Pope will 'not be intimidated by petty gossip' over sex abuse scandals

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anode said:
I believe that the Pope can ask for resignations. Those who are being asked to resign are Cardinal Brady and the remaining bishops who have tendered their resignations, which have not yet been accepted by the Vatican.

Cardinal Brady was the one who, when confronted by the two boys testifying about the abuse of Fr. Smyth, not only didn’t address the abuse, required the boys to sign oaths of secrecy. Smyth was a notorious abuser, whose abuse was documented in 100 cases, was sent to prison and died there–convicted 18 years after the initial testimony by the two boys. This was all 35 years ago–a long time, true, but Smyth was on the loose for 18 more years.

The pope did not know all of this when the story broke, of course. But the Irish are furious about all of this, after enduring decades of abuse, knowing about the abuse, and recent *denial *of abuse by hostile lawyers acting for the church during the Ryan Commission investigation–this is on the YouTube clip-- and defense of the abusers by the likes of Donahue.

I feel that if the Cardinal and bishops don’t resign, that if and when the pope visits the UK, there will be large and hostile demonstrations dogging his visit. Apparently there is unimpeded travel between Ireland and the UK. I don’t know if he’s visiting the Republic of Ireland or not.
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Thanks for the explanation. Cardinal Brady has to resign.
 
anode said:
Apparently there is unimpeded travel between Ireland and the UK. I don’t know if he’s visiting the Republic of Ireland or not.
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Don’t know if the Pope will make it to here in the north, the orange order are planning a protest, not in defense of poor innocent children.

They’re protesting the Pope and Rome in general, as they have been doing for hundreds of years.

Deja vu !
 
Hi,

There was also a protest at St Pat’s in NY.

and a poll on msnbc has almost 80% of over 11,000 votes calling for the pope to step down.

It is not only Church enemies, many good and faithful Catholics are reeling from these events.

Please acknowledge this, and know that we must all pray very hard, not bury our heads in the sand and hope it all goes away.

Lux
 
‘‘Petty Gossip’’ seems an extrodinary way for a man of such intelligence to describe the current crisis and criticisms.

Does anyone have an original translation of what he said?? I feel pretty sure it wasn’t ‘petty gossip’’.
 
lemonbeam said:
You know how the Telegraph translated it as Pope said he will ‘not be in intimidated by petty gossip over sex abuse.’ Well, on this article the Pope is said to have said ‘faith would give him the courage not to be intimidated by critics.’

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100328/ts_nm/us_pope_abuse

It seems to me the Telegraph is doing their own twisting.
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Hi,

Further down in this link
The pontiff said faith in God helps lead one “toward the courage of not allowing oneself to be intimidated by the petty gossip of dominant opinion.”
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It does seem that he used the term “petty gossip”, which is very disheartening to me. Is the outcry of a whole community over the abuse of more than 200 children “petty gossip”?

As I said, I am a daily communicant, and very Catholic, if you know what I mean, but we must acknowledge that this is a serious situation which must be addressed, and not minimized.

Lux

link from zenit
 
Referring to the problems as “petty gossip” demonstrates that he still doesn’t get it. He has been involved in these issues for more than 20 years. To him, they seem to be a PR problem. The policy of secrecy, suppression and intimidation has not changed. As part of the problem, he can’t be impartial. He should step down.
😦
 
lemonbeam said:
I said Hopefully we’ve heard the last of it.
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It’s not about hearing the last of it; it’s about ending this culture of men protecting child rapists and molesters. If they don’t change, these waves of horror stories will not end.
 
😦 Sadly the worldwind of vengeance is ruling the day. Jesus taught forgiveness. Society has to give up on retribution and commence understanding the problem so it can be prevented and cured. During the last several decades, punishment has been the order of the day and these problems have only increased. It is time to step back and work on preventing child abuse in the first place instead of expending all energy on revenge.
 
However, I really hope that the Pope has, in fact, not perpetrate such an act. I first about this at school last Friday(amnd thought that it was just silly gossip) and again on the Catholic channel yesterday. To me, His Holiness does not seem like the “type.” Nonetheless, if it turns out to be true, does anyone else see a possible abdication?
 
markomalley said:
From the Telegraph:

In a clear indication that the Vatican continues to insist the continual abuse revelations are part of a conspiracy the Pope said: “From God comes the courage not to be intimidated by petty gossip.”
Although he did not directly mention the crisis that has seen claims of abuse from Ireland, Germany, Austria, Holland and Brazil the 82 year old Pontiff’s message was evidently clear.
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Good for the Pope!

I knew I liked that guy. 👍
 
Paul1961 said:
Referring to the problems as “petty gossip” demonstrates that he still doesn’t get it. He has been involved in these issues for more than 20 years. To him, they seem to be a PR problem. The policy of secrecy, suppression and intimidation has not changed. As part of the problem, he can’t be impartial. He should step down.
😦
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Why should the Pope step down if he’s done nothing wrong!?
 
truth14 said:
Why should the Pope step down if he’s done nothing wrong!?
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He shouldn’t.
And even if he DID do something wrong, what OTHER world leader would step down just because of a few mistakes he made in the past? If that were the bar we set, then we would have no leaders.
 
What is this instruction then Cardinal Ratzinger edited in 2001?* “De Delictis Gravioribus*.” When it comes to cases of priests abusing children they are "subject to the pontifical secret?”
 
As for the contemporary problem of homopedophilic priests, if I had to choose between the Church having that problem and that of priests having illegitimate children(which, of course, used to be rather common during the Middle Ages and Renaissance), I would probably rather have the latter.
 
“He pursued the woman” but had no hold on her: the new Eve, “full of grace” of the Holy spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death ( the Imaculate conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin ). “Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring” (Rev 12:10;Rev 12:13-16; Rev 12:17/ copied from the Catechism).

The mysteries of our faith are no longer abstractions; they are unfolding in our midst. No amount of consternation and angst can alter this truth.

We are instructed as a Church to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” since his coming will deliver us from the Evil one.

It is Holy Week, the week that changed the world. We should remember what St. Ambrose told us: “If God is for us, who is against us?”
 
Lux_et_Tenebrae said:
Hi,

Further down in this link

It does seem that he used the term “petty gossip”, which is very disheartening to me. Is the outcry of a whole community over the abuse of more than 200 children “petty gossip”?

As I said, I am a daily communicant, and very Catholic, if you know what I mean, but we must acknowledge that this is a serious situation which must be addressed, and not minimized.

Lux

link from zenit
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Don’t be disheartened, just read it in context. 🙂

The Pope was not addressing the abuse or any of the recent hysteria directly in this address. It was his Palm Sunday homily which was probably prepared weeks ago. You and the press will read denial and malintent into everything he says. What do you expect? That he strike the words “petty gossip” from his vocabulary regardless of what his topic is? :mad:
 
Catholic1954 said:
Good for him! Our beloved B16 deserted the Nazi Army, a few oportunistic critics are not going to intimidate him. :dts:
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B16, for all my criticisms of him, was never a NAZI! The fact that he was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a CHILD (something that was mandatory) does not make him a supporter of Hitler. In Iraq, I was forced to go to school assemblies where we would praise Saddam and pledge allegiance to him, this does not make me a Baathist.
 
Young_Thinker said:
As for the contemporary problem of homopedophilic priests, if I had to choose between the Church having that problem and that of priests having illegitimate children(which, of course, used to be rather common during the Middle Ages and Renaissance), I would probably rather have the latter.
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For priests who actually are erotically abusing children, “defrocking”(not just giving a “slap on the wrist” and transferring them) should be the least of their problems. What they really deserve is execution(remember that r-a-p-e used to be a capital offense in the West). If I were Pontiff, I think that I would be much more aggressive in dealing with this issue.
 
Paul1961 said:
Referring to the problems as “petty gossip” demonstrates that he still doesn’t get it. He has been involved in these issues for more than 20 years. To him, they seem to be a PR problem.
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What I find troubling is that even in terms of a PR problem, the Holy Father has learned little from past fumbles. It’s fine to gird himself internally against all the attacks, whether warranted or unwarranted. It’s not, however, the moment to make a public statement of defiance against such attacks.
 
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