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Oh man, it’s getting ugly now. How do you like the gauntlet that Cardinal Sean Brady, leader of the Catholic Church’s Irish flock, has thrown down at Pope Benedict. Why? It’s because Brady is under his own cloud of abuse scandal, and smells blood in the water now that Papa Ratzi is hanging on for dear life when it comes to responsibility for child-raping priests on his watch.
The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has said he will only resign if asked by the Pope amid allegations he witnessed teenage abuse victims take vows of silence over a paedophile.Cardinal Sean Brady, the Primate of All Ireland, admitted that he attended meetings in 1975 when two teenage boys signed oaths of silence while testifying in a Church inquiry against Father Brendan Smyth.
The priest was later uncovered as the most notorious child abuser in the Irish Catholic Church, carrying out more than 90 sexual assaults against 40 youngsters in a 20-year period. Survivors’ groups say the revelations show the cardinal colluded in the cover up of Smyth’s crimes – which, they say, allowed the cleric to continue offending – and say he must quit immediately.
Dr Brady claimed that wider society handled child abuse cases differently in the 1970s. ‘There was a culture of silence about this, a culture of secrecy, that’s the way society dealt with it.’
Wow. What a defense that is — “everybody was doing it,” as priest after priest was shuffled from one diocese to another to victimize hundreds of children. I don’t know what culture of silence he’s talking about, but he, in a position of power, and as an adult with great power over the lives of innocent children, surely knew what he was doing was immoral and criminal activity. Does he feel any guilt? Hell, no.
Abuse campaigner Colm O’Gorman said Cardinal Brady ‘is now deeply personally implicated in the gross failures of the Catholic Church in the management of Smyth and his rampant sexual offending against children.’…Cardinal Brady said yesterday that he would not be resigning because he had done nothing wrong. ‘I did act, and act effectively, in that inquiry to produce the grounds for removing Father Smyth from ministry and specifically it was underlined that he was not to hear confessions and that was very important.’
A shout-out to Cranmer, who compiled a list of shame in the post “Is Pope Benedict XVI about to resign?” (Doubt it, they’d have to pry the Pradas off of his cold dead feet). It’s below the fold.Look at the mounting stories of scandal — still not a peep from Benedict himself:
Time Magazine: Germany’s Priest Sex Abuse Scandal Puts the Vatican on the Defensive
Bloomberg: German Church Suspends Priest Embroiling Pope in Abuse Scandal
The Sydney Morning Herald: Pope named in new twist to German paedophile priest furore
The Australian: Pope Benedict drawn into abuse scandal
La Repubblica: A paedophile priest in Munich when Ratzinger was bishop.
Il Tempo: Germany attacks its Pope.
France24: Pope’s diocese took in priest set for paedophilia therapy
Il Messaggero: Paedophilia, abuses at Munich when Ratzinger was bishop.
AGI news agency: Paedophilia: in Munich, Ratzinger accepted a priest for a cure
Reuters: A paedophile priest in the Pope’s ex diocese.
Corriere della Sera: Paedophilia, a case in Munich when Ratzinger was bishop.
La Stampa: Paedophilia, new disaster for the Vatican
And even Avvenire, a journal of the Italian bishops, says: Paedophile priest was moved to Munich.
And the National Catholic Register: Pope Benedict Transferred Paedophile?
There are very many more across the Americas, Africa and Asia.
But it was not only The Times in the UK which ran this story:
The Daily Mail: ‘Joseph Ratzinger of Munich – the future Pope Benedict – had approved therapy for a priest suspected of abuse’.
Sky: Pope Dragged Into Paedophile Priests Row
The Guardian: Pope is ‘shocked’ to hear of abuse case in Munich while he was archbishop
Classic FM: Pope Dragged Into Paedophile Priests Row
Belfast Telegraph: Pope’s handling of case queried
The idea that this long list, certainly only a smattering of what’s out there now, is a hit job on the Pope, or that all the media around the globe are “setting him up” is absurd at this point. In fact you could argue that Cardinal Sean Brady is calling Benedict’s bluff on this one, Big Time. Let’s see if Papa Ratzi has the stones to call for his resignation.
28 Comments
Throw his ass in prison……maybe he’d resign then?
Hmmmm…that’s where I’ve thought this was headed all alongThe Emperor Ratzi’s resignation (probably due to an all-too-convenient illness).
It’s no secret that this Pope is not popular in the pews AT ALL. It’s no secret that he’s viewed there as a “placeholder Pope.”
And, of course, the Catholic hierarchy is to blame for all of these coverups and enabling (including Ratzinger). I feel uncomfortable in saying that he’s being set-up to be the fall guy because I think he’s as guilty as anyone in this situation (as is John Paul II).
Set up by whom?The point of the article seems to me a refutation of the idea that by reporting on the story, the media are setting the pope up. Out to get him? Maybe, maybe not – and there is a big difference between “out to get him” and “perfectly happy to see him go down.”
As far as the internal workings of the Church – it’s been clear for years that Ratzinger was manipulating behind the scenes to push to be the next pope, and hasn’t made himself popular in the process. If there are any clean Cardinals (a shaky proposition at best, in my opinion, they sure won’t mind watching him go down.
But popes don’t resign. Wikipedia says the last one was in the 1400′s. As traditional as he is, and as megalomaniacal, I doubt he’ll buck that particular tradition – even if he had to do it from prison.
ooh, oohI do like wikipedia. One of the other very few popes to resign was also a Benedict, as was one of the competing claimants when the last pope to resign did so. Hmm…. bad choice of name, Joe?
Various Church people have claimed that there is a campaign against them.It would be interesting to see how the Catholic talking point maschine works. How are they distributed? Chruch letters?
Resign, ye cute hoorfor as you were covering up paedophles in the 1970s, your church was locking up defiant women and sentencing them to labour in a workhouse, in silence, for life.
And ye never apologised, to us, or to the 33,000 women dead in unmarked graves or dug up, burned up and dumped into a pit for the church to make money from us once again by selling the poor holes that your lot first dumped us into when we were worked to death.
I’ve not forgotten…
And ye’re not forgiven.
I hate themevery time oe of these loahsome monsters postures, preens and makes arogantly condescending, sociopathically dispassionate excuses.
I hate them still
for what they did to every single Magdalen, and hey’ve no accountability at all over that
an amazing defense, indeed….and since when has the vatican been loathe to criticize culture and society? normally you can’t shut the bastards up about whatever hypocritical nonsense they happen to be spewing at any given time. piety, chastity, charity, benevolence….these are nothing but meaningless catchphrases to the occupants of the papal palace. molesting innocent children is just the cherry on top of a putrid sundae.
It’s been tried: the Pope has diplomatic immunityHe is recognized internationally as a head of state.
In 2002, when Cardinal Law renounced his see as Archbishop of Boston and fled to the Vatican to escape prosecution for the pedophilia scandal, a group of Americans filed suit to have Pope John-Paul II charged as an accessory. Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (aka the Inquisition, the branch of the Church machine charges with investigating allegations of clerical abuse) filed a letter stating that the Pope, as a head of state, and all Cardinals and Nuncios, as ambassadors of the Pope, have diplomatic immunity. When the suit was rejected, it was, in part, because of this claim to diplomatic immunity.
So basically, the US Federal Court has decreed that cardinals, nuncios and popes can do whatever they damned well please and to hell with the rule of law.
“Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”See, back in the day, the Kings and Queens of Europe knew how to handle the Pontiff. Too bad we can’t just set up an alternative papacy a la the Popes of Avignon.
We are seeing the global scope of the criminal conspiracy entered into by the leaders of the Church. They have obstructed justice, aided and abetted rapists and defrauded parishioners the world over. My question is, when does this rise to the level of “crimes against humanity”? If the individual states can’t touch Mr. Ratzinger because of his status as the Bishop of Rome, what about the Hague?
I had heard something a bit differentCardinal Law was considering making that exact claim, but I had heard that the Vatican dissuaded him from claiming diplomatic immunity. Just imagine the ruckus if the claim had been made by Cardinal Law – if this was asserted, they’s all have to register with the State Department as agents of a foreign power.
The pope is actually a head of state, and does have the immunity. Papal nuncios are real ambassadors, and the same goes for them (diplomatic immunity). Cardinals? Especially the Cardina Archbisops with archdioceses in the U.S.? They would not qualify, but Law’s idea might have crreated huge problems for the Vatican.
There are at least 17 antipopes out there – pick one!
Be nice , Joann, My inlaws made one of those anti-popesand the family that sponsred a pirate for a Pope(the first John XXIII) had no problems with an Irish Lesbian marrying their daughter…
Yes, butsurely running and fostering and actively protecting an international child-rape ring, certainly one as vast as the RCC, must fall into the category of “crimes against humanity.” It’s time for an international tribunal to give careful, merciless scrutiny to Holy Mother Church. They can indict even heads of state, and have done so numerous times when they found it appropriate.
Or, of course, they might simply do away with him, as they did John Paul I when he wanted to investigate the Vatican Bank and its ties to the mafia. Inconvenient popes have been disposed of before and will be again.
Benedict XVI claims to have chosen his papal nameout of admiration for the previous Benedict, the XV. Benedict XV was pope during World War I and tried to negotiate a peace deal which would, in effect, have involved that Allies capitulating to the Kaiser. So it’s not too hard to see what Ratzinger admired about him.
No doubt, but…I keep going back again and again to…
why elect Ratzinger to be Pope in the first place?
Now I give the Vatican some credit for having some political savvy through the ages (i.e. the French Revolution). They knew that Ratzinger was this lightning rod for many of the faithful. He’s well suited for being the Machivellian power behind the Papal throne rather than sitting on the throne itself.
While Ratzi would let this slide, since he did the IDENTICAL crap in GermanyBut the Irish people won’t like this, not one bit.
Irrelevant
The way wider society dealt with the sexual abuse of children is irrelevant – Cardinal Brady is not now, nor was he then, “wider society”. He is one of the most senior figures in the Roman Catholic Church and, by virtue of both his position and the vows he took upon becoming a priest, must be held to a higher standard than would be expected of “wider society”.
Re. the number of UK papers covering Pope Ratty’s up-to-his-neck involvement in the Paedo Priests scandal, it’s high profile here because of his controversial impending state visit to the UK. It will be the first Papal state visit to Britain since the Catholics tried to assassinate the English government in the 17th century.
Isn’t this great?I listen to the BBC Foreign Service on a regular basis, and they’ve been running regular stories about the abuse scandal.
The Irish folk they’ve been talking to are saying this is creating a huge trial of faith for the Catholics, and this latest scandal is causing some to leave the church entirely.
Here’s hoping the Church’s stranglehold over Irish society is cut off and they throw off the yoke and the leash their Church master have had over the country.
Not a great wayto start St. Patrick’s day…
I don’t know. Having grown up Catholic myself, I can’t even feel outraged at this any more. All of the nonsense I was fed for so many years, other Catholics simply shrugging and walking away when I tried to challenge them to think about their faith. And then this, this ongoing child abuse scandal, the elephant in the room that most complacent Catholics don’t seem to give a toss about so long as they think they’re getting their afterlife insurance, and the more devout ones spin to make the Vatican seem to continue to be immaculate (a ridiculous notion to begin with).
I really just don’t know anymore…
From what I understand…they wanted to have a shorter-lived Pope, since John Paul II lasted for so long, and they wanted someone who generally shared his views. Although, since JPII was pretty conservative, and the pool of candidates is a bunch of old dudes, I can’t imagine they couldn’t have found a candidate with sexual abuse on his resume. Then again, who knows how deep the rabbit hole goes…
And finally, really and truly end the “Special Position”as opposed to the Constitutional lip service paid whilst FF government after FF government crawl and grovel before the gates of the palace at Drumcondra.
WWMDS
(What would Michael D say?)
I was taught that I had no value by the Church in Irelandas a Magdalen; It took an aged woman in Madrid to re-awaken my sense of self-worth.
As long as every ill-educated(church-educated) culchie in the nation continues to clutch their rosary beads whilst genuflecting deferentialy before the clergy, Ireland has little hope of throwing off the yoke
I meant modern antipopes.Here are a number of them:
Collinites
Michel Collin or Colin (Pope Clement XV), self-proclaimed (1950-1974) in France, founder of Order of the Mother of God (a name later changed to Apostles of Infinite Love)
Jean-Gaston Tremblay, Gregory XVII (1968-2005), in Canada
Palmarian Catholic Church
Clemente Domínguez y Gómez (Pope Gregory XVII), mystically self-proclaimed (1978-2005) in Spain
Manuel Alonso Corral (Pope Peter II), succeeded Gregory XVII in 2005
The Palmarian Catholic Church regards Pope Paul VI, whom they revere as a martyr, and his predecessors as true popes, but hold, on the grounds of claimed apparitions, that the Pope of Rome is excommunicated and that the position of the Holy See has, since 1978, been transferred to the See of El Palmar de Troya.
Other examples
Mirko Fabris (Pope Krav I), (since 1978), elected in Zagreb, Croatia
David Bawden (Pope Michael I), (since 1990) elected in Kansas, United States of America
Lucian Pulvermacher (Pope Pius XIII) (since 1998), elected in Montana, United States of America (“True Catholic Church”)
Raphael Titus Otieno (since 2004), third of the Legio Maria popes (since 1962) of western Kenya
Joaquin Llorens (Pope Alexander IX), (since 2005), elected in Elx, Spain
ARGENTINE Papal line:
Pope Leo XIV (2006). On 24 March 2006 a group of 34 episcopi vagantes elected the Argentine Oscar Michaelli as Pope Leo XIV. On his death on 14 February 2007, he was succeeded by:
Juan Bautista Bonetti, who took the name of Pope Innocent XIV, but resigned on 29 May 2007.
Alexander IX was chosen in his place.
On a strictly tongue-in-cheek basis, I made myself “pope” (taking the name “Pope Joan II”) after I was thrown out of the Roman Catholic Church in 1999, on the basis that the Mystical Body of Christ stayed with me after the separation. Of course, I was my only adherent.
Your knowledge of this stuff amazes me, Joann.As I’ve said often enough, I was raised Catholic and even did time in a seminary. But my meager knowledge pales next to yours. But as much as I admire your learning, I also think you need to get out more. :)
Second time’s the charm.
I heard…It’s an interesting scandal and it certainly does reveal the real truth by the looks of it. I did here the other day that there was more overheard by cell phone which adds to the evidence.