Is the Pope still a decent fellow?

[Guyonthestreet]

That’s old news and if you actually read the letter, which “The Guardian” hasn’t got the integrity to publish, you’d very quickly see that they completely misrepresent (read that as: lie about) what the document actually says. I’ve read the text and it’s a real shame that a British news organ would print this specious anti-Catholic propaganda like that.

It’s also a shame that people believe it at face value as you have. Find that document and get the real facts.

I have.

And the contents are not completely misrepresented as you claim.

A delict against morals, namely: the delict committed by a cleric against the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue with a minor below the age of 18 years.

Only these delicts, which are indicated above with their definition, are reserved to the apostolic tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

As often as an ordinary or hierarch has at least probable knowledge of a reserved delict, after he has carried out the preliminary investigation he is to indicate it to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which unless it calls the case to itself because of special circumstances of things, after transmitting appropriate norms, orders the ordinary or hierarch to proceed ahead through his own tribunal. The right of appealing against a sentence of the first instance, whether on the part of the party or the party’s legal representative, or on the part of the promoter of justice, solely remains valid only to the supreme tribunal of this congregation.

It must be noted that the criminal action on delicts reserved to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is extinguished by a prescription of 10 years.(11) The prescription runs according to the universal and common law;(12) however, in the delict perpetrated with a minor by a cleric, the prescription begins to run from the day when the minor has completed the 18th year of age.

In tribunals established by ordinaries or hierarchs, the functions of judge, promoter of justice, notary and legal representative can validly be performed for these cases only by priests. When the trial in the tribunal is finished in any fashion, all the acts of the case are to be transmitted ex officio as soon as possible to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

All tribunals of the Latin church and the Eastern Catholic churches are bound to observe the canons on delicts and penalties, and also on the penal process of both codes respectively, together with the special norms which are transmitted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for an individual case and which are to be executed entirely.
Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret.

bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/churchdocs/EpistulaEnglish.htm

 

[Jermosh]

The mainstream media seems to be extremely anti-Catholic. It’s here to spread the truth, but it never gives other scandals like the Rabbi scandal a lot of coverage.

My question is; is there reason to be genuinely angry at the Pope? Or is there something the media isn’t telling us?

please tell me!

Jesus wasn’t kidding when he said “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you”.

MSM does not go after the Rabbi scandal because Jews are quite the minority, and its a very small incident, not a global one.

 

[Jermosh]

Hogwash! Countless? That’s a complete exaggeration of the facts which actually show that the problem is far far worse in the education systems and far more covered up, with no one really daring to out it because the school systems belong to government entities and that would cause a loss of vital tax revenues. So much for how important children really are.

The education system and Govt are not beacons of morals and ethics though. This is much like the stigma a bad cop gets when he does something illegal.

 

[peary]

No Jesus wasn’t. It still brings me sadness though to see how the Church is being persecuted. But if you want my opinion, yes I still believe 1000000000% that Pope Benedict is a good man; an excellent man. I do not claim to be an expert in these scandals or know a lot about what happened, but I do know that the way they are portraying our Holy Father is completely ridiculous.

The media isn’t telling you that in the Wisconsin case, the Holy See wasn’t notified until many years later; only several months before the priest in question died.

They are trying to blame this all on the Pope when it is not his fault. Pray for the victims, the Church, our Holy Father and also that this will never happen again.

Jacob

I agree. What the media is also not telling you about the Wisconsin case is that Bishop Weakland refused to do anything about it, and then because of the media outcry, had to contact the Vatican for (name removed by moderator)ut, and thirty years after the fact. It took eight months for the Vatican to respond, but once it did, they told him to put into practice the formal declarations that Pope John XXIII issued to all dioceses in the world about this very subject. What was also embarrassing is that Bishop Weakland himself was involved in a scandal and had to resign because of it.

 

[Belloc_Fan]

I have.

And the contents are not completely misrepresented as you claim.

bishop-accountability.org/resources/resource-files/churchdocs/EpistulaEnglish.htm

The trial is what’s subject to the pontifical secret, not the underlying crime. This isn’t different than an American grand jury, or a trial involving minor victims or accused.

 

[Hiskid1973]

What was also embarrassing is that Bishop Weakland himself was involved in a scandal and had to resign because of it.

Wow I never knew that…It seems like this isn’t going to go away any time soon…It also seems like some will will lose more faith/trust in their church and feel compelled to reveal more…We tend to stand behind what we believe and not want to really believe it all is true…May God’s peace/comfort envelope those faithful to Him during this time…