breitbart.com — A British documentary claimed that Pope Benedict XVI was implicated in the systematic cover-up of child sex abuse allegations against Catholic priests. Before becoming head of the church, the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger enforced church doctrinal orthodoxy, including a "secret Vatican decree which seemed to shelter the perpetrators and silence
Oct 1, 2006 View in Crawl 4
sswolfensteinssOct 2, 2006
the pope and catholic church of Rome are a joke.....just keep sending that money ......Dummy....
captainkrontosOct 2, 2006
Religion is such a sham.
jamesshiellOct 2, 2006
So you're saying that, due to the lack of acceptance of free speech in much of the Islamic world, we should tread carefully and do our best not to expose anything that might embarrass or question the major religions?Seems just a little dodgy...
truaxOct 2, 2006
wow..being catholic..i'm really freakin tired of all these priests that abuse children. it really isn't helping their cause or reputation at all. wtf is up with the world today?
pinkerOct 2, 2006
Haven't seen the documentary yet (and it it's like other so-called documentaries backed by the BBC, I doubt I will), but that's beside the point...If these allegations had been made about Islam, I wonder how much of the BBC would be left by now...Having watched documentaries from around the world ,The BBC's are among the best if not the best in the world Trying watching The Power of Nightmares
halllmarkOct 2, 2006
Well, it's about time we found out where the coverup leads and other details.Many suspected this went all the way to the top. I used to tell people there was no proof, only logical conclusions. Now we know.The BBC is excellent for content and presentation, as always.
isidoreOct 3, 2006
Nowadays in the UK each parish and diocese has a Child Protection Officer, who is a layperson, often with a social work, medical or legal background to whom complaints can be made. They are instructed to act independantly and to alert the civil authorities immediately if any crime is alleged.Child abuse is a terrible sin, and priests who do this sin against the Church as well as the children.One of the 2 'secret' documents dates from 1962 and refers to procedures for investigating alleged manipulation by priests in the confessional not specifically child abuse. All corporations and institutions have confidentiality procedures for investigating complaints. Most families and institutions do not wash their dirty laundry in public. Until about 20yrs ago in the West paedophilia was not generally recognised by the general public as a problem. Most state run institutions had the same sort of denial problems with abusers. The ability of some paedophiles to manipulate children and adults and abuse processes is now well known whether it is church procedures or constitutional safeguards.It is all well and good to say the civil authorities should be informed at the earliest opportunity. This will work in the US, UK and most democracies. But what if you live in a country where the church was/is persecuted eg Soviet Union, China, North Korea, most muslim countries or countries with a tradition of bribing the police? Who would investigate things better? Would you trust those police?In the interest of protecting children we should realise that most sexual abuse happens within families. Most paedophiles are married. Celibacy does not cause paedophilia. Have any of you (single) men ever felt extreme sexual frustration? What did you do? (a) Go solo, (b) hire a prostitute or (c) spend months grooming a child for sex.
thekilldoctorOct 3, 2006
It's not just today but yesterday and the day before and before that... The catholic church has been covering up the "molestation of children" for a VERY long time. People I went to grade school with were molested by a priest, it took 15 years before they convicted the sick f@ck. That was 25 years ago, and just a few years ago another priest in a local parish was shipped off to California after getting busted fondling little boys.Let these priest marry and it wouldn't cure the problem but it sure would drive away all the priests who join the catholic church so they can have easy access to children!okay... rant mode off... and you wouldn't believe how many curse words I deleted before hitting submit.
thekilldoctorOct 3, 2006
@Isidore These priests JOINED the catholic church to have easy access to children. They are evil hypocritical low life pond scum. There is no other profession where a male has more control over children than a priest/minister. If they were allowed to actually marry then it would not attract so many pedo's.I suggest you stop being so apologetic and realize this has probably been going on for hundreds of years and not just since the 60's.