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Who could replace Pope Benedict?
Q:Should Pope Benedict XVI be held responsible for the escalating scandals over clerical sexual abuse in Europe? Should he be investigated for cases of abuse that occurred under his watch as archbishop of Munich or as the Vatican's chief doctrinal enforcer? Should the pope resign?
Sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests has emerged as a worldwide (or at least, First World-wide) phenomenon. It's no longer an American issue, nor an Irish issue. The fact that scandal has erupted in Europe and that the former Cardinal Ratzinger may have been involved in under-responding to it simply means that the problem is global, and within the church all lines of responsibility lead ultimately to the papal throne. Should Pope Benedict XVI be held responsible? Yes. Should he be investigated? Yes? Should he resign? Hold on, let's wait fo the investigation! But there's a bigger question here. If investigation reveals that Cardinal Ratzinger participated in covering up abuse in Europe, and if the pope resigns -- who could replace him? Across the world, a minority among Catholic priests apparently engages in sex abuse. Church hierarchs have pretty consistently responded by keeping it quiet, reassigning problem priests, sending them off for therapy but then sending them back to parishes. So if Pope Benedict needs to be replaced, where will Rome find a cardinal whom everyone can be certain has never played a role in mishandling an allegation of abuse?
By
Tom Flynn
|
March 26, 2010; 4:37 PM ET
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Posted by: Schaum | March 30, 2010 3:31 PM
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If the Catholic Church ended the practice of priest celibacy, would that put an end to the recent scandal? No, in fact even if the priests put an end to the practice of child rape and the systematic cover-up of such crimes that would still not end this scandal.
For a long time it has been known that the Catholic Church has been obstructing justice. They have moved criminal priests from city to city, country to country so that they could avoid prosecution for their crimes.
You can read the rest of my response to this topic:
http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8928-Philadelphia-Atheism-Examiner~y2010m3d30-On-Faith-Is-the-Pope-above-the-law
I will be responding to every issue posted in the 'On Faith' section. If you would like to be notified when my new response is up, please subscribe.
Posted by: dangeroustalk | March 30, 2010 1:41 PM
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Actually, there is a very progressive archbishop in Austria who would be an excellent replacement for Ratzinger.
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MAN AND REASON, by Randall Duncan
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“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.”