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Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests for child abuse

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C

ComputerMKII

Banned
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/pope-benedict-defrocked-400-priests-child-abuse

Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests for child abuse

Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests in just two years, for molesting children, according to a document obtained by the Associated Press.

The statistics for 2011 and 2012 show a dramatic increase over the 171 priests removed in 2008 and 2009, when the Vatican first provided details on the number of priests who have been defrocked. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi confirmed that the figures were accurate.

Prior to that, the Vatican had only publicly revealed the number of alleged cases of sexual abuse it had received and the number of trials it had authorized.

While it's not clear why the numbers spiked in 2011, it could be because 2010 saw a new explosion in the number of cases reported in the media in Europe and beyond.

The document was prepared from data the Vatican had been collecting and was compiled to help the Holy See defend itself before a UN committee this week in Geneva.

Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva, referred to just one of the statistics in the course of eight hours of sometimes pointed criticism and questioning from the UN human rights committee.

The statistics were compiled from the Vatican's own annual reports about the activities of its various offices, including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles sex abuse cases. Although public, the annual reports are not readily available or sold outside Rome and are usually found in Vatican offices or Catholic university libraries.

An AP review of the reference books shows a remarkable evolution in the Holy See's in-house procedures to discipline pedophiles since 2001, when the Vatican ordered bishops to send cases of all credibly accused priests to Rome for review.

Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger took action after determining that bishops around the world weren't following church law to put accused clerics on trial in church tribunals. Bishops routinely moved problem priests from parish to parish rather than subject them to canonical trials or turn them into police.

For centuries, the church has had its own in-house procedures to deal with priests who sexually abuse children. One of the chief accusations from victims is that bishops put the church's own procedures ahead of civil law enforcement by often suggesting victims keep accusations quiet while they are dealt with internally.

The maximum penalty for a priest convicted by a church tribunal is essentially losing his job: being defrocked, or removed from the clerical state. There are no jail terms and nothing to prevent an offender from raping again.

According to the 2001 norms Ratzinger pushed through and subsequent updates, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith reviews each case sent to Rome and then instructs bishops how to proceed, either by launching an administrative process against the priest if the evidence is overwhelming or a church trial. At every step of the way the priest is allowed to defend himself.

The Congregation started reporting numbers only in 2005, which is where Tomasi's spreadsheet begins. UN officials said on Friday that the committee has not received the document
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S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
I don't understand how they could go to jail? These priests are citizens of other countries, right? How could the Vatican imprison a priest who lives in the US, for instance?
 
Kiraly

Kiraly

Member
This guy was getting some serious shit because he was allegedly doing nothing against the priests committing child abuse. Haters will keep hating, tho.
 
J

John Dunbar

correct about everything
Kiraly said:
This guy was getting some serious shit because he was allegedly doing nothing against the priests committing child abuse. Haters will keep hating, tho.
Click to expand...

if the information was not passed on to legal authorities, do you not think the hate is warranted?
 
T

The Artful Dodger

Member
From my understanding, that report isn't accurate. It refers to the cases opened, and investigated in that time, it doesn't necessarily mean that they weren't handed over to the authorities or were, it's a report that shows Benedict set up a process for how the Church would handle such issues from here on out, some have been turned over to proper Authorities with the Church helping out.


But the news reports don't really reflect that, it's misrepresenting data that merely said some 412 cases were opened in that time period and that there was a streamlined process for it.
 
R

RulkezX

Member
Cheebo said:
The church can't arrest people. Firing them is what he can do. It's a job, not a government.
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The Church can absolutely hand all relevant information over to the authorities , though.

Of course they don't want to tarnish the good name of the Catholic Church, so the priests quietly go away and the Pope gets to pretend to be a good guy.

Win win, right ?
 
S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
Sutton Dagger said:
By the Vatican not releasing the information to the relevant authorities? In any case we don't know if they did or not, I would hope so.
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Just two days ago, the archdiocese of Chicago released over 6,000 pages of documents of alleged priest crimes to lawyers and the public.

At this point, it's the authorities who are not pursuing this, not some Vatican coverup. Now, I'm not denying that the Vatican likely covered things up in the past, but there has been a major change in attitude in recent times.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest...buse-files-released-by-Archdiocese-of-Chicago
 
T

The Artful Dodger

Member
SoulPlaya said:
Just two days ago, the archdiocese of Chicago released over 6,000 pages of documents of alleged priest crimes to lawyers and the public.

At this point, it's the authorities who are not pursuing this, not some Vatican coverup. Now, I'm not denying that the Vatican likely covered things up in the past, but there has been a major change in attitude in recent times.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest...buse-files-released-by-Archdiocese-of-Chicago
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Yeah The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has done the same.
 
Y

YoungHav

Banned
Kiraly said:
This guy was getting some serious shit because he was allegedly doing nothing against the priests committing child abuse. Haters will keep hating, tho.
Click to expand...
What? They did not get in trouble criminally. Merely losing your job for abusing multitudes is well worth it for a sex predator.
 
entremet

entremet

Member
They really have to end that silly vow of celibacy requirement for priests and nuns.

Most people desire sexual satisfaction and if they want to keep it within marriage like other Christian denomination, do it and you'll still be fluffing your Scriptures on marital ethics. But full blown out vows of celibacy is ridiculous.

Vows of celibacy as requirements for clergy is not a requirement in the Bible at all. The reverse is true--elders and deacons--leaders in the early church--were to have wives and family, showing that if you can't handle your own family, how can you lead a congregation. These were recommendations, however, not law.
 
S

SoulPlaya

more money than God
YoungHav said:
What? They did not get in trouble criminally. Merely losing your job for abusing multitudes is well worth it for a sex predator.
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And how is the Pope supposed to handle that? Force American police departments to arrest their own citizens? You'll likely say that they should be handing over information to these departments, but it's been shown that this is already being done now.
 
C

ComputerMKII

Banned
entrement said:
They really have to end that silly vow of celibacy requirement for priests and nuns.

Most people desire sexual satisfaction and if they want to keep it within marriage like other Christian denomination, do it and you'll still be fluffing your Scriptures on marital ethics. But full blown out vows of celibacy is ridiculous.

Vows of celibacy as requirements for clergy is not a requirement in the Bible at all. The reverse is true--elders and deacons--leaders in the early church--were to have wives and family, showing that if you can't handle your own family, how can you lead a congregation. These were recommendations, however, not law.
Click to expand...

If I experience sexual frustration from being single without abusing children I'm sure priests can do it too.
 
A

aygomyownroad

Member
Good on him.
They need to weed it out and regain trust in the Catholics and the other faiths.

Ashame there is no punishment but at least he was able to kick them out.
 
S

Stet

Banned
Blaming the pope for not arresting them is hilarious. Why didn't he just throw them in one of the Vatican's dungeons?????? Too little too late asshole.
 
L

LiveFromKyoto

Member
Stet said:
Blaming the pope for not arresting them is hilarious. Why didn't he just throw them in one of the Vatican's dungeons?????? Too little too late asshole.
Click to expand...

He should have summoned them all to the Vatican and illegally detained them in Pope jail. He hasn't gone nearly far enough.
 
N

Ninja Scooter

Member
entrement said:
They really have to end that silly vow of celibacy requirement for priests and nuns.

Most people desire sexual satisfaction and if they want to keep it within marriage like other Christian denomination, do it and you'll still be fluffing your Scriptures on marital ethics. But full blown out vows of celibacy is ridiculous.

Vows of celibacy as requirements for clergy is not a requirement in the Bible at all. The reverse is true--elders and deacons--leaders in the early church--were to have wives and family, showing that if you can't handle your own family, how can you lead a congregation. These were recommendations, however, not law.
Click to expand...

If someone has an attraction to young boys how will allowing them to marry women change anything? It begs the question of "Does the position of priest cause someone to become a pedophile...or is the position one that attracts pedophiles?" I think it's much more likely the latter.

I don't think the solution is allowing priests to marry. The solution is to break down this wall of silence and destroy the perception that being a priest makes you above the law.
 
M

Mario

Sidhe / PikPok
This is a step forward for the Catholic Church relative to how they have handled things in the past (just move the priest somewhere else in a lot of cases), but the appropriate action would have been to notify the local authorities in all cases in addition to defrocking, not just shoe these people out of their organisation quietly.


Frost_Ace said:
Not an expert but priests are subjects to the Canon Law not the normal penal/civil law.
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I think you'll find that priests are subject to both "Canon Law" and the laws of any country/state they are in.

They don't have "diplomatic immunity" just because they are a priest.
 
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