BishopAccountability.org
	The Grimey World of Papal Edicts By Andrew Shaw Examiner February 2, 2009 http://www.examiner.com/x-2882-Denver-Atheism-Examiner In the summer of last year something strange happened. Pope Benedict XVI made a full apology for child sex abuses perpetrated by the American Catholic Clergy. What was going on? Was this pope questioning the infallibility of Pope John XXIII, whose seal was present on a document detailing methods to be used in silencing allegations of sex-crimes perpetrated by priests? Part of his hushed papal edict read: "So that these matters be pursued in a most secretive way, everyone is to be restrained by a perpetual silence under penalty of excommunication. " These differing approaches – the hush-hush threats, compared to the recent simpering PR apology, represent a fascinating conflict in Papal edicts. Surely an enquiring mind cannot help but wonder 'Why now, with the apology?' After a period of some 60 years in which the Catholic church has spent an estimated $2 billion, worldwide, related to child abuse cases, ($600 million last year in the US alone) – why this reversal of position? Fortunately, we can pull a tight lens on the subject, given that we are not blinded by belief in a god – who, apparently, until recent times, has been absolutely fine with priests abusing children. I say this in the Catholic sense, which believes that the pope speaks for god on earth, and that he chose to conceal the unforgivable atrocities. If the pope is infallible, (spared even the possibility of being wrong) which remember, is the catholic belief, we have to adhere to the logic that it was the catholic god silencing guilty priests with threats of excommunication from his fruity little club. There certainly is no denying the multitude of paedophilia cases brought against Catholic priests. Likewise, there is undeniable evidence of their grotesque expenditure in the number of US diocese that have filed for bankruptcy, as a result of those charges. It seems the Catholic god has realised that it's time to start protecting his head office – the Vatican. If Papal apologies are offered, perhaps it is the hope that the heat of legal prosecution will die down, and that the rightfully angry mob of victims, which daily increases in size, will be quelled with a touch of humility from Rome. Surely, there has to be a very real concern that once the outer offices have filed for bankruptcy, head office will soon be losing staff and facing substantial cuts to the budget. Note here that the recent Papal approach displays a financial acumen that is almost divine in its creativity. We now learn from Rome that each one of its diocese is, in fact, autonomous. There is no 'central command' and that the Vatican will not be held accountable for picking up the bill of those priests, that only a few years ago it felt all too responsible for, with it's threat of banishment. I recently published a similar debate on this story. A selection of angry Catholics failed to practise their Christ's teaching, they could not forgive the logic: The pope speaks for god on earth, the pope threatened priests who revealed ordained paedophiles, therefore the catholic god wished to protect paedophiles from prosecution. They fell so short of Christian forgiveness a threat on my life was made. I am not so naïve as to be unaware of my inflammatory tone, but I would pose the question: What is unforgivable – the disrespectful poking of an establishment whose members have been found guilty of the most despicable crimes, and treating that establishment with the contempt that it deserves – the act of carrying out those crimes – or indeed, the concealment and relocation of paedophiles, by an organization which stakes a claim on speaking for god? As a final thought and an indication of how deep the rot is set – last year, according to a Vatican survey, about 2/3 US Bishops admitted to concealing or relocating priests guilty of paedophilia or sex-crimes. How safe will the 1million Catholics of Colorado feel, with that statistic in mind?
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