Vatican is in ‘shame and sorrow’ over abuses in Pennsylvania

[h=1]Vatican is in ‘shame and sorrow’ over abuses in Pennsylvania[/h]VATICAN CITY — The Vatican expressed “shame and sorrow” Thursday over a scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report about clergy who raped and molested children in six dioceses in that state, calling the abuse “criminally and morally reprehensible” and says Pope Francis wants to eradicate “this tragic horror.” In a written statement using uncharacteristically strong language for the Holy See even in matters like the long-running abuse scandals staining the U.S. church, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke sought to assure victims that “the pope is on their side.” Pope Francis himself wasn’t quoted in the statement, and there was no mention of demands in the United States among some Roman Catholics for the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington.The grand jury report made public this week accused the cardinal of helping to protect some molester priests while he was bishop of the Pennsylvania city of Pittsburgh.


Burke said the incidents of abuse graphically documented in the report were “betrayals of trust that robbed survivors of their dignity and their faith.” “The church must learn hard lessons from its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers and those who permitted abuse to occur,” he said. Victims and their advocates for decades have lamented that top Catholic churchmen repeatedly put the reputation of the church ahead of obligations to protect children from harm from pedophile priests. In a sign that Pope Francis wants to end that pervasive mind set among church hierachy, including bishops and cardinals, he recently accepted the resignation from cardinal’s rank of former Washington archbishop Theodore McCarrick amid allegations that the American prelate had engaged in sexual misconduct. Resignations by cardinals are extremely rare, and McCarrick’s was the first time a prelate lost his cardinal’s rank in a sexual abuse scandal.
Burke said Francis “understands well how much these crimes can shake the faith and the spirit of believers and reiterates the call to make every effort to create a safe environment for minors and vulnerable adults in the church and in all of society.”

more in the link

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AGENT J said:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/vatican-is-in-shame-and-sorrow-over-abuses-in-pennsylvania

such a sad story . . .for me this can never be made right of course. Vile behavior like this and the list of victims is so saddening. These rapist and pedophiles and predators needed rooted out at all costs imo.

The reality and the right thing to do is that MINIMUM, EVERY SINGLE thing in these cases needs investigated. The six Catholic dioceses all need shut down, fully investigated, audited, raided etc etc and in the end there will be logical grounds for none of these six to exist as currently constructed. Any individual churches free of wrong doing may in the future under new control. This is what should happen and at the FULL support of the POPE if he is sincerely on the side of the victims. Accepting resignations is NOT enough . . WORDS . . are not enough . . . . All politicians and law makers, people in power and victims(if they can handle it) should all push for this . . . its pathetic and paints bad light on the many good people in and around the catholic church.

While im christian but not catholic i do like this pope, ill be interested to see what he actually does.... along with the lawmakers and politicians of my state

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biglawnmower said:

who should do the full investigation and audit youre calling for?

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biglawnmower said:

who should do the full investigation and audit youre calling for?

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bearpoker said:

Law enforcement. We are talking about laws being broken.

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beefheart said:

Same old "thoughts and prayers" baloney.

We need an account from all 50 states, and from every nation, and we need a lot of priests, Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals in prison.

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bearpoker said:

Law enforcement. We are talking about laws being broken.

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trblmkr said:

Many of the crimes were committed by the church on church property. Maybe law enforcement could exercise some of that asset forfeiture they are so fond of. The AG could lead the charge.

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AGENT J said:

government mean AND Vatican if they are serious about thier words but since i wouldnt trust them to be objective they would only be secondary

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biglawnmower said:

what agency

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ludin said:

It would have to be local law enforcement.
and the state AG.

The next question is why are these priests not be excommunicated?
I mean seriously.

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Rogue Valley said:

Why should predatory Cardinals be allowed to investigate predatory priests? Investigation should reside entirely and solely with sex-crimes investigators.

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AGENT J said:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/vatican-is-in-shame-and-sorrow-over-abuses-in-pennsylvania

such a sad story . . .for me this can never be made right of course. Vile behavior like this and the list of victims is so saddening. These rapist and pedophiles and predators needed rooted out at all costs imo.

The reality and the right thing to do is that MINIMUM, EVERY SINGLE thing in these cases needs investigated. The six Catholic dioceses all need shut down, fully investigated, audited, raided etc etc and in the end there will be logical grounds for none of these six to exist as currently constructed. Any individual churches free of wrong doing may in the future under new control. This is what should happen and at the FULL support of the POPE if he is sincerely on the side of the victims. Accepting resignations is NOT enough . . WORDS . . are not enough . . . . All politicians and law makers, people in power and victims(if they can handle it) should all push for this . . . its pathetic and paints bad light on the many good people in and around the catholic church.

While im christian but not catholic i do like this pope, ill be interested to see what he actually does.... along with the lawmakers and politicians of my state

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AGENT J said:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/vatican-is-in-shame-and-sorrow-over-abuses-in-pennsylvania

such a sad story . . .for me this can never be made right of course. Vile behavior like this and the list of victims is so saddening. These rapist and pedophiles and predators needed rooted out at all costs imo.

The reality and the right thing to do is that MINIMUM, EVERY SINGLE thing in these cases needs investigated. The six Catholic dioceses all need shut down, fully investigated, audited, raided etc etc and in the end there will be logical grounds for none of these six to exist as currently constructed. Any individual churches free of wrong doing may in the future under new control. This is what should happen and at the FULL support of the POPE if he is sincerely on the side of the victims. Accepting resignations is NOT enough . . WORDS . . are not enough . . . . All politicians and law makers, people in power and victims(if they can handle it) should all push for this . . . its pathetic and paints bad light on the many good people in and around the catholic church.

While im christian but not catholic i do like this pope, ill be interested to see what he actually does.... along with the lawmakers and politicians of my state

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AGENT J said:

something else the pope should do is work to have Vatican lift its immunity and extradite those that need to be.

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Removable Mind said:

The Vatican/Pope calls these behaviors sad and a shame? A SHAME? It’s a like having global sex-slave ring.

While I agree with most of your comments....

Don’t waste your time thinking that the Pope’s going to do anything meaningful. He said today what happened in PA was “morally reprehensible” Wow! That’ll learn’em, durn’em.

All of the Popes since the celibacy law came into being - have known that celibacy isn’t probable. And because until recent years there’s been too little consequences for sexual abuse by Priest. The lack of significant consequences has been like an open invitation for sexual deviants/pedophiles to hide in the priesthood.

The Catholic Church has already paid off suits in the neighborhood of a couple of Billion and that didn’t make the Vatican to start imposing severe consequences on a global scale.

Hypocrite Priests and Nuns use to tell children that God was watching them masturbate and it was sinful. Even that was sexual abuse.

No institution, religious or otherwise, should be above the law. That includes the coveted Catholic Church, anywhere on the planet. This should be a federal case because of other incidents across the nation. Bring in the FBI.

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NeverTrumpGOP said:

I am currently rolled up in catholic affairs thanks to my job duties, but this is despicable and hypocritical. It's going to be a sore subject at family time, but if my father asks me if I go to church again. I'm gonna tell him that the religion has left me and I do not stand for this! The acts of moving priests around the country has to stop. Why is this OK in the eyes of God? It's not! It's only OK because those above the priests do it too, and they are only protecting themselves. There's a word for it, and that word is evil.

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NeverTrumpGOP said:

100% agree. I wonder how people are feeling about this. How they can be OK with this? Will there be massive amounts of people leaving Catholic Church? Or will those in the church continue being ignorant. It's hard to tell with all the corruption, but this really shook me to the core. So I can't believe others aren't feeling the same way.

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trblmkr said:

Many of the crimes were committed by the church on church property. Maybe law enforcement could exercise some of that asset forfeiture they are so fond of. The AG could lead the charge.

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NeverTrumpGOP said:

I am currently rolled up in catholic affairs thanks to my job duties, but this is despicable and hypocritical. It's going to be a sore subject at family time, but if my father asks me if I go to church again. I'm gonna tell him that the religion has left me and I do not stand for this! The acts of moving priests around the country has to stop. Why is this OK in the eyes of God? It's not! It's only OK because those above the priests do it too, and they are only protecting themselves. There's a word for it, and that word is evil.

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NeverTrumpGOP said:

I am currently rolled up in catholic affairs thanks to my job duties, but this is despicable and hypocritical. It's going to be a sore subject at family time, but if my father asks me if I go to church again. I'm gonna tell him that the religion has left me and I do not stand for this! The acts of moving priests around the country has to stop. Why is this OK in the eyes of God? It's not! It's only OK because those above the priests do it too, and they are only protecting themselves. There's a word for it, and that word is evil.

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Pope on Pa. priest abuse: 'We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them'

Pope Francis said the Catholic church failed its youngest members as he reflected on the Pennsylvania priest abuse scandal and cover-up that included at least 1,000 victims. In a letter to the church early Monday, the pope said the crimes of 301 clergy members identified in a state grand jury report last week "inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness." "Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated," Pope Francis said. The abuses detailed in a grand jury report released on Aug. 14 showed crimes against children dating back to at least 1947. Victims were as young as 2 years old. Some of the children who were raped were also beaten with whips and shared in a "ring of predatory priests" within the Pittsburgh diocese. Throughout Pennsylvania, abuse stories were similar, especially in the way they were concealed by the leaders of the dioceses and Catholic church.

"The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silences. But their outcry was more powerful than all the measures meant to silence it..." Pope Francis wrote in his Monday message. "The Lord heard that cry and once again showed us on which side he stands." At least 40 of the 301 Pennsylvania priests named in the grand jury report had confessed to sex abuse crimes against children decades before the report made them public, often without facing any legal or professional consequences. In May 2000, a Pittsburgh priest admitted to touching 500 kids and targeting "at least" 1,200. And 15 years later, he was free to target at least one more. In another case, a state trooper in 1972 saw a priest sexually abusing a teen boy in a car on the side of the road. He gave the priest "a lecture and sent him on his way." And in hundreds of cases, Pennsylvania dioceses were aware of child sex abuse and continued to move accused priests from parish to parish. "With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives," Pope Francis wrote. "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."

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