Call the cops. Period.
If that means that in some Middle Eastern country a guilty priest might be executed?
Too bad.
The alternative is letting the guy get away with it.
Of course, the Church is NEVER going to make it a policy to Call the Cops anywhere. It is going to use the Middle east and some African countries as the excuse why the cops cannot be called in the US or Holland or anywhere else.
The whole thing is a farcial PR Stunt.
4
Why is anyone expecting the Vatican to fix this abuse problem? Turn a few of these abusers into the local police and it will quickly stop. Criminals should be treated the same, regardless of their title or beliefs.
7
When the so-called leaders can say blame these crimes on 'feminists,' 'divorce' or the victims themselves, you know there's a problem. The greatest gift my mother gave me was insisting her kids be raised outside of the Catholic church, even though my father was Catholic. Then again, he walked away from the church after years of physical abuse at the hands of nuns in catholic school; and after my very pious grandmother was ex-communicted for divorcing her physically abusive husband (she couldn't afford to 'buy' an annulment back then.)
I would never send my children to Catholic school or allow them to attend a Catholic Church without constant supervision. And who needs a religion that requires that kind of vigilance against child abuse?
8
It absolutely offends common sense that standards on child sex abuse -- illegal in every modern country and a strikingly clear assault on human rights -- are "virtually impossible" whereas the church has no problem imposing standards on behavior that is not illegal at all, is private and has no victims -- consensual adult relationships, birth control, masturbation.
Forget the hypocrisy. It's not even logical.
6
The catholic church has been raping boys for the past two centuries. This pedo club should be banned and closed down. catholic priests have raped tens of thousands of children in every major city across the globe. All raping priests should jailed and castrated.
1
It's a business that aids and abets criminal behavior. If the crime was human sacrifice, there would be no discussion of religious rights. Is child rape that much less a crime?
Shut it down.
4
“It is not so simple,” said the Rev. Hans Zollner, an organizer of the meeting. But when it comes to banning abortion, it's simple. That homosexuality is disordered, it's simple. No female priests, it's simple. And the list of prohibitions goes on, it's simple. Only when patriarchal authority is challenged does it become complicated.
8
There is another possible solution-allow women priests and church officials. It is an absurdity in 2019 that a religion excludes women from high office. The Catholic church is on very shaky ground around the world-people will eventually revolt against Rome, as they have before, and either leave the church as an antiquated faith or take active measures.
Popes and high church officials continue to put out a farrago of half truths and deceptive commentary-just stalling the inevitable for another decade or two.
1
The church is not above civil laws. Any priest who’s accused of sexual abuse should be reported to the local police. What’s so hard about that?
Sexual assault is not an issue that should be handled internally. And it’s been made quite obvious that it can’t be addressed internally.
If was baseball coach or club leader, would the association be allowed to investigate the incident before it decides whether or not to go to the police?
The church operated as a giant pedophile ring for decades, if not centuries. Unfortunately, it was also an open secret that was joked about instead of taken as seriously as it should have been.
4
Perhaps one world standard is no more impossible than one true word. I suppose that depends on your belief system.
2
Nonsense. The solution is pathetically simple. Hold both offenders and the Church criminally responsible: the offenders for the acts, the Church for accessory to the acts.
9
Rape and pedophilia are so deeply ingrained in the Catholic church that its continued existence and influence as a global organization is absurd. This is not a recent problem. This isn't just a "bad batch" of priests. The problem is Catholicism. Leave the church and find God elsewhere.
3
The church and many churches plus many religions are indeed being ignored because they are far more flawed than their faithful.
1
Parishioners have the power to boycott mass. You can force change, and now is your moment to shine.
5
The Catholic Church is filled with hypocrisy.Priests can't marry but it's a well known fact that priests have sexual relations with women,some even fathering children. The priesthood also has many homosexuals even tho the church denies they exist in the same way they deny that many priests abuse children. Women in third world countries who already have enough children,are told that birth control is a sin. The Church is still acting like we're in the 18th century. They need to clean their own house before they can say that others are sinning.
6
I beg to different. The 18th century is too enlightened. More like the 13th.
8
This is not hard.
Publish and post a policy in all Church buildings and confessionals advising the faithful and others-like nuns & volunteers-to reach out to their local authorities if anything inappropriate occurs.
Inform all clergy the Church will not protect them from legal investigations.
Remove the accused from interactions with the accuser & the group they represent (children, other priests, nuns etc.) Ensure they are available to law enforcement for investigation.
Failure to participate fully & honestly in investigations or a legal finding of guilt will result in excommunication from the Church.
Provide a contact to an international organization to assist those who, due to the relationship of the Church with local authorities, cannot lodge a local complaint. In this case, investigators would be provided to determine if there is validity to the complaint based upon international law and have the ability to pursue legal action where arbitration does not work.
This, at least, gives victims the same chance as any other victim of a similar crime in their community to, perhaps, get some justice for their trauma and the betrayal done to them.
It does not require the Church to define what is or is not legal or provide any assistance to the victim outside of a final legal ruling.
It does not matter if the priest denies it any more than in any other situation in the secular community.
It does require the Church to grow a backbone and take an action. That's unlikely.
4
I’m sorry, there is an easy fix:
1. Allow women priests;
2. End celibacy for the priesthood.
2
There is very little that can be done to undo the trauma suffered by the victims of sex abuse. If they can make the pope and catholic highjack to eliminate the so-called (pretense) celibacy for priests, there is likely some chance of improvement in the behavior of the priests. It is however important to get rid of all known abusers en mass from the church. Is it too much to ask?
1
How many years must pass before this mess is cleaned up? This church seems more satisfied with the status quo than doing what is right.
1
If there ever was a legit reason for a Boycott and Divest action, it’s the Catholic Church. Simply stop going to church and stop filling up the collection plate, or leaving your house to them. Until they change the celibacy and prohibition against marriage requirements.
7
One of the main reasons the Church can’t seem to get hold of this terrible problem is its highly centralized, Vatican-centric decision making. If all roads let to Rome, it is hard for a local diocese to take action on this or any other matter with reasonable speed. A revolution is in order, one that decentralizes the Church’s power and locates much more authority where it belongs, namely, individual dioceses.
3
There is pnly one solution - that priests observe their vow of chastity.
No one is compelled to become a priest, so I do not wish to hear of any one (inside or outside the church) complain.
If any priest does not choose to comply, let him leave the church -instead of cowardly (and sinfully) preying upon a child or adult.
Lots of men have positions of trust with children. Teachers, coaches, doctors, clergy in other faiths, etc. Occasionally pedophiles use those positions of trust to take advantage of children, and that is horrible. But the problem in all of these other big institutions is always an isolated event, a single, evil person, not an endemic problem.
The Catholic Church alone requires an oath of celibacy, and the Catholic Church alone has this problem to a degree that no other large institution on earth has.
In effect, the Catholic Church as been running a natural experiment, and the results are clearly in. Lifelong celibacy either turns a small but meaningful percentage of previously healthy men into pedophiles, or the vow of celibacy acts to attract men to the priesthood who are already seriously troubled by their own sexuality in some way, including pedophiles. One of those two things is true, and it doesn't really matter which one it is, because the cure is the same either way: end the vow of celibacy.
The idea that being gay has anything to do with this is absolutely medieval. That appalling idea is maybe a half step up from burning witches.
3
Yes, denial. That said, it's a denial coming from an "Old Boys Club". Much like corporations around the world today, in denial with regards to sexual harassment and abuse, they are dismissive, circle the wagons and just plain obstruct; all to protect their little old clique, their power, their throne. The Church uses antiquated rules and laws set down centuries ago, by men, to do the above, falling back on "god" and "jesus" as a last resort to justify their greed and power hungry ways. They are not a religion, same can be said for all other organized religions, they are organized crime rackets and need to be treated as such. I wish the public and criminal justice system particularly our courts would wake up to this fact.
3
Lol...oh there most certainly is a quick solution. It revolves around this; "... in the Middle East, reporting a pedophile priest to the civil authorities is tantamount to sentencing him to death."
Yeah...time to take priests, preachers and rabbi's and Imams off the most protected list of local law enforcement. Make it clear to all Religious Organizations be they long standing or recent pop-ups, that your claims about God are meaningless when it comes to crimes recognized in the civil system.
Give unto Caesar what is his! And a few pounds of flesh from these deplorable, pampered men sounds about right.
No more free-passes! Period. Be it sexual abuse, drunk driving, or whatever else these alleged "holy" men commit and expect a pass!
Game over for these miscreants!
3
Fair enough. The church can't reform. Time for it's assets to be liquidated and given to the world's poor, then. I don't care how ancient you are, how entrenched. The Catholic Church is the world's largest criminal organization, fleecing the poor of the world for money with lies about death. Time for this medieval organization to be shut down.
6
The solution seems simple to me--stop going to church! Don't support this crooked enterprise.
3
What!! I can't even believe the arrogance of these Church officials!! Denying the crimes, protecting the predators, and covering their behinds is their true agenda. Way too little too late for so victims!
3
Some people don't believe that there is sexual abuse in the church? Who cares? We're supposed to accommodate the stupidest people in the world like we accommodate Trump's base? Let them marinate in their own ignorance. Some people believe the world is flat. I could care less.
4
If Nixon could go to China, the Catholic church could have married priests of both genders.
Impossible to imagine, but the impossible finds a way of happening every once in a while.
3
Yes, there is a quick fix. Report them to the police to investigate every single case. Then let women being priests. There is no reason that after Boston, we are finding out churches of all denominations have continued with these practices. And if those things don’t work, just take their tax-exempt status from them, all of them.
3
Perhaps a fact-free culture like a religion is the last place to look for rationality. Yes it is that simple. What else can one expect but more and more free assertions? When faith precludes curiosity truth has no chance.
2
I don't understand why priests who commit these crimes are allowed to skirt the justice system. Why aren't they arrested and, if found guilty, serving jail time?
4
Mary: The Church shields offenders in its midst from the reach of the secular law in the name of God, who it obviously considers more important than the children it allows to be raped. Plain and simple.
1
Of course abuse of any child, whether sexual or physical, is abhorrent, a sin and a crime. But there is also abuse of adults, same sex and opposite sex, and while only some of that abuse is criminal, all of it is abhorrent and sinful. Then there is emotional abuse of children and adults, misuse of power, harassment, on and on. The deep corruption of the institution that privileges itself over its victims is to be expected in business. But a church? Calling itself the voice of god on earth? Enraging.
1
Very disappointing that the sexual abuse of sisters and nuns by priests and bishops was omitted from this article. I hope it is on His Holiness' meeting agenda.
4
@Helen
An honest question: Why is he called 'his holiness'?
As long as people believe one person is so much above (and thus, above reproach) than other person(s) just because they have a special hat (or a title, or got elected, ...) we will have people acting like they are above everyone else.
Put people on a pedestal based on their behavior. Francis has not shown that he can use his power for the good. Don't agree? Then, why didn't he just make his "zero tolerance" a part of the church's doctrine? It's in his power to do so. He knows he covets the trappings of his office more than the wellbeing of children.
4
The solution to this problem is much simpler than it may appear—leaving the Catholic Church is simple, and finding another, safer, more welcoming “spiritual home” is the most effective way of protesting the grievous sins of the Church, its total lack of accountability, and caring for yourself and your loved ones. After I left the Catholic Church myself, my own family and I found a safe and welcoming alternative spiritual home at one of our local Unitarian Universalist congregations. This welcoming UU community has provided us with strong ethical supports that help guide us through these turbulent times and challenging troubles. Consider options beyond the Catholic Church as both a form of protest and source of healing.
3
Regardless of what doesn't come out of this useless conference, pedophilia is criminal behavior. Celibacy is not the issue. Clergy of every religion and denominations have pedophiles among them because they are attracted to jobs where they have access. The RC church is just better able to hide the predators because it is a worldwide church. Last week the Southern Baptists were accused of shuffling pedophiles around. The holier than thou job is a cover for the perversion. The Pope has absolute authority over his church. He claims to feel pity for the little ones, yet he does nothing. Guilty conscience?
4
This is not complicated. If a priest sexually abuses anyone, he should be defrocked and not allowed to serve as a layperson. Further, he should face criminal prosecution. It is beyond belief that the Catholic Church -- or ANY religion -- tolerates such behavior. Clean up the mess or stop pretending the church is about anything other than greed and power.
2
Hipocrisy of this organization knows no bounds. They talk from both sides of their mouth:
1) They preach that there is ONE God and ONE faith that fits all nations and all cultures. But when it comes to crimes, they say each culture needs to deal with it in its own unique way.
2) Some of them said that "in places like Africa and India fighting abuse is still not a priority"? How convenient! Right now (just google current news) there is a Catholic Bishop in Kerala, India, who was arrested by the government for repeatedly raping a nun. The church did everything to shield him, gave him a hero's welcome to the church after he was released, ignored written complaints from the victim and other nuns, and sent warning letters to the nuns! People are taking to the streets to demand justice.
We don't need to over-analyze this. These are people in power who will protect each other and give any nonsense explanation to get away with crimes.
Throw all the criminals in jail. Showing them more leniency because they are "people of faith" doesn't make sense. They should face stricter punishments than lay people because they feign a higher moral ground, and hoodwink people intro trusting them.
7
How about putting an end to enforced celibacy and excommunication, a criminal trial followed by imprisonment for guilty clergy? That would make a good start at least.
Anything less than opening Church files and turning them over to civil authorities for prosecution, if the evidence merits such, is simply more of a cover-up. Not that it will happen, but serious consideration of a R.I.C.O. prosecution should occur in the U.S.
This is one more reason tax-exempt status should be abolished completely. Why should you have to pay taxes to support my beliefs and causes? Or me, yours?
As the Vatican has full diplomatic status, Catholic priests who are subservient to that state should have to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
As well, Vatican files should be opened on the Church's role in the Holocaust.
6
For as long as there are religions which seek to make a distinction between man and animal, there will always be the denial that “men of God” are immune to the broader biological implications regarding what we know of primate behavior.
Say what you will about the Ancient Greeks and their culturally normative paedophilia, but at least they understood that the ‘Eros’ is an inextricable aspect of the human spirit.
"It's not so simple"? It is. Disband the church. It is a bizarre dinosaur still lumbering around after having caused a couple millennia of oppression, horror, and bloodshed for so many different peoples across the face of the earth....seek spirituality elsewhere
3
You can solve this problem for yourself, at least, if you follow this one simple rule: never leave your kid alone with a priest. That may take some adjustments, but if you think about the risks you run, it's well worth it. Now you may say "Only a small percentage of the priests are pedophiles." That's true (or is it?), and if you can tell which is which, you have no problem.
Please don't take this to imply any blame on those who didn't know what was going on and inadvertently exposed their children to harm. But that was then and this is now. We do know what's going on. The excuse of ignorance will not fly any more.
1
This is complete rubbish, and demonstrates the incapacity of this institution to regulate itself. There are national laws in every country regarding sexual abuse. The laws differ from place to place, but those are the laws. They should apply to everyone whether they wear robes or not. If the Church simply stopped protecting all these criminal predators and let them face the full force of the laws in the countries where they live, most of this problem would evaporate quickly, or at least be no more prevalent than it is for the population at large. There is no reason to grant these charlatans extra-judicial privilege.
At a stroke of a pen the Pope could institute this practice world wide forthwith because the procedures and rules of the church are under his control. If he doesn't he isn't serious. None of them ever have been, and that is why the problem has grown to the extent it has.
4
Celibacy 101 in any Catholic Seminary
"...Ok, you have to be celibate. You cannot marry and have children.
On the other hand, you can sexually assault any man, woman or child you want, whenever you want as long as you keep it quiet. If there is a complaint, we will either ostracize the family or pay it off in exchange for their silence.
Worst case scenario- we move you to another Parish, Diocese or, if necessary, country.
This behhhavior could have an impact on your career. (wink, wink). Just look at cardinal Mccarrick. He really frowns on this kind of behavior. He will explain that to you at a weekend retreat at his beach house.
Did we ever tell you that Jesus had a beachhouse? It's a little known fact....."
8
Of course there is an easy fix.
Martin Luther wrote that down 502 years ago.
Don't make it more complicated than it should be.
1
Every religion has the same criminal element, look closer to home.
I am not sure I get the reasoning Vatican officials are offering for their low expectation for substantive change in a timely fashion. Priests are just people. Countries don’t need to have special laws for them. There are likely laws most everywhere against molestation of children. True - in some places they are more draconian, but why would it be right to use that fact to shelter priests? They should face the same civil fate as every other rapist and molester regardless of vocation and profession, and if civil laws are draconian or the process of justice unfair, then that is a problem for all citizens in that country - priests, bus drivers, shop keepers, etc. The church should advocate for justice for everyone, no more no less for a priest.
The idea that the Vatican has to tread lightly because if they impose too many new rules too quickly the Bishops may just ignore them, thus denigrating Papal authority, is preposterous. They have plenty of rigid rules for their flock. They are brutally heartless towards gay marriage, birth control, women seeking ordination, sex outside of marriage, etc. We are strangled with intrusive rules about our victimless private lives. Overwhelming numbers of Catholics ignore the ridiculous rules about birth control, for example. Eroding Papal authority? Legions of Catholics already ignore these rules. And that kind of thinking is the same sin over and over. Protect the church. Protect papal authority. That’s the priority. Not the kids.
8
Obvious answer for Catholics in the U.S.-- leave the worldwide church. Set up the American Catholic Church. It's estimated there are 70 million Catholics in the U.S. You don't have to abandon good works or charity outside the U.S. Become the model for the rest of Catholicism. The worldwide organization is too hidebound and corrupt, you're just wasting your time trying to change it from within. Set an example.
2
I left the church 30 years ago and never looked back. Lots of really good non-Catholic churches out there...
4
In other words, they knew they had a very big problem.
1
The bishops know what they have done. They do not have the courage or the moral fortitude to acknowledge their roles in the myriad of cover-ups of crimes within the Roman Catholic Church.
Francis needs to turn over every record that the Church has about crimes and cover-ups to the appropriate authorities and let the bishops face the prosecutors.
6
If you take a 'vow of celibacy' your 'sexual orientation' would then be asexuality. That would be part of your job description. i.e. you tell the truth, you are nice to others and you do not have a sexual orientation. So yes agreed that the 'problem' is not homosexuality in the priesthood. That would be an oxymoron.
If you can not fulfill the job description, you need to find another line of work.
If these people have been 'touched by the hand of god' when they took their job and then are raping children, that would be 'god acting through' these people to use a phrase that they like to use a lot about all sorts of other things that these people do. Not a case of "a lack of maturity and preparation" or some other such nonsense.
Not good for the church i.e. an organization that claims to exist to do good things. Not good for the people who actually do tell the truth and are nice to others. Not a good way to teach by example.
Hypocrisy is not a word that seems more applicable than criminal and apparently in desperate need of mental health care and treatment.
You can not have a functioning society when you start giving special exemptions from the law to people who are serial liars and
people who have clearly been aiding and abetting crimes against humanity for decades and most likely for centuries.
Yes, child rape is a crime against humanity, not "a lack of maturity and preparation". And should be dealt with accordingly.
2
The easy fix is to give the priesthood to women and stop this nonsense that God is only a male diety. Jesus honored and trusted women - he understood that men were going to betray him and his teachings.
2
Yes, there is a way to fight priest abuse ... walk away from the church. The church survives on money. Money from parishioners. No parishioners no money. It may take a while for the church to burn through the money that it’s hoarded for two millennia but in time... but in time. This reminds me of the situation where a woman is beaten by her husband and doesn’t leave. She should leave the first time any abuse happens whether physical or emotional ... but inexcusably still often stays and receives more abuse. I am not a parent nor will I ever be but if I had a child I would never in a million years allowed my child to be in contact with an organization that hides sexual predators from secular justice. I really like pope Francis but since I’m an Episcopalian I don’t have a dog in this fight. Good luck to you Catholics... you deserve better.
3
The Church could start by changing its attitude toward sexuality in general. Teach that masturbation is not a sin and is actually healthy and constructive way to deal with sexual urges. They need to get rid of the entire sex - sin relationship and teach emotional maturity and responsibility.
The centuries of sexual repression have not helped society nor the Church itself. If the Church wants to remain relevant and respected, they are going to need to adapt and revise their religious belief to keep up with the times or risk becoming one of the thousands of dead religions humanity has had before.
2
The Catholic Church and the So Baptist denomination are Christian organizations. Such organizations assert the Bible, especially the New Testament, guides them in their existence. It might be useful for the Pope, and for Mr Grear, the president of the SBC, to focus on Matthew 22:34-40, its parallel passage in Mark 12:28-24 and Luke 10:25-37. In each of these, Jesus gives and illustrates the two core ethical 'rules' a believer must live by: 1) Love God and 2) Love your neighbor.
Nowhere does Jesus suggest that the church is justified in any failure to apply these two commandments simply because the 'culture' in which the church operates views the application of either of these as problematic.
Instead, the church, local and universal, is to be the light of truth in a sinful world. Unfortunately, it seems that mankind, whether 'godly' or profane, will grab any lifeline to continue its abuse of those men, women and children who are available. The comments of Zollner remind me of the excuse of the teenager: "everyone else does it." I've looked and looked. That self-justification isn't in the Bible. But, perhaps Zollner and others are relying upon church tradition to continue ignoring the teachings of Jesus.
1
Give parishioners the authority to vet their parish priests through background checks, interviews and references, and let the parishioners decide who will minister to their parishes. Give the laity oversight over priests and bishops.
3
The problems stem directly from a theological edict that denies its leaders their human and biological sexuality. Celibacy is an enormously repressive burden to place on a human being. The Church cannot philosophize, theologize, or shift institution forms of oversight and retribution as a way to alter what is a profoundly human issue. Sexual abuse occurs in all arenas, from individuality to the enclosed institutional domains. But the Church has the peculiar historicity of leadership celibacy. As long as this domain of theology retains this fundamental disavowal of being human, we cannot expect the level of abuse or even minor "infractions"to religious principles to wane.
1
Wow. How do such stupid men ever rise to positions of power? These abuses have been documented for a long time and if these men can't even keep on top of factual information, they should never be promoted. Why not start by educating and testing priests on issues that will affect their flocks? How about doing that everywhere? For god's sake, we elected a president who didn't know Lincoln was a Republican. Hello?
6
@L.R. It's usually the stupid men who rise to positions of power.
One's first assumption might be is that not allowing Roman Catholic priests to marry is setting them up for failure.
How can we test this assumption?
The Orthodox Christian churches have allowed priests to marry for 2,000 years. It would be instructive to see if these churches have similar sex abuse problems with their priests, or is it much lower (or, higher)?
2
How is it that the Pope can tell the world not to use birth control, not have abortions, etc. and can not tell the pedophiles who work for him to cut it out?
21
@spencer
One word: Hypocrisy
The definition fits like a glove. From Merriam-Webster:
Hypocrisy. noun
a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not : behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel
especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
4
The views that celibacy is the problem creating child sexual abuse and rape of women and children, and that the right to marriage would diminish or mitigate the problem presented in these comments are repugnant to me. Pedophiles gravitate to the Catholic Church as an ideal environment to practice their perversions because of easy access to their prey, a predilection of respect offered to their vestments, and as highlighted in this article, a deeply complicit institution protecting their crimes. I do not and cannot understand how someone who uses violence, deceit and perversion to gratify their sexual desires, would be "cured" by marriage. It would not happen.
Southeast Asian Buddhist monks agree to the discipline of celibacy as a way to restrain and train their minds, and in order to free themselves from certain detachments in the world. If they break the vow, they are meant to be disrobed; if they want to be married, they are free to leave the order and re-ordain in the future if they desire. Please stop attacking celibacy as an illegitimate choice.
4
Just because there is not an easy fix does not mean that church officials shouldn't begin fixing the problem. Like any other organization, the Church would need to (1) have the top person set a firm behavior requirement, (2) monitor his direct reports to be sure they are following the requirements and requiring their subordinates to follow the requirements (on down the line) and (3) take prompt action when those requirements are not met -- including taking action "up the line" when problems are not immediately corrected.
5
Maybe the Catholic Church doesn't need priests anymore, they seem like relics of the past when illiteracy and ignorance was common. Maybe Catholics can decide for themselves how to pray and what to believe.
9
The foxes assemble to figure out what to do about chickens going missing from the hen house.
I disagree. The solution is simple.
1. Ordain women and married men
2. Remove requirement of celibacy
3. Make it abundantly clear to all clergy worldwide that the church will see any sexual misconduct prosecuted in the courts of law. The CHURCH will follow through with criminal prosecution whenever possible.
4. Reparations for victims. The church at the very least owns billions of dollars worth of art and real estate that could be sold.
5. Go back and reread the gospels. Come on, listen to the words of your Lord.
The past can’t be changed, but a new direction must be set for the future.
8
This was horrifying to read.
There are excuses being given as to the removal of pedophile priests in the Chirch worldwide. Nothing should be up for debate. Nothing.
The Catholic Church as an institution is broken and irretrievably beyond repair. Burn it to the ground.
11
It is simple. The Catholic Church has a long tradition of imposing its will on many cultures. It meddles in politics to impose its will on people of other religions. In this case, the only people involved are Catholics who are under the jurisdiction of the Pope; priests, nuns, and other consecrated Catholics. The Pope could decree that anyone sexually abusing, or aiding and abetting the abuse of a child or adult, will be defrocked and given over to the local authorities for prosecution. The local culture may affect the punishment, but the person would be removed from the clerical status in the Church.
This will not happen because the Pope would have to remove every Bishop and Cardinal and more priests than they can afford to lose. The Pope himself was not a shining example of stamping out abuse when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aries. As Pope, as recently as last year, condemned the victims in Chile for lying about pedophiles. Deaf adults who had been abused in Catholic schools for the deaf in Italy and Argentina delivered to the Pope's hand, a letter naming names, but nothing has been done. This meeting is all for show but the answer is so easy. The Pope doesn't have the guts to sit on his throne and make this Church doctrine.
8
@S.L. Someone should mentions to both Republicans and Democrats that the Al Smith dinner now looks like a salacious power grab. And an old school one at that. Get rid of it.
1
A partial solution is staring the Church in the face: allow women to become priests. Women's rate of child sex abuse is far lower than men's. Studies have put it at between 5% and 20% of reported cases. Women are more likely to report sex abuse of children by others. The Church's antiquated and sexist view of women continue to hurt it and the Catholic laity.
2
“But Vatican officials say such a demand reflects a misconception that change in a global and ancient institution can be made with the wave of a papal wand.
The diversity of legal and cultural barriers to identifying abusers and assisting victims, as well as entrenched denial, makes putting in place one world standard virtually impossible, they say.”
Their global stance on abortion must be a miracle then.
7
The hubris of the Catholic Church and it’s followers is amazing. Time for people to stand up to these international child abuse crime rings, paid for by followers of the church.
No more excuses! None! Fix it out close your doors.
8
It is so predictable to see anti Catholic and anti religion responses to these horrible crimes.
In the United States alone, the Catholic Church feeds and clothes and cares for more people than all governmental "poverty" programs combined. They provide foster care, nursing home care, and hospital care to the poorest of the poor. In every community, there is a Catholic Church working to make the world a better place for all people.
Not every priest is a predator. The vast majority are not. That is worth remembering.
2
The solution is to end celibacy, allow priests to marry and/or be gay.
The early Pope was not celibate, it evolved when the church became so wealthy it didn't want to deal with inheritance.
It's been a long time coming. Anyone who remains a Catholic with all this abuse and scandal need to reconsider. The Pope is obsolete.
Go to the Vatican and see all the gold riches, all robbed from the poor nations for the wealth of the church. This was never Christ's message....for shame.
4
So..the church has a set of laws everyone who considers themselves Catholic must follow..from divorce to having children..and yet they can't put rules in place about the penalty for abusing the most vulnerable?
How moral.
9
Abortion is not ok, but once the child is born, it is ok to abuse it. Hmm... more vulnerable children...
1
The statistics in Spotlight (the movie) 50% of priests are not celibate and 6% are pedophiles. The 50% that are not celibate create an atmosphere of denial that enables the pedophiles to operate.
However, isn't the real issue that humanity is corrupt. Let us look at our current president. And the 60 million that voted for him. About half the voting population in 2016 in the US. Does this possibly mean that 6% of US citizens are pedophiles. Or sexual abusers. Oops. I think that the percentage is actually much, much higher.
That is why it won't change. Our outrage is not shared by roughly 50% of the population of the US.
2
Call the police. Report the crime. Done ZERO tolerance.
4
As The Little Prince wisely said, "all grownups were once children. Few remember it." And furthermore he said that grownups love to complicate things that in fact are very simple.
And therein lies the two-pronged problem: they can't empathize with the children, and they get caught up in invented complexities, all to explain/excuse the reasons why they cannot make a change.
2
It obviously is time for an in-house second reformation.
For what apparently is the first time this pope, any pope, has faced what most likely is a millennia old scandal, and they're saying he isn't moving fast enough.
In my lifetime popes start with Pius XII and six or seven more. Even John XXIII, the reformer, didn't touch that topic. Let's hope Pope Francis and sane, practical advisors act to clean up and update the church.
If they can replace outdated ritual language with plain speech in the mass, they certainly can replace people who are acting like hangovers from the days of the Roman Empire.
1
I wish people would stop suggesting that allowing priest to marry, will address this problem. Being a Pedophile has nothing to do with the struggle of abstinence.
3
Here's one easy fix for ending sex abuse by priests--end their mandatory celibacy. Because as the saying goes: "If you lock the front door on nature, she'll come in through the window."
1
Will not stop pedophiles!
1
“Father Zollner said he understood the anguished call from victims and advocates for action. But while the Vatican is a monarchy, it is not monolithic and has ‘as diverse backgrounds as you can imagine in humanity,’ he said.”
The Irony: the Vatican and the Catholic Church hierarchy, all males, have found a way to impose cannon law covering birth control, fertility procedures, and abortion, which primarily affect the diverse, multi-national female members of the Church.
How hypocritical.
12
Let’s recognize this for what it really is: a PR campaign designed to capitalize on our current sensitivities to cultural differences. Labeling child abuse as a cultural issue is bogus. Claiming that the Church cannot broach the issue in certain countries due to cultural sensitivities doesn’t pass the smell test (in fact, if the Vatican senses resistance to reforms in a particular country, then they have their mandate, which is to try even harder to reform those beliefs). The Church is just trying to throw out different obfuscation tactics to see which one sticks.
This is an insult to our intelligence, common decency and morals. If the Church really felt this way, they wouldn’t have absolute policies against abortion and birth control and female priests- there are plenty of cultures that reject those beliefs and yet the Church continues to promtote them absolutely.
14
Here's an easy fix: Pull yourselves and your families out of this church. They have shown over the decades (millennia?) that they cannot be trusted with your children. And if they cannot be trusted with your children, they can't be trusted with anything, let alone your spiritual well-being.
Exactly why do people need an intermediary between them and God anyway? And with intermediaries like these, who needs enemies?
7
Wow. After reading such a well-reported but thoroughly dispiriting article about the possibility for change...why would any sane person continue to belong to such a blind, defensive, and corrupt organization?
3
Father Zollner's moronic equivocations embody the denial and insanity that will cause nothing meaningful to come of this supposed summit. How the Pope and his crowd will paint themselves in glory -- "Aren't we nice! Aren't we brave! Aren't we incredible! We have actually determined that sex with children is bad! -- well sometimes, and if it happens at all, and whether the kids might be lying -- but, you know, bad. And, like, we should not let pedophile priests continue in the priesthood, but that's kinda mean, so we can't really kick them out. You see, it's way too complicated to just say 'stop having sex with kids.' SO much more complicated!" How anyone could have anything to do with this religion -- or any other, given recent revelations in the Baptist church, and what has been known to go on in the Episcopal church, etc. -- is beyond me.
1
It is easy. "Never have sex with children, ever" no matter the country, language, society. Why can't the pope write this and the bishops & priests obey?
3
The US should abolish the office of Ambassador to the Vatican.
3
Seems to me, if the Pope were to declare without any reservations that priests who molest children or nuns will not be forgiven when confessing their crimes, will be excommunicated and handed over to lay authorities for prosecution when discovered, and will (by his declaration) burn in hell for all eternity, we would have a good beginning to ending this insanity which has been going on for CENTURIES now.
Additionally, to encourage the church to get moving on the issue, some brave politicians are going to have to introduce bills stating that any individual church found to be harboring any priest(s) believably accused of molesting children or nuns will be looked upon as a lay organization, and immediately have their real estate tax exempt status removed. That will get their attention faster than anything.
4
I first learned about how widespread these abuses are 40 years ago. And I'm not even part of the Church.
The biggest problem with addressing this major issue is just the Church's culture. That's it. No hiding behind any administrative minutiae. The Church just doesn't want to change. Forget any of the handwringing or half apologies. They have known about this for many decades and never once really wanted to see any change other than the scrutiny disappear. I won't believe that it's fixed until there are no more new victims.
5
I am not sure allowing priests to marry will solve the problem. This issue is about abuse of power. Healthy adult men who prefer sex with other adults are not pedophiles. Pedophiles are also married people. This is not about homosexuals, gay men are not pedophiles. This is about an organization with a lot of power telling and in some cases condemning activities of their perishoners while allowing a separate set of rules for themselves. Until they decide to take action against all forms of abuse of power they will continue to lose congregants. Until congregants also stop blaming the victims and ostracizing them victims will have nowhere safe to turn. ......shame
69
@christina kish priest candidates need to be vetted thoroughly more so than our police officer candidates, more in line with FBI and Secret Service candidates, but then again look at the problems these last few years those organizations have had with their personnel.
1
@christina kiss
We have no problem identifying some straight males as pedophiles. So why the PC prohibition against acknowledging that some gay males may be pedophiles as well, that makes no sense from a logical perspective.
There is also the quite common phenomenon of adult males (of any orientation) being attracted to underage adolescents (technically called ephebilia, but still both wrong and illegal if those attractions are acted on) while also being in relationships with other adults.
Do you really think all those priests hitting on teenage boys are not also in sexual relationships with other adults ? Because there's a good chance that they are.
3
Allow priests to marry and the problem will be greatly reduced. Open up the priesthood to married me and allow them to marry at any time that they are priests....that will not eliminate the problem but greatly diminish the problem
6
@Angie
I really object to the idea that celibacy is the cause of criminal pedophiliac or criminal rape. It is not. Married men engage in this behavior; lay men engage in this behavior. This non-scientific idea that pedophilia and criminal sexual abuse can be mitigated by those same, unrestrained people taking a spouse upon whom they can alleviate their sexual urges is almost obscene.
4
I feel out of my chair when I read the headline. The first sentence makes my head explode. ".......some bishops view clerical sexual abuse as more of a sin than a crime."
"RELIGION does three things quite effectively; divides people, controls people, deludes people." ~ Carlespie Mary ALice McKinney
6
Silly me - it is that simple. Toss them out, prosecute them, and pay the victims and then when they get out of jail - pay the priests a pension because they never had a path to earn an income. Then change the rules, let them marry - nuns too and rigorously investigate and prosecute any who cross the line
It is easy but the church must be willing to change the cause. Who knows- they will attract a new huge group who will want to be priests!
6
The fix is easy. Stop going to Church.
"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds."
- Bob Marley
8
@Rainer "Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool" - Voltaire
3
Many Americans are at this time paying property taxes. In doing so, they are subsidizing the property taxes of the largest private landowner in America, the Catholic Church. How much property taxes would the Church have to pay if it did not have a tax exemption? Why do we have to subsidize this criminal organization? So many of us left this dreadful religion as soon as we left home. Why do we have to continue subsidizing them?
8
This is exactly how organized crime works.
Why would anyone continue to be a Catholic, beyond hypocritical this is pure evil.
4
Easy fix: priests act as Jesus taught.
(stop laughing, that wasn't really a joke)
Heads are still buried deep in the sand, aren't they? What is so difficult to understand abuse a child and your out. Commit rape on a nun, your out. Father a child and your out. Only massive numbers of faithful leaving the church and a huge reduction in collections may someday force real change.
7
Any priest anywhere who abuses a child, or anyone really, but in my view especially a child, deserves the punishment he gets and should be prepared to receive it. Maybe the threat of the death penalty would function as a deterrent for their evil behavior. Condoning their actions is nearly as egregious as the abuse itself.
1
Of course the Church says it is difficult; to say otherwise would be to take responsibility. We all know it is not hard - calling the police is a phone call away - but the real issue is the abuse is perpetrated at the highest levels and those in power aren't about to get caught with their hands in the candy jar.
2
How is it that the Roman Catholic church can operate in a country in which is states that it is unwilling to follow that country's laws? How can any organization do that? Why couldn't every organization do that? Why couldn't I do that?
4
Perhaps, if an institution is causing severe harm and there is no way to fix that institution, maybe we should get rid of it.
4
"...reporting a pedophile priest to the civil authorities is tantamount to sentencing him to death."
I know the Catholic Church is against the death penalty, and I agree with them. But does this mean that they have a policy of not reporting crimes where the death penalty would be an option? (I don't mean crimes they find out about through confession, obviously.)
Would this mean they wouldn't report a priest who murdered someone, if they did so in a state or country with the death penalty?
5
Unbelievable. They can't decide on a universal standard - not even a moral one. Again, they wash their hands, deflect blame, and obfuscate. Prosecutors, are you paying attention? Is it time for RICO cases yet?
2
The notion that one must live an entire life celibate, challenges who would even consider going into the priesthood -- imagine at some early life stage deciding that want not get married and have kids, not have sex, not be in a long term committed relationship with another human being. That's just the first filter on your pool of applicants.
Doesn't that initial job filter leave you with a very limited pool of job candidates, and then make you wonder - okay, your decided this why? So many other faiths that let you serve G_d and have deep, meaningful relationships with human beings...
I'm not questioning the requirement, just saying - it really challenges who your spiritual leaders can be from the start.
1
How about all you church-going, money-donating members of the Catholic Church find another way to celebrate the Christian faith? I cannot for the life of me understand how my friends, family and all you strangers continue to support an organization like this. You need to take off your blinders, come out of your bubble, and realize that this religion WAS CHOSEN FOR YOU by your parents, and you have a choice to stay or leave. LEAVE, before it's YOUR child whose life is ruined next. Hard for the church to exist with no members.
4
It’s very simple. The Pope should just declare the solution.
If Cardinals don’t accept or like it, they should be kicked out of the Church by the Pope.
Immediately.
1
Yes it is easy , arrest them already . As long as people pay to go to churches the business will continue to run .
It's impossible to enact one world standard? Reality check - every nationality considers rape, molestation and sex abuse as immoral and unlawful. Yes there are corrupt countries that turn a blind eye similar to the Catholic church and allow these activities to occur to protect revenue.
Wave the papal wand and stop condoning abuse.
2
I'll bet mandatory (long) jail sentences for perpetrators and enablers (superiors) would work. Treat priest sex abuse as felonies; no ifs, ands,or buts.
3
Do they even hear themselves: "They cannot marry, so they rape".
Get the police involved. Prosecute the rapists. Send them to jail if found guilty.
Those who know of the crimes and do not report it are guilty of aiding and abetting. Prosecute them as well.
3
Of course there is an easy solution. Vote with your feet, leave the "church", and let this age old cult join the Dustbin of History where all superstitions and myths must end up. The selling off of their billions of dollars of worldwide properties will ease their "pain".
1
So we have non-negotiable global standards committed in Canon Law, but now claim that one, enforceable and world-wide standard regarding pederasty is beyond the Catholic Church’s grasp? This one more Church claim that is utterly beyond belief.
6
“How do you get to be a bishop if you have to be given an education about the rape of a child?”
Or the rape of anyone, for that matter. How am I supposed to believe that the priest to whom I confess my sins is capable of cleansing my soul so that I may receive the Sacraments, when he cannot recognize sin in himself?
3
It has been one thousand years since celibacy was made the rule, to prevent the loss of priestly goods to heirs other than the Catholic Church. One of the costs of this has been to create deviant sexual behavior by the Church hierarchy toward children and nuns. 1,000 years. What does that tell us?
1
If you had a flood in your kitchen, would you leave the water running while you mop endlessly? If the Roman Catholic church expects to reduce the incidence of sexual abuse to its level in the general population, it must allow priests to marry. The centuries-old policy excludes the majority of non-pedophiles from that important position of trust, and instead debates punishing the abusers it has attracted to the priesthood—after the damage has been done.
The whole idea that the Roman Catholic Church cannot institute policies that would end child abuse by priests is absurd. This is why the Church needs to be disbanded. The deviants are never going to admit the vastness of the problem or the regulation of the problem because they are the problem. This church is now foundamentaly flawed. Incapable of providing a safe haven in which to worship god.
When a christian church breaks faith with its most innocent parishioners (not to mention the Nuns that do all the truly sacrificial work). It's time for the Laity to take control. if no one came to the church the pediphiles and the other deviants who have found a home in the priesthood will have no parishioners to abuse.
48
@Alan K. The Catholic Church has a LONG history of corruption on many levels, although the sexual abuse of children is the most horrendous. I agree -- disband!
9
Indeed, this criminal organization based on a fantasy has no reason to exist. It's being disassembled by its criminals and their actions. Bishops who hide and deny the heinous acts of their clergy should be immediately removed by the pope. Any member of the clergy in any part of the world who has abused children should be reported to the authorities and prosecuted, regardless of the cultural consequences or dangers. Better ways to spend every Sunday await the courage needed to end all this nonsensical mythology. Why anyone would continue to attend or support the catholic church or any church confounds logic. Ask yourselves why, all you believers, WHY??
6
If the Roman Catholic faithful care more for their church than their children, that tells us who they are, and what they are, and what their church is. Ugh.
16
Full disclosure: I am the product of 16 years of Catholic "education" (brainwashing) and have managed to engineer my own deprogramming from this evil cult. The victims are multiplying faster than the media can report them. Altar boys, nuns, orphans, unacknowledged progeny, deaf children, seminarians - the most vulnerable have the most to fear from the Catholic Church. The two biggest corrupting factors in this horrific, sordid septic tank of a religion are the Church's preposterously arrogant "doctrine" of infallibility (cannot err in matters of faith or morals) and its ancient but arbitrary policy of celibacy for all priests and religious orders, which is rooted in its early times competition with other religious sects and the insatiable lust on the part of the "princes of the Church" for earthly riches. The arrogant conceit of infallibility virtually precludes meaningful change relative to the policy of celibacy. Like bacteria, human beings and other institutions, the Catholic Church is an organism. It behaves exactly as an organism. It demonstrates unconscious, reflexive, defensive reactions to any perceived threat and prioritizes its own survival and prerogatives in its current state above any other value. Any organism that cannot change and adapt to new circumstances is destined to die out. The Shakers died out because they were such a phenomenal success at sexual abstinence. The Catholic Church is going to die out because its clergy were such abysmal failures.
23
Yes there is. Let them marry. Then priest can put their hands on consenting adults instead of children. Just because you wear a cross doesn’t mean lost your sexual urges!
2
Child sex abuse won't be cured by marriage. Many pedophiles are married. The issue is that the pedophiles in the Church run the Church and aren't about to change their playground and protected criminal status. @Gazbo Fernandez
9
The only answer is to dismantle the Catholic Church. Nothing less would be expected of any other organization that promoted and hid endemic sexual abuse.
6
No easy fix??? Are you kidding? When you discover pedophiles in the world outside Religion, do you any choice but to arrest them? NO. No you don't. Let's all stop getting hung up on mythology and arrest these people and their protectors. That's aiding and abetting, criminals, vicious criminals who hurt children.
18
Nonsense! The church has engaged in organized criminal conduct and its time for justice for the abused.
8
Those "Keys" on the Wall are for the Biggest Chastity Belt that ever exists.
Pope could change his boys club to allow priests to marry tomorrow. They could also open the church up to allow women to become priests. They just might save this 2,000 year old institution.
6
SHUT IT DOWN. Would any other entity be allowed to determine their own "reforms," let alone continue to survive and keep harming children, after decades of child sexual abuse?
12
Anything less than opening Church files and turning them over to civil authorities for prosecution, if the evidence merits such, is simply more of a cover-up. Not that it will happen, but serious consideration of a R.I.C.O. prosecution should occur in the U.S.
This is one more reason tax-exempt status should be abolished completely. Why should you have to pay taxes to support my beliefs and causes? Or me, yours?
As the Vatican has full diplomatic status, Catholic priests who are subservient to that state should have to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
As well, Vatican files should be opened on the Church's role in the Holocaust.
12
Well after reading this article and the evasions and excuses of Zollner, the only remedy for this fatal disease is to let the Catholic Church die out. We'd all be better off.
10
STOP MOLESTING CHILDREN!
What's so complicated about that?
15
@dibah Per them, it's apparently acceptable behavior to rape children in some parts of the world. I don't know which part of the world that is, but they clearly need some major reforms. I suspect it's just one tiny 0.17 square mile "country" in Europe.
2
@Andy Middle East. Afghanistan. The Kite Runner. Doesn't change our attitude about child sexual abuse.
1
No simple solution? Really? Dissolve the Catholic Church and so render all pedophile ex-priests subject to immediate criminal prosecution, without the protection of a religious organization. That simple enough for you?
4
Then abolish it. Jesus promises dire judgement for those who hurt little children, and here is the supposed voice of God on earth, allowed for generations to rape our little ones. Now we are supposed to believe it's just not gonna improve, so get over it. I can't.....
So called moral conservatives cluck about parents who bring their little kids in a dangerous trek in hope of a new life in America. The outrage! "They shouldn't subject their babies to this!" Well, Catholic parents? In fact, any 2A parents who just send their kids to school (or party, or concert or sports game...) in the hope they don't get killed.
Meanwhile, we shriek about a moral danger from Sharia or something. As a group, American churgoing hypocrites are the worst. I call myself a follower of Jesus now, cuz Christians in American life don't seem to know His words. However, were I an athiest or any other belief, I'd hate this as an American, too.
4
Religion is the biggest conn in human history. Men made these rules of celibacy. They make up rules over the centuries to maintain financial, sexual and political power. Only fools would donate to this conn.
14
A very easy fix: stay out of the catholic church and keep your kids out of the catholic church. And last, start taxing these brothels.
15
A philosophy or mission statement (let's call in Catholic doctrine) based on lies, corruption, sexual perversion, theft, tax avoidance, greed, spectacular intolerance, guilt provocation, a non-belief in Science and truth, and sundry other awfulness is going to lead to some very bad results with no hope of reform from within. Why is anyone surprised?
8
I really do not understand why this is not "simple" regardless of culture or country. Sexual abuse is sexual abuse. That "men of God" have been indulging in it - and I think the Catholic Church is world-wide - is appalling. The Pope needs to say, "Stop it!" and then needs to punish those who don't. What's not simple about that?
9
Perhaps they could start by excommunicating all those that deny the existence of the problem, red flag right there.
11
Of course there is. Simply do not give priests any access to children. End of story. Priests should stay in the sanctuary, on a stage, under a spotlight where a large, albeit dwindling number of people can keep an eye on them. No Fr you may not go into that school. No Fr you may not lead youth ministry, coach youth sports or attend youth retreats. No Fr you may not have alter boys and girls. Look to the adult layity to replace you in anything and everything youth related. See? Simple.
38
Couldn't agree with you more. Marriage is not the answer. A pedophile who prefers young boys is not going to have his urges squashed by marrying a woman. The better solution is to prevent access to children. No more altar boys or girls. Have adults fill that role of assisting the priests during mass.
11
@MrsWhit precisely! What is occurring here is the insistence (by the Catholic hierarchy) that the Catholic Church maintain it's current hold on the minds of it's parishioners, i.e. make no changes at all to the current institution and still weed out the pedophiles. Only an idiot would think that could happen.
Additionally hey moms and dads stop letting your children be alone with priests!
16
I attended Catholic school from K-8. The priests were a rare sight in the halls, classrooms as offices of the school. On the other hand, nuns and lay teachers (all women, married or widowed) were around us all day, everyday. Talk about missing the forest for the trees! Some kids were favored while others were treated as the spawn of Satan. At least one nun who taught fourth grade could have been a Golden Gloves champion. The mornings and afternoons at the teachers lounge (when it was otherwise unoccupied) was a revolving door of adult female teachers with 6th-8th grade boys for individual counseling. One in particular had this story of needing to check if pubescent males had “descended” yet. The inspections were weekly until they did.
8
"Cardinal Tagle said in 2012 that some clerics who were given a second chance “turned out to be very good priests”"
This is the potential next Pope speaking.
What's so hard about reporting a crime? It simply shows a complete lack of will to solve the problem they created and foster.
If an organisation fails so miserably in behaving like human beings, it should be simply disbanded. These crooked perverts have nothing to do with Jesus.
8
@mq
Lets repeat that loud and clear:
"What's so hard about reporting a crime?"
1
The fix for all predatory crime is a life long staycation in Camp Prison, especially for rape and murder.
Perhaps that finally will come to pass someday, though not until at least ONE society on the planet values victims and potential victims more than the entitled son culture that produces 99% of all the world's misery, the core definition of masculinity.
6
One easy way to make a vast improvement would be to make women priests instead of men. That might even solve it!
4
The nuns and a sizable portion of the female lay teachers in the Catholic grammar school I attended were far more abusive and predatory than all three of the parish priests combined.
3
It turns out "the bottom" is the top ...
1
Step one - abolish all tax benefits for all churches.
21
Absolutely.
Whatever Vatican officials say, you can be sure that it's with an eye to sandbagging everyone else.
They aren't stupid. They're just pretending that nothing can be done, when in fact a lot could be done.
Give civil authorities the right to prosecute clerical abusers in countries where there is in fact rule of law, and not rule by a hostile religion.
It's that simple.
43
@njheathen
"Give civil authorities the right to prosecute clerical abusers?" They already have that right. The church just hides and protects the abusers. Shame.
10
Yes, I agree with tomclaire - time to end celibacy. Not surprised it was an "emperor" that decreed this inhumane practice.
14
Pope Francis insists that reform must come from the bottom up, while archbishops and cardinals around the world deny the problem even exists. It would seem the pope has misplaced his target.
Beyond that, it is painfully obvious that church authorities are falling into the classic mistake of allowing the perfect to be the enemy of the good. Pope Francis and his cohorts see no possibility of a zero tolerance policy, simply because it wouldn't work everywhere. This closely parallels 19th century southern US arguments against abolishing slavery, basically saying it simply wouldn't work.
Most stunning is this statement: "Vatican officials say such a demand reflects a misconception that change in a global and ancient institution can be made with the wave of a papal wand."
Yet with the wave of that same wand the Pope is capable of aligning the entire church behind the doctrine that homosexuality is evil and a sin. While it may be true that this is not orchestrating a "change in a global and ancient institution" and is, instead, an affirmation of church teaching, that is a distinction without a difference. Either the Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church, ordained with papal infallibility, or he is not. It cannot be a matter of political convenience.
Until Pope Francis, at whose feet this horrific injustice has been laid, steps to his balcony and proclaims that the Catholic Church has zero tolerance for those causing the "cries of the little ones", he is complicit.
24
Putting in place one world standard is impossible they say?
How about this standard: don’t touch, speak to, or otherwise interact with anyone in a sexual or sexually suggestive manner without their consent. don’t touch, speak to, or otherwise interact with anyone in a sexual or sexually suggestive manner who is under the age of consent, or due to circumstances is unable to give consent - ever.
Violators will be defrocked, and turned over to legal local authorities for prosecution to the fullest possible extent under local laws.
There - how “impossible” was that?
22
The rule needs to be is that an adult, including all clergy, is never alone with a minor. Many other organizations have instituted this, some churches many years ago. The slowness with which the Catholic Church has addressed this issue is disappointing at best. The Catholic Church has allowed evil to reside within the Church and as a result has destroyed its so called moral compass. Only radical change is acceptable for reform and is necessary to aid the healing of the many who were abused.
14
Expecting men (and women) to live lives of complete chastity is simply counter to human nature.
Priests need to be free to marry. Until that happens, the church will never solve its problem of sexual abuse and discord.
15
@David Martin
And female priests as well!!
6
@David Martin I, too, support an option for married clergy but don't assume that ending celibacy will also put an end to child sexual abuse. Just as non religious men (and women), not bound by celibacy restrictions, abuse children, so will some clergy. Plenty of married men are locked up for child sexual abuse.
33
I reject the premise that a bishop in a war-torn country can’t also deal with sexual abuse. I totally reject that. In fact, in order to help the country to one day stabilize, the bishop should see to it that today’s children don’t grow up to be tomorrow’s very troubled adults. The Catholic Church should fade into oblivion after all of the damage they have inflicted on people.
27
They say it’s “not so simple,” but I read the article, and it is simple. Call the cops, prosecute, defrock, and remove any bishop or cardinal who fails to do so.
52
@K D P My impression exactly. If the punishment happens to be more severe some places than others, so be it. It is not complex. It certainly isn't "virtually impossible." The church either abides laws where it operates or it does not. Simple.
2
Really preposterous. Be it a teacher, football coach, or priest etc....the solution is always the same: upon discovery immediately turn over to authorities for prosecution. End of.
29
As a Boston Catholic I thought I had heard it all. But now Vatican sources are saying that global action to stop clergy sexual abuse would be restrained by cultural differences. The Church has no trouble asserting that any sexual activity between unmarried consenting adults is globally wrong. Please tell me, Padre, in what culture is the unfettered rape of children accepted?
108
What lame excuses the Catholic Church hides behind! Their biggest problems are secrecy and a total lack of transparency concerning their parishioners. Demanding celibacy of all priests has led to the moral decline of the priesthood. Look to the Eastern Orthodox Church that allows the vast majority of priests to marry and raise families. Also examine the hypocritical approach to women in the church. Perhaps some realistic feminine council, along with psychological council, could bring about progress.
12
Child rape is child rape. The notion that it’s not a “crime” because the perpetrator wears a clerical collar is absurd and beyond offensive to the victims. If anything it’s a greater crime. This won’t stop until priests go to prison like any other rapist and the officials who hide their crimes are also incarcerated. Why the Church is essentially permitted to operate outside the legal system and pay no taxes is beyond me. Enough is enough.
60
One bishop in this article raises the point that revealing an abuser amounts to a death penalty due to laws in the region, and that he would rather send them elsewhere where the laws are not so harsh. But in what other context does one get to choose the laws that apply to them? By this reasoning, any bishop who decides that local laws would hurt their abusive priests too harshly, will just move them to a place where no punishment awaits them. And isn’t allowing that abusive priest to go free tantamount to a death penalty for the next victim?!
This is another case of the Church choosing the safety of the abuser over the safety of the victims. By transferring this person to a region with less stringent laws, endangers other innocent people who might be abused by that priest.
This is an example of the church seeking sympathy for their own situation, but in actuality they are just reiterating their preference for abusers’ safety over victims, and their feeling of entitlement to choose which laws apply to them.
35
@JMP People who were sexually abused as children have higher rates of suicide, addiction, incarceration, being trafficked, and risky behavior. It may be we have to choose between saving the lives of many children or saving the life of one abuser. What would Jesus do?
16
The fix is easy enough for people with children. Leave the church. And don’t leave your kids under the guard of a millenniums-old patriarchy that has relied on blind faith, guilt, and fear to lock billions of people into subservience. Think (using your God-given powers of creativity and initiative) of other ways of finding and ritualizing spirituality and teaching your kids morality. See? How hard is that.
44
"In parts of the vast Catholic world, some bishops view clerical sexual abuse as more of a sin than a crime."
In the vast Catholic world sins can be remitted. All one needs to do is repent privately. After all, Christ died for our sins. In the old days one could purchase an indulgence. Nowadays if the sin is sexual committed by a priest, the indulgence is free. In the secular world it goes by the name Collusion.
14
It is shocking the ‘first’ focus is on the perpetrator of the abuse/crime(!) and how to solve his problem. First things first. Take care of the child being criminally abused and put in preventive measures. Here’s a tip - dial the police. Immediately. It only gets complicated when the purpose is to protect the priest/perpetrator/church instead of the victim.
17
There is a folk tale wherein God and the devil are out for a stroll. God's attention is taken by a bright object. He picks it up to admire its beauty. The devil asks, "what is it?" God answers, "it is Truth." The devil replies, "yes, it's beautiful. Let me organize it for you."
It is the fate of all organizations, be they religious or secular, that they devolve to the point where most of their energy is spent in protecting their facades to the detriment of their avowed purpose.
The church promotes itself as the guardian of truth. So it may well be, but whatever truth it holds is layered over with so much gilding, falsehoods and diversions that it is no longer recognizable, and only marginally relevant.
Drunk with power and privilege, the church has chosen to focus on sin, and allowed any consideration of virtue to fall by the wayside. When "sin" becomes defined by one's actions, ignoring what impels those actions, we are left with a structure that must inevitably fall of its own weight.
The idea that celibacy somehow signals purity is the most outlandish of these structures. Not only does it deny biological imperatives, but it is profoundly misogynistic, as is the whole concept of "original sin."
The remedy for this is first to allow Priests to marry, and more importantly, to allow priests to be women. The gender hierarchy implicit in church dogma is long past its sell-by date, and needs to be added to the compost heap of history.
A fish rots from the head down.
16
Perhaps simply allowing priest to explore and develop adult sexual relationships may put an end to this toxic mess.
It is too hard to ignore the nexus between the church's abject approach to human sexuality and abuse. Compounding this is rigid hierarchy, shame, the maintenance of power, lack of accountability, and religious idealism that never yields concrete actions to address complex problems.
12
" In parts of the vast Catholic world, some bishops view clerical sexual abuse as more of a sin than a crime."
So that would mean all sexual abusers currently serving time in prisons should be set free since they only sinned. Pope Francis is like all the rest, complicit in a criminal enterprise that has existed for decades.
13
I wish somebody could explain to me how and why these monsters have managed to avoid scrutiny and punishment for so long.
People who abuse other people should be punished, and those who commit crimes should be jailed. And there should be an enhanced punishment for those who abuse children.
Those who think allowing priests to marry would stop priests raping children simply don't understand the problem or the crime.
A solution might be to abolish the church hierarchy including the pope. Get rid of the outlandish apparel, the grandiose accessories, the ornate, the useless, the outrageously expensive, self-aggrandizing paraphernalia and make the clergy actually do something, like, you know, work in their communities.
Or, alternatively, abolish the church altogether as the scam and the fraud that it is, and sanction it for abetting and housing criminals and sexual predators.
18
Absolutely! And the US should immediately abolish all government to Vatican government relations.
And bring our Ambassador home. Immediately.
1
I’ve been concerned about the statutes of limitation put upon survivors of clerical abuse. Often, it isn’t until adulthood that memories become realities.
If Harvey Weinstein and his ilk can be held responsible for abuses they inflicted (more than thirty years ago), why can’t the Catholic Church be accountable for theirs?
15
Let me see if I understand:
The Church can, for example, declare that artificial birth control is intrinsically evil across all cultures and without hesitation (Pope Paul VI) ...
But aggressively calling out child rape is somehow "complicated" due to cultural reasons?
Birth control:evil. Rape control: complicated and nuanced.
Stunning hypocrisy is not nearly a sufficient description of the Church's position. Intrinsically evil works much better and it has nothing to do with using a condom.
92
@LT Or that sex between consenting but unmarried adults is wrong. Or that masturbation is wrong. Or abortion.
The catholic church, maybe all churches, just seem like a call to perversion and sickness.
9
@LT
The prohibition against birth control (truly devout Catholics are not even supposed to use the 'rhythm method' to prevent pregnancy, its approved purpose
is to 'determine the optimal timing for conception i.e.
the transmission of the 'life force') is truly diabolical.
Diabolical because the priests have been engaging for many centuries in the most reliable of all known birth control methods -- intercourse with other males. So they can secretly engage in penetrative activities with no concern whatsoever of conception, while at the same time prohibiting birth control for the 'breeders'.
What a sense of superiority that must confer on its
practitioners !
1
End the requirement that priests and nuns be celibate. Allow and urge them to marry and have children. It is time.
6
I suspect it’s unreasonable to think the problem can be solved by the people who either created the problem or have stood by and do nothing,
In these “ancient” counties you could force churches to post a warning to the church door:
“It’s possible your child might be abused by members of the clergy or staff. If this does happen the church will not report to authorities. We feel the safety of our employees is more important than the safety of your children so enter this building at your own risk”
Where’s Martin Luther when you need him
29
...@Prudence Spencer... Luther was no paragon of virtue himself
1
Any appeal to the "complexity" of priest sexual abuse in the texture of church policy is ridiculous. This relates to crime. A priest who is accused of a sexual crime should be reported to the police, and the church must allow those legal wheels to turn openly without interference. Sexual predators would eschew a priesthood that is no longer a sanctuary, and the church would have to cull its staff from a non-deviant population for a change.
88
@jjones4619 I suspect that's the concern. If they had to actually be selective, they'd run out of priests in short order.
5
The closed clerical culture and the repression of sexual expression needs to change. Allow married priests and bishops, allow women priests and bishops. These changes will throw the windows open in a clerical culture that is very behind the curtains which creates spaces for any manner of evil. Big problems require big solutions.
31
Nonsense. It’s too late for reform. It’s time for any American politician who is a Catholic to resign from the church in protest.
And this should become an issue in the current election cycle - for all offices, from the President on down.
3
Pardon me, but there IS an easy solution.
Allow priests to marry and pursue sexual relationships as all humans are inclined to and hard-wired to.
This centuries old pattern of denial of one of the most basic inclinations of human behavior- sexuality- is ludicrous. And the priesthood- and its’ victims- are reaping the whirlwind.
The main crime, here, is our feigned suprise and denial.
34
@Samuel
How is being married going to stop child sexual abuse? Many, many abusers are married.
16
These priests are not pursuing sexual relationships. They are Pedophiles. Please do not conflate the two.
19
@Samuel Marriage has nothing to do with rape or pedophilia
2
If change 'needs to happen' from the bottom of the Catholic Church, what's the 'bottom' of the Church ? Not bishops or priests ?
If it's premature to introduce 'new norms' cracking down on Catholic clergy who attack children - even now, even after decades of grim revelations - when, exactly, will it be the right time to do so ?
If the actual 'bottom' of the Catholic Church - lay Catholics - voted with their feet, it might change this 'not yet, not here' attitude.
28
Kudos to the reporters for this article that reflects fairly the staggering complexity of a truly global problem. One set of Western liberal values--to which I subscribe--cannot be imposed on the rest of the world.
3
@John D. Madden
Although not a Catholic, the virtues and the messages are universal as I understand all religions. I find the "diversity argument" sustainably wanting especially since these problems have been going on for years. If someone wanted to stop them, then now is the time and it should be across all of alleged complexity. To me that is a statement of situational ethics which should not be applied to the abuse.
12
Protecting children from pedophile rape transcends mere western liberal values, it is universal. And any church that purports to be the voice and will of God should LEAD world cultures by adopting and espousing proper values, not telling it’s parishioners that it’s hands are tied because it’s hard to do the right thing in some areas of the world.
10
Yes — we can! — the Church can insist with severe penalties that any bishop, archbishop and cardinal who refuses to listen to the cry of victims, enables clerical perpetrators and covers up crimes of sexual abuse will be removed and replaced by those who will. It IS ridiculous to insist that humans have to accept any notion that sexual abuse is a “cultural based issue” — and therefore victims must suffer! Nonsense!!!!
8
The argument that various local customs will prevent a universal implementation of anti-abuse rules seems to destroy the claim that there is a "Universal Church". It would seem that the Roman Catholic brand is little different from the Anglican in this respect.
16
One suggestion as to how to emend such abuse going forward would be to let priests marry. That was the case before Charlemagne decreed otherwise (or had the Pope then do so—the reason being that priests were taking advantage of illiterate girls and impregnating them; marriage would forestall that "practice") and as far as I can see, ministers in other Christian denominations who marry do so for solid reasons and doing so does not seem to diminish their capacity to serve.
24
This simply perpetuates the totally incorrect idea that celibacy is the cause of pedophilia, or that being gay is. Yes, by all means let them marry. But don't perpetuate stereotypes about gay people, celibacy and pedophiles. Sheesh.
13
Marriage is the solution to prevent violent crime? Really? Let such clerics marry to prevent them from repeatedly raping and forcing young girls from aborting their child? Really?? I’m all for married priests like the Orthodox — but NOT to prevent rape!!! That’s a crime and gross abuse of power — make such men — husbands and fathers?!!!
14
@tomclaire
Most of the pedophile and rapist men in prison are not only married but, sadly, also have children.
The issue is one of a protected criminal class of males, defined by power and abuse, not of sexual intercourse with adult females. Rapist inside Vatican Inc. ought no more be protected - or believed "curable" - than any other predator.
What kind of male monster wishes that loveless, tormented fractured kind of "marriage" on young women - and on the offspring that would follow?
14
"The pope has already provided the church with zero-tolerance laws, he argued, adding that if Francis introduced new norms prematurely, he would risk eroding papal authority, because they had a good chance of being ignored."
If that's the argument, then the Catholic Church should rescind its ban on birth control, which is widely ignored.
Surely, it can agree that child abuse isn't good and begin to take steps to combat it within the institution, even if it hasn't worked out all the particulars of reporting to secular authorities in all parts of the world.
66
If there were an international organization that was not ostensibly a religious one that was guilty of such heinous abuse, would it be treated with this kind of impunity? Or would it be deemed a criminal enterprise?
128
@SR Or at least lose it's tax exempt status?
13
@SR
You're exactly right. Just look at the international efforts that were put into investigating the FIFA bribery scandal in 2015. We have to stop acting as if a church, any church, is somehow a sovereign entity.
16
@SR Excellent points. And let us not forget the Vatican Bank's persistent refusal to comply with international practices concerning money laundering. The Vatican responded exactly the same way to that scandal, namely to throw out a few crumbs that fell well short of the standards every other modern monetary system upholds.
3