The Catholic Church's Continuing Scandals

[LFC]

We'll start this thread with a bit of progress complements of Pope Frank. I notice the conservative Catholic papal heroes Benedict and John Paul didn't take anything close to this action and yet Francis is deemed the threat to the church. I guess if he's pushing for greater punishment and accountability of child rapists in their ranks he may very well be a threat to the church.

Pope Francis signed into the Code of Canon Law a long-awaited clause that deals directly with clerical sex abuse without actually mentioning it by name. The new revision, the pontiff said, is for the “restoration of justice, the reform of the offender, and the repair of scandal” and deals specifically with the 6th Commandment, which prohibits adultery. Under the new regulations, a priest will be defrocked and face other penalties if he commits sexual offenses with a minor. The revision also prohibits priests from “grooming” minors or to “expose himself or herself pornographically or to take part in pornographic exhibitions.” Survivors of clerical sex abuse and their families have long pushed for revisions to Canon Law, under which the Holy See operates.

Not a peep from Dreher who I think would rather gargle with glass than give Francis credit for anything. Meanwhile he's still in love with Pope Predator Protector Benedict. For that matter JP was a predator protector as well.

[goldenvalley]

Jun 1, 2021 17:36:50 GMT LFC said:

We'll start this thread with a bit of progress complements of Pope Frank. I notice the conservative Catholic papal heroes Benedict and John Paul didn't take anything close to this action and yet Francis is deemed the threat to the church. I guess if he's pushing for greater punishment and accountability of child rapists in their ranks he may very well be a threat to the church.

Pope Francis signed into the Code of Canon Law a long-awaited clause that deals directly with clerical sex abuse without actually mentioning it by name. The new revision, the pontiff said, is for the “restoration of justice, the reform of the offender, and the repair of scandal” and deals specifically with the 6th Commandment, which prohibits adultery. Under the new regulations, a priest will be defrocked and face other penalties if he commits sexual offenses with a minor. The revision also prohibits priests from “grooming” minors or to “expose himself or herself pornographically or to take part in pornographic exhibitions.” Survivors of clerical sex abuse and their families have long pushed for revisions to Canon Law, under which the Holy See operates.

Not a peep from Dreher who I think would rather gargle with glass than give Francis credit for anything. Meanwhile he's still in love with Pope Predator Protector Benedict. For that matter JP was a predator protector as well.

So they'll still just move the offender to a different parish a bunch of times before they finally pull the trigger.  

[LFC]

Another one caught with his pants down though at least this time it was with adults and in no way illegal.

A Catholic newsletter reported Tuesday that it obtained cellphone data allegedly showing a top American Catholic priest used Grindr and frequented gay bars, and he has resigned from a national post amid the release of the report.

The Pillar said it reviewed material gleaned from the mobile device of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the newsletter concluded it showed he used the gay dating app and went to gay bars between 2018 and 2020.

The Pillar said it obtained data from a vendor and claimed it matched the numerical identifier of Burrill's mobile device, which the newsletter alleges had been consistently used from his office and home.

While app signal data does not identify user names, it does correlate to unique numerical identifiers of a mobile device, then that data is aggregated and sold, according to The Pillar.

Representatives for Grindr did not return several telephone and email messages seeking the company's comment on Wednesday. In a statement to The Washington Post on Tuesday, a Grindr spokeswoman described the report in The Pillar as "homophobic" and disputed the newsletter's description of how it obtained the data.

“The alleged activities listed in that unattributed blog post are infeasible from a technical standpoint and incredibly unlikely to occur,” the statement said. “There is absolutely no evidence supporting the allegations of improper data collection or usage related to the Grindr app as purported.”

Ashkan Soltani, former chief technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, said he hopes Burrill's case — even though there is no evidence his data was obtained from Grindr — will help consumers understand how their private data is so easily accessible in this vast tech "ecosystem" that has virtually no regulation.

"It's a shadow industry that's existed for quite some time," Soltani told NBC News on Wednesday. "It's a multibillion-dollar industry that feeds off this data and profits from the sale of it."

BTW the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is the organization that wanted to bar Biden from taking communion.

[andydp]

I posted that article on my FB page.  NO ONE has responded, reacted or shared it.

The "rule" may have been superseded, but "Celibacy" is for all sexual orientations.  (Early priests in the Church were married.)

I guess being a member of an organization that "liked" a three time adulterer, major ignoramus on faith, and who would not recognize a Bible if he fell on it makes it OK.  

[andydp]

Jul 24, 2021 19:00:23 GMT andydp said:

In case you missed this: The Vatican's statement on "weaponizing" Communion for "pro choice" politicians:

Vatican cautions bishops on denying Communion to politicians who back abortion

The cleric argued it is 'misleading' to suggest abortion and euthanasia are 'the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest level of accountability on the part of Catholics.'

religionnews.com/2021/05/10/vatican-cautions-bishops-over-plans-to-debate-denying-communion-to-politicians-who-back-abortion/

Personal note:  Plenty of Catholics would have taken issue with this stand if only to point out the US Conference had no problems supporting a three time adutereous liar who wouldn't know a Bible if he fell on it.

Bonus points for giving us more "Exploding Catholic heads"

Speaking of "Exploding Catholic Heads":

I'm wondering what the "Conference" has to say about Mexico making abortion legal. I've only heard "crickets" from the Conference.

[LFC]

Thoughts and prayers you disgraceful, unholy piece of crap.

American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who staunch conservatives in the Catholic Church view as something of an anti-Pope Francis, is fighting for his life on a ventilator in a Wisconsin hospital after contracting what he often referred to as the “Wuhan Virus.” The prelate was on a vacation from Rome, where he lives.

The 73-year-old cardinal has shown himself to be a COVID-19 denier, publicly scoffing at Italy’s strict lockdown measures during the height of the pandemic and was even seen strolling around Rome mask-free even when face coverings were mandated outside. He was the subject of a brief Italian news report that showcased Americans defying Italy’s anti-COVID measures, telling the newspaper that closing Catholic churches and social outdistancing was “un-Godly.”

Burke has been one of Pope Francis’ harshest critics, teaming up with Stever Bannon and conservative Italian politician Matteo Salvini to condemn Francis on issues such as immigration and homosexuality. He was also tapped to be the spiritual director of a failed venture by Bannon to develop an alt-right academy in an ancient monastery in the foothills of Rome, which has been curtailed by the Italian government.

Pope Benedict XVI, himself a conservative, tapped Burke to be a cardinal in 2010, but Francis almost immediately demoted him from his high-ranking Vatican position as head of the justice department in 2014. He has since rallied conservatives to question the legitimacy of Francis’ papacy through the publication of dubia, or doubts, about what the pope has preached.

Burke also famously refused to grant Holy Communion to former Secretary of State John Kerry over his stance on abortion rights and actively campaigned against the election of Catholic Joe Biden, warning voters that he is “not a Catholic in good standing.” In a statement on his website ahead of the 2020 election, Burke wrote that voters should stick with Donald Trump because “a Catholic may not support abortion in any shape or form because it is one of the most grievous sins against human life and intrinsically evil, and therefore to in any way support the act is a mortal sin.”

Last May, while speaking at a virtual Rome Life Forum symposium for conservative Catholics, Burke warned that it was “never morally justified to develop a vaccine through the use of cell lines of aborted fetuses,” adding that “the thought of the introduction of such a vaccine into one’s body is rightly abhorrent.” Vaccine mandates have been harshly criticized by American Catholics who have warned parishioners against them.

He also used that platform to push the conspiracy theory that the vaccines provide a potential vector for “a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the State regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine.”

Aside from all the other obvious issues with this dangerous and insane man it's safe to say that anybody who pal'ed up with Steve Bannon has immediately forfeited any and all moral authority.

[goldenvalley]

Aug 16, 2021 20:05:41 GMT LFC said:

Thoughts and prayers you disgraceful, unholy piece of crap.

American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who staunch conservatives in the Catholic Church view as something of an anti-Pope Francis, is fighting for his life on a ventilator in a Wisconsin hospital after contracting what he often referred to as the “Wuhan Virus.” The prelate was on a vacation from Rome, where he lives.

The 73-year-old cardinal has shown himself to be a COVID-19 denier, publicly scoffing at Italy’s strict lockdown measures during the height of the pandemic and was even seen strolling around Rome mask-free even when face coverings were mandated outside. He was the subject of a brief Italian news report that showcased Americans defying Italy’s anti-COVID measures, telling the newspaper that closing Catholic churches and social outdistancing was “un-Godly.”

Burke has been one of Pope Francis’ harshest critics, teaming up with Stever Bannon and conservative Italian politician Matteo Salvini to condemn Francis on issues such as immigration and homosexuality. He was also tapped to be the spiritual director of a failed venture by Bannon to develop an alt-right academy in an ancient monastery in the foothills of Rome, which has been curtailed by the Italian government.

Pope Benedict XVI, himself a conservative, tapped Burke to be a cardinal in 2010, but Francis almost immediately demoted him from his high-ranking Vatican position as head of the justice department in 2014. He has since rallied conservatives to question the legitimacy of Francis’ papacy through the publication of dubia, or doubts, about what the pope has preached.

Burke also famously refused to grant Holy Communion to former Secretary of State John Kerry over his stance on abortion rights and actively campaigned against the election of Catholic Joe Biden, warning voters that he is “not a Catholic in good standing.” In a statement on his website ahead of the 2020 election, Burke wrote that voters should stick with Donald Trump because “a Catholic may not support abortion in any shape or form because it is one of the most grievous sins against human life and intrinsically evil, and therefore to in any way support the act is a mortal sin.”

Last May, while speaking at a virtual Rome Life Forum symposium for conservative Catholics, Burke warned that it was “never morally justified to develop a vaccine through the use of cell lines of aborted fetuses,” adding that “the thought of the introduction of such a vaccine into one’s body is rightly abhorrent.” Vaccine mandates have been harshly criticized by American Catholics who have warned parishioners against them.

He also used that platform to push the conspiracy theory that the vaccines provide a potential vector for “a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the State regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine.”

Aside from all the other obvious issues with this dangerous and insane man it's safe to say that anybody who pal'ed up with Steve Bannon has immediately forfeited any and all moral authority.

He should have dropped the Catholicism.  He'd fit right in with American megachurch pastors and could participate in the laying of hands on Trump back in the day.

[pnwguy]

Aug 16, 2021 21:02:55 GMT goldenvalley said:

He'd fit right in with American megachurch pastors and could participate in the laying of hands on Trump back in the day.

If only he acted like a Roman of history, and the laying of hands on Donald Caesar involved knives.

[Rue Bella]

Is it wrong to pray for someone's death?

[andydp]

Aug 16, 2021 23:11:24 GMT Rue Bella said:

Is it wrong to pray for someone's death?

They prayed Psalm 109 for Pres Obama so what’s good for the goose…

[indy]

Aug 16, 2021 23:11:24 GMT Rue Bella said:

Is it wrong to pray for someone's death?

Sadly, it doesn't work but dancing on their grave is quite satisfying.

[Rue Bella]

schadenfreude - aka the COVID Polka

[andydp]

Aug 17, 2021 14:40:41 GMT Rue Bella said:

schadenfrug* - aka the COVID Polka

Fixed it for you.

* The "Frug" was a short lived dance from the 60's. See also "Hully Gully", "Watusi", "Limbo" ad nauseam.

[andydp]

Jul 24, 2021 19:03:04 GMT andydp said:

Jul 24, 2021 19:00:23 GMT andydp said:

In case you missed this: The Vatican's statement on "weaponizing" Communion for "pro choice" politicians:

Vatican cautions bishops on denying Communion to politicians who back abortion

The cleric argued it is 'misleading' to suggest abortion and euthanasia are 'the only grave matters of Catholic moral and social teaching that demand the fullest level of accountability on the part of Catholics.'

religionnews.com/2021/05/10/vatican-cautions-bishops-over-plans-to-debate-denying-communion-to-politicians-who-back-abortion/

Personal note:  Plenty of Catholics would have taken issue with this stand if only to point out the US Conference had no problems supporting a three time adutereous liar who wouldn't know a Bible if he fell on it.

Bonus points for giving us more "Exploding Catholic heads"

Speaking of "Exploding Catholic Heads":

I'm wondering what the "Conference" has to say about Mexico making abortion legal. I've only heard "crickets" from the Conference.

[LFC]

What in the actual hell?

When Spanish bishop Xavier Novell resigned last month, the Roman Catholic Church cited strictly personal reasons without going into detail.

It has now emerged in Spanish media that he fell in love with a woman who writes Satanic-tinged erotic fiction.

In 2010 at the age of 41, he became Spain's youngest bishop, in Solsona in the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

He has backed so-called conversion therapy for gay people and carried out exorcisms.

Seen as a rising star in Spain's Catholic Church, his decision to resign with the Vatican's approval came as a surprise last month. He is said to have met several times with Vatican officials as well as the Pope himself.

Xavier Novell was traditional in his remarks on abortion but his strident views on homosexuality and outspoken support for Catalonian independence were controversial.

It came as a shock when Religión Digital reported that he had fallen for divorcee Silvia Caballol, a psychologist and erotic novelist. The news site said that the former bishop was now looking for a job in the Barcelona area as an agronomist.

Caballol's books include titles such as The Hell of Gabriel's Lust and the trilogy Amnesia. In the blurb for one of her works, the reader is promised a journey into sadism, madness and lust and a struggle between good and evil, God and Satan with a plot to shake one's values and religious beliefs.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 9, 2021 18:48:09 GMT LFC said:

What in the actual hell?

When Spanish bishop Xavier Novell resigned last month, the Roman Catholic Church cited strictly personal reasons without going into detail.

It has now emerged in Spanish media that he fell in love with a woman who writes Satanic-tinged erotic fiction.

In 2010 at the age of 41, he became Spain's youngest bishop, in Solsona in the north-eastern region of Catalonia.

He has backed so-called conversion therapy for gay people and carried out exorcisms.

Seen as a rising star in Spain's Catholic Church, his decision to resign with the Vatican's approval came as a surprise last month. He is said to have met several times with Vatican officials as well as the Pope himself.

Xavier Novell was traditional in his remarks on abortion but his strident views on homosexuality and outspoken support for Catalonian independence were controversial.

It came as a shock when Religión Digital reported that he had fallen for divorcee Silvia Caballol, a psychologist and erotic novelist. The news site said that the former bishop was now looking for a job in the Barcelona area as an agronomist.

Caballol's books include titles such as The Hell of Gabriel's Lust and the trilogy Amnesia. In the blurb for one of her works, the reader is promised a journey into sadism, madness and lust and a struggle between good and evil, God and Satan with a plot to shake one's values and religious beliefs.

 I guess when a person is given to living in extremes (a celibate life, exorcism, and very anti-gay) than why not have an affair with a woman who seems to be the opposite of the ideal Catholic woman. It's actually consistent for him.

[Rue Bella]

The Bishop of Bling needs to up his game.

[LFC]

Nuns have been pedophiles too. They were, of course, protected.

“Marie” was placed in a French Catholic boarding school for “young girls from good families” when she was in the fifth grade. She remembers a nun who would come to her class every day to choose a student to help her with Mass. But the nun wasn’t looking for someone to help her. She was looking for a victim.

“I was 11 and looked 9. She would choose me once every two or three times,” she recalls. “She would take me to her office, lock the door, and then draw the curtains. After which she would put me on her knees to make me read the gospel according to Saint Paul or another saint, while she squeezed me with one hand to her chest and pulled down my panties with the other hand. We were of course in pleated skirts and not in pants. It terrified me and paralyzed.”

“Marie” couldn’t talk to her devout Catholic parents about the abuse until a friend convinced her to do so. The result, she says, was catastrophic. “You are really a pervert, a vicious liar. How dare you say such things?” her parents told her. In fact, her parents had told the nuns that she was being sent to boarding school because she needed to be tamed. “I was truly a gift for this nun... because she knew full well that she did not risk anything.”

The abuse lasted the whole year. At the age of 35, “Marie” told her mother again about the abuse. “My mother blissfully told me that it was impossible for a nun to whom she entrusted her daughter to abuse a girl,” she says. “Female pedophilia exists and unfortunately the media never talk about it.”

“Marie” was certainly not alone. Dozens of other victims of priests, nuns, and Catholic school personnel in France form the basis of a 2,500-page report released Tuesday by a special commission led by Jean-Marc Sauvé. While 80 percent of the victims were young boys between the ages of 10 and 13, many young girls were abused as well, and not only by priests. Nuns used crucifixes to rape little girls or forced boys to have sex with them, too.

I wonder if Dreher is going to write about this since he bashed Pope Francis over his handling of rapists over and over while heaping praise on his known pedophile protector predecessor. He just can't openly admit that his beloved Pope Benedict was weak because he likes the things he wrote. It's sad.

[LFC]

At least this scandal just involves money and fornication with an adult rather than rape and pedophilia sooooo ... step up?

A rare trial that puts a cardinal, his “lady,” and several con men in the dock inside the hallowed halls of the Holy See will start in earnest on Tuesday amid concerns that Pope Francis has made sure all 10 defendants will be convicted.

It should be noted that the Vatican does not pretend to be a democracy. The pope is for all intents and purposes an authoritarian leader who can hire and fire anyone in his government at will. That he also makes the laws without committee, changes rules without consensus, and delivers decrees with impunity usually works without major issues. But the defense teams in this high profile case argue that they are now caught in the gray area between who the pope likes and who he doesn’t.

The trial involves a €350 million property purchase in London with funds meant for the poor said to be swindled from the papal charity fund by trusted bankers. According to a 487-page indictment handed down in June, charity money meant to free a captive nun in Colombia also allegedly went instead to kit out a female consultant with designer bags and fancy shoes.

The only woman on trial, Cecilia Marogna, was a “security consultant” rumored to be a close acquaintance of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a 73-year-old papal nemesis Pope Francis fired last September. “It’s all surreal. Up until yesterday... I felt I was a friend of the Pope, the faithful executor of the Pope,” Becciu, who is the highest-ranking prelate to ever face such charges, said in an interview after he was canned. “Then the Pope told me that he no longer had faith in me because he got a report from magistrates that I committed an act of misappropriation.”

All 10 defendants face charges ranging from embezzlement and money laundering to abuse of power and extortion. In addition, more than 40 companies are also named as potentially complicit, especially on the charges of money laundering. Becciu is charged for his role in the disastrous London deal, which cost the Vatican losses of more than $415 million, in addition to allegedly funneling funds to his brother’s charity and Morgona’s company in Slovenia to the tune of more than $1,000,000. They all deny culpability and have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

But defense lawyers have argued—in a slew of motions hastily filed last week—that the fact that the Holy See is not a signatory to any international convention that guarantees fair trials means there is no way any of those facing charges will get one.

I guess when you're staring down criminal charges of this magnitude your belief in the infallibility of the Pope gets tossed overboard really fast.

[LFC]

Another dirtbag priest who wasn't content with molesting young boys so he stole from an elderly widow.

A New York priest who was ousted from his ministry over accusations of child sexual abuse will take over control of a $2 million estate belonging to a 93-year-old widow, The Buffalo News reports.

Before her death, Ruth Peters made Rev. David W. Bialkowski the executor of her estate. She also left him $125,000 after her death in 2019. But according to attorneys who are disputing her will, Peters was not of sound mind and Bialkowski took advantage of her.

“Just as he apparently ‘groomed’ young boys, he has become the sole beneficiary under the will of a wealthy elderly widow,” attorney Sean A. Fitzgerald, a court-appointed guardian representing relatives of Peters, said in court records. “The methods of grooming (a) boy or teenager are the same as the methods of exercising undue influence over a person.”

Attorneys for Bialkowski say the will signed by Peters is “completely legitimate” and he has already agreed to distribute most of her estate to various charities.

“This case has nothing to do with children,” attorney Robert M. Ciesielski told The Buffalo News. “It has to do with this woman’s will and following her wishes.”

“Ruth had no children, no brothers or sisters, no really close relatives. When her husband died, the priest was kind and helpful to her,” Ciesielski said.

But two former employees of Bialkowski's ministry say he is not to be trusted.

“These old ladies used to adore Bialkowski,” said Andrew Kowtalo, who served as organist at the parish for 10 years. “He’s very good at playing to people’s needs and gaining people’s trust.”

“Here comes Father David, playing on his good senses, because he knew these women were lonely and he used that to get what he wanted,” said Kowtalo, who said he was fired by Bialkowski for bringing up his alleged misconduct.

[LFC]

It's been long known that Cardinal RAT-zinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict) had some shady dealings in handling child rape when he was a bishop. More is coming out now.

The last thing most people will now remember about Pope Benedict XVI is not likely his legacy as head of the Roman Catholic Church or his historic resignation in 2013.

Thanks to an investigation conducted by the German law firm Westpfahl Spilker Wastl, it is likely going to be that before he became pontiff, Joseph Ratzinger knowingly allowed rampant clerical sex abuse to continue when he was head of the Munich diocese. “During [Ratzinger’s] time in office there were abuse cases happening,” Martin Pusch, who headed the investigation ordered by the German church, told reporters. “In those cases, those priests continued their work without sanctions. The church did not do anything.”

That global systemic sex abuse at the hands of priests went on unchecked for decades is well known by now. The German church had found that more than 3,600 victims had been raped and sexually abused by priests between 1946 and 2014, which led to the report.

What makes this case so important is that Ratzinger, before he became pope, also led the Holy See Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Catholic Church’s watchdog on policy. He was appointed to that position after his work in German church, which is now clearly under question. Many victims of sexual abuse have long thought he did not do enough when he was head of the church’s doctrine office, which could have stopped the abuse from happening from the top, rather than ignoring reports.

In the case of the German church, Pusch said they can tie then-Ratzinger to a number of specific cases. “We believe that he can be accused of misconduct in four cases,” he said. “Two of these cases concern abuses committed during his tenure and sanctioned by the state. In both cases, the perpetrators remained active in pastoral care.”

Benedict, who was the first pope to retire in more than four centuries, said he did not remember the specific cases. “As far as you mentioning the moral abuse of minors by priests, I can only, as you know, acknowledge it with profound consternation,” he wrote at the time of his resignation. “But I never tried to cover up these things.”

I wonder if Rod Dreher is going to cover this story. He loves bashing non-zealot Pope Frank while speaking glowingly of this patron saint of child rapists. Of course so was Pope John-Paul who ran cover for Father Marcial Maciel, one of the sickest, most twisted creatures to have existed in the church in the past century. On a side note it turns out Rat-zinger protected him as well.

How is Maciel tied to Pope Benedict XVI?

A formal request for investigation submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1998 was denied by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who went on to become Pope Benedict XVI.

A book published by three religious scholars last year alleges “that in 2001 Cardinal Ratzinger and his chief canon lawyer, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, modified the statute of limitations in church law regarding sex with minors ‘retroactively in favor of the Legionary founder, and injuring the human rights and legitimate interests of us, his victims.’”

Ratzinger reopened the case in 2004, ordered an investigation of Maciel and was elected pope in 2005. In 2006 the Vatican dismissed Maciel from ministry to “a life of prayer and penitence.” He died in Jacksonville, Florida in 2008 without facing criminal charges. A year later the Legion disclosed that he had a daughter by a paramour from Mexico. Several months later two men came forward claiming to be Maciel’s sons by another woman. The Legion did not dispute their claims.

[goldenvalley]

Jan 21, 2022 16:16:17 GMT LFC said:

It's been long known that Cardinal RAT-zinger (a.k.a. Pope Benedict) had some shady dealings in handling child rape when he was a bishop. More is coming out now.

I wonder if Rod Dreher is going to cover this story. He loves bashing non-zealot Pope Frank while speaking glowingly of this patron saint of child rapists. Of course so was Pope John-Paul who ran cover for Father Marcial Maciel, one of the sickest, most twisted creatures to have existed in the church in the past century. On a side note it turns out Rat-zinger protected him as well.

As I recall Dreher left the Catholic Church over child molestation. He'll ignore this story of his favorite pope being involved in the cover up.  As Don Draper said to Peggy in Mad Men "This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened."

[LFC]

Jan 21, 2022 18:32:53 GMT goldenvalley said:

As I recall Dreher left the Catholic Church over child molestation. He'll ignore this story of his favorite pope being involved in the cover up.  As Don Draper said to Peggy in Mad Men "This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened."

He did and he has continued to lacerate those in the church he doesn't like for both this and for homosexuality, something that he has a wildly unnatural fear of. He's torn into Pope Francis for not doing enough, but I've never seen more than the lamest passing comment about Ratzinger because he loves Ratzy's doctrine and writings. It's a position that drips of hypocrisy and self-serving.

[LFC]

Rat-zinger pleaded ignorance. Now that he's busted every way to Sunday School he admits his involvement. His spokesperson claims that the complete reversal "was the result of an error in the editing of his statement." Oh puh-(S)LEAZE.

The retired Pope Benedict XVI has come forward with an unusual confession. Rather than sticking with a highly contested denial that he knew nothing about the scores of predatory priests who were moved around German parishes when he was in charge of the Munich diocese, he now says he did know about at least one of them.

In a statement issued over the weekend first to German media outlets and then to the Catholic News Agency, Benedict’s personal secretary Georg Gänswein sought to correct the record for the ailing ex-pontiff.

Gänswein admitted that Benedict did tell independent investigators hired by the German Catholic Church that he had no recollection of his proven attendance at a hearing about Father Peter Hullermann, a priest accused of abusing at least 23 boys aged 8 to 16. Gänswein says Benedict “would now like to make it clear that, contrary to what was stated during the hearing, he took part in the ordinariate meeting on Jan. 15, 1980.” Hullermann went on to allegedly abuse children until he was finally pulled from active priesthood in 2010.

“The statement to the contrary was therefore objectively incorrect,” Gänswein said in a statement about what the former pope told investigators. “He would like to emphasize that this was not done out of bad faith, but was the result of an error in the editing of his statement. He will explain how this came about in the pending statement. He is very sorry for this mistake and asks for this mistake to be excused.”

Last week, the German law firm commissioned to investigate the German church found that before he was elected pope, Joseph Ratzinger was directly involved in at least four cases of predatory priests who he approved to be reassigned in full knowledge of multiple abuse allegations against them. Benedict led the Munich diocese from 1977 to 1982, when he was promoted to the Holy See to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

But at the meeting in question, those in attendance who cooperated with the law firm’s investigation said Hullermann’s troubling situation was indeed discussed and that it was decided that since he admitted to sexually abusing a child, he would be given accommodation in Munich—under Ratzinger’s charge—while he received therapy. He was not at that time removed from active parish duty or kept from children. That would come later—when he was moved to a tourist parish in 2008 where he was described as “outgoing and friendly—especially with young people.”

[LFC]

Just shut up and go burn in hell, Ratzy.

Ex-pope Benedict XVI asked for forgiveness Tuesday for clerical child sex abuse committed on his watch, but aides rejected allegations of a cover-up while he was archbishop of Munich.

"I can only express to all the victims of sexual abuse my profound shame, my deep sorrow and my heartfelt request for forgiveness," the 94-year-old said in a letter released in response to a German inquiry last month that examined his handling of pedophile priests in the 1980s.

"I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church. All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in those different places during the time of my mandate."