The accused priests remained active
To the surprise of absolutely no one:
Former Pope Benedict XVI failed to act over four child abuse cases when he was archbishop of Munich, a German probe into the Catholic Church has alleged.
Of course he did. That’s what the church did for generations until it finally got caught. What matters to the Catholic church is the Catholic church. Not people, just the church (and its clergy – those people matter).
[A] new report into historical abuse allegations carried out by a German law firm incriminated the former pontiff. Abuse continued under his tenure, it is alleged, and the accused priests remained active in church roles.
Because that’s what always happened. The church always put the church first.
In one instance, it is alleged he knew about a priest accused of abusing boys who was transferred to his diocese, but who then continued to work in pastoral care roles – this often involves visiting and supporting people within the community.
And sexually abusing children within the community. The kindly priest comes along to visit and support people, and molests children when no adults are looking. How supportive.
Tim Minchin said it best all those years ago: Fuck the Pope. (I’d post the YouTube link, but I forget whether those auto-embed here.)
It’s OK, Screechy; They don’t.
But the Pope is infallible, therefore cannot make a wrong call on anything. Well, maybe on next Tuesday fortnight’s weather, but nothing important. He is not clairvoyant, and cannot predict future events, and thus cannot be held responsible for the consequences of any decision he makes.
The Catholic clergy have had around 2,000 years to get the story straight, and it is still a work in progress. But then again, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
If you haven’t seen the Fraser Davidson animation of Minchin’s “The Pope Song”, you really must, it’s great.
https://youtu.be/vjJ_b8isMzc
…. and I see that Ophelia has already embedded that in the OP. Never mind…
Omar@3:
I’m not a believer, and definitely not a supporter of the Catholic church, but I have to point out that infallibility according to catholic doctrine does not extend to “anything”; it only applies in very specific situations when speaking ex cathedra (but it also applies to bishops, and not just the pope). Of course, it’s bullshit then, too, in my opinion, but let’s at least be fair to these pedophiles–even by their own doctrine, they’re criminals and shitty people.
JG: Likewise, I am neither a believer, or a Catholic, or even an ex-Catholic. And yes I know about the caveats on Papal infallibility: I hade them explained to me while in high school by our English master, who was also a devout Catholic. But I say, get an ordained Jesuit onto it. They are trained so well in sophistry, they can prove that day is night, up is down, white is black, and that a heap of bullshit is a bed of roses.
Omar: Fair enough! I’m just happy to see them condemned by their own doctrine.
Whatever you think of Clint Eastwood’s movies, he takes time out in them to poke holes in the Catholic Church. Million Dollar Baby supports euthanasia, and during the plot he’s jabbbing at his priest over inconsistencies in doctrine and faith. But the movie Indian Horse takes direct aim at the Catholic priests in the residential school system in Canada. I can’t say much more without spoiling it.
I am a former Catholic, and while this issue is not what drove me away from the church, it certainly confirms my beliefs in the fact that it is largely a criminal organization, a Holy Mafia, as it were.
It’s the issue which drove me away. I had been questioning myself for several years, over what reasons I had to continue to be a Roman Catholic. They basically boiled down to “Well, the RCC has successfully convinced me that all non-Christian religions are faulty, and that any break-away Christian sect can’t be as accurate as the Mother Church, founded by Christ Himself, so if I want to still believe in God (and I do) then I have to be a Roman Catholic.”
Of course, I was also questioning why I wanted to believe in God and trying to find good evidence and reasons from apologists who were better-educated than I, so I could convince others of my rationality.
The utter betrayal of the victims of the Church by the hierarchy – even roping congregants, including me, into believing that the accusers were lying – was the wake-up call I needed to abandon the RCC and, eventually, to follow the evidence and lose my faith.
There was a time when Holy Mother Church discouraged the faithful from reading the Bible, lest they be led astray by certain passages, such as are to be found in the gospels; particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t bother reading the Bible; just keep upattendance at Mass and regular confession. Leave all the rest of it to us priests.
As the history of Christianity, and particularly of Protestantism shows, getting the story straight has been a major undertaking. Sects everywhere, and no Pope.