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Pope Francis blesses plan to NOT report child rape



Under all the “bread and circuses” and smiling face of Pope Francis is his true nature: he doesn’t care if the child rapists in the church keep raping and never get punished.

The Italian Bishops' Conference, with the Pope’s blessing has once again embraced the policy that states they are not obliged to inform police officers if they suspect a child has been molested. If I, you, or anyone with humanity knew of a child rapist running loose we would report them to the police and they would be locked up. Are priests above the law? For the past 2,000 years they have been above the law or they were the law – isn’t it time to stop them?

David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said, “With the blessing of the Vatican, Italy's bishops have formally declared they have no duty to call police if they suspect that a child is being sodomized or raped. The stunning, depressing and irresponsible contradiction between what Vatican officials say about abuse and do about abuse continues. And the tragic consequences for kids continue too. This policy – which codifies the long-standing and heartless practice of most Catholic bishops on the plan – will mean that more innocent children will be sexually assaulted.”

The Italian Bishops' Conference said the policy reflected suggestions from the Vatican's office that handles sex abuse investigations. Any “suggestion” coming out of the Vatican has the Pope’s stamp of approval. So less than a week after Pope Francis appointed a new commission to help the Catholic Church put an end to clerical sexual abuse and a few weeks after the United Nation’s report blasted what it called the Vatican's code of silence" around abusive priests – the church is right back to its old criminal tricks.

After the UN report what did Pope Francis announce to the news media about his policy on clerical child rape? He said: "The Catholic Church is perhaps the only public institution to have acted with transparency and responsibility. No-one else has done more. Yet the Church is the only one to have been attacked." Is he in touch with reality – or is the reality that he approves of child abuse?

UN children's rights experts say that "tens of thousands of children worldwide" have been sexually abused by predatory clerics as a result of moving, rather than reporting, clergy child rapists and blasted what it called the Vatican's “code of silence" around abusive priests. How many more international organizations, child advocates, parents and survivors – how many crying children with destroyed lives have to tell the Pope and his minions who hide behind God to STOP HURTING THE CHILDREN!

So the next time you see Pope Francis smiling at the camera and saying what wonderful changes he is making in church policy -- know that he is lying when it comes to stopping the evil that touches millions of innocent children.

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Guest: Swift action needed from Pope Francis on child sex abuse

It’s time For Pope Francis to get serious about protecting vulnerable children from sexual abuse by priests, writes guest columnist Mary Dispenza.

A WEEK ago, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, defended the Vatican’s policy of not requiring clergy to report child sex abuse to the authorities. “The Vatican requires national laws to be respected, and we know that there is no such duty (to report abuse) under Italian law,” he told reporters.

It was a disappointment because Pope Francis had just appointed a commission to advise him on sex-abuse policy. Bagnasco’s comments sounded like business as usual.

The comments also ignore the scathing report issued by a United Nations human-rights committee in February, which rebuked the Vatican for its long-standing and systematic cover-up of sexual abuse of children around the world. The report made concrete suggestions for ways to protect children in the future.

I call on Pope Francis and his newly formed committee to respond to Bagnasco’s words by showing they take the U.N. report seriously. To do so, he must take action now to acknowledge the Vatican’s leadership role and initiate a worldwide process to end priest sexual abuse of children and to begin healing the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis can begin by conducting the sweeping investigation of all cases of abuse the U.N. committee on human rights has requested. He can require the mandatory reporting of abuse to police. He can encourage victims to come forward even if statutes of limitation have expired. He can compensate victims and hold accountable those who covered up clergy abuse.

For starters, Francis could defrock, demote or discipline Bishop Robert Finn of St. Louis, Mo., who was convicted of shielding an abusive priest. The pope should extradite Archbishop Józef Wesolowski of Poland, who is wanted by law enforcement for allegedly molesting five children. Action against both prelates would scare other bishops into obeying secular laws and helping, rather than hindering, the prosecution of predators.

Pope Francis should order all bishops to post on their websites — as 30 U.S. bishops have done — the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of proven, admitted and credibly accused child-molesting clerics.

Then, publicly praise and promote the first few who do so. Francis should mandate bishops across the world to begin lobbying for better secular child-safety laws, then publicly praise and promote the first few who do.

It will take proven, public and practical steps that actually protect those at risk, expose those who commit clergy sex crimes and punish those who conceal them. Pope Francis must make sure bishops who conceal child sex crimes are punished inside and outside the Catholic Church.

Pedophile priests cannot be deterred. Complicit bishops can. Only the pope can do this. He can do it quickly and simply, by defrocking or demoting them and making it crystal clear why he is taking such actions. Consistent discipline is the missing piece. And that’s why the cover-ups continue.

Prayers, policies, pledges, apologies and meetings with victims aren’t enough. They are public-relations tactics, all said and done before. They don’t safeguard a single child, expose a single predator or deter a single cover-up. Symbolic moves are actually hurtful because they support a sense of complacency and give people false hope that real reform will follow, when it hasn’t and isn’t.

If Pope Francis insists on using only words and gestures, he should publicly praise Jennifer Haselberger, the brave Minnesota whistle-blower whose disclosures have prompted pending police investigations and exposed numerous child-molesting clerics and corrupt church officials.

But words and gestures alone won’t work and Pope Francis must know it. He must find the courage to wield a stick. It’s time for him to get serious, protect vulnerable children and be the leader he is called to be.

Mary Dispenza is the Puget Sound representative for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She is also the author of “Split: A Child, a Priest and the Catholic Church.”

ITALY
The Local

The Catholic Church in Italy from Sunday will implement new guidelines against child sex abuse that have proved controversial because they impose a "moral duty" but no legal obligation to report allegations to the police.

The rules also oblige Catholic dioceses to exclude anyone with prior convictions involving children from working with minors, but make an exception for volunteers who are not subject to the same requirement.

In an official document published on Friday, the Italian Bishops' Conference said that this exception "does not exclude the possibility or opportunity of requiring a copy of criminal records also for them".

The guidelines state that collaborating with judicial authorities is "important" but at the discretion of bishops -- unlike in Germany or Ireland where Catholic bishops' conferences have imposed more binding rules.

Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Italy's top cleric, defended the decision earlier saying: "The Vatican requires national laws to be respected, and we know that there is no such duty (to report abuse) under Italian law".

But the guidelines have sparked fury among victim support groups, with the US-based Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) deploring the "stunning, depressing and irresponsible contradiction between what Vatican officials say about abuse, and do about abuse."

MARYLAND
dotCommonweal

Grant Gallicho April 4, 2014

Today the Archdiocese of Baltimore announced that it has suspended a high-school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with one of her students this year. Which is what a diocese does when it learns that one of its employees may have abused a minor. But what does a diocese do when it also learns that the staff member who first received the allegation waited weeks to report it? Turns out this one suspends that employee too--and names her (and the accused) in a public statement and a letter to parents.

A number of weeks ago, Annette Goodman, the school’s librarian, learned about the allegation. Maryland law and the policies of the Archdiocese and Archbishop Curley High School require that allegations of child abuse be reported to civil authorities and to the head of the school as soon as possible. Ms. Goodman reported the information to the school’s administration on April 1.

There's transparency and then there's transparency.

Maryland law requires mandatory reporters--which includes educators--to orally notify civil authorities of suspected abuse "immediately" (they have forty-eight hours to file a written report).

You may recall a somewhat similar case involving a diocesesan staff member who came to suspect one of his priests was in possession of child pornography. He was eventually found guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse. But he wasn't suspended, and he remains in the position he held when he broke the law: bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

D1B wrote:Liar Joe, outed again:

Seattle Times:

Guest: Swift action needed from Pope Francis on child sex abuse

It’s time For Pope Francis to get serious about protecting vulnerable children from sexual abuse by priests, writes guest columnist Mary Dispenza.

A WEEK ago, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, head of the Italian Episcopal Conference, defended the Vatican’s policy of not requiring clergy to report child sex abuse to the authorities. “The Vatican requires national laws to be respected, and we know that there is no such duty (to report abuse) under Italian law,” he told reporters.

It was a disappointment because Pope Francis had just appointed a commission to advise him on sex-abuse policy. Bagnasco’s comments sounded like business as usual.

The comments also ignore the scathing report issued by a United Nations human-rights committee in February, which rebuked the Vatican for its long-standing and systematic cover-up of sexual abuse of children around the world. The report made concrete suggestions for ways to protect children in the future.

I call on Pope Francis and his newly formed committee to respond to Bagnasco’s words by showing they take the U.N. report seriously. To do so, he must take action now to acknowledge the Vatican’s leadership role and initiate a worldwide process to end priest sexual abuse of children and to begin healing the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis can begin by conducting the sweeping investigation of all cases of abuse the U.N. committee on human rights has requested. He can require the mandatory reporting of abuse to police. He can encourage victims to come forward even if statutes of limitation have expired. He can compensate victims and hold accountable those who covered up clergy abuse.

For starters, Francis could defrock, demote or discipline Bishop Robert Finn of St. Louis, Mo., who was convicted of shielding an abusive priest. The pope should extradite Archbishop Józef Wesolowski of Poland, who is wanted by law enforcement for allegedly molesting five children. Action against both prelates would scare other bishops into obeying secular laws and helping, rather than hindering, the prosecution of predators.

Pope Francis should order all bishops to post on their websites — as 30 U.S. bishops have done — the names, photos, whereabouts and work histories of proven, admitted and credibly accused child-molesting clerics.

Then, publicly praise and promote the first few who do so. Francis should mandate bishops across the world to begin lobbying for better secular child-safety laws, then publicly praise and promote the first few who do.

It will take proven, public and practical steps that actually protect those at risk, expose those who commit clergy sex crimes and punish those who conceal them. Pope Francis must make sure bishops who conceal child sex crimes are punished inside and outside the Catholic Church.

Pedophile priests cannot be deterred. Complicit bishops can. Only the pope can do this. He can do it quickly and simply, by defrocking or demoting them and making it crystal clear why he is taking such actions. Consistent discipline is the missing piece. And that’s why the cover-ups continue.

Prayers, policies, pledges, apologies and meetings with victims aren’t enough. They are public-relations tactics, all said and done before. They don’t safeguard a single child, expose a single predator or deter a single cover-up. Symbolic moves are actually hurtful because they support a sense of complacency and give people false hope that real reform will follow, when it hasn’t and isn’t.

If Pope Francis insists on using only words and gestures, he should publicly praise Jennifer Haselberger, the brave Minnesota whistle-blower whose disclosures have prompted pending police investigations and exposed numerous child-molesting clerics and corrupt church officials.

But words and gestures alone won’t work and Pope Francis must know it. He must find the courage to wield a stick. It’s time for him to get serious, protect vulnerable children and be the leader he is called to be.

Mary Dispenza is the Puget Sound representative for SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. She is also the author of “Split: A Child, a Priest and the Catholic Church.”

Keep defending this, Joe.

93henfan wrote:I now have enough posts from D1B and Joltin Joe to complete the inputs for my AI sim of catholic bashing/defending debates.

By agreement from the two gentlemen named above, I have taken over administrative rights to their accounts temporarily and all future responses will be the output of my program until further notice.

Let's see how this works out...

JoltinJoe wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again. An effective response to the problem of sex abuse within the Church depends on an accurate understanding of what actually happened.

Not an "understanding" advanced by litigators who profit by distorting the problem, or by enemies of the Church which sensationalize and distort because they want to try to destroy the moral authority of the Church.

Your problem is that you fail to grasp who is telling you the truth and who is lying to you.

The Church's correct and proper assessment of what happened is the reason why there is virtually no risk of sex abuse in the today's Church. Despite the distortions advanced by lawyers and other liars, the Church properly isolated the relatively few dioceses which had significant and systemic problems years ago, assessed how those dioceses had failed, and implemented effective changes.

And yet its enemies still lie and try to focus the discussion on events 40 years ago -- when the Church's reaction to the problem was the same as society's at the time. The Church's enemies are motivated by money or political reasons.

In the past generation, society as a whole has done little to change and children at schools remain the prime target of predators today.

JoltinJoe wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again. An effective response to the problem of sex abuse within the Church depends on an accurate understanding of what actually happened.

No, it takes an objective understanding of what happened. The Catholic Church is the farthest thing from objective. Influenced by the imminent loss of billions (3 billion so far and counting) of dollars of precious revenue and church assets, million$ who leave the faith every year because they're embarrassed to be labeled 'catholic", and most important - the loss of the power that comes with being the erroneously self-described moral authority on earth - the Catholic Church have conducted the worst of responses to this issue.

Not an "understanding" advanced by litigators who profit by distorting the problem, or by enemies of the Church which sensationalize and distort because they want to try to destroy the moral authority of the Church.

If it wasn't for many of these litigators, no one would know the true scale of this scandal as the Church's response to what happens and what happened was and is to deny, deflect, blame, threaten victims, witnesses, pay off criminals, pay off victims, transfer criminals like Bernie Law to the Vatican where no one can touch em, hide behind national soveirgnty laws and statute of limitations laws. Much easier to find someone to blame rather than accept that your church is run essentially by criminals of greatest depravity.

Your problem is that you fail to grasp who is telling you the truth and who is lying to you.

You have yet to refute anything I've posted. You attack the messenger and employ just about every other logical fallacy in a vain attempt to cast doubt on the fact that you're a card carrying member of an organized crime syndicate that robs people blind with the false promise of salvation only through the church and rapes children on an industrial scale. You're the one in the cult. We understand you will never get it.

The Church's correct and proper assessment of what happened is the reason why there is virtually no risk of sex abuse in the today's Church. Despite the distortions advanced by lawyers and other liars, the Church properly isolated the relatively few dioceses which had significant and systemic problems years ago, assessed how those dioceses had failed, and implemented effective changes.

Classic Joltian lies. Scandals are erupting all over the world. You said this same lame shit years ago and the list of bankrupt and affected dioceses has increased 10 fold. Effective changes? Your shit hole cult was dragged in front of the United Nations and chastised for not doing enough to protect children.

The Washington Post BERLIN — A United Nations committee issued a scathing indictment Wednesday of the Vatican’s handling of child sexual abuse cases involving clerics, releasing a report that included criticism of church teachings on homosexuality, gender equality and abortion.

The report demanded that the Vatican immediately turn over to criminal investigators any known or suspected abusers and end its “code of silence” by enforcing rules ordering dioceses to report abuse to local authorities. It also called on the Vatican to open its archives on sexual allegations against clerics.

As long as the Catholic Church continues to not cooperate with law enforcement and refuse to turn in known pedophiles and report cases of rape, Church schools and churches are not safe places for children.

And yet its enemies still lie and try to focus the discussion on events 40 years ago -- when the Church's reaction to the problem was the same as society's at the time. The Church's enemies are motivated by money or political reasons.

Here we go again, tens of thousands of confirmed cases of child molestation perpetrated by catholic priests and covered up by the church and it's someone else's fault. The church even admits the vast majority of accusations are valid. Joe, you're the worst.

In the past generation, society as a whole has done little to change and children at schools remain the prime target of predators today.

At least in public schools, they're required by law and real concern for children to report cases of child sexual abuse

Grizalltheway wrote:

JoltinJoe wrote:The UN "report" has already been thoroughly discredited for its distortions, hyperbole, and fabrications. I don't even need to address it. Just another part of the scheme to discredit Catholic moral teachings by distorting the sex abuse scandal. F*** the UN.

Glad to see Pope Francis appropriately filed this "report" into the circular file.

The fact is there is but a small risk of child abuse in the Catholic Church today -- report after report confirms new cases are all but non-existent. Your arguments that the Catholic Church has not done anything meaningful to address the issue is contradicted by this fact. How could the Church have achieved these remarkable statistics without meaningfully addressing the real issues and problems? These numbers render your arguments moot and without import.

Granted, the Church has not "meaningfully" addressed the lies and distortions manufactured by plaintiff's personal injury lawyers and its enemies, who seek to undermine its moral legitimacy. In fact, it was because the Church did not address these lies that it was able to really understand the true problems and implement thoroughly effective solutions.

So travel all over the internet and find the lies, and then report them here. My answer will be the same: How could the Church have reached the point that the risk of abuse is nearly statistically non-existent, without addressing the "issues" you claim exist?

Grizalltheway wrote:Hey look, JJ is resorting to childish name-calling again. I guess when you're the height of an adolescent you're required to act like one.

Paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale's victims to launch class action
AUSTRALIA
The Age

April 9, 2014

Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Mark Russell

Victims of one of Australia's most notorious paedophile priests, Gerald Ridsdale, are preparing a landmark class action against the Catholic Church in what will be the first test of Cardinal George Pell's recent commitment to make the church less hostile to litigation from sex abuse victims.

Lawyer Vivian Waller said at least 20 victims had instructed her to launch claims against the Diocese of Ballarat and argue that the church's negligence or cover-ups allowed Ridsdale to remain as a priest after it was known he was a sexual predator.

It is understood the church could be forced to pay out millions in compensation if the cases succeed.

On Tuesday, Ridsdale, who admitted to abusing at least 53 children between 1961 and 1982, was sentenced to eight more years' jail, after he pleaded guilty to 39 new charges involving sex offences against 11 boys and three girls, he having already been jailed in previous court cases.

County Court Chief Judge Michael Rozenes said Ridsdale's ''unfettered sexual deviance'' had been a blatant breach of trust.
Posted by Kathy Shaw at 5:09 PM

PUERTO RICO
Boston.com

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A judge in Puerto Rico has ordered a diocese to provide state prosecutors with all confidential documents related to an ongoing sexual abuse probe.

The ruling issued Monday resolves a lawsuit that the Diocese of Arecibo recently filed against the island’s justice secretary arguing that it should not have to release additional information to prosecutors. The diocese had said it sought to protect the identity of those who made the allegations and that it had already provided sufficient information.

The diocese has defrocked six priests accused of sex abuse, and prosecutors are investigating at least 11 other priests in the U.S. territory facing similar accusations. At least four dioceses are being investigated.

The ruling gives the diocese two weeks to turn over the information.

HAWAII
SF Gate

HONOLULU (AP) — Another lawsuit against the Catholic Church in Hawaii claims that a former Bishop sexually abused a boy who went to him to report he had been abused by another priest.

Attorneys for the 59-year-old Honolulu man filed the suit last week claiming that now-deceased Rev. Joseph Ferrario sexually abused him in the 1960s. The same attorneys filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of a Los Angeles man who claimed Ferrario did the same to him in the 1970s.

The lawsuits are filed under a Hawaii law providing a two-year window for claims of sexual abuse against minors to be made, even if the statute of limitations has lapsed. The window closes April 24.