The Vatican appears in need of a serious media consultant. Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the UN, has issued a defense that boils down to insisting that implicated priests were not pedophiles but homosexuals who liked young boys — and besides no more than five percent of priests had sex with children . . . and Jews and Protestants do it more.
Tomasi made his confrontational statement following a meeting of the UN human rights council in Geneva, insisting only 1.5%-5% of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse. Tomasi seems to think that the faithful can rest assured that the likelihood that the priest will sexually assault your child is only 5 out of every 100 priests. Those are odds that are viewed as more than adequate in Vegas.
He also insisted that it is more likely that your child will be abused by Protestant or Jewish religious leaders — making the Catholic Church a virtual safe zone if you are going on purely the average likelihood of a rape. That could lead to a new campaign: “Go Catholic: We are Statistically Less Likely to Rape Your Child.”
Besides, Tomasi insisted “[o]f all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17.” He insisted most of the accused priests are homosexuals who simply liked younger partners.
The angry response came after Keith Porteous Wood of the International Humanist and Ethical Union accused the Church of covering up child abuse and being in breach of several articles under the Convention on the Rights of the Child: “The many thousands of victims of abuse deserve the international community to hold the Vatican to account, something it has been unwilling to do, so far. Both states and children’s organizations must unite to pressure the Vatican to open its files, change its procedures worldwide, and report suspected abusers to civil authorities.”
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Everyone knows that homosexuals are “notorious” when it comes to fidelity. This is why the abuses continue in perpetuity..
billy,
At 12:08pm you wrote “Once the Catholic Church stops ordaining “homosexuals”, much of this problem will be ameliorated.”
The Catholic Church only requires it’s priests to be male and celibate it does not discriminate based on sexual orientation. Using your suggestion the acute shortage of priests will only be exacerbated. I agree with Elaine M.’s suggestion above and nice to see you did not reject it.
I hope you can retain the distinction between homosexual and pedophilia in your future arguments.
I believe the Catholic Church will and should continue to lose members until it has a full investigation, prosecution and proper restitution to all victims of this global criminal enterprise. Remember Catholic priest’s vow poverty along with chastity.
puzzling:
Yeah, I thought RICO should be applied too! But the RCC’s racketeering activity doesn’t seem to fit the RICO law.
Maybe obstruction of justice? More inventive folks than I would know. Would they comment too.
That the RCC would stoop to this type of “and so are you-but worse than me,” argument tells me all I need to know about culpability here. Imagine actually saying that in a profession supposedly anointed by the deity as a calling from heaven, about 20,000 were violent felons of the worst order. Makes you wonder about some of the other things they tell us.
The Catholic Church is just trying to change the subject.
The real issue here is the lengths the church goes to in order to cover up these abuses. Scores of child rapists masquerading as moral leaders were moved by the church so that they could rape again and again. The criminals running this organization used the full power of their institution to continue these crimes and prevent local prosecutions.
The Catholic Church should be federally prosecuted under RICO and disbanded as a criminal organization.
Would those who feel like bashing the catholic church please state which one you are bashing? You have about 45 different brands of the Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church is the one being spoke of here. There is the Greek Catholic, South American, etc. They do not pay allegiance to
You know what Elaine “maybe-just maybe”, you are onto something..
billy,
I never said that celibacy leads to pedophilia. I made no such argument. You’re inferring that from the comments I made and drawing an incorrect conclusion. I honestly feel that if the Catholic Church allowed priests to marry and women to be ordained–maybe, just maybe–there would be more people interested in becoming Catholic priests. Maybe the culture of the priesthood would change–for the better.
Pedophilia is a form of “sexual paraphilia”, if a homosexual man perpetrates the act, he is not only homosexual in orientaion but a pedophile as well. Because a man is homosexual in orientaion does not exclude him from committing acts of pedophilia. I think you feel that homosexuality exonerates you from this crime. Am I correct in my assumption?
Statistically speaking, it would be “inconceivable” to have this disproportionate amount of pedophiles in one given demographic, i.e. the Catholic Church. The only logical and reasonable explanation for the disproportionate amount of “male on male” molestation in the priesthood, would be to analyze the sexual orientaion of the perpetrator. As ten dimes buys a dollar, he will be a homosexual.
You cite anecdotal evidence as proof. Never a good strategy. If you want to get into a battle over the epidemiology of pedophilia, you will loose this battle. The issues isn’t even pedophiles proper. Just because you know some good priests in no way excuses the bad ones. The issues is the great lengths that the RCC has gone to to avoid prosecution of the criminals in their midst and avoid civil liability for crimes committed under their banner. There is simply no way to justify the game of hide the pedophile the RCC has consistently played over the last 40 years to avoid legal liability for their members CRIMES. These aren’t victim-less crimes either. The RCC is an aider and abettor after the fact.
I do enjoy “watching and reading” the workings of your clever mind buddha, you help me to think and stay sharp..
Statistically, the number of underage girls in comparison to underage boys is less than 5%. Check it out. Anyone who is molested is a victim “boy or girl”. But statistics and empirical data “supercede” clever statements and being verbose. The data is readily available..
The vast majority of priests’ and religious I have met and known in my life, are for the most part virtuous people, struggling to live a countercultural lifestyle by embracing the Gospel message. You may find know value in this it, but “they” and “others” do.
You didn’t say it directly, but that was indeed the logically consistent transformation of your words as presented. There are plenty of Priests who have molested little girls too. The male/female dynamic is irrelevant when discussing the mental disorder pedophilia. Age is the issue and only age is the issue in that behavior.
Precision is your friend in language as in anything else.
A portrait of bigotry is how “you” feel toward the Catholic Church. You hold a “prejudice” against the Catholic Church, I have read your posts. I have yet to hear a single positive thing about the Catholic Church, in any of them. Why? Maybe because you are a bigot.
Biology rules us all, my High School instructor Harry Harrison taught. Since we reap what we sow my guess is abstinence goes against our very biology.
Catholics have never taught or equipped priests, nuns and sisters to manage their creative sexual energies. They do teach reconciliation, but the statement released by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi is devoid of it. What can the RCC further reap from their institutional human rights abuses?
I never said “all” homosexuals are pedophiles buddha, only the ones who molest underage boys. Not only are they homosexual in orientation but pedophiles if they commit the act of pedophilia.
billy,
By that “logic”, all homosexuals are pedophiles. That is a manifest lie and the very portrait of bigotry.
The reason priests molest underage boys is simple, they are homosexual in orientaion.