1963 Letter Suggests Pope Knew of Abuse

[SunnaB16]

… How can I feel sorry for a Pope that knew all of this was going on long before he was pope, and said & did nothing about it? From these three articles I’ve posted, it appears that our current pope, as well as Pope John Paul II knew about this as well, and stood by and did nothing. Why? …
… I linked another article here that shows that our current pope knew about a priest who was molesting deaf children, again, before he was ever pope and again, said or did nothing, and higher ups in the church are still attempting to cover all of this up.

How much further evidence of the current Pope`s innocence do you require?
A few months back, CAF was full of it, along with a goodly number of other reputable sites.

Its strange......Its a bit like “Strike the Shepherd…”.

 

[Adeodatus]

Fr. Corapi (mentally and spiritually strong priest) said he can’t be seen alone around childen, women or men.

The crossfire approach of evil on the priesthood.

How sad for young priests to also experience that.

Indeed. I was reading a very good pamphlet on “So you want to be a priest”, and in the back they had frequently asked questions. Well, one of them is about family. “Can I still have a family as a priest?” was the question. This struck home with me because I may or may not be called to marriage (I good on all the basics but putting it together is another story!), but I do find it uplifting to have at least limited contact with children (as in, I’m not going to change any diapers but it’s fun to interact with them a bit). The pamphlet’s answer was “Sure… the whole parish is your family.” That rang a bit hollow.

The fact is, nowadays any priest that has virtually any contact with a child (or spends any time with an adult of either sex, I would imagine) is bound to fall under some suspicion. I don’t know how they stand it. To never be able to even pick up a child, or spend time alone with an adult, without looking over your shoulder, wondering who is going to start making up stories about you? It sounds like a nightmare. Even if you just spend a day hanging with one of your bros, somebody is bound to think something dark of it.

It’s not like I’m above it, either. Were I to hear about a priest having an affair with a woman, my first interior reaction would probably be “Well at least he’s not a short eyes.” It’s really very sad. Especially because I’m sure that the vast majority of priests are good men.

 

[GaryTaylor]

Well I don’t think the problem is ever going away. Nor do I believe it will in any other aspect of society.

Lets assume evey single offender has came foward. Its will certainly happen again. Not a day goes by where temptation doesn’t step in front of you. I don’t believe theres a solution. Untill we pass through this centenary of satans temptation.

But you could believe this. What we have come to realize with the Church. Is 100X worse in every other aspect of society. While the satistics still are not an excuse nor do they make anything right. They are what they are.

This criticism isn’t going away either. We’ll carry this cross from now on. So get use to the weight.

The good news? It dosen’t change a thing about the Truth of the Church according to the Bible. Rubber Bullets is all they are. If anyone was more persecuted than Christ, I haven’t read about, or met him. We can handle this.

 

[Corki]

How much further evidence of the current Pope`s innocence do you require?
A few months back, CAF was full of it, along with a goodly number of other reputable sites.

Its strange......Its a bit like “Strike the Shepherd…”.

As long as these stories sell ink, it will never be enough.

They said, “why hasn’t the Church done anything to make sure this doesn’t happen?” The Church has been putting stronger and stronger protections in place since the 80s with the result that accusations (let alone proven cases) were in the single digits last year. Your kids are much safer with a priest than they are with a relative and hundreds of times safer than at school.

Not enough.

They said “all we want is someone in the heirarchy to take responsibility and appologize” There have been public appologies from bishops, Cardinals and two Popes.

Not enough.

They said “why doesn’t the Church do a better job keeping predators out of seminaries” The Church totally revamped seminary discernment proceedures.

Not enough.

For some people, the only thing that will ever satisfy will be the total destruction of the heirarchy along with the use of a time machine to make sure that all abusing priests are executed before they have a chance to abuse.

One of the most recent cases was the sudden return of “memories” of abuse by a priest who’s long dead. Give me a break!

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

There was mishandling of those cases but not on the part of Cardinal Ratzinger.

The argument from the Vatican has consistently been that Cardinal Ratzinger did nothing wrong because he did nothing. He didn’t read the doccuments, he didn’t read the letter sent to the Bishops in his name, he didn’t know about x, y, and z. Maybe all of that is true and maybe it isn’t but, as Prefect of the CDF, it was his responsibility to read the documents, review letters sent out in his name, and to know about these cases. It was his responsibility to make sure these cases were investigated and the sex offenders held accountable and, for whatever reason, he failed. To his credit, he was more aggressive at pursuing such cases than his predecessors were but we already know that there were forces in the Curia working against him and trying to convince John Paul II not to investigate because it might harm the Church’s image.

The bottom line is that apologies aren’t enough and, while the Church has made a step in the right direction by reforming policy, it’s done nothing to streamline the process of reviewing sex abuse cases nor have the reforms done enough to hold Church officials accountable for the coverup or providing an avenue for doing so in the future.

 

[marci]

For those who argue the point that teachers, coaches, and protestant ministers also molest children so why don’t we give them a hard time…give it up! I am sick to death of hearing this. Do you really think that a priest molesting an innocent young catholic boy in the confessional, DURING CONFESSION is the same? I don’t care how many more teachers and coaches are molestors. ONE priest is one to many. I expect way more from our ordained shephards.

 

[SunnaB16]

The argument from the Vatican has consistently been that Cardinal Ratzinger did nothing wrong because he did nothing. …

… nor have the reforms done enough to hold Church officials accountable for the coverup or providing an avenue for doing so in the future.

You came out with the same discredited allegations at the height (depth?) of the feeding frenzy around Easter.
Whats the point of exhuming that badly decomposed tripe after all this time? Its well and truly on the nose!
Are you hard up?

Your hero/namesake persecuted the Pope…

 

[EmperorNapoleon]

You came out with the same discredited allegations at the height (depth?) of the feeding frenzy around Easter…

What allegations? I simply pointed out what the Vatican has been saying about Cardinal Ratzinger’s actions, or inaction, as Prefect of the CDF.

Your hero/namesake persecuted the Pope…

He saw the Catholic Church for what it was at the time; as much a political institution as a religious one. Pius VI wasn’t exactly a model Pope and Napoleon freed the Jews in Rome from the persecution of Pius VI and his predecessors.

 

[faithfully]

For those who argue the point that teachers, coaches, and protestant ministers also molest children so why don’t we give them a hard time…give it up! I am sick to death of hearing this. Do you really think that a priest molesting an innocent young catholic boy in the confessional, DURING CONFESSION is the same? I don’t care how many more teachers and coaches are molestors. ONE priest is one to many. I expect way more from our ordained shephards.

I too expect more from a priest. But then I don’t expect good behavior from an evil person. It is foolish to think that an evil person can not infiltrate ANY System. These are not GOOD people. They are abusers, and they do what abusers do. They seek out prey. Some just happen to be “Catholic”, and they see an opportunity that other abusers don’t. I suspect that if you talk to ANY PERSON who has been raped or molested, they would be a bit disgruntled to find that you consider a person molested under different circumstances somehow more substantial than their own personal event.

Seriously, say it out loud! I’m sorry little girl whose uncle took a hot curling iron to her vagina, for kicks and giggles… That’s NO WHERE near as bad as a little boy in confession getting man handled. REALLY? Because a little girl should not be able to trust her own uncle? And a little boy should be able to trust a priest that he doesn’t really know? Seems they BOTH should be trustable people. Now, if you can tell me that YOU DON’T CARE, because he wasn’t a priest, and therefore you’re not offended… Then well… I’ve got nothin’.

ABUSE IS ABUSE…stats show that it’s almost always done by someone the victim knows and trusts. Please quantify how the pain of a young boy molested by a priest is worse than a girl by her own father? EVIL does not discriminate! And it’s NOT a matter of “Hey let up on the Catholic church. Didn’t you see over there?” It’s really a matter of how the WHOLE WORLD deals with abusers. THEY ALL need to be dealt with appropriately. We need to stop this whole business of how it’s the victims fault. And that abusers shouldn’t have made it into a certain field. Abusers will go ANYWHERE they can. We need to work as a global society to stop them. And at this POINT, TODAY I see the church working very hard to educate parents and children. Because even with all the testing, and observation, I guarantee you, some CREEP will still get into service. And he will call himself a priest. And it will happen in other realms of the world as well. And perhaps worse. Because, the gov’t doesn’t see fit to educate the public that doesn’t have access to these teachings.

ALL molesters are equal in their sin, and their danger. I can’t imagine the horror of being molested or raped. It has not happened to me. I don’t need to imagine however, not being safe from the harassment rec’d by the trash employed at my public highschool. CHILDREN are supposed to be able to trust ALL the ADULTS who they are entrusted to too. It’s that parents of today know more than their parents ever did on the subject. NOT ALL adults are trustworthy. And it does not matter who they are, or what you THINK you know about them.

And the assumption that because a person is a priest makes them safer is foolish.It also sounds a bit elitist. " Oh, we’re Catholic… We couldn’t possibly have someone bad among us… It would be unexceptable. And therefore especially horrifying. This only because we’re mind readers, and we never make mistakes in character judgement, surely you can see why a protestant might… them being somehow lowly… Right???

Yeah, that just doesn’t sound quite right…

Well, not that Jesus makes mistakes. However, he too chose someone that would NOT REPRESENT… Judas… You know the story! It seems odd that one can’t believe that Jesus SHOWED us that errors in judgment will happen. Even by our most precious leaders! Those that SHOULD NOT LET US DOWN, have the full capability to do so, should they have a moment of weakness, or the devil gets a grip. It’s a very sad reality. But I think the point is… KEEP moving forward in your quest for Christ! Work your way around the obsticles. And oh, there will be some doozies! Things that will make you question your faith, and all that it stands on…

 

[cyberwolf001]

One thing that really gets to me is when they try shifting the blame to other faiths claiming it is very common but the media doesn’t cover it. I’ve even had some Catholics say to my face it must be a major problem in Neo-Pagan faiths.

Well there has been a total of two cases I know of, the Priest got suspended pending an investigation and if found guilty are stripped of there titles and banned from all events that have small children present.

 

[Timothy17]

To the OP: If you are a victim, I most certainly sympathize with you, and I understand your emotion. If you are not a victim, is it possible that you have come to a position which I have often observed in life: Those who are not directly involved or affected by a situation are actually more incensed about it than those who are? Years ago, I spoke with a Japanese-American woman who was, decades later, angry over her parents’ internment during WWII. It occurred before she was born and none of it directly affected her, but she was bitter simply because it happened. Her parents long ago had worked through it and moved on, but she could not.

A witch hunt? Well, yes, in the following regard: Where are the demands for a systematic investigation of protestant fellowships? School employees? Youth councelsors? Scouting leaders? Each of those groups, percentage-wise, has equal offenses against children. If danger to children is the concern, why go only after the Catholic Church? Consider: The world does hate the Church, because it hated Christ first. Jesus said this would happen (John 15:18).

Anyway, where is a Catholic that says this scandal should not be investigated to its natural conclusion? The scandal has been investigated, is being investigated, and will be investigated as accusations arise. I think that you are angry about something over which you have zero control. This is a recipe for unhappiness. My advice is to give it over to God, since He is in charge of everything.

May Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[irishpatrick]

It is so sad that so few people can grasp the spiritual battle we are all in within our own lives, and within the greater world as a whole. If one looks at things from the bigger picture and from a spiritual battle perspective, all of this comes into much sharper focus. This world is not about jobs, or careers, or empires, or any other similar nonsense…it is about the battle for souls.

Think it through.

 

[GIR]

braking news! Attila the Hun just invaded Rome!

 

[Saint_wannabe]

Its easier to blame the media for being liberal than blame the Church for its failings. Never mind the fact that liberalism does not make the media automatically wrong, nor does being Catholic automatically make you a paragon of virtue.

Well said.

 

[Saint_wannabe]

You know… Hind site is always 20/20.

those that want to go nutz on the Church… realize, even Christ had Judas among him.

Please correct me if I’m wrong here, but I’m reading between the lines on your comment and it isn’t settling well with me. Maybe I’m taking it the wrong way, but its seems to me that what your stating here is, if anyone is frustrated, angered & disgusted about this whole abuse/cover up scandal, and how badly the higher ups in the church have handled this, by attempting to sweep the whole matter under the carpet time & time again, and speaks out about it publicly, your comparing that person to Judas?

 

[faithfully]

faithfully;7083200:

You know… Hind site is always 20/20.

those that want to go nutz on the Church… realize, even Christ had Judas among him.

Please correct me if I’m wrong here, but I’m reading between the lines on your comment and it isn’t settling well with me. Maybe I’m taking it the wrong way, but its seems to me that what your stating here is, if anyone is frustrated, angered & disgusted about this whole abuse/cover up scandal, and how badly the higher ups in the church have handled this, by attempting to sweep the whole matter under the carpet time & time again, and speaks out about it publicly, your comparing that person to Judas?

I have a really hard time NOT being long winded… So here’s some effort… Let me know if I’m still not clear.

IN SHORT:

The Judas among us is the PRIEST that has done these horrifying things. That I know for sure! These “priests” have done damage that have rocked our church to the core. If none of them had done this, if their EVIL had not infiltrated the church, we would not be in the position of having men (I suspect poorly educated on sex offenders) scrambling to remedy the problem.

The Judas among us MAY be some that poorly handled these situations. I say MAY because I truly don’t KNOW without a doubt that they purposefully handled the situations the way they did soley to try to keep The Church looking good. As if they just didn’t anticipate the power of the internet. I suspect, that in the SAME way other sex offenders unafilitated with a church of any sort, were/are often released back into society as if there were no problems with their wacko behavior… a danger to society. Released to re-offend.

I live in a diocese that has had a “new” case released. About 4 -6 boys… that as it turns out, I went to school with. I somewhat remember the priest in question. (And it sounds as though there are NO questions. This man was the devil himself, serving at our school. Someone sent our way to get him away from the trauma he had already caused. If those Sr. Church members sent him our way becaues they thought, naively he would stop, then I can see less red. But if they did so with just simple disregard for the new trauma… Then the devil was quite accomplished. And I don’t blame the Church as a whole. Just individuals. Who are in fact nameless to me.)

The thing was, I do remember this priest. I remember things that TODAY are huge red flags. Even if Big Hitter officials did this… Parents didn’t see then what they WOULD see today. They would question things like “KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME!” “I HATE THAT PRIEST” I WONDER if the church officials were just as naive as our parents were… I can extend the benefit of the doubt.

In the mean time, we are kicking down serious $$$$ to say we can’t take it back, but we are sorry! Very, VERY Sorry, for all the pain endured. The faith that has been shattered.

And so, when I think of Jesus, and Judas. Jesus selected Judas as one of his chosen. His special ones. In theory, a person that WE should be able to trust given the opportunity. But even HE betrayed JESUS… Anyone could have pointed Jesus out in a crowd. Judas was the one to do it… Not because Christ had to die on a Cross… but to show us that even those we should be able to trust the most… CAN FAIL.

Not being Christ, and being human I can see how hard it is to forgive or forget. But it’s what Jesus would do. It’s what he teaches us… and with this… a VERY PAINFUL lesson…

 

[Corki]

because when principals find out they have a teacher that molest they don’t put him in the attendance office and say "it’s all right. He doesn’t directly deal with kids anymore. But he’s still a teacher and then not turn over records of it to a foreign state that can prevent them from being used as evidence.

I don’t want to turn this into a debate of who is worse - teachers or priests. But I feel I need to correct some misinformation.

But teachers don’t need a foreign state, they have unions. In Texas, in a single school district last year there were over 100 teachers on paid leave or working in “non contact” administrative jobs due to abuse allegations or charges that made them unsuitable to work with children anymore.

In NJ, long aftet the Catholic Church had started to put safety standards in place, union contracts routinely PROHIBITED school administrators from revealing the reason a teacher’s contract was not renewed, even if abuse was claimed or proven. These teachers simply moved to other districts and started with clean slates. Unless there had been an actual conviction, there was no way to check.

 

[Windfish]

I genuinely think there has been a lot of misreporting/omission of facts in some cases. OP, I want to learn more before I respond to your thread, so can I get some info on the sources you have been using? Are those just it?

 

[Hiskid1973]

I was just pondering a few things…We know satan is behind everything evil but what if rather than his direct attach your church is reaping what has been sown in the past…I think of the latter times and “what as whispered in secret will be shouted from the rooftops”…I mean this just comes in waves and now the banking thing shows up again… One fire is put out and two more start…The protestant and orthodox are not without their own problems but it seems like it’s coming in waves for the CC…The media hounds are always sniffing for stories, that is their job…You can’t blame the media for the stories as they are out there to find…People aren’t stupid and will find out soon enough if the things are true or not…Don’t make the dirt and it won’t be found…I think CC news issues are far from over. Major housecleaning is coming and is needed for the whole body of Christ…and where is it to start ?
I mean as the body of Christ, even each believer should live a life above reproach…

K

 

[MarianD]

I like what our current Archbishop, Cardinal O’Malley, did. He came in and kicked some…aye-ess-ess and maintains his zero-tolerance policy against abuse.

If I was Bishop of any diocese or Pope, (Bishop of Rome) I’d come in and kick some serious behind with these abuse scandals. They’re disgusting and smear the Name of the Lord, which is something none of us should have tolerance for.