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Vatican summit on child abuse: No action, or negative action?

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dpareja:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/pope-sex-abuse-summit-vatican-1.5022979


--- Quote ---Church's credibility hangs in balance ahead of sex abuse summit
--- End quote ---

I find this headline hilarious since I think the Catholic Church has no credibility whatsoever.


--- Quote ---Pope Francis called for prayers ahead of an unprecedented summit designed to tackle sexual abuse in the priesthood ... "I ask prayers for this appointment, which I wanted as an act of strong pastoral responsibility in the face of an urgent challenge of our time," Francis said.
--- End quote ---

Very nice, Jorge. Now go talk to the survivors of gun massacres in the US about how all those "thoughts and prayers" from the NRA and their political stooges have prevented the next ones.


--- Quote ---Francis has summoned bishops to Rome to help him chart a way forward after decades of abuse by priests and prelates and systematic coverups by their superiors.
--- End quote ---

After you stopped US bishops from meeting on the same matter, probably because you were pissing yourself in fear that there was a tiny sliver of a chance they'd actually do something and make you look bad when this summit of yours predictably does fuck all.


--- Quote ---"I am absolutely convinced that our credibility in this area is at stake," said Father Federico Lombardi, who Francis has chosen to moderate the meeting.
--- End quote ---

Don't worry, Mr. Lombardi. It's not. You have no credibility to be at stake.


--- Quote ---"We have to get to the root of this problem and show our ability to undergo a cure as a church that proposes to be a teacher or it would be better for us to get into another line of work," he told reporters.
--- End quote ---


--- Quote from: Christopher Hitchens ---On [Joseph Ratzinger's] comment, one of the few he's made, on the institutionalisation of rape and torture and maltreatment of children in Catholic institutions, he's said, 'It's a very severe crisis, which involves us,' he said, in the following: 'In the need for applying to these victims the most loving pastoral care.'

Well I'm sorry. They've already had that, and to say that this is the responsibility laid upon you by the horrific admission that you've already had to make is not accepting responsibility in any adult sense.
--- End quote ---

But I agree with Mr. Lombardi here. It would be better for them to get into another line of work, one that actually contributes something positive to society.


--- Quote ---Revelations in many countries of sexual abuse against children and a pattern of bishops hiding the crimes have alienated many Catholics. They also test the pontiff's ability to ensure the safety of children and to punish the abusers as well as any complicit superiors.
--- End quote ---

Oh no! We're not getting the donations we used to!

As for "test[ing] the pontiff's ability", that's a test Wojtyla, Ratzinger, and Bergoglio have all spectacularly failed.


--- Quote ---"You abuse a child, you have to be removed from the priesthood," said Peter Isely, founding member of the advocacy group Ending Clergy Abuse. "If you cover up for abusing a child, you have to be removed from the priesthood, and this is the only thing that is going to turn the corner on this global crisis."
--- End quote ---

Agreed, but you forgot the part where you also have to sue them for every last penny they have.


--- Quote ---"There is a struggle going on between the pope and his supporters who want a change, and a lot of people among the bishops and among the clergy who don't want transparency and applying law and order in the abuse issue in the world," Politi said.
--- End quote ---

As Sigma has noted, Bergoglio is no different from any other Pope, really. He just has better PR. To steal a comparison from Mark Rosewater, Bergoglio is a squirrel where other Popes were rats.


--- Quote ---Francis has tried to temper expectations for the summit, saying in January the "problem of abuse will continue" because "it's a human problem." Isely said the bar should be high and the participants "have to deliver for survivors."
--- End quote ---

Here's my expectation: fuck all with quite possibly a side of backsliding.

Sue them out of existence. Attack the money.

Tolpuddle Martyr:
So far, so not surprised at all.

Chaos Undivided:
What I think Francis should've done years ago was announce that, from now on, the Catholic Church would report allegations of sex abuse to the appropriate secular authorities and fully cooperate in any investigations. There's even a perfect Bible quote he could've used:


--- Quote from: Matthew 18:6 ---But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and [that] he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
--- End quote ---

But of course, that would've required him to actually live up to the hype he got.

dpareja:
As a Catholic acquaintance of mine notes, Bergoglio has managed to be worse on child sexual abuse than Ratzinger, and Ratzinger was directly implicated in various coverups from his time as a bishop.

EDIT: I only just heard this bit from Benjamin Franklin about funding churches.


--- Quote ---When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ‘tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one.
--- End quote ---

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