[Changleen]

Just one, apparantly...

Bishops condemn BBC abuse claim

The Catholic Church in England and Wales has said a BBC documentary, which said Pope Benedict XVI supported a child sex abuse cover-up, was "false".

Panorama examined a document which allegedly encourages secrecy in dealing with cases of priests abusing children.

It says this was enforced by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope.

The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Birmingham, said the claim was "entirely misleading" but the BBC said it stood by the programme.

'Misuse of the confessional'

The document called Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 and apparently instructed bishops on how to handle claims of child sex abuse.

Programme makers asked Father Tom Doyle, a former church lawyer who was sacked from the Vatican for criticising its handling of child abuse, to interpret the document.

He said it was an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child abuse, which stressed the Vatican's control and made no mention of the victims.

The Catholic Church said the document was not directly concerned with child sex abuse, but with the misuse of the confessional.

Archbishop Nichols, speaking on behalf of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, said of the programme: "It is false because it misrepresents two Vatican documents and uses them quite misleadingly in order to connect the horrors of child abuse to the person of the Pope."

He added that the editing, which used old footage and undated interviews, was misleading, and said the BBC should be ashamed of the standard of its journalism.

Of its viewers, he said: "They will know that aspects of the programme amount to a deeply prejudiced attack on a revered world religious leader."

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, has written to the BBC's director general, Mark Thompson, to complain.

'Deflect attention'

The National Secular Society (NSS) has now called on the BBC not to "give in" to pressure from the Catholic Church.

NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood said: "It's a familiar technique that the Church is using, trying to make itself into the victim, so as to deflect attention from the real victims, the children."

Cardinal Ratzinger was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the Vatican department that enforces doctrine - from 1981 until his election as Pope in April 2005.

A BBC spokeswoman said the BBC had a well-defined complaints system and would reply to the letter once they received it.

She added: "The protection of children is clearly an issue of the strongest public interest."

 

[Old Man G Funk]

Not surprised.

 

[MudGrrl]

Pope?


Sex abuse?

Scandal?

No way

 

[Kevin]

Pope?


Sex abuse?

Scandal?

No way

You forgot Cover up....

 

[disasterarea]

I wonder how long it would take the BBC to apologise if a similar documentry was done on an Ayatollah. Or what the consequence would be. You have to give the current crop of Catholics leaders their dues for protesting in a non-violent way - dispite charges (whether true or false) of horrific deeds carried out to young vulnerable members of society by figures who are given so much trust and faith in a community.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I wonder how long it would take the BBC to apologise if a similar documentry was done on an Ayatollah. Or what the consequence would be. You have to give the current crop of Catholics leaders their dues for protesting in a non-violent way - dispite charges (whether true or false) of horrific deeds carried out to young vulnerable members of society by figures who are given so much trust and faith in a community.

It would depend on how ironic the statement turned out to be.....

 

[Slugman]

You have to give the current crop of Catholics leaders their dues for protesting in a non-violent way.

No I don't.

 

[Westy]

How many popes does it take to screw in a light bulb. One, he holds the light bulb and god rotates the universe around it. Badumpt Tssst.

Yeah I know, sooo 1600's.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Congressmen touch kids.
Bishops touch kids.
Michael Jackson touches kids.
Hot female teachers sleep with kids.

...maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe kids really are that sexy.

 

[$tinkle]

Badumpt Tssst.

what could be more fitting in papal-pedo thread than "rimshot"?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

what could be more fitting in papal-pedo thread than "rimshot"?

$tinkle for teh win.

 

[ohio]

Maybe kids really are that sexy.

20,000 Abercrombie&Fitch T-shirts (size: youth small) can't be wrong.

 

[disasterarea]

It would depend on how ironic the statement turned out to be.....

I'm not sure which part you were refering to - the apology part or the substitue for a different religion or the sexual charges part. I'm pretty sure that sexual abuse from these upstanding members (no pun intended) of the communties really did and do take place. It's just that I don't have evidence in front of me and so I'll go with innocent until proven guilty. Of couse if they are proven guilty then let's hope they get carted off to prison where they can get arse raped on a daily basis. Then there's the issue of theological consequences they have to ponder over at the end of this life, that is if they really believe what they were/are(?) preaching.

 

[disasterarea]

No I don't.

I don't really myself, but I was thinking of the comparison of what they did times past. Look what happened to the Cathars, Knights Templars or Myan indians, all killed in the name of greed - I mean Pope (and the Catholic institution). Now look at what they are doing - merely complaining to the media instead of ordering a death sentense on the BBC.

 

[Westy]

I don't really myself, but I was thinking of the comparison of what they did times past. Look what happened to the Cathars, Knights Templars or Myan indians, all killed in the name of greed - I mean Pope (and the Catholic institution). Now look at what they are doing - merely complaining to the media instead of ordering a death sentense on the BBC.

It is amazing how much an institution can change in 500 years.

 

[DRB]

Foley is now claiming that he was abused as a kid by.....and here it comes........ but you probably already know........of course its not a big shock....... I mean come on look at what thread its in........ I hope you figured it out by now...... his priest.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15113942/

“This is part of his recovery,” attorney David Roth said of his disclosures about Foley. He declined to identify the clergyman or the church Foley attended, but said the abuse happened between the ages of 13 and 15.

Foley is a Roman Catholic and attended Sacred Heart School in Lake Worth, Fla.

 

[kidwoo]

Foley is now claiming that he was abused as a kid by.....and here it comes........ but you probably already know........of course its not a big shock....... I mean come on look at what thread its in........ I hope you figured it out by now...... his priest.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15113942/

Well it's really hard to hold an adult accountable for his actions when that happens. I mean.......abused as a kid.....on the pee pee.

I'm suprised his head doesn't spin and spread communism and rob banks.

 

[BurlyShirley]

Oh jesus. Can this get any more entertaining/sad?

 

[Silver]

Oh jesus. Can this get any more entertaining/sad?

Sure it can. He's going to convert to Scientology and become Suri Cruise's nanny. (At least you won't have to worry about any sexual hanky panky, barring Suri growing a penis...)

 

[DRB]

Sure it can. He's going to convert to Scientology and become Suri Cruise's nanny. (At least you won't have to worry about any sexual hanky panky, barring Suri growing a penis...)

I bet Tom dresses up in a diaper and needs his bottom powdered when he goes poopy in his pants.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I'm not sure which part you were refering to - the apology part or the substitue for a different religion or the sexual charges part. I'm pretty sure that sexual abuse from these upstanding members (no pun intended) of the communties really did and do take place. It's just that I don't have evidence in front of me and so I'll go with innocent until proven guilty. Of couse if they are proven guilty then let's hope they get carted off to prison where they can get arse raped on a daily basis. Then there's the issue of theological consequences they have to ponder over at the end of this life, that is if they really believe what they were/are(?) preaching.

I was referring to the extreme Islamists going around killing Christians when the pope's comments "were taken out of context...."

It was a bad joke....nothing to see here....keep the line moving.