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BENEDICT BLAMES ABUSE SCANDALS ON 60S SEXUAL REVOLUTION.

By Sohrab Ahmari New York Post.

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy in 2013, he vowed to live the rest of his days in seclusion, to serve the Catholic Church “through a life dedicated to prayer.” But the church’s spiraling abuse crisis prompted him this week to ­return to the limelight.
The retired pontiff has drafted a 6,000-word document in his native German and aims to publish it in a monthly periodical for clergy in his home region of Bavaria. Benedict says the document, an English translation of which I’ve reviewed, is meant to assist the Church in seeking “a new beginning” and making her “again truly credible as a light among peoples and as a force in service against the powers of ­destruction.”
In the preface, he makes it clear that he is “no longer directly responsible” for the church and that he consulted Pope Francis before ­resolving to make the document public.

Nevertheless, Benedict’s “The Church and the Scandal of Sexual Abuse” has the unmistakable ring of a papal document. You might even call it a post-retirement encyclical.
It’s written with his signature precision and clarity of insight and offers a piercing account of the origins of the crisis and a ­vision of the way forward.
The church’s still-radiating crisis, Benedict suggests, was a product of the moral laxity that swept the West, and not just the church, in the 1960s. The young rebels of 1968, Benedict writes, fought for “all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any norms.”
Benedict adds: “Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of 1968 was that pedophilia was now also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.” This might strike contemporary readers as puzzling. But those who lived through that wretched decade will remember that some of the leading ’68ers also advocated “anti-authoritarian education,” which involved some pretty ­unsavory interactions between adults and children. Hippie communes weren’t child-friendly places, either.

“I have always wondered how young people in this situation could approach the priesthood and accept it, with all its ramifications,” Benedict writes. “The extensive collapse of the next generation of priests in those years and the very high number of laicizations were consequence of all these processes.”
The church, in other words, was no more immune to the disorders of that decade and its aftermath than the rest of society.
How come? Benedict blames clerics and theologians who, in the ­aftermath of Vatican II, abandoned natural law — the notion that morality is written into ­human nature itself and can therefore be grasped by human reason — in favor of a more “pragmatic” ­morality.
Under the new dispensation, “there could no longer be anything that constituted an ­absolute good, any more than anything fundamentally evil; there could only be relative moral judgments.”

PAT SAYS

As the head of the CDF for many years Benedict was the most informed man in the RC church about sexual abuse by bishops, priests and religious.

He was also the Cover Upper In Chief.

Because he thinks the RC is perfect and of divine origin he cannot admit that the institution is rotten to the core.

So he must find things in “the world” to blame.

So he blames the 60s and the sexual revolution.

But the problem is that paedophilia and pederasty has been rampant in the church for at least 1500 years.

On the one hand we must realise that these predelicitions are deeply embedded in human nature and society. The majority of abuse takes place in the family setting.

Add to that the preduluvian approach to sex in the RCC and the fascination with unachievable notions of virginity, chastity and celibacy and you have a monster. And add to that the negative attitude towards women and their sexual organs you have many Male monsters.

If you do not allow clerics to fcuk adults they will fcuk children. They will target the powerless and vulnerable.

People like Benedict can live in the Vatican with arch Episcopal boyfriends and blame the world for evil.

The truth is that they are vicious wolves in sheep’s clothing who will ravage the sheep – and target the helpless lambs.

Jesus wept!

69 replies on “BENEDICT BLAMES ABUSE SCANDALS ON 60S SEXUAL REVOLUTION.”

It’s called a distraction or side track you to other issues such as above. I was quite surprised when I read it. PBXI article is NOT truth as he knew it all along as sex abuse cases landed on his desk for years and years since he was then head of CDF. I was wondering why didn’t he speak out until now. Abuses went back lot earlier than PBXI claim on 60’s. In my ex school, abuses were there in 1930 and 1940 so on long before I arrived. One thing is clear that I don’t believe PBXI claim as he thinks we ar gullible and obedient etc just bec we are Catholics. I would say to him if I had a chance – I don’t believe any utterances made by PF or PBXVI at all whatsoever. I don’t have to obey two popes as my conscience is clear cos Vatican is corrupted. What does PF mean by ‘ church’. To them it is about the Vatican and themselves. Church is no longer about people. As we used to hear ‘ we are the church’. No longer now cos pope carfinals bishops don’t give a fig about us such was/is their hypocrisy which filled the cup of Jesus to unprecedented levels. Do we care about their statements or utterances or obedience etc. No. To me, CC ( Vatican/top tier of hierarchy- not us people) is corrupted and discredited. One thing that struck me was their immunity to prosecution and the only way is to strip their state and revert back to any ordinary church but not a state. The reason they got away so many times is because they are the state and protected from all sorts of immunity that they conjure up with etc. Don’t think Jesus was a institution back then unheard of etc . Why did CC become a institution for what reason?

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Long time ago when I was in Rome, I visited the Vatican whose massive building overshadowed at st peters square. One thing that caught my eye was prositutes loitering around as I was surprised. That was 1980’s. Saw the Swedes laughing at people going to confession box as they weren’t Catholics. Then I visited a stigmatist as a side trip.i found him arrogant and aloof. seminarians flocked around him which I thought puzzling. His name was padre Gino.i felt emptyiness and no spiritual aura around him. Emptyiness bugged me later that day after I saw him. Then went back to Vatican I could sense some sort of evil there. Money racket machine re their fees for entry etc. Many years later I found out that some seminarians were abused by fake stigmatist that I visited. So much for gullibility and obedience etc cos I didn’t know he was fake one and also a priest as well. PBXVI banned him on his first day of his papacy. Why didnt he do it a lot earlier than this? That led me to find another avenue- JPII ( I don’t call him great) cos so much gullibility and obedience that he needed Marciel millions of money to keep going and also at the same time, he JPII couldn’t fire Marciel. PBXVI wasn’t brave enough to fire Marciel in front of JPII eyes. So much for their accountability and credibility as well. It is s very undemocratic church where we have no say in any matter therefore we are NOT the church. They laugh at us just because of that. Cardinal law gave us ‘ up yours’ when he moved to the Vatican. The reason that they couldn’t dump or fire him because Cardinal law provided the Vatican/pope millions of dollars. There you go. It just showed that Vatican is beyond corrupt and no moral nor ethics as well.

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Sexual frustration does not automatically lead to child abuse. Pope Benedict’s letter is similar to the one he produced to accompany the release of the third secret of Fatima, a clever way of deflecting and placing a context which isn’t the full story as a frame for the evidence. The problem for the Church is not just the abuses but the handling which is still ongoing and is what’s undermined faith.Recent appointments only prove more of the same, forget the apologies , forget saying its human nature and it happens outside the Church just take a stand say it’s zero tolerance and forgiveness comes after penance, but it’s like the subject of gay marriage they can’t take a stand because it’s so easy to find inconsistencies in the bishops judgements .

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There is a documentary tv named ‘ Maxima mea culpa’. Powerful and hard hitting as it goes all the way to to top (Vatican). They showed that abuses files goes beyond 1968 as Fr L Murphy was on staff for deaf school in a state where Bishop Weakland was then a bishop. That priest abused well over 200 deaf boys spanning the years from 1950 to 1974. PBXVI 6k letter is a hogwash more of a distraction than the real issue. What is the real issue that they don’t want it publicised???

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What a load of codswallop from Benedict. Abuse in the Catholic Church has been going on for centuries. Why do they always look for someone else to blame. It’s because of their rotten evil structures and the practice of clericalism. No one to blame but themselves

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Had seminarians been reading Benedict’s books rather than been allowed watch porn we wouldn’t be in this mess. That seems to be part of the problem according to Benedict. Who appointed the seminary rectors and who appointed their Bishops? Who were seminary rectors accountable to and who are Bishops accountable to?
In the week that’s in it, hand washing comes to mind.

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@9.47
It’s sub-titled, “How Barry Visiting Chicago Bathhouses Doesn’t Bother Me”, by Michael.

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Probably more magazines are read, e.g., Gay Times, Attitude, Blueboy, Black Inches, Tom of Finland, etc.

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1.52: You seem very well acquainted with the morally deep reservoir of muck, sleaze and debasing notion of sexuality in all its filth and depravity. I trust your mind is somewhat more pure, moral and cleaner and that your mother won’t find such under your mattress!!!

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I am at Oscott and none of these publications are freely available. There is good in our Church as well you know. Pray for me and for vocations.

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Bp Pat, I know you’re not keen on Dana, but I watched the second episode of “Pilgrimage: The Road to Rome” on BBC2 last Friday. I don’t know what to make of it; a sort of mutual admiration society has developed between the celebrity-pilgrims. Amusingly, at one point, a donkey appears in the kitchen to try and eat their breakfast! It seems they arrive in Rome and meet the pope in the third and final episode on Good Friday next week.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m00042tr/pilgrimage-the-road-to-rome-episode-2

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I just find her too sweet and “nice”. I like people who have the scars of having lived on them. Human people.

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Dana must be knocking on a bit. All kinds of Everthing came out when I was at about 14. We changed all the words but it ended
“Acne and spew
All kinds of everything reminds me of you”

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11.51: Pat, Dana surpasses you any day in living Christ like. You could well do to imitate her deep faith, prayer, good, compassionate Christian living and kindness. She has a proven track record. You don’t. Were you of Dana put on a ballot paper, you’d beginning for cover with embarrassment!! Leave Dana alone: her integrity and reputation doesn’t need your smarty pants judgment.

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@11.51
You don’t grow up in working-class Derry, raise a family, stick out a marriage for decades, have grandchildren and not know the human condition. People making their way through life without attention-seeking doesn’t attract you.
You just prefer drama queens, like poor Sinead. And that’s fine. Horses for courses. But long term, I’d rather live alongside Dana than Sinead.

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11.51: Your problem Buckko – bitterness, worse than a lemon! Dana could teach you much about Christian living. You vindictive little queen!!

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I commented on this document by Pope E.Benedict a few blogs back, and I made it clear then that it was a studied evasion of personal responsibility, by him, for the burgeoning sexual abuse of minors in his church by fellow priests.
Benedict’s stint at the CDF was serendipity for him and for his church, since he, as Prefect, got to exercise control over the files on abusing priests worldwide that went to his curial department and straight to his desk, on his order. I am convinced that he was deliberately and intentionally given this appointment by JPII precisely in order to conceal the global magnitude of abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Church, a task Benedict handled with great effectiveness…until more and more victims awakened to the terrible fact that ‘Holy Mother Church’ was actually the-word-that-dare-not-speak-its-name-on-this-blog and that she would betray even her own children in order to maintain business with the world.
This document was intended by Benedict for a much more receptive audience than the general public, the episcopate, and must, to most of them, have been music in their ears.
Benedict, historically, has shown himself spineless, first by his VOLUNTARY membership of Hitler Youth, and later in his life by concealment of the sexual abuse of children by fellow priests. Even now he is too cowardly to face the truth about his personal involvement in institutional criminality, abetted by a Polish pope who should never have been canonised and whose canonisation, along with others’, has made a mockery of the credal claim to a ‘Communion of Saints’.
The greatest enemy facing these mobsters/monsters, including that grinning halfwit from Argentina, is not Satan, but an all-seeing global and social media. As one, female journalist warned Pope Francis’ recent synod on abuse of minors by priests: if you don’t deal with this criminality in the Church, you will find that journalists will be your biggest enemy.
Do your job, ‘journos’, including you Bishop Buckley, and continue to call out these so-called ‘men of God’, because what should have called them out many years ago is conscience; but then, EVERYone of them traded this in on the day he was ordained in order to serve a golden calf rather than Christ: the institutional Roman Catholic Church.

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According to Fr. Tom Doyle O.P. a canon lawyer , church whistleblower and survivor advocate, the policy of strict secrecy and silence of criminal sexual abuse of children by clergy, was first introduced
by the Vatican in 1866.
Child sexual abuse has been documented in the church since the 4th century, in Spain. It didn’t begin in the swinging ‘60s, nor was it necessarily most acute following Vatican 2.

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12.40: Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Boring, boring, boring. But so full of hatred. What’s new with monster hate-filled Magna!! Ad nauseam…..

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1:43pm- If there’s hatred to be attributed to anyone in this mess created by the church,
it’s to be attributed to church personnel who seem to suffer from institutionalised misopedia.

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The late, Dr. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and psychotherapist, who initially trained as a therapist to work with clerical abusers, stated publicly, ‘ the higher up you go ( in the church) the more they know’.
Benedict knew more than anyone in the world, particularly since 2001 when his office in the CDF dealt with all files on clerical sex abuse.
Sipe says, at the heart
of this issue is the clerical fraternity, the heresy of
the priest being ontologically changed at ordination (alter Christi) as well as the notion, the priest is a different kind
of human being by virtue of ordination conferring supernatural power in
making Christ present in
the sacraments, Eucharist, reconciliation…etc.
It seems, loyalty to the Pope and clerical omertà is the glue holding this corruption together.

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1:11
Doyle is right, but the practice of secrecy was not formalised until 1922, when Pope Pius XI issued a decree, ‘Crimen Sollicitationis’; this, from the perspective of civil law, favoured clergy accused of sexually abusing minors by imposing the ‘secret of the Holy Office’ on all information obtained through canonical-court proceedings, though not on allegations of sexual abuse themselves. Theoretically, then, victims were still free to report abuse to civil authorities, though it’s doubtful whether many did, given the authoritarian weight of the Church in earlier times.
Pope Pius XII applied the decree, as did his successor, Pope John XXIII, who reissued it in 1962.
In 1974, Pope Paul VI extended pontifical secrecy to include even the allegations themselves.
Pope John Paul II confirmed the application of pontifical secrecy in 20001, while his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, broadened secrecy, in 2010, to include allegations of the sexual abuse of learning-disabled adults by priests.
In the same year, under growing public outrage, Benedict made a dispensation to pontifical secrecy to allow reporting to police of sexual-abuse allegations in countries where civil law required it. However, he stopped short of making reporting mandatory. This remains the situation under Pope Francis.
Since 1922, then, six popes have used pontifical secrecy to protect the reputation of the Church and to deal more leniently than civil courts with offending clergy. In fact, under the pontificates of Paul, John Paul II, and Benedict this secrecy has intensified.

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@ 3:00 p.m.
The UK has its Official Secrets Act. You are either naive or mischievous (probably both) if you assume that a political administration in the 21st Century could survive without confidentiality. Stop jumping on the band-wagon. It’s open season on the Catholic Church today. You have form here in relation to this subject. The tone, tenor, impetuous vocabulary, dearth of reason, lack of clarity, absence of sound judgement and sheer emotive irrationality preclude your contributions from having anything worthwhile to add to any discussion of matters of faith.

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A church should not be a political administration. It should be a spiritual entity.

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4:24
Let me make this clear to you: the supreme motivation in dealing with abuse allegations must be of the highest state if a church is to maintain any moral integrity, never mind moral authority. For 1500 years the institutional Roman Catholic Church managed to do this by laicising offending priests and by handing them over to civil authorities for additional punishment. This all changed in1922, and further changed, for the worse, under the papicies of Paul, JPII, and Benedict,
That you should accuse me of naivety and mischief-making hardly surprises me, since you defend the morally apalling, and indeed criminal, record of an unholy institution that did what Jesus himself specifically, and ominously, warned against doing: harming the innocent.
Your loyalty to this institution is not only misguided, but nauseating. It is also ill-informed, since ‘Crimen Sollicitationis’ came into effect well before the Vatican became a city-state.

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Anon@ 4:24: I’m obliged to say that while the RC church establishment continues as it has for many many years now, it will always be “open season” for those who wish to criticise it: there are certainly ample grounds.
And I think you gild the lily way too much in criticising Magna by saying his contributions fail to add ‘anything.’ When he writes rationally his information is very helpful. By all means criticise when he is OTT, as I have done myself, but avoid Hamlet’s Queen Gertrude’s comment by “protesting too much, methinks.”
MMM

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MMM
When arriving at an assessment of MC’s contributions, it’s necessary to look at the bigger picture: instability, inconsistency, intemperate language (particularly in the small hours), rashness, lack of judgement, inability to weigh up his sources (especially Wikipedia) and peevishness.
He has contributed nothing to any debate on which he posted.

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They’re so close to heaven, by wearing a clerical collar, they can do what they like on earth. The local ‘fixer’ will sort things out and put out the fire.!
That right lads?

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3:00
Where is the Gospel and Christian praxis in pontifical secrecy? What about ‘ what you do to the the least of my brethren you do unto me’
and ‘ ‘millstones’ and ‘suffer little children’ and ‘love one another as I have loved you’?
In your view, has canon law replaced the gospel of Christ?

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3:15
In a word, ‘yes’! And it issues, quite logically, from the spurious theological conceit that ‘Tradition’ is didactically and morally at least the equivalent of the revealed word, the Bible.

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8:14am

DU, I watched the documentary ‘ Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House Of God’ (2012) directed by Alex Gibney.
It can be accessed on archive.org for free. It’s a terrific documentary. It includes participants from America, Italy and Ireland. It also includes clips from the usual suspects in Vatican city. The Vatican declined to be interviewed.
Benedict says in a clip ‘ Our first interest must be the victims. How to repair the damage, how to assist them in overcoming this trauma, in regaining their lives, regaining their faith in the message of Jesus Christ’.
I don’t see any evidence of that being implemented.

DU, thanks for mentioning the documentary.

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I watched Bishop Walsh administering the Sacrament of Confirmation the other night and you could tell he was not fit although he was there for over two hours and had to constantly drink water and hope he has a Good retirement.

However it is strange as he was to do the Holy Mass of Chrism on Thursday.

Here is Archbishop Martin’s letter to the clergy and the laity however he mentions safeguarding again surely not the last Bishop resigned over safeguarding.

Click to access Letter-15th-April-2019.pdf

Remember Ireland has far too many Diocese so this makes sense maybe long term.

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Correction it was Bishop Boyce I was referring to and not Auxiliary Bishop Walsh however auxiliary bishop Fields is suppose to retire in May and Auxiliary Bishop Walsh in September

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Amy’s letter is worded carefully. It holds out the prospect of there being a decision that there be no more bishops of Dromore and the next door neighbour take over completely. Away with this micro Irish country dioceses which exist alongside the far too big and ungovernable Dublin & D&C.
Though the idea that Amy, who cannot govern Armagh, takes on another diocese is yet another sign that Francis has tin ears. Amy opines about safeguarding even though his ex-MC Rory goes unpunished despite exposing his ginger nuts to a former pupil where Rory had been chaplain.

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I have great respect for Pope Benedict 16th but I believe he has left out a whole narrative in his writing on sexual abuse by clergy. Undoubtedly the free for all attitude to sexual activity and experiment begun in the 60’s influenced and affected some aspect of seminary training. The focus on academics (which I remember) seemed paramount with little imput into personal formation or relevant information about sexuality and celibacy. We had to discover that reality for ourselves. The emphasis was on “personal responsibility” once the gates, literally, were opened up and we could come and go as we pleased. While it was great to be involved in all kinds of pastoral placements and received spiritual “lectures” twice a week, there was little on relevant, useful, personal, emotional and sexual development. You learned yourself! Pope Benedict has written some wonderful, enlightening and inspiring works, which I enjoy, but he has sadly, on the reality of clerical sexual abuse, excluded a whole reality. Sexual abuse existed a long time historically in the Church. The problem in recent decades is the unacknowledged mismanagement and cover ups which the Church has engaged in. The handling of clerical sexual abuse requires total openness, truth, accountability and acceptance of blame by reckless decisions and the attitude of “protecting” the institution before victims/survivors. A zero tolerance is imperative and I cannot comprehend why the Church’s leadership is dragging its feet. It’s totally against what Christ expects. I am as angry as Magna, MMM and you, Pat, but engaging in vituperative and personalised insult and vulgar debate does nothing to resolve the reality of abuse nor does it help any victims/survivors. And let me say it again: I speak against all abuse and against the Church leadership very often. I live by my conscience, do what I can to create safe environments for everyone, involve as many parishioners as possible in ministries and try to change and renew myself, hoping to effect similar in others and – I will continue as a priest since this is my life, has been for 40 years and hopefully for many more.

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6:45 pm

As a victim/survivor of church abuse I want to let you know I find Bishops Pats blog extremely helpful.
I also find many of the contributors posts very helpful.
By the way victims/ survivors can speak for themselves.
I don’t think it appropriate for priests to assume they can speak for survivors of church abuse/ crime.

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7.46: I never presumed to speak on your behalf. I do have a capacity for empathy, kindness, compassion and justice. I received good example from my parents. These are my guiding principles in dealing with people from all kinds of life’s experiences. You reject my opinions as a priest but you’ll accept Pat Buckley’s intrusions!!! He too is a priest! What’s the difference?….

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The Provincial Definitory of the Franciscans has decided that from the beginning of May 2019, there will no longer be a resident Franciscan presence in Waterford city, in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.
The Francisans have lived and ministered in Waterford city for almost 800 years.

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Read Eamon Martin’s letter there – if he is going to be in Newry for the Chrism Mass at 10.30 on Holy Thursday Morning who will do the chrism Mass in Armagh that morning?

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Barrister and human rights activist, Geoffrey Roberston, in the Mea Maxima Culpa documentary,
says, that in Canon law, the Pope is above all Civil law.
Robertson, in his book ‘ The Case of the Pope’: Vatican Accountability for Human Rights Abuse, claims the Vatican has run a secret legal system that shields paedophile priests from criminal trial around the world. In the book, he asks if the Pope is morally or legally responsible for the negligence that has allowed so many terrible crimes to go unpunished? In Robertson’s opinion, the Vatican is not a sovereign state and the Pope is not immune to prosecution. He believes, the U.N. committee on the Convention on the Rights of the Child enquires, will inevitably lead it to conclude that the Vatican has broken multiple articles of the convention on a huge scale in many countries resulting in incalculable human suffering.

In the documentary, Archbishop Rembert Weakland says, the church considers itself
‘ the perfect society,…’If only we could get rid of that idea’.
Tell that to the Pope!

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For all the people on here worrying about who will celebrate the chrism mass in Armagh on Holy Thursday worry no more. If you took the time to check the Armagh parish website you would see it has been moved to Wednesday evening with Archbishop Martin the chief celebrant.

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Benedict’s decision to have abuse cases dealt with by the CDF (JPII must have aquiesced without a struggle) – when he was its head – instead of another Roman dicastery may have, in hindsight exacerbated the situation.

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When Pope Benedict xvi announced his resignation on 11th February 2013, it wasn’t the only shock to
hit the vatican.There were also electrical shocks as two separate bolts of lightening struck St. Peter’s.
An act of God, some concluded?
The Vatican press office said it’s ‘not currently attributing’ the event to divine intervention.
They would. They seem to think they can Trump God.

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And what are you saying? That the lightening was God saying something that happens to corroborate your view on something or other?
Superstition is the opposite of religion: it allows human believe their actions control God when the reality is it is God who is in charge.

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