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'Never again': Pope Francis demands abusive priests turn themselves in

TU Curmudgeon

B.A. (Sarc), LLb. (Lex Sarcasus), PhD (Sarc.)
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From the CBC

'Never again': Pope Francis demands abusive priests turn themselves in

Pope Francis demanded Friday that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in and vowed that the Catholic Church will "never again" hide their crimes.

Francis dedicated his annual Christmas speech to Vatican bureaucrats to abuse, evidence that a year of devastating revelations of sexual misconduct and coverup around the globe has shaken his papacy and caused a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Francis acknowledged that the church had failed in the past to treat the problem seriously, blaming leaders who out of inexperience or short-sightedness acted "irresponsibly" by refusing to believe victims. But he vowed that going forward the church would "never again" cover up or dismiss cases.

"Let it be clear that before these abominations, the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes," he said.

COMMENT:-

Unless backed up by some positive action by the Vatican (such as turning over its files on abusive priests to the relevant law enforcement agencies), the Pope's "call" is likely to be just as effective as would be a "call" by the Mayor of Chicago for everyone who has murdered someone to turn themselves in to the CPD.

If the Vatican does NOT take those positive steps, then it should be held accountable as an "accessory after the fact" REGARDLESS of the financial impact on the RCC Inc..
 
From the CBC

'Never again': Pope Francis demands abusive priests turn themselves in

Pope Francis demanded Friday that priests who have raped and molested children turn themselves in and vowed that the Catholic Church will "never again" hide their crimes.

Francis dedicated his annual Christmas speech to Vatican bureaucrats to abuse, evidence that a year of devastating revelations of sexual misconduct and coverup around the globe has shaken his papacy and caused a crisis of confidence in the Catholic hierarchy.

Francis acknowledged that the church had failed in the past to treat the problem seriously, blaming leaders who out of inexperience or short-sightedness acted "irresponsibly" by refusing to believe victims. But he vowed that going forward the church would "never again" cover up or dismiss cases.

"Let it be clear that before these abominations, the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes," he said.

COMMENT:-

Unless backed up by some positive action by the Vatican (such as turning over its files on abusive priests to the relevant law enforcement agencies), the Pope's "call" is likely to be just as effective as would be a "call" by the Mayor of Chicago for everyone who has murdered someone to turn themselves in to the CPD.

If the Vatican does NOT take those positive steps, then it should be held accountable as an "accessory after the fact" REGARDLESS of the financial impact on the RCC Inc..

You should have tried reading your source to the end before commenting...
Pope Francis addresses your concern.

HE SAID, "Let it be clear that before these abominations, the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes," he said.
'Convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice'
 
You should have tried reading your source to the end before commenting...
Pope Francis addresses your concern.

HE SAID, "Let it be clear that before these abominations, the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes," he said.
'Convert and hand yourself over to human justice, and prepare for divine justice'

The Vatican has been promising to "spare no efforts" for years now and nothing has changed. Even this month one of the diocese was found to have "withheld" an additional 500 priest's names from investigators.

I'll accept that the Vatican is ACTUALLY sparing no effort the day after the Pope issues an encyclical ORDERING

  1. all the clergy to turn over all evidence in their possession to the police upon pain of excommunication;
  2. all clergy who have broken their vows of abstinence to turn themselves in to the police upon pain of excommunication; and
  3. ACTUALLY carries out some of those excommunications.

Until that happens then all that the Pope's pronouncement amounts to not much more than another attempt at damage control.
 
The Vatican has been promising to "spare no efforts" for years now and nothing has changed. Even this month one of the diocese was found to have "withheld" an additional 500 priest's names from investigators.

I'll accept that the Vatican is ACTUALLY sparing no effort the day after the Pope issues an encyclical ORDERING

  1. all the clergy to turn over all evidence in their possession to the police upon pain of excommunication;
  2. all clergy who have broken their vows of abstinence to turn themselves in to the police upon pain of excommunication; and
  3. ACTUALLY carries out some of those excommunications.

Until that happens then all that the Pope's pronouncement amounts to not much more than another attempt at damage control.

Read your article.
Your opening comment is intellectually dishonest as are your successive comments above.
 
Read your article.
Your opening comment is intellectually dishonest as are your successive comments above.

Wringing hands and calling on sexual predators to be good boys and turn themselves in while continuing to withhold evidence that will identify those sexual predators who refuse to be good boys and turn themselves in is mealy mouthed hypocrisy.

I will grant that the Pope "means well", but the Pope isn't the one who actually runs the day to day operations of the RCC Inc.

You can say that, calling on repeat criminals to turn themselves in without actually doing anything that would encourage them to actually do so (trying to shame someone who has a lengthy history of violating their vows of chastity and poverty by saying that they shouldn't have done so without letting them know that you actually have a big stick that you are going to actually use) is mere puffery, is "intellectually dishonest - I say that it's facing reality.

The Pope could quite easily have come out and announced something like

"We have identified many people who are alleged to have committed vile and depraved acts in violation of their priestly vows and many other people who are alleged to have enabled those people to continue committing those vile and depraved acts.

The names of those people have been turned over to the police and everyone whose name was on those lists is, effective immediately, suspended from all priestly duties.

Anyone whose name is on those lists and who is convicted for the vile and depraved acts of which they are accused will be excommunicated immediately upon their conviction being confirmed.

Anyone who has committed vile and depraved acts in violation of the priestly oath but whose name is not on those lists and who does not come forward and identify themselves within two weeks will be effective immediately upon receipt of an allegation of the commission of such acts will be suspended from all priestly duties and excommunicated without possibility of forgiveness short of extreme unction immediately upon their conviction being confirmed.

The Roman Catholic Church waives any and all claims of clerical immunity or confessional confidence with respect to acts of sexual depredation committed by ANY member of its clergy and all members of the RCC clergy are hereby instructed to cooperate fully in all investigations into sexually inappropriate acts committed by ANY member of the RCC Clergy - failure to so cooperate will result in the immediate suspension from all clerical duties and the instigation of excommunication proceedings against the member of the clergy who does not cooperate.

He did NOT do so.

I realize that there are a large number of adherents to the Roman Catholic brand of Christianity who honestly, deeply, and sincerely WANT TO BELIEVE that the RCC Inc. is actually doing something about sexually predatory priests and/or their enablers who have spent decades covering up what has happened and they have my sympathy. I realize that there are a large number of adherents to the Roman Catholic brand of Christianity who honestly, deeply, and sincerely DO NOT WANT to see the RCC Inc. beggared because of the actions of those sexually predatory priests and/or their enablers who have spent decades covering up what has happened and they have my sympathy as well. I realize that there are a large number of adherents to the Roman Catholic brand of Christianity who honestly, deeply, and sincerely WANT TO BELIEVE that actions have consequences - unfortunately actions DO have consequences.

PS - Just so that you don't get confused, I have absolutely no issues with the doctrines and/or tenets of the Roman Catholic RELIGION and, provided that they aren't trying to cram them down my throat and use them to control my life I'm quite happy to allow the practitioners of the Roman Catholic RELIGION to do whatever they want to do in their PERSONAL relationship with God.

PPS - Just so that you don't get confused, I have absolutely no issues with the doctrines and/or tenets of the __[fill in the blank]__ RELIGION and, provided that they aren't trying to cram them down my throat and use them to control my life I'm quite happy to allow the practitioners of the __[fill in the blank]__ RELIGION to do whatever they want to do in their PERSONAL relationship with God.
 
Francis seems to be a decent sort
but on this issue, little has been done - at least that can be seen
that needs to change
i hope his words soon translate into church action against the pedophiles within its ranks
 
Francis seems to be a decent sort
but on this issue, little has been done - at least that can be seen
that needs to change
i hope his words soon translate into church action against the pedophiles within its ranks

Considering the potential monetary liability that would arise if all of the priests who sexually abused people were to come forward and confess, don't start holding your breath until AFTER the RCC Inc. has rendered itself as judgment proof as possible.

As an aside, I'm willing to purchase all of the assets of the RCC Inc. on the same terms as GM, Ford, IBM, ITT, AT&T, and a whole lot of other companies sold their German assets to "neutral" Swiss purchasers shortly after WWII broke out. The RCC Inc. can contact me via PM on DP.
 
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