Will the Pope practise what he preaches in church scandal?
and secret payoffs.
Countless attempts to stop the abuse was simply met by church leaders who shifted the beasts from parish to parish instead of sending them from police to prison. The UK is no better. Weeks ago, the Church of England was found to have disregarded dozens of allegations in its inquiry into child sexual abuse and then “downplayed” the issue to protect its reputation, according to a report by former Barnardo’s chief executive Sir Roger Singleton who found that close to 100 cases were whittled down to just a handful for a review released in 2010.
Earlier this month, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported how children at leading Catholic schools Ampleforth in North Yorkshire and Downside in Somerset, suffered “appalling” treatment stretching over decades by monks.
The panel found children as young as seven were sexually abused amid a “culture of acceptance of abusive behaviour”, but the report said both institutions attempted to cover up the allegations. As in Pennsylvania, the church authorities tried to cover it up, committing more crimes in doing so. First, they abused the most vulnerable young people in their care and then other ordained men, usually of a higher cloth, allowed the abuse to continue by seeking to protect, not the children they were responsible for, but themselves and their reputations.
The scandal among Catholics this week led Pope Francis to speak out.
In, what we are told, was an “unprecedented letter” he acknowledged the church’s “atrocities,” invited “the entire holy faithful people of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting, following the Lord’s command” and promised such crimes would no longer be tolerated.
His communique to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, also admitted the victims’ “wounds never go away”.
In so doing, the pontiff provided a rationale for abandoning the church’s long-standing resistance to allowing decades-old cases of rape and molestation by priests to be subject to prosecution and lawsuits.
At last, after years of false promises and tone-deaf words, the Pope seemed to have woken up to the scale of abuse and corruption within the church.
The question now is whether he is willing or able to turn the tide of institutional resistance in the Vatican and dioceses worldwide, that previously prevented victims from seeking justice and recompense.
The truth is that for far too long the church has been run by a selfserving group of misogynistic men now the world knows the depth of depravity they have in their ranks. Radical changes are called for. Priests around the world need to look up to the heavens not down to hell from where they have been following the devil, not God.
It’s terrifying to imagine how many cases are still unknown throughout America and the UK but it is the church’s duty to find out.
Shame on them and those criminally complicit cardinals, bishops, and clergy.
We can only pray the men guilty of such crimes are now brought to justice and let a judge, not God decide their punishment.
After years of false promises the Pope has woken up to the scale of abuse...
GOING forward I guess August 16 will be a date all musical icons will want to avoid. Not only did it claim the life of Elvis Presley it has now taken from us Aretha Franklin. The Queen of Soul was one of the best, most innovative, brilliant, singers to ever come out of America. Blessed with a voice once described as producing “effortless glory like no other human”, she was a singer that defined not only her time but that of the civil rights and women’s movements, Now, despite her fear of flying, Aretha has taken her last flight where she joins so many other greats in rock ’n’ roll heaven. That’s one hell of a party up there.