The Vatican’s Pathetic Excuses

[Rob H.]

Here's an excerpt--I really wish I could post the whole thing.

The Vatican’s Pathetic Excuses
by Ed Brayton

On Thursday in Geneva, a United Nations panel held a remarkable hearing about the global problem of child rape by priests and questioned representatives from the Vatican about it. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that the Vatican offered an astonishingly hypocritical response to those questions:

The Vatican insisted it had little jurisdiction to sanction pedophile priests.

"Priests are not functionaries of the Vatican," Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, told the committee. "Priests are citizens of their own states, and they fall under the jurisdiction of their own country."

*snip*

Seriously, this takes some serious chutzpah. The Catholic Church, at the command of the last pope when he was a cardinal, for decades refused to cooperate with local law enforcement around the country. They hid those crimes from local police and now they say "Hey, this is a matter for the local police, it’s not our fault." It’s really hard to imagine a more dishonest or repulsive response.

Lest anyone forget, Pope Benedict also blamed 1970s US culture for the fact that so many priests raped so many children. Yes, really.

[JNelson6563]

1. We're going to need more accountability than that.

If the Vatican lawyers convinced Francis this was the way to go I hope he now realizes that this was seriously bad advice.

I wager the church doesn't really come clean on this nightmare until after all the players are dead. Especially the high ranking ones.

Julie

[Warpy]

2. Maybe they're ready to let go of the First Estate

at least for the grunts at the bottom. They'll still promote anyone above that level to Vatican City to get him away from the long arm of the law, but priests might no longer be so protected once someone complains about rape.

Remember, the whole "Murder in the Cathedral" case started when Becket refused to allow the state to try a priest for rape.

[cynatnite]

3. They are correct...

The priests are citizens of the states they are living in.

Pope Benedict has defrocked more than 400 priests in his 2 years as pope. I don't like him, but he gets credit for that. Although it was probably due more to public pressure than anything else.

Since Benedict left, the Church's image has improved substantially.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/pope-benedict-defrocked-almost-400-priests-in-2-years-new-documents-make-astonishing-revelation-112877/

[Rob H.]

4. That's true, but as is pointed out in the article linked in the OP

Victims groups called the defense hollow, given how Vatican officials instructed bishops for decades to not turn abusive priests in to police, but to keep the cases in-house and confidential.

"When they say that these crimes should be prosecuted by states, it seems so disingenuous because we know that the church officials at the state level obstruct those efforts to bring justice," said Barbara Blaine, president of the main U.S. victims group, SNAP.

*snip*

And while the Vatican in 2010 for the first time publicly encouraged bishops to cooperate with police investigating abusers, it came with a hedge: only where local reporting laws require it. (Emphasis mine--Rob)

As a result, victims groups said they were not impressed by the Vatican's performance or pledges, though they said they appreciated the seriousness with which the committee members grilled the delegation.

Sure, their image has improved, but they've got some distance to go unless they actually do something significant (i.e., turn pedophile priests over to the authorities and cooperate with any ensuing investigations) rather than just talk about doing something. And really, putting priests on trial in church tribunals where the maximum penalty is being defrocked is, to put it bluntly, laughable. IMO, if Benedict had been serious about effecting real change, he would have turned them over to law enforcement.