Rosie Attacks Pope over Clergy Sex Scandal, WorldNetDaily, October 3, 2006

Rosie Attacks Pope over Clergy Sex Scandal

WorldNetDaily
October 3, 2006

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52260

Less than three weeks after she insisted on national TV that "radical" Christians in America are just as dangerous as the Islamic terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 terror attacks on America, Rosie O'Donnell is now attacking the pope.

Rosie O'Donnell, left, on ABC's 'The View' with Elisabeth Hasselbeck

O'Donnell, the newest face on ABC's "The View," yesterday accused Pope Benedict XVI of covering up the Roman Catholic Church's clergy sex scandal for the past two decades – an allegation denied as absurd by Catholics.

Rosie O'Donnell, left, on ABC's 'The View' with Elisabeth Hasselbeck

"The person who was in charge of investigating all the allegations of pedophiles in the Catholic Church from the eighties until just recently was guess who?" said O'Donnell. "The current pope!" Her source, she said, was an upcoming film about a serial pedophile priest, called "Deliver Us from Evil."

But in a press release, William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said O'Donnell's assertions about the pope in yesterday's edition of "The View" were wildly off-base: "What started as a discussion on the problems facing the disgraced former congressman Mark Foley, quickly digressed into a lengthy conversation about the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Given the fact that the exchange began and ended with brief comments about Foley, it is obvious that the real target was the Catholic Church."

One article on "Deliver Us From Evil," noted Donohue, claims that "before Cardinal Ratzinger became pope, he wrote to all the bishops saying that 'grave' crimes such as the sexual abuse of minors 'would be handled by his congregation …'

"This is correct," said Donohue, who added: "He would be in charge. And when did he take command? After the scandal erupted in 2002. In other words, it is a lie to say that the pope, when cardinal, was 'in charge of investigating all the allegations of pedophiles in the Catholic Church from the eighties until just recently.'

Indeed," said Donohue, "it was precisely because of Cardinal Ratzinger's no-nonsense approach that Pope John Paul II put him in charge in 2002." It was March 25, 2005 – Good Friday - one week before Pope John Paul II died, said the Catholic League president, when "Cardinal Ratzinger spoke about the scandal, saying, 'How much filth there is in the church, even among those who, in the priesthood, should belong entirely' to God."

Moreover, added Donohue, "O'Donnell, and the other panelists, err again by talking about the 'pedophile' scandal in the Church: it's been a homosexual scandal all along, as the data make painfully clear." That is, the vast majority of clergy sexual abuse cases do not involved pedophilia – sexual contact with a pre-pubescent child – but rather involved predatory homosexual priests abusing their positions of trust and authority to foster sexual relationships with pubescent males.

Donohue's organization is appealing to Barbara Walters, who co-owns and co-produces "The View," and co-producer Bill Geddie, to request "an on-air apology for smearing the pope."

Last month, O'Donnell said on the same show that "radical" Christians in America are just as much of a threat as the followers of radical Islam who piloted hijacked jetliners into New York's Twin Towers and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

After co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck noted militant Islam provides a threat to free people, O'Donnell interrupted: "Just a minute," she said. "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have separation of church and state."

As a result of the 9/11 attacks, said O'Donnell, the U.S. "invaded two countries and killed innocent people."

A bewildered co-host, Joy Behar, protested that Christians are not threatening to impose mass murder on Americans.

"There's that difference. This group is threatening to kill us," Behar said.

And Hasselback, appearing surprised, said, "We are not bombing ourselves here in the country."

"No, but we are bombing innocent people in other countries. True or false?" O'Donnell said.