Pope Francis acknowledges clergy sexually abused nuns

[Peebo]

Pope publicly acknowledges clergy sexual abuse of nuns

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Tuesday publicly acknowledged the scandal of priests and bishops sexually abusing nuns and vowed to do more to fight the problem, the latest sign that there is no end in sight to the Catholic Church's abuse crisis — and that it now has a reckoning from t

apnews.com

Pray for Pope Francis…he has a monumental task trying to clean up sexual abuse in the church

 

[AngelaMarie]

Sexual slavery, bearing children, having abortions.

Hard to claim any moral authority. Why should anyone listen. Seriously

 

[Matt241]

Yes. Difficult to claim any moral authority. And with the child abuse as well…they’ve distanced themselves from what Christ teaches, and the moral standards set out in the Letter to the Hebrews. I have nothing more to say. Sorry. I’m too shocked and upset.

 

[AngelaMarie]

Me, too, Matt.
Praying for you. Pray for me.
When Christ said that the gates of hell would not prevail, He certainly didn’t promise that the gates of hell were going to be unrelenting, always pushing in trying to destroy the Church. Destroy us.

Going after the clergy (and Judas was one of the 12) certainly is an effective way of the gates of hell pressing hard.

We need to pray for holy priests, holy bishops, and religious.
We also need to have His Bride, the Church, cleasensed of evil

 

[Victoria33]

I read the article, it says this behavior happened on basically all continents.

We aim to get rid of all bad things, it can not all be totally eradicated I’d say. There is no acceptable level. It does seem some of this will happen no matter what.

 

[Victoria33]

BBC coverage:

Pope admits clerical abuse of nuns including sexual slavery

Pope Francis admits nuns have been sexually abused by clerics - and it is an ongoing problem.

www.bbc.com

Not even addressing the sexual abuse aspect of the story.

I, personally think so many priests are often too young in formation. Maturity needs to set in. Some can handle it but I can see how difficult it is or would be.

Back to the topic, sometimes it amazes me, to think that a few men who actually do the consecration could ever do such acts. Hopefully, this is largely isolated.

 

[AlNg]

Sexual slavery, bearing children, having abortions.

Since many priests want to bear children, perhaps it is time to allow a married clergy as they have in the Orthodox churches. St. Peter, who was the first Pope, was a married man and he was chosen by Our Divine Lord.

 

[twf]

This is another topic… and Pope Francis is open to potentially ordaining more married men. Yet I fail to see how it would address this issue. Married men have affairs. Married men rape.
If married priests is the solution to this problem, the implication is horrifying… single men who aren’t getting regular relations are prone to become evil monsters who enslave and serial rape women?? If it was simply a need for sexual release, they could have found a prostitute or even attempted an affair with a parishioner… no, these sorts of incidents speak of deep mental illness.

 

[Joe_5859]

Hard to claim any moral authority. Why should anyone listen. Seriously

The Church’s moral authority rests on the authority of Christ and the Truth of the teaching, not on the holiness of clergy.

This is truly sickening to think that there are priests who actually do this sort of thing.

 

[AlNg]

If it was simply a need for sexual release, they could have found a prostitute

I thought it was a sin to have sex with a prostitute. . It is fine to do so with your wife. The two situations are not comparable.

 

[twf]

Of course its a sin. My point was, someone who was willing to sin and desperate for sex, could have much more easily sought out a prostitute rather than investing a great deal of time and effort into enslaving a nun… anyone who does this isn’t in need of a wife…they are sick, disturbed human beings…
This isn’t about needing sex or a wife…these are monstrous, vile, disgusting, disturbed human beings on power trips.

 

[Victoria33]

There has been an update on this story folks. Whether this means there are significant changes to the storyline, I’m still reading. In a sense, to me, there is a major difference but I don’t want to be premature.

Excerpt:

http://time.com/5522980/vatican-clarifies-pope-francis-priests-sexual-abuse-nuns/

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said Wednesday Francis “spoke of ‘sexual slavery’ to mean ‘manipulation’ or a type of abuse of power that is reflected in a sexual abuse.”

The Community of St. Jean admitted in 2013 that its late founder had behaved “in ways that went against chastity” with women in the order, according to the French Catholic newspaper La Croix. The Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI ultimately dissolved an offshoot of the congregation.

And it’s TIME magazine too. Not a knock, I’m just saying, it’s mainstream media.

 

[AlNg]

My point was, someone who was willing to sin and desperate for sex, could have much more easily sought out a prostitute rather than investing a great deal of time and effort into enslaving a nun… anyone who does this isn’t in need of a wife…

I think that if a person cannot exercise self-control, then he should marry. It is better to be married, than to commit the sins you have mentioned.

 

[ATraveller]

This is another topic… and Pope Francis is open to potentially ordaining more married men. Yet I fail to see how it would address this issue. Married men have affairs. Married men rape.
If married priests is the solution to this problem, the implication is horrifying… single men who aren’t getting regular relations are prone to become evil monsters who enslave and serial rape women?? If it was simply a need for sexual release, they could have found a prostitute or even attempted an affair with a parishioner… no, these sorts of incidents speak of deep mental illness.

I never understood this weird idea where humans are compared with exploding cans of pop.

I think that if a person cannot exercise self-control, then he should marry. It is better to be married, than to commit the sins you have mentioned.

I’m an Evangelical so obviously married clergy isn’t a problem for me but the idea people can’t control themselves is nonsense. It’s the same pathetic excuse used by rapists, thieves and murderers. It’s absolute garbage. Bodies don’t magically gain full autonomy from their minds in conscious people.

 

[F_Marturana]

I understand that ordaining married men would be to address the shortage of priests in certain areas. Not because of the abuse scandals.

 

[Peebo]

Over the centuries priests have wielded a lot of influence and authority over the laity…it’s not hard to imagine that some would abuse that authority to their own gratification…what’s that saying…“power corrupts…absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

 

[SanRafael1102]

It’s sad how many times the words “sexual(ly) abuse(d)” keeps popping up in news about the Church. I know it happens in other circles, I know that it’s not just Catholics, but I tend to hold the Catholic Church to a high standard, and it’s leaders just like to let me down.

 

[twf]

I’ve moved this from World News to Catholic News.

 

[AlNg]

I think that if a person cannot exercise self-control, then he should marry.

…the idea people can’t control themselves is nonsense. It’s the same pathetic excuse used by rapists, thieves and murderers. It’s absolute garbage.

1 Cor 7 : 9 “But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry,…” IMHO, this is not garbage.

 

[Mary888]

I think that if a person cannot exercise self-control, then he should marry.

@ATraveller I don’t like the line of discussion where people get married in order to just “do it”, but it is a reality for some and the Bible does teach what @AINg said. Maybe it is an act of meekness from all of us, as humans, to accept that our limitations exist, we are even at our best “a little less than Angels”, and Sainthood cannot be forced out of anyone. I am not even certain if the Church teaches that one must become a saint themselves to be in Heaven. Only that the Church is only certain about Saints being in Heaven not sure about anyone else.

We must aspire to sainthood and not treat the saints as some aliens who did because they were special and we can’t do it. This makes sense to me.
On another take allowing married men into priesthood it is not just that they will be the married priests with a wife and satisfied needs, this also means that priesthood will attract men who consider a relationship with a woman in traditional acceptable ways. And those priests would have children who would be raised in a faithful manner and those of them who are boys may also become priests and this would bring continuity to priesthood without in any way inflicting on the Motherhood of Church and the Fatherhood of God if that is the fear of creating “priestly families”.
Anyway, whatever the Vatican chooses to do I pray God keeps them safe and lowers the temptations on their priests and helps the Catholic Church to fulfill her vows.