those who aided and abetted them, should be in the role of the Nazis, not of the Jews.

Is it time then to celebrate the Catholic Church's brave opposition to the Nazi's? Uh, maybe not, since they did nothing at all to stop or even slow down the slaughter of millions of Jews. And of what religion were the slaughtering Nazis? Uh, that would be Catholic. Hard to believe how stupid this priest really is that he would want to bring up a WORSE chapter of Catholic history than the mere coddling of pedophile priests.

God may not be dead, but the Catholic Church is incurably sick.

The Catholic Church has replaced compassion with hypocrisy.

One word will do here. DISGRACEFUL.

Rabbi,

You would be interested to see how thousands of Catholics are responding to this homily. Not well. The overwhelming majority are disgusted on all counts.

I wonder if there is any hope that the Catholic Church will seriously reflect on what is amiss and what is afoot among Catholics. Something is rotten in Rome, and the faithful know it.

Regarding:
Well, thank you for fueling this extraordinary anti-Catholic screed...and during our Holy Week. And you speak of the Vatican's "callousness?" And you are a Rabbi, a man of "faith",very nice. Happy Easter.
Posted by: maxpDC
---
You would also think that this one priest would have shown more sensativity to the Jews during the week of Passover!

People are really defensive!. The homily points out that the same mind set behind anti-semitism can easily be found in attacks on the Church. That grave errors have been made by people within the Church is obvious-Christ never promised that the wrong kinds of people would find their way into the Church. He did promise the Church would stand and He is with it-ALWAYS. So whatever the devil and anti-Catholics attempt will fail. The well intending but mis-guided critics of the Church aren't going to bring it down, nor will the pedophiles and money oriented folks.

As for the rabbi, well, you just made a mountain out of a mole hill.

It is especially misguided to defend a former-Nazi-Youth Pope in this way. The failure to acknowledge the Pope's complicity in not defrocking pedophile priests is just another stone they cast at the innocent victims of the Church's greater concern for money than for victims.

Regarding:
Well, thank you for fueling this extraordinary anti-Catholic screed...and during our Holy Week. And you speak of the Vatican's "callousness?" And you are a Rabbi, a man of "faith",very nice. Happy Easter.

Posted by: maxpDC

Response:
Don't be such a baby. It is not anti catholic to be anti pedophile... or is it? Really - are you saying that there is no reason to speak out against this abominable behavior, and the cover-ups? These crimes were surely committed during religious holidays (there are not enough days in the year), in churches, in coffessionals, behind altars.

Sanctimony and pious posturing never helped the victims - never followed the teachings of Jesus.

For God's sake - stand up against all this creeping around in the shadows - reveal the records that protect the criminals and their protectors! Be Christian for once.
If so -then you are also guilty

I have had 17 years of Catholic education. As the crisis evolved I have repeatedly made this point:
The hierarchical church is not the pastoral church. Despise the hierarchy - they have earned the moral condemnation of any sentient being -- but remember the extraordinary love and work of the pastoral church.
I'm not sure I can push that position any longer. The Church as a whole has lost the magisterium - the right to teach -- because it refuses to learn. I am at the point where I think the moral response is to leave. I have learned in business that if you have a bad culture in an organization it is not worth the effort to try to fix it. Blow it up and start over. I think now that that lesson applies.

Jesus was (a beautiful) human being. The pope is (a flawed) person. People and Humans are different.

The inhumane treatment of the victims by the clergy (perpetrators and protectors of them) is beyond atrocious. How vile these corrupt ministers of the church are. How poisonous to the world they have been for so many centuries, breeding despair and anger in the fertile hearts of innocent children. How many of today's criminals were formed in the secret rituals of child abuse? How many crimes are still hidden in the church?

I curse the unholy see - curse the decay of principle - in the name of those thousands if not millions of innocent children - who perhaps wished they were never born.

For the Pope to consider himself a victim is a fact which reveals his German upbringing. After all, wasn't Hitler a "victim" of the Jews? This pope's attitude to the sexual crimes committed with children as well as the bestial beatings which were administered to children by priests and nuns "in the name of God" are proof of his lack of empathy. He deserves the scorn and scrutiny he is now experiencing. The Pope - a victim?

Well, thank you for fueling this extraordinary anti-Catholic screed...and during our Holy Week. And you speak of the Vatican's "callousness?" And you are a Rabbi, a man of "faith",very nice. Happy Easter.

Posted by: maxpDC
-------------------------------------

No, thank you, your pope and your church for kicking Jews and the victims of your perverts in the crotch during your Holy Week. Do you belong to "Christ's Chruch" very nice. Happy Easter to you, too.

Obviously ordination in any religion is not assurance of good behavior !!!!!

Neither is coronation!!! e.g. Henry VIII, King David.

Neither is being elected president of the US!!! e.g. Billy "Boy" Clinton.

Neither is being the blessed with athletic skills!!! e.g. Tiger Woods, Wilt Chamberlin

Humorously - the reason the church is against birth-control - it would cut down on the inventory of pedophile victims.

Truthfully, it seems that the depth and breadth of the perversion among the clergy is so endemic that complete the truth revealed would be worse than these drips and drabs of crimes against innocent children.

Gives new meaning to the words "Suffer the Little Children".

There's just no end to the stupid. I don't like any of it. The less I can have to do with any of it the better off my life will be.

Just think of how much better the Catholic Church andthe world would be today if Pope John had enjoyed the long life of Pope John Paul II.

Rabbi,

Take another, careful, look at the passage the priest supposedly "quoted." What Jew anywhere on earth uses language like this? Refers to himself as "Messianic," speaks of "reuniting with the Father!!"

This is not the writing of the priest's "Jewish friend," his imaginary Jewish friend, perhaps.

All along, the Vatican's reactions this scandal add fuel to the fire.

I make mine the comment by jasm917:

"And this from a church that for the better part of two thousand years branded the Jewish people as 'Christ-killers,' whose culture contributed significantly to the foul soil out of which Nazism and Fascism grew, and that was far too concerned for its image and its interests to oppose and denounce Nazism during and after World War II."

Anybody who knows the history of the Catholic Church knows that it is largely responsible for the anti-Semitism which eventually fueled the Holocaust.

It's incredible that friar Cantalamessa should have been so dense!

The Vatican is an island unto itself.

"And my irenic ecumenism starts to fade."

Buddy, you may be the number one pulpit rabbi, or whatever, but for the love of God, use plain English.

Poor choice of words. It is a derivative from Godwin's law: If you compare yourself to the persecuted Jews, you aren't going to win the argument. However, the man has a point, the way the newspapers (including this one) have been baying after the Pope.

Well, thank you for fueling this extraordinary anti-Catholic screed...and during our Holy Week. And you speak of the Vatican's "callousness?" And you are a Rabbi, a man of "faith",very nice. Happy Easter.

The man (yes, he is a man, not a radio transmitter from God) said something really, really stupid. The Pope, not a genius himself, sitting there next to him, probably did not clear the words in advance.

All that being said, the Roman Catholic Church as an institution is imploding as these events unfold. Unless there is a "Vatican III" and soon, wherein the Church fully flushes out its taint resulting from these generations-long cover-ups, the damage will be permanent and substantial. And there won't be a liberal or "Anti-Catholic" conspiracy to blame- the blame will be on the Church for tolerating pedophilia, pure and simple.

And would we let priests marry already? The profession is practically designed to attract only the sexually repressed.

As someone born and raised Catholic, I wouldn't let my children even near a Catholic church now. It's a shrine to power and abuse, not a house of God.

Sad but true.

Are we talking about a Pope who as a young man was reported to be a three time volunteer in the Nazi order of Germany. Three times he volunteered to serve Hitler? No wonder he did not feel that messing with children was that big a deal. Has he successfully covered up but not explained his transgressions as a young man? Let us hope that he does not have a record of transgressions as a high ranking priest.

Priests just wanna have fun!

You must admit, though, that the Catholic Church is an expert on the persecution of the Jews, since they did so much of it.

In an ill-advised and poorly constructed analogy, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa got it completely wrong. Making a victim out of the perpetrator in any crime only serves to deny accountability and responsibility. The cover-up continues. While the disparity of numbers and severity of the crimes are not in any way equal in the two circumstances, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa would more have appropriately stated his analogy correctly if he had stated "Jews are to Nazis as abused children are to the Catholic leadership."

As the priest said, "let us prey."

More of a non-story here. The Post is joining the Times' ridiculous, over the top, sensationalistic coverage of the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic church which every day is being further discredited. See:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100032319/the-new-york-times-has-seriously-screwed-up-its-coverage-of-the-pope-and-the-child-abuse-scandals/

The Vatican does not understand that in the United States blacks and Jews OWN the victim card and they better just sit and take it if the Big Media distort, lie and exaggerate this story.

FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO ?

If I had an organization full of wealthy, heartless entrepreneurs, money-grubbing landlords, and cynical, ruthless people-users who offer rewards of "eternal heavenly bliss after death" in return for wealth and fame -- many of who were unabashed, insatiable pedophiles and sexual deviants -- and I wanted to protect them, I would start a religion and declare the grounds of my church to be a 'sovereign country' so that I could enjoy diplomatic immunity for my world-wide criminal activities.

Oh wait -- that's the Vatican!

The Catholic church is not about Jesus Christ. It is about the Catholic Church only and always. If the Catholic Church had been around on Easter morning the tomb robber story would be their party line.

Thank you Farnaz, I appreciate your kindness, which I hardly deserve.

Investigate the Pope? No, investigate the leaders of all religions!!!

Why?

From:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1855948_1861760_1862212,00.html#ixzz0jg0lEyZj

“Facing calls to curb child sex abuse within its churches, in June the Southern Baptist Convention — the largest U.S. religious body after the Catholic Church — urged local hiring committees to conduct federal background checks but rejected a proposal to create a central database of staff and clergy who have been either convicted of or indicted on charges of molesting minors. The SBC decided against such a database in part because its principle of local autonomy means it cannot compel individual churches to report any information.

And while the headlines regarding churches and pedophilia remain largely focused on Catholic parishes, the lack of hierarchical structure and systematized record-keeping in most Protestant churches makes it harder not only for church leaders to impose standards, but for interested parties to track allegations of abuse. "

From: www.eutimes.net/category/criticism/pedophilia/

"Yet another prominent Orthodox rabbi has been charged with sexual abuse. This time it is Rabbi Mordechai Elon, one of the foremost rabbinic leaders of the Israeli Orthodox movement and former rosh yeshiva at the flagship Yeshivat HaRav, where last year a Palestinian mounted an assault which left several students dead. The result was that students of the yeshiva and other far right Jews went on a rampage and tried to burn down the home of the family of the perpetrator of the attack. Elon’s brother is Benny, a former MK for a far-right pro-settler party.

At one time the rabbi was so renowned he’d hoped to be named chief rabbi. Alas, that hope is all but dashed as he was charged several years ago with abusing boys at his yeshiva:
Takana, a rabbinic forum established in 2003 to clamp down on sexual misconduct by Orthodox educators, went public February 15 with allegations that Mordechai “Moti” Elon had taken advantage of his influence over male students and performed “acts at odds with sacred and moral values.”

The panel later said that two people, whose complaints alleged acts from about 25 years ago, had been under 18 at the time. More recent alleged acts involved students of Elon who were 18 or older. Since its initial disclosure, the panel reports having received one more complaint of an alleged underage encounter…

What is unusual about this case is that a splinter group of the Orthodox community is taking the position that the entire prosecution is an attempt to destroy rabbinic authority and the Orthodox movement. It calls for refusal to cooperate with state authorities (or to deal with the charge through a beyt din)."

Obviously ordination in any religion is not assurance of good behavior !!!!!

Primitive mysticism is not what they practice. It is the always contemporary deceit, ego driven lust for power, shame and suppression. But I like the primitive mysticism, the art, the music and architecture. There is so much good left after the cobwebs are cleared away, the church will be better than ever before, in the light of day, without such decrepit creatures as pedophiles being protected by despotic theocrats.

veerle1 said,

"Please you nasty scoundrels at the Vatican, just fly back to whatever planet you came from and take your primitive mysticism with you."

I agree with your feeling, but this is not about primitive mysticism, it is about the RCC hierarchy's lust for power. They don't need to go away, they need to go to jail.

So, pedophilia is analogous to genocide?

Please you nasty scoundrels at the Vatican, just fly back to whatever planet you came from and take your primitive mysticism with you.

Re: steelsil2

Amen

A more apt comparison is to point out that the Catholic Church is similar to those who persecuted the Jews, since the the Church is the criminal rather than the victim. I think it is perfectly reasonable to describe the victimization of hundreds of thousands of innocent children via sexual assault as a holocaust - and the perpetrators are the Catholic clergy and the hierarchy that protected them from criminal prosecution - and then entrusted them with more innocents to victimize.

"Why is all this religious/political nonsense rearing it's[sic] ugly head during my Easter?"

So what's your point? I am Christian, and have been seriously observing the entirety of Holy Week. (No, I am not RC.) This does not prevent me from coming here to try, in my own small way, to shine some light of truth on some very hideous wrongs that are going on right now. If you somehow feel that this interferes with your chocolate bunnies and jelly beans, then don't come here.

From the Nazi Pope's right hand man another slap to the face of decency and any sense of remorse and accountability.

Regarding Justin McC's indignation:
It is nonsense, in that it makes no sense to deflect the facts about he problem of pedophiles in the church. The phrase "Rear its ugly head" has too much potential for double entendre considering the physical aspects of pedophilia. Same with the reference to bugger - sodomy by another name. Me thinks thou doth protest too much dear Justin McC

Douglas Barber,

It is good to see you blogging here. I am often impressed by your wisdom.

JustinMCC wrote, "Why is all this religious/political nonsense rearing it's ugly head during my Easter? It is really hard to believe, for me, that it's not orchestrated to some extent."

In this case, a Capuchin priest who happens to be preacher to the Pope brought on the imbroglio. So if there's a demonic anti-Catholic conspiracy at work here it involves the Italian branch of the venerable Order of Friars Minor, which seems unlikely.

Sometimes a wise response to events requires dropping defenses and considering the possibility that some cherished belief or beliefs have been proven false by experience.

Why is all this religious/political nonsense rearing it's ugly head during my Easter?

It is really hard to believe, for me, that it's not orchestrated to some extent.

Ya know what...bugger off b8atches.

Leave us alone and be respectful during our religious holiday, media and "special" interest groups.

I have children that want to believe in this world. Thank you.

Posted by: JustinMcC
------------------------
You're on the wrong blog. Take your message and post it on the Vatican web site.

Why is all this religious/political nonsense rearing it's ugly head during my Easter?

It is really hard to believe, for me, that it's not orchestrated to some extent.

Ya know what...bugger off b8atches.

Leave us alone and be respectful during our religious holiday, media and "special" interest groups.

I have children that want to believe in this world. Thank you.

It won't be long until the Pope and everyone involved in the Holocaust will be dead. Then their will be no one to rightfully punish or reward.

Posted by: Emmetrope
----------------------
Saddest is that nothing was learned, and nothing will be. Those are the results when there is no justice.

Hence, since the Holocaust, there has been one genocide after another. The murderers, as always, consider themselves the injured party.

Priests rape children and the victimizers believe themselves to be the victim. Plus ca change....

Granted that it was an unfair comparison, but there are other holocausts that are not being addressed enough. They are taking place under our nose today and we are not addressing them: 1) The abortion of millions of babies in today's world wide holocaust and 2) Genocide in certain Africa countries. Let's get to the heart of these problems and speak out against these massive slaughters of innocents. Every human has a right to life and another stronger human has no right to snuff out a weaker human life for any reason except of course a doctor might have to save a life as the primary goal which may kill another life by accident and not as the primary goal and/or for cases of justifiable self-defense.

The Catholic dilemma is worth pondering without going off the rails.

Suppose that your first principles are two. One is belief in that all human beings are worthy of eternal punishment but God in his mercy has left them a way out. The other is belief that an institution composed of human beings is the way God carries out this mission of mercy.

Now, suppose that you discover scandalous behavior by members of that institution. It's incumbent upon you to do all you can to ensure that as few people as possible learn about that behavior, lest people be tempted to doubt the only thing that can save them from the fires of Hell.

This is how the Roman Catholic church got where it is today.

The years have ever more revealed the church with world-wide endemic infection by pedophile priests. Intriguingly, when I was a three years old my mother asked the local priest to recommend a maid. The woman hired was also secretly a prostitute who would also pimp me out to various pedophiles and pedophile rings. It took most of my adulthood to uncover what had happened so long ago. Now I wonder how much the priest knew, how much the church knew. There is no way to truly share the damage done, yet I still yearn for justice deep in my soul. It would seem vicarious, but I wish the pope brought down, lost and broken, as some small measure of payback for all that I have lost, all that is broken in me.

As the Missionaries of Charity would pray.."take from my heart all guile and worldliness and with the simple faith of a child, I may rely upon you..."

Perhaps their Pope might hear and contemplate what losing the faith of a child may do to his congregation.

It won't be long until the Pope and everyone involved in the Holocaust will be dead. Then their will be no one to rightfully punish or reward.

Farnaz:

"They simply seem unable to learn. "

Thou sayest a true thing. Funny, how there seems to be so much of that running around.

Onofrio, as I've said before: If I could do with music what you can do with words, I'd be a very happy man.

Since the Catholic Church basically covered this up, imagine what else they may have covered up in order to remain in power. From the early days to the present the Catholic Church has killed their enemies just to remain in power or turned their eyes at the world. If everything is false and covered up then the whole of Christianity is false as well. The falsehoods continue even into Protestantism an offshoot of the RC. Makes you wonder though, the blind will continue to follow the blind, yet they can't see the truth. What is the truth? Jesus was married, there is a blood line through Mary Magdalene (she was not a prostitute), yet the Catholic Church tried to stop it.
The Holy Grail is not a cup but the female womb which gives us life. Both the phallax (male part)and the cup (female part) gives humanity, life. These are Pagan symbols and are from an earlier relgion. The Christian Church tried to stop it but it is now being reborn. The early Catholic Church has tried to hide their secrets throughout time and even the offshoots (Prostantism) they are now coming to light. Makes one wonder who to believe, the old religion of paganism or a deceitful christian religion.

Keep diggin', Pope.

Julia Sweeney's monologue "Letting Go Of God" will be the final nail in the coffin of religious/evangelical belief and is and will continue to be more effective than any book or blog column on the holocaust, popes, atheism or secularism.

Toward the end of the show, Julia recommends that the Pope should have a news conference where he says: "Guys we made some mistakes such as in the resurrection, the diety of Jesus, original sin and the pedophilia coverup. Please forgive us."

Buy the DVD or watch it on Showtime. Check your cable listings.
from www.amazon.com
"Letting Go of God ~ Julia Sweeney (DVD - 2008)
Buy new: $19.99 $15.99

I think the sexual assault of children (I'm an old CPS person & abuse happens within a family/caretaker relationship. Anything else is child rape, child assault, child molestation, etc.

It seems fairly obvious for this many pedophile priests to have been called out on what has happened in the last 50 years, that the Catholic Church has been breeding pedophile priests for centuries; many victims growing up to perpetrate on new victims within the safety of the Church.

This was never just an American problem. It has just come out as media has become more and more pervasive so that victims were finally finding out about each other across the country and world and parents finally thinking, valuing their children rather that a Church which has proven istself to be one of the most truly evil things to ever exist.

BTW, If God wanted Jesus crucified to take on the sins of humanity, then the parts played by the Romans and the Jews in Judea were exactly the roles God intended them to play. To blame the Jews for "killing" Jesus is as simple minded as you can get, IF you believe it was all God's Plan.

Truly, Onofrio, you leave one wordless. I posted your latest offering on the main page. Perhaps, you might send it to the author of the homily.

They simply seem unable to learn. Too cloistered, among other things.

Yes, Onofrio. Say on.

With the mention of Benedict having been in the Hitler Youth toward the end of WWII,

OK, I can't resist it:

Pope Benedict:

Anti gay.

Anti abortion.

Anti aircraft.

Onofrio,

You exceed all expectations. Very impressive. In the words of Maximus, Unleash Hell!

Everyone's a victim.

I wonder if Cantalamessa and his master have devised yet a sliding scale to calculate how many slaughtered Jews one molesting priest is worth, in the Vatican's infallible purview.

It's complicated. The exchange rate would have to change relative to the priest's place in the holy hierarchy.

So, for example, the molestations of orphans by a third world parish priest might be worth, say, the lives of one extended family of Polish Jews - 1:50.

The official cover-up of his underlings' rapes by a bishop-now-cardinal in a prosperous first-world city could be worth, say, an emptied ghetto or two - 1:100,000.

The cover-up, denial, and sanctimonious blame-shifting for all of the above and more by a senescent former Hitler Jugend recruit and propaganda-head-honcho, now POPE - 1:6,000,000

"I know too many survivors" (of the Holocaust). I have heard their stories and sat with them as year after year they mourn so many people they cannot even recall all of their names."

One problem is that Church leaders do not know the survivors of clergy sex abuse. Few of the hierarchy have sat with them at all, much less regularly and in some sort of healing, prayerful setting. No wonder lawsuits are the main venue.

His Jewish friend sort of exaggerated the attacks on the Vatican and then that exaggeration was carried forward into his homily. Religious debates are so funny.

Posted by: blasmaic
------------------------
They're hilarious, particularly in light of this moron's expecting us to believe he has a Jewish friend.

Then, too, much humor comes in when one considers the Vatican's role in the death of the six million and so many millions of others, Jews and nonJews.

A regular Vatican laugh a minute, Monsignor.

Not much to it...

"This pushes us to direct a thought to our Jewish brothers. They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms. I received in this week the letter of a Jewish friend and, with his permission, I share here a part of it.

"He said: 'I am following with indignation the violent and concentric attacks against the Church, the Pope and all the faithful by the whole world. The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.' "

His Jewish friend sort of exaggerated the attacks on the Vatican and then that exaggeration was carried forward into his homily. Religious debates are so funny.

The Cantalamessa Calculus:

Let α) be:
Calling the RCC hierarchy to account for aiding and abetting its own criminals.

Let ω) be:
Systematically torturing and killing entire peoples.

α = ω

Q.E.D. (quintessentially evil, duh!)

So the sullying of the church's self-image is on a par with genocide. And this excrescence is not from some fringe-dwelling lunatic, but from the mouthpiece of the VICAR OF CHRIST HIMSELF!

These are the flailings of a monster in its death throes...

Obviously Friar Tuck didn't have this homily vetted by his PR department. It's stunning in its insensitivity.

Devout fundamentalist Christians of both Catholic and Protestant flavors believe that nothing happens by accident.

They must be mulling over the possibility that God intended to make a fool of the Catholic Church on this Good Friday.

The Catholic church teaches Christ died to atone for everyone's sins.

The pope should resign immediately, to atone for those of the church he's been at the very top of power for decades. He had the power to do something about rape of children by his priests. Other Germans also used the defense "I had no idea what they were doing."

The bottom line, this is a bunch of old bachelors who enjoy dressing up in fancy garb, promoting other old bachelors who think the way they do.

Don't expect any changes. They've been completely out of touch with reality for years.

The good Father Cantalamessa might well have a point.
The behavior of the Church does bear some resemblence to the amoral self righteousness of the Nazi regime.

Posted by: kaygeejay | April 2, 2010 4:23 PM

******************************

Excellent take on the statments of the preacher. Very good viewpoint. It appears he really 'can't tell as mess is a mess'.

Too bad people won't put more trust in God than they put in men or women who are just as fallible and deceptive as any other mortal being on earth. The priests and popes have thrown this verse of scripture out as easily as the dismiss the horrific behaviors of each other;

"Mt:23:9: And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven."

God Himself IS the only Holy Father.

I pray the survivors of the degenerate behaviors of the "priests" have recovered or can recover and successfully navigate life with the help of God, family, friends, and caring strangers.

just in case you are wondering haw insane this homily was, read this
http://www.cantalamessa.org/en/predicheView.php?id=354

I am grateful that my dear father, a teacher, coach and deeply committed, practicing Catholic did not have to see this corrupt and grotesque spectacle.

Yesterday it was homophobic trash talk from the distinguished Mr. William Donahue. Mr. Donahue, please shut up.

Today a Franciscan from the pulpit of St. Peter's and in the presence of the Pope, crudely and appallingly compared the protectors of child rapists to Jewish victims of the Nazis. This is so wrong and so hurtful. Stop!

Please, Holy Father, we cannot now call you holy or father. Enough. Resign now. You and your bishops betrayed us. Please go.

What an abominable and disgusting "defense" of the papacy and the Roman Catholic church. And this from a church that for the better part of two thousand years branded the Jewish people as "Christ-killers," whose culture contributed significantly to the foul soil out of which Nazism and Fascism grew, and that was far too concerned for its image and its interests to oppose and denounce Nazism during and after World War II.

That Vatican preacher cannot have said anything on this subject, and on this occasion, without prior clearance from the highest levels--up to and including Ratzinger himself.

As a one-time Roman Catholic, I say that the Papacy and the institutional church at whose head it stands is losing the last shreds of its moral authority and spiritual legitimacy.

Christians, Jews, and those of no religious affiliation must stand together in condemning this outrageous scapegoating in the strongest possible tones.

First, the Pope, Archbishops, Bishops and Cardinals must stop insisting that people are attacking the Church. This is simply not true. People are attacking THEM - the leadership that so betrayed the laity and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

As historian, Norman Cantor, points out The Church and Western Civilization were at times one and the same. Rodney Stark has made an excellent case that Church disciplines led to Western concepts of Capitalism and The Scientific Method. Today, The Church does tremendous good work. This institution is not under attack.

It is the people who aided and abetted child molesters who are to be condemned. They hide behind their noble institution and embezzle the laity's contributions and assets accumulated over centuries in attempts to monetarily atone without accepting personal responsibility.

How perfect for Pope 'Hitler Youth' living in the Vatican that helped bring the Furher to power, would first declare Muslims 'Fascists' and then allow a deniable spokesman try to claim 'Holocaust' status.

"But I would remind Rev. Cantalamessa of the precise nature of the holocaust: Six million people, including one-and-a-half million children, were starved, gassed, shot, burned, humiliated, brutalized, murdered, not for what they did but for who they were."

I would, too. I'd also remind him of the Vatican's culpablity, of the Vatican Bank thefts, the Vatican's refusal to release its Holocaust era archives.

HOw dare he?

Dear Pope Benedict XVI,

As a fellow Catholic, I urge you to speak up against the remarks made by Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, which in essence said that the current criticism of the terrible mishandling of pedophile priests can be compared to the persecution of the Jews, which of course, includes the German slaughter of Jews (and others) in WWII.

American news sources reported that:

"A senior Vatican priest speaking at a Good Friday service compared the uproar over sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church — which have included reports about Pope Benedict XVI’s oversight role in two cases — to the persecution of the Jews, sharply raising the volume in the Vatican’s counterattack."

This is a grave sin to have equated the current well-justified criticism of the Catholic Church's cover up and protection of pedophile priests with the murder of millions and millions of innocent men, women and children.

I urge the church to see the horrible error of the statement and I urge you to speak up publicly against this unholy comparison.

Peace.
A Catholic in Chicago

Part of the massively offensive, sickening nature of this hateful priest's comments is the huge perpetrator role the Vatican played in the slaughter of Jews.

This is a corrupt enterprise, rotten to the core. If it is to become anything else, it will have to be rebuilt from the bottom up.

Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa's remarks were wholly wrong. How sad that the Church flounders in response to those who express their horror at what has occurred.

What the Church needs to do is make known the actions of bishops and cardinals in parts of Europe who are making a difference. Cardinal Schoenborn in Austria held a mass for victims of abuse during Holy Week. The service featured accounts of abuse and Schoenborn acknowledged church guilt and thanked victims for coming forward.

Swiss bishops admitted publically Wednesday they had underestimated the problem. They are now telling victims to consider filing criminal complaints. Bavarian Bishops, Benedict's home, are lobbying for an automatic relay of all suspected cases and say they'll do so whether the full conference agrees or not.

Bishops in Denmark, Germany, and Italy are reexamining the decades old, ineffective policies of the past.

Issues of how to handle sexual abuse within the Church are still up in the air, but they are being examined and change will come.

The Pope's overly enthusiastic defenders need to be quiet other than to encourage the work being done by the bishops and cardinals. What they are doing is the Pope's defense.

Areyousaying:

The Vatican now comparing me and other victims of clergy child abuse to the Nazi's who killed the Jews shows us how desperate and fearful the leadership of this church is.
--------------------
Agree absolutely. HOwever, it is par for the RCC historical course. First view whatever confronts you for your vile behavior as a "test." Then accept it as your "passion."

The biggest moral problem with Christianity and especially with Catholicism is that it fails to give priority to justice. In privileging "belief" and forgiveness, it focuses on the perpetrators ("sinners"). Hence, in the current case, you see the heart-rending exhortations of abused people that the Vatican recognize that THEY, the molested, are the victims, not the pedophile priests, that priority must be given to implementing justice for the victimized, not forgiveness for the pedophiles.

There is the slim hope that the Vatican will finally hear something in the current case since the victims were Catholics. I doubt that they will recognize that their excision of Justice, still the foundation of Judaism, enabled, encouraged this atrocity. If they did, they would need to rethink a great deal, their unending antisemitism, for example, their priests who tortured Jews, SErbian Orthodox, and Roma to death with their own hands, thousands of these people with their priestly hands. Their theft of what these people had. There refusal to release their Holocaust archives. In sum, their Jew hatred.

The Agony of a dying church, at this springtime season is heartbreaking. But a 2000 year reign od terror is long enough!

The Vatican now comparing me and other victims of clergy child abuse to the Nazi's who killed the Jews shows us how desperate and fearful the leadership of this church is.

I can not me more furious, hurt and amazed. A Hitler Youth pope calling victims of his pervert priests Nazis and comparing the terrible suffering of Jews to a huge self-inflicted PR problem! We now know Ratzinger and his complicit followers for who they really are.

This is as ingenious as Mormon Authorities comparing their problems with gays over their Church's huge multi-state PAC supporting Prop 8 to "the civil rights struggles of blacks in America"

Is this what Christ really had in mind, Catholics, when he, as you claim, founded your Church?

There is an old saying "If the shoe fits you should ware it" I think this should apply to protecting abusive clergy. The Church is very good at forgiving sins and very poor at changing habits.

The pope should resign.
He is not defending the
innocent Palestinian victims
either.

There is no heaven of glory bright, and no hell where sinners roast. Here and now is our day of torment! Here and now is our day of joy! Here and now is our opportunity! Choose ye this day, this hour, for no
redeemer liveth!

The only way to cure the cancer of catholicism, and stop the pedophilia, is to begin each ceremony of ordination to the deaconate with castration. Let any priest who wants to be celibate make a gift of his balls to jesus.

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Brutal and foolish pretty much sums up the Pope and his henchmen.

All priests, bishops, cardinals and the pope should be fully investigated and charged as the criminal pedophiles, child rapists that they are. Most catholics are just burying their heads in the sand again on this issue.....I was raised catholic, but do not practice anymore....I once considered going back but could not sit there knowing the priest I was listening to may be or knows someone that molested children and said nothing. The church just wants this to go away, I hope it doesn't and heads roll!!!

The good Father Cantalamessa might well have a point.
The behavior of the Church does bear some resemblence to the amoral self righteousness of the Nazi regime.

It seems the reverend's remarks were more thoughtless and melodramatic than anything else. He likely didn't want to make a direct analogy to the Holocaust, as evidenced by his use of the vague term "collective violence," which could arguably reference the longer struggle of the Jews throughout European history.

Still, that only mitigates the situation, and only slightly at that. The Church may feel that it is being persecuted, and it is true that its perennial detractors are using the abuse scandal as an opportunity to attack the institution. However, those attacks are so effective because the Church has so grossly failed to address and prevent the abuse crisis for decades.

The Vatican's current shortcoming seems to be in realizing the severity of the pain its priests' abuse has caused tens of thousands of Catholics worldwide. Taking umbrage at the public's refusal to accept the Pope's recent pseudo-apology is arrogant; while the Vatican may see the Pope as some near-infallible figure, it needs to realize that those outside its walls hold the Pope to nearly the same standard of sincerity and responsibility as any other major leader. Criticism of the Pope is not sacrilege, and the Church must recognize the horrific insult to true victims of violence -- the Holocaust front and center -- when it plays the victim on any, but especially such an extreme, scale.

My message to the Catholic diocese.
LEAVE THE JEWS OUT OF THIS!
The comments are so out of line one must wonder whether this highly placed individual is just hopelessly insensitive, or whether this is an attempt to make Jews he whipping boy. Hopefully those days are past.
I find this utterly disgusting, tasteless and very dangerous.

Resign, Pope, Just resign and get it over with. You're just digging a deeper hole for your organization.