In 2001, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger ordered bishops to keep their investigations of priestly pedophilia secret, writing that “cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret” and “functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests.”
In other words, he commanded bishops around the world to obstruct justice.
In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI is upbraiding the same bishops (in Ireland) for keeping their investigations of priestly pedophilia secret and commanding them to “face the present crisis with honesty and courage.”
It’s progress of a sort, I guess.
But it’s also shameless and craven.
Reminds me of how Stalin pushed for ever more impossible industrial and agricultural production in the 30s, then blamed the midlevel bureaucrats for being “dizzy with success” when it all started to fall apart.
Isn’t he burning in Hell yet?
Completely expected from an institution which is rotten at the core.
The second link is a repeat so I don’t know what hypocracy was said recently but it doesn’t surprise me that the Pope would change his tune. That pointy hat must be real tight…..
Well, it’s nice to see that he can pretend to display a conscience when there is a compelling legal argument that doing so lessens his organization’s liability to criminal prosecution.
Can someone explain to me the functional differences, if any, between the Catholic Church and the Mafia?
@7: That’s funny! Recently I asked a poli sci guy if there were differences between a cult and the mafia. He said yes, the mafia doesn’t exist. Actually, he said the mafia is a traditional authority and a cult is a charismatic authority. I’m guessing the Catholic church and the mafia are however both traditional authorities.
@7- The Catholic Church uses the threat of a hell that doesn’t exist to keep people in line. The mafia threatens people with very real physical violence.
And the mafia is, by and large, heterosexual.
I would doubt humanity will ever pull it’s collective head out of it’s ass and throw this fraud and his disgusting church out of the U.N. for crimes against humanity. But it should.
@2 in some ways he is. Europe is almost completely secular. The Catholic church has lost all credibility in the US, and even Ireland, the most Catholic of Catholic countries has been rocked by scandal. They are reaping what they have sown.
And we still let these parasites dictate what kind of health care women can get when it comes to their lady parts. How stupid we are.
@7: One operates a vast international criminal conspiracy with impunity, exercising almost complete behind-the-scenes control over the body politic in numerous countries, most notably Italy. The other is the mob.
To borrow from a prominent and controversial Alaskan: “How that social justice-y stuff goin’ for ya lately?”
@10: Oooh, I would like data on that.
They’re now talking about teaching would-be priests about the special difficulties of “celibacy” as though that has anything to do with pedophilia. The “we’ll have to be more careful about taking gay people” claim was specious even to them so now they’re claiming that priests just up to now (over the course of about 1,000 years?) haven’t known how to be celibate, but from now on they’re going to teach them, so it’ll be OK. And the Pope is visiting a number of countries, including England, but he’s not going to have time to visit Ireland. Because it’s so far away from his other stops.
I know a lot of very sad, embarassed Catholics. Why they don’t just become Episcopalians I can’t figure.
You have to admire Ratzinger’s chutzpah.
When he was a “candidate,” Germ tv noted his work as JPII’s theologian, his stint at the inquisition (library), and how much he enjoys playing Bach’s protestant music.
Even considering He is the first rodent pontiff, Pope Rat I is one slimy bastard.
He should be on trial for crimes against humanity.
Ratzinger’s intellect is admirable. Ratzinger is, or was, probably gay, but I lack the media input to cite that assertion adequately.