Pope’s child porn 'normal' claim sparks outrage

[Faith3Faith]

Victims of clerical sex abuse have reacted furiously to Pope Benedict’s claim yesterday that paedophilia wasn’t considered an “absolute evil” as recently as the 1970s

In his traditional Christmas address yesterday to cardinals and officials working in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI also claimed that child pornography was increasingly considered “normal” by society.

“In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,” the Pope said.

“It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a ‘better than’ and a ‘worse than’. Nothing is good or bad in itself.”

Read more: belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/popersquos-child-porn-normal-claim-sparks-outrage-among-victims–15035449.html#ixzz18scMX25P

 

[1sicht]

Perhaps I was under a mistaken impression, but I thought that The Church claims to hold the Eternal Mind of Christ and Eternal Verities. How are these recent situation ethics views of his consistent with that claim? It would be useful to be able to read his whole speech; the article might be truncating things in a way that skews what he really was trying to say.

 

[Monica4316]

as always, the media gets it completely opposite… sigh

Pope Benedict was actually saying the exact opposite of what he is claimed to have said by this newspaper… he was saying that this view should be “resisted”. Here it is in context:

In order to resist these forces, we must turn our attention to their ideological foundations. In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a “better than” and a “worse than”. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. **Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist. The effects of such theories are evident today. Against them, Pope John Paul II, in his 1993 Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, indicated **with prophetic force in the great rational tradition of Christian ethos the essential and permanent foundations of moral action. Today, attention must be focussed anew on this text as a path in the formation of conscience. It is our responsibility to make these criteria audible and intelligible once more for people today as paths of true humanity, in the context of our paramount concern for mankind.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20101220_curia-auguri_en.html

 

[3DOCTORS]

Always go to original source, read in context. Here is link. I haven’t had time to read it yet and have to log off now but will at first op. And then be back to comment. Peace out.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20101220_curia-auguri_en.html

 

[Earnest_Bunbury]

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS
TO THE ROMAN CURIA

In order to resist these forces, we must turn our attention to their ideological foundations. In the 1970s, paedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children. This, however, was part of a fundamental perversion of the concept of ethos. It was maintained – even within the realm of Catholic theology – that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a “better than” and a “worse than”. Nothing is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on the circumstances and on the end in view. Anything can be good or also bad, depending upon purposes and circumstances. Morality is replaced by a calculus of consequences, and in the process it ceases to exist. The effects of such theories are evident today. Against them, Pope John Paul II, in his 1993 Encyclical Letter Veritatis Splendor, indicated with prophetic force in the great rational tradition of Christian ethos the essential and permanent foundations of moral action. Today, attention must be focussed anew on this text as a path in the formation

The hatred inherent in the outrage over this message by the pope is at the heart of their desire for revisionist historicity.

The roots of de-stigmatizing pedophilia in contemporary society

Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council director of Marriage and Family Studies, told CNSNews.com that the movement to de-stigmatize pedophilia within academia can be traced back to Alfred Kinsey in 1948. …

“Kinsey worked to lower penalties for sex offenders and said he couldn’t understand why children were harmed by being sexually touched by adults,” Knight continued. “He based this on a series of sex experiments on children as young as 2 months of age. A chapter in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male reports on the molestation of hundreds of boys, with Kinsey concluding that the victims enjoyed the activity.”

Prime Time TV ‘Objectifies and Fetishizes Young Girls’, study says

“Certain shows, advertisers, etc. sexualize underage people, which does double damage: it sends a message to youth that their self-worth depends on their sexuality, and provokes inappropriate sexual responses from adults.

The outrage should be properly placed. The overall problem is, and was at the time the pope talks about, ethos. The culture is certainly concerned and more well informed as to the problems involved with sexual contact on the young, but the culture is certainly not at all concerned about sexualizing them. They are a victim in both accounts. Jessica Hahn years ago was victimized by Rev. Jim Bakker but “empowered” herself when appearing in Playboy. This is the ethos we are involving the young in today. The “higher truth” would lead to an ethos of virtue proposed by the Church that the priest victimizers failed to live up to.

 

[Faith3Faith]

I agree ,…I was imprudent and posted this news article without reading all of what Benedict had said. I apologize. I urge everyone reading this thread to disregard the Title and disregard my original post.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Apology accepted - might I suggest a solution? This is not to make you feel unduly guilty over the mistake, but it might put it right and encourage others to follow the example of not posting things indiscriminately.

Here’s the suggestion - PM the moderators and ask that the thread be removed.

 

[fkjuliano]

as always, the media gets it completely opposite… sigh

Pope Benedict was actually saying the exact opposite of what he is claimed to have said by this newspaper… he was saying that this view should be “resisted”. Here it is in context:

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2010/december/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20101220_curia-auguri_en.html

Thanks to Monica for clarifying this, but even before seeing the full text, I was sure the Holy Father was citing those points of view precisely in order to condemn them. It’s obvious this Belfast newspaper epitomizes the dishonesty and anti-Catholicism that are so characteristic of the Unionist overlords of the north of Ireland.

 

[Elfgirl]

Apology accepted - might I suggest a solution? This is not to make you feel unduly guilty over the mistake, but it might put it right and encourage others to follow the example of not posting things indiscriminately.

Here’s the suggestion - PM the moderators and ask that the thread be removed.

Why should the thread be removed? I think this is rather important. Because it WILL get around, in the twisted form, and this thread has the truth of the matter in it.

I already saw this mentioned on another (very secular) forum. It’s not one I have joined, but I do read it occasionally. Not sure if they had this article from the same source, or if somewhere else has already picked up this “story,” but the response was what one would expect. I wonder how long it will be before stuff like this makes it to the “real” media? I appreciate having this thread here, with the real story.