Tony Blair’s Priest Parties With Transvestite ‘Nuns’

Related info:

And Now: iPhone Confession App – ‘Forgive Me iPhone, For I Have Sinned’



Louche bash: Father Michael Seed

Blair’s priest parties with transvestite ‘nuns’ (Daily Mail)

He is the best-known Catholic priest in ­Britain after Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster.

So it was only fitting that Father Michael Seed, 53 — the man who helped convert former Prime ­Minister Tony Blair to Catholicism — should mark 25 years in the priesthood with a mass at the Church Of The Immaculate Conception in Mayfair earlier this month.

So far, so acceptable. I can reveal, however, that Seed also had a second, rather less devout celebration — a ­champagne-fuelled party with entertainment provided by ­transvestites dressed as nuns.

A close friend of Father Seed’s arranged the bash at the Pigalle Club — housed in a pink basement in London’s Piccadilly and known for racy floor shows — to mark the anniversary of the well-connected priest’s ordination into the Franciscan Friars Of The Atonement.

The 200 guests, many of them ­fellow clergymen, were startled to be greeted at the door by four burly transvestites, who took their coats.

Read moreTony Blair’s Priest Parties With Transvestite ‘Nuns’

Vatican rejects resignations of Irish bishops over child sex abuse scandal

Here is what the catholic church did to child abusers and rapists:

The ‘Pedophile’s Paradise’: Alaska Natives are accusing the Catholic Church of using their remote villages as a ‘dumping ground’ for child-molesting priests (Flashback)


The Vatican has rejected the resignations of two Catholic bishops in Ireland who offered to quit in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal, the Archbishop of Dublin said.

vatican_1111111111
The Vatican rejected the offers of resignation Photo: REUTERS

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said in a letter to priests in his archdiocese that Auxiliary Bishops Eamonn Walsh and Raymond Field will remain in their jobs but will be given “revised responsibilities”.

The bishops presented their resignations to Pope Benedict XVI in December following a judge’s damning report on the Dublin archdiocese that found the Catholic Church concealed the abuse of children by priests for three decades.

In the letter he said: “Following the presentation of their resignations to Pope Benedict, it has been decided that Bishop Eamonn Walsh and Bishop Raymond Field will remain as auxiliary bishops.”

The archbishop said they were “to be assigned revised responsibilities within the diocese.”

“This means that they will be available to administer confirmation in any part of the diocese in the coming year,” Martin added.

Read moreVatican rejects resignations of Irish bishops over child sex abuse scandal

Catholic Priest Stole $1.3 Million From Church To Pay For Male Escorts, Designer Clothes And Luxury Hotels

kevin-j-gray
Kevin J Gray allegedly used the money to stay in luxury hotels and buy designer clothes AP

A Roman Catholic priest was charged yesterday with stealing $1.3m (£850,000) in church money over seven years to use for male escorts, expensive clothing and luxury hotels and restaurants.

The Rev Kevin J Gray, who was formerly pastor at Sacred Heart/Sagrado Corazon Parish in Waterbury, Connecticut, was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny, Waterbury police said. He was expected to be arraigned yesterday at Waterbury Superior Court.

Mr Gray, 64, allegedly used the money to stay at such hotels as the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and pay for expensive clothing including Armani suits, said Captain Christopher Corbett. He also paid the college tuition and rent of two men he had met, he added.

Read moreCatholic Priest Stole $1.3 Million From Church To Pay For Male Escorts, Designer Clothes And Luxury Hotels

And Now Financial Scandals: The Hidden Wealth Of The Catholic Church

See also:

The Intelligence² Debate – Stephen Fry: ‘The Catholic Church is Not a Force For Good in the World’


Joachim Meisner
Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner, whose monthly stipend of 11,300 euros is paid by the government under a centuries-old agreement. Meisner and many of his fellow ministers aren’t the only ones to receive public stipends. Year after year, both the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church in Germany receive generous payments from the federal, state and local governments. There are the proceeds from the church tax amounting to about 10 billion euros a year, but less well known are the annual subsidies to the church, both direct and indirect, which in the year 2000 amounted to an estimated 17 billion euros.

Part 1: The Hidden Wealth of the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church in Germany, already struggling to cope with the sex abuse scandal, has been hit by revelations of theft, opaque accounting and extravagance. While the grassroots faithful are being forced to make cutbacks, some bishops enjoy the trappings of the church’s considerable hidden wealth.

Shortly before Pentecost, Pastor S. received an unexpected early morning visit, not from the Holy Ghost, but from the police.

For the authorities, the words of the Gospel of Luke came true on that morning: He who seeks finds. More than €131,000 ($158,000) were hidden in various places in the rooms of the Catholic priest, tucked in between his laundry or attached to the bottom of drawers. The reverend was arrested on the spot. After several weeks in custody, Hans S., 76, is now back at the monastery, waiting for his trial.

And lo and behold, the proliferation of cash may have been even more miraculous than initially assumed. The public prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Würzburg now estimates that S. may have embezzled up to €1.5 million from collections and other church funds. The members of his flock in a wine-growing village in the northern Bavarian region of Franconia are stunned. They had blindly trusted their shepherd, who always seemed so humble and modest.

The Catholic Church is currently being shaken by a number of financial scandals, not only in Franconia but also in Augsburg, another Bavarian city, where Bishop Walter Mixa’s dip into funds from a foundation that runs children’s homes recently made headlines.

More than €40 million have gone missing in the Diocese of Magdeburg in eastern Germany, €5 million have disappeared in Limburg near Frankfurt, and it was recently discovered that a senior priest in the Diocese of Münster had 30 secret bank accounts. And while parishes throughout Germany are cutting jobs and funds for community work, many bishops are still living on the high horse. A brand-new residence? An ostentatious home for their retirement? Restoration of a Marian column to the tune of €120,000? None of these expenditures presents a problem to high-ranking church officials from Trier in the west to Passau in the southeastern corner of Bavaria, whose coffers are brimming with cash.

Read moreAnd Now Financial Scandals: The Hidden Wealth Of The Catholic Church

The Intelligence² Debate – Stephen Fry: ‘The Catholic Church is Not a Force For Good in the World’

Highly recommended video!



Added: 16.01.10

Related information – “By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them!”:

Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of sex abuse cover-up (Times)

Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of his close friend Bishop Walter Mixa in sex probe (Reuters)

Belgium: Top Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Child Sexual Abuse (Times)

Database of Catholic Priests Publicly Accused of Sexual Abuse in the US (BishopAccountability.org)

Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse (CNN)

Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video (AFP)

Priest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal (The Local)

Catholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’ (The Telegraph)

Cardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest (BBC NEWS)

Catholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession (AP)

Belgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints (AFP)

Connecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill (CNN)

Richard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’ (Times)

Catholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint (My San Antonio)

Norway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims (AFP)

Pope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys (Times)

Ireland Archbishop Stunned by Archbishop of Canterbury’s Criticism of Catholic Church (Times)

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism (AP)

ABC Nightline: What the Pope Knew About Father Maciel (ABC NEWS)

Pope Benedict Appointed Bishop Accused of Ritually Beating Orphaned Children (The Raw Story)

40% of Americans view Pope Benedict XVI favorably (Gallup)

1963 letter indicates former pope knew of abuse (AP)

Germany’s Catholic Church sexual abuse hotline received 1,000 calls the first day (Digital Journal)

Austrian Catholic Church Abuse Hot Lines Log 566 Reports This Year (Austrian Independent)

Australian Bishop says ‘vast amount’ of sexual abuse cases yet to emerge (Sydney Morning Herald)

Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse FOR YEARS (New York Times)

Christopher Hitchens Slams Vatican, Pope Over Sex Abuse Scandal (Huffington Post)

The Pope Is Not Above the Law (Slate)

Sex Abuse Victims to Sue Vatican (Times)

Pope Benedict Signals Won’t Be Intimidated By Abuse Critics, Uses Popemobile For First Time On A Palm Sunday (New York Times/AFP)

Vatican knew of abuse in Ontario: Victim (Toronto Star)

Pope failed to defrock an American priest who molested hundreds of deaf boys, despite receiving letters from American bishops pleading with him to act (Times)

A church sex scandal where the truth is crucified (Toronto Star)

Sinead O’Connor: ‘There Should Be A Full Criminal Investigation Of The Pope’ (LA Times)

Catholic Church quietly expelling and punishing children, homeless (Irish Central)

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests (Flashback):

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony turned over to Milwaukee County’s district attorney on Thursday.

Swiss Catholic Church Investigating 10 Abuse Cases (Reuters)

Irish Catholic Church Paid Child Sex Abuse Victim To Keep Quiet (Guardian)

Catholic Church Child Abuse: Nuns Now Also Accused (Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

Church: Pope Had Role in Moving Molesting Priest (Bloomberg)

Pope knew priest was paedophile but allowed him to continue with ministry (Times)

Pope will struggle to survive abuse scandal (Irish Independent)

Benedict’s involvement ’shows extent of cover-ups’ (Irish Independent)

Sinead O’Connor: I’d help Jesus to burn down the Vatican (Irish Independent)

RIGHTS-GERMANY: ‘Catholic Church Protects Paedophile Priests’ (IPS)

Child abuse claims sweep Catholic Church in Europe (AP)

Archbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of sex abuse cover-up

cardinal-christoph-schonborn
Cardinal Schönborn accused the former Vatican Secretary of State of having blocked investigations into abuse (AP)

Open warfare broke out in the Vatican over the clerical sex abuse scandal at the weekend as Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, accused one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of covering up past scandals.

Cardinal Schönborn, 65, seen as a possible future Pope, accused Cardinal Angelo Sodano, 82, the former Vatican Secretary of State (Prime Minister), of having blocked investigations into sex abuse crimes committed by his predecessor in Vienna, the late Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer.

Cardinal Schönborn, a former theology pupil of Pope Benedict and a close ally, also charged Cardinal Sodano with causing “massive harm” to victims by dismissing claims of clerical abuse as “petty gossip” on Easter Sunday.

Read moreArchbishop of Vienna accuses one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest aides of sex abuse cover-up

Pope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of his close friend Bishop Walter Mixa in sex probe

Pope accepts resignation of German bishop in sex probe

bishop-walter-mixa
Bishop Walter Mixa

(Reuters) – Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday accepted the resignation of a German bishop who has been accused of sexually abusing minors, the latest in a string of Roman Catholic prelates forced to resign over an abuse scandal.

A Vatican statement said the pope agreed Bishop Walter Mixa of Augsburg in Bavaria should step down. He became the first bishop to quit in the pontiff’s native Germany over the child abuse scandal that has rocked the Church in several European countries and the United States.

In recent weeks, a Belgian bishop resigned after admitting he had sexually abused a boy and three Irish bishops quit over their handling of sexual abuse cases.

German prosecutors and church officials said on Friday authorities were investigating accusations of sexual abuse by Mixa, who had already offered to step down after being accused of hitting children.

Read morePope Benedict XVI accepts resignation of his close friend Bishop Walter Mixa in sex probe

Belgium: Top Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Child Sexual Abuse

bishop-roger-vangheluwe
Roger Vangheluwe said he was ‘enormously sorry’ for the abuse

The longest-serving Roman Catholic bishop in Belgium has resigned after admitting sexually abusing a boy for years. Roger Vangheluwe, 73, said that he was “enormously sorry” for molesting the boy from before he was made Bishop of Bruges in 1985.

The Vatican accepted his resignation only a day after a lawsuit was filed in the US against Pope Benedict XVI over sex abuse committed by an American priest.

The Catholic Church is reeling from the departures of several senior figures over abuse scandals, including Walter Mixa, a senior German bishop close to the Pope, who resigned on Thursday after admitting beating children at an orphanage.

Mr Vangheluwe is the most senior cleric to step down over child sex abuse during the crisis. In a statement read by the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium, Archbishop André-Joséph Leonard, the bishop said: “When I was not a bishop, and some time later, I abused a boy. This has marked the victim mentally forever. The wound does not heal. Neither in me nor the victim.”

Church officials said that Mr Vangheluwe would not be prosecuted because the crime had not been reported within the country’s statute of limitations, understood to be ten years after the victim turns 18 for cases of child sex abuse.

Read moreBelgium: Top Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Child Sexual Abuse

Database of Catholic Priests Publicly Accused of Sexual Abuse in the US

This database is a MUST-SEE!

Access by last name, then you get an idea how big that database is.


Database of
Accused Priests

Access by
Main Search Page

Or by last name
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Or by clickable diocesan map

database-of-catholic-priests-publicly-accused-of-sexual-abuse-in-the-us


Source: BishopAccountability.org


Related information:

Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse (CNN)

Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video (AFP)

Priest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal (The Local)

Catholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’ (The Telegraph)

Cardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest (BBC NEWS)

Catholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession (AP)

Belgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints (AFP)

Connecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill (CNN)

Richard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’ (Times)

Catholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint (My San Antonio)

Norway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims (AFP)

Pope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys (Times)

Ireland Archbishop Stunned by Archbishop of Canterbury’s Criticism of Catholic Church (Times)

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism (AP)

Read moreDatabase of Catholic Priests Publicly Accused of Sexual Abuse in the US

Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse

pope-benedict-xvi
Pope Benedict XVI is named in a suit filed by an Illinois man alleging that the Vatican covered up sexual abuse by a priest.

(CNN) — An Illinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for allegedly covering up sexual abuse by a priest at a Catholic school in Wisconsin.

The lawsuit demands the Vatican release the names of thousands of Catholic priests that the suit says have “credible allegations of sexual misconduct” against them.

The alleged victim, who is now an adult, says he was molested by Father Lawrence Murphy while a student at St. John’s School for the Deaf, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“The defendant, [the] Holy See, has known about the widespread problem of childhood sexual abuse committed by its clergy for centuries, but has covered up that abuse and thereby perpetuated the abuse,” the suit says.

Federico Lombardi, a Vatican spokesman, declined to comment on the case.

Pope Benedict XVI was named as a defendant because he has the ultimate authority to remove priests and because of his involvement in reviewing sex abuse cases when he was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the suit says.

Read moreIllinois man is suing the Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI for covering up sexual abuse

Catholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video

(AFP) — An 84-year-old Brazilian priest caught on camera in a sex act with a choirboy has been arrested and put in detention.

The 30-day detention was ordered by a judge to prevent the priest, Luiz Marques Barbosa, fleeing pending the outcome of a criminal investigation for pedophilia, a spokesman for the police unit in the town of Arapiraca said.

“As Father Barbosa was chaplain for Sao Paulo’s military police, he has the privilege of being detained in our barracks instead of going to jail,” the spokesman said.

Barbosa’s case, which adds to a pedophile scandal tarnishing the Catholic Church, came to light a month ago when a Brazilian television channel broadcast video footage of the priest receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar.

The incident scandalised Brazil, where 74 per cent of the 190-million strong population is Catholic.

Read moreCatholic priest, 84, receiving oral sex from a choirboy in front of a local church altar caught on video

Priest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal

priest-says-he-was-bullied-into-taking-fall-for-pope-in-abuse-scandal

The church official who initially said it was his fault that a paedophile priest was given succour in Pope Benedict XVI’s former diocese has broken ranks, alleging he was bullied into taking responsibility to protect the pontiff.

Gerhard Gruber was Joseph Ratzinger’s general vicar in Munich during the 1980s, when Ratzinger, now Pope, was Archbishop.

Ratzinger chaired the meeting which decided to offer paedophile priest Peter H., a safe haven in Munich. The priest was also given further positions of trust in the church, and was later convicted of further child abuse.

Gruber’s friends have told Der Spiegel news magazine that when the story came to light last month, he was under immense pressure to take responsibility for the decision in order to shield the Pope from accusations of having helped a paedophile.

The magazine wrote that he was urgently “requested” to take full responsibility in order to take the Pope “out of the firing line.”

He wrote in a letter to a friend that he had been faxed a statement that he was to make, though he had been given the opportunity to suggest changes.

Gruber issued a statement in March which said, “The repeated employment of H. in priestly spiritual duties was a bad mistake. I assume all responsibility.”

Read morePriest Says He Was Bullied Into Taking Fall For Pope Benedict XVI In Abuse Scandal

Catholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’

The Catholic Church in Malta was as devious as the Mafia in covering up years of sexual abuse against orphans, one alleged victim said ahead of the Pope’s visit to the Mediterranean country on Saturday.


Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Malta on his first overseas trip since a wave of paedophile sex abuse allegations engulfed the Church.

A group of 10 Maltese orphans, now in their late thirties, say they were sexually abused in the 1980s by the priests charged with looking after them. They believe hundreds of other Maltese boys and teenagers were also abused, but have been too afraid or ashamed to come forward.

“The Church on Malta is like the Mafia. It is very powerful, and people are afraid of it,” said Joseph Magro, 38, one of the alleged victims.

But seven years after they officially launched their complaint, the group claims they continue to face a wall of silence from the Church.

Among the accused is Father Charles Pulis, who still works in a Catholic-run institution adjacent to a boys’ school.

He is being investigated by a behind-closed-doors Church tribunal, which holds hearings only every four months.

“If a father abused his child like this, he would go straight to jail,” said a second alleged victim, who asked not to be named. “We want these priests to be punished as they used to punish us.”

Read moreCatholic Church is ‘like the Mafia’

Cardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest

cardinal-dario-castrillon-hoyos The letter was written by Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos

The Vatican has confirmed the authenticity of a letter in which a cardinal praised a French bishop for not denouncing a paedophile priest.

The letter, originally published in the French press, was written in 2001 by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, then in charge of clergy around the world.

A Vatican spokesman said the letter showed the wisdom of a 2001 decision to centralise the handling of abuse cases.

The case comes amid a continuing child sex abuse scandal engulfing the Church.

Allegations of abuse and cover-ups have emerged recently from countries across Europe as well as the US.

The letter from Cardinal Hoyos was addressed to the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux in northern France, Pierre Pican.

Father Pican had just been given a three-month suspended prison sentence for not denouncing Rene Bissey, an abbott who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2000 for paedophilia.

‘Delighted’

“I congratulate you on not having spoken out to civil authorities against a priest,” wrote Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who at the time was prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

bishop-pierre-pican Bishop Pierre Pican reveived a three-month suspended sentence

“You have done well and I am delighted to have an associate in the episcopate who… preferred prison to speaking out against a son-priest.”

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the letter confirmed “how opportune it was to centralise treatment of cases of sexual abuse of minors by clerics under the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith”.

That step was taken in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict XVI – who headed the the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time.

Read moreCardinal Praised Bishop’s Silence Over Paedophile Priest

Catholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession


VIENNA—Austrian authorities have launched legal proceedings against a Catholic priest accused of possessing child pornography and sharing it with others online.

Prosecution spokesman Erich Habitzl in the eastern city of Wiener Neustadt says the priest is not in custody but will soon have to defend himself in court.

Habitzl says the pornographic material was found on a hard drive.

He did not identify the priest or give further details in Monday’s announcement.

Public broadcaster ORF reported that investigators secured more than 400 files on the priest’s computer and that he has since been relieved of all his religious duties.

The priest faces up to two years in prison if found guilty.

Read moreCatholic Priest Accused of Child Porn Possession

Belgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints

BELGIAN bishops have failed to punish any clergy over 300 complaints of paedophilia brought to their attention in the 1990s, claims a priest who helped many victims.

”We brought forward between 1992 and 1998 more than 300 complaints from victims of abuse committed by priests, but only 15 ended up with admissions” of guilt, Father Rick Deville told the Flemish dailies De Standaard and Het Nieuwsblad yesterday.

”A priest accused would most often be moved, but was never punished,” he complained.

Read moreBelgian Bishops Failed To Punish Over 300 Paedophilia Complaints

Connecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill

connecticut-bishops-fight-sex-abuse-bill
The proposed change would put “all Church institutions … at risk,” a letter from Connecticut’s Catholic bishops says.

Hartford, Connecticut (CNN) — A bill in Connecticut’s legislature that would remove the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse cases has sparked a fervent response from the state’s Roman Catholic bishops, who released a letter to parishioners Saturday imploring them to oppose the measure.

Under current Connecticut law, sexual abuse victims have 30 years past their 18th birthday to file a lawsuit. The proposed change to the law would rescind that statute of limitations.

The proposed change to the law would put “all Church institutions, including your parish, at risk,” says the letter, which was signed by Connecticut’s three Roman Catholic bishops.

Read moreConnecticut Catholic Bishops Fight Sex Abuse Bill

Richard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’

Pope ‘has no UK arrest immunity’ (Press Association):

Mr Stephens said: “The courts will examine the claim of immunity. I believe that an English court would reject it. If the Pope was here on a state visit, ordinarily a head of state would have sovereign immunity. What I believe is that because he’s not a sovereign, not a head of state, he’s not entitled to the defence.”

He said that the Vatican was declared to be a state by Benito Mussolini, but this had no standing in international law.


8660758
Pope ‘has no UK arrest immunity’

RICHARD DAWKINS, the atheist campaigner, is planning a legal ambush to have the Pope arrested during his state visit to Britain “for crimes against humanity”.

Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author, have asked human rights lawyers to produce a case for charging Pope Benedict XVI over his alleged cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic church.

The pair believe they can exploit the same legal principle used to arrest Augusto Pinochet, the late Chilean dictator, when he visited Britain in 1998.

The Pope was embroiled in new controversy this weekend over a letter he signed arguing that the “good of the universal church” should be considered against the defrocking of an American priest who committed sex offences against two boys. It was dated 1985, when he was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which deals with sex abuse cases.

Read moreRichard Dawkins plans to arrest Pope Benedict XVI during his state visit to Britain ‘for crimes against humanity’

Germany says Vatican covered up severe sexual abuse

sabine-leutheusser-schnarrenberger
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger at the chancellery in Berlin March 3, 2010/Thomas Peter

Germany’s justice minister accused the Vatican today of covering up severe sexual abuse in the Church after fresh reports surfaced at three Catholic schools in Bavaria.

Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called the developments “frightening” after the cathedral choir in Regensburg, the Benedictine monastery school at Ettal and a Capucian school in Burghausen revealed new cases of sexual and physical abuse.

The revelations followed reports last month that Catholic priests had sexually abused over 100 children at Jesuit schools around Germany, which led to a public apology from Archbishop Robert Zollitsch, head of the German Bishops Conference.

“In many schools there was a wall of silence allowing for abuse and violence,” Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a secular liberal politician who has been the government’s leading critic of the Church, told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio.

“Even the most severe cases of abuse are subject only to papal secrecy and should not be disclosed outside the Church,” she said, citing a 2001 Catholic congregation directive.

Church officials rejected her charges. Bishop Stephan Ackermann, who speaks for the Church on abuse matters, called the minister’s comments “absurd”.

“Our guidelines insist that we involve state prosecutors,” he told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Read moreGermany says Vatican covered up severe sexual abuse

Catholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint

“The lawsuit claims Father Fiala gave the teen a ride in a church truck to Big Spring for the teen to visit his girlfriend but stopped at a San Angelo Motel 6. There, he raped the teen at gunpoint in a room and said, “If you tell anyone what happened, I will hurt you and your family,” according to the suit.

On other occasions, the priest manipulated the teen into performing oral sex, once by leveraging his gift of a car and another time pulling a revolver on him, according to the suit.

The teen eventually ran away from home and attempted suicide, the suit says. A school counselor learned of the alleged abuse and contacted the Sheriff’s Office.”


Priest named in sexual abuse lawsuit

church-abuse

A Catholic priest from a rural parish west of San Antonio is accused in a lawsuit filed Thursday of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy at gunpoint and during private catechism sessions two years ago.

The suit, which names outgoing Archbishop José Gomez as a defendant and claims he sought to conceal the matter, comes three days after the Vatican named Gomez as the next archbishop in Los Angeles.

Read moreCatholic Priest Raped Teenage Boy At Gunpoint

Norway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims

(AFP) — Norway’s Roman Catholic Church received so many email tip-offs about possible pedophile priests following revelations of abuse by a bishop that its computer crashed, a senior cleric said.

“I received so many email tip-offs about possible aggressions and other sexual abuse that the computer server crashed,” Bishop of Oslo and Trondheim Bernt Eidsvig was quoted as saying by the tabloid paper Verdens Gang.

Bernt disclosed on Wednesday at the request of the Vatican that one of Norway’s former bishops, German Georg Mueller, had abused a choirboy in the early 1990s.

Read moreNorway Catholic Church Computer Server Crashed By Flood Of Pedophile Priests Abuse Claims

Pope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys

John Paul ‘ignored abuse of 2,000 boys’

Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer
Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer abused an estimated 2,000 boys for decades without sanction

When John Paul II died five years ago the crowd that packed St Peter’s Square for his funeral clamoured “Santo subito (Saint now)!” in a spontaneous tribute to the charisma of the Polish pontiff.

As the faithful marked the anniversary of John Paul’s death on Good Friday, however, he was being drawn into the scandal over child abuse in the Catholic church that has confronted his successor, Benedict XVI, with the worst crisis of his reign.

Allegations that the late pontiff blocked an inquiry into a paedophile cardinal, promoted senior church figures despite accusations that they had molested boys and covered up innumerable cases of abuse during his 26-year papacy have cast a cloud over his path to sainthood.

The most serious claims related to Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, an Austrian friend of John Paul’s who abused an estimated 2,000 boys over decades but never faced any sanction from Rome.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Groer’s successor, criticised the handling of that scandal and other abuse cases last week after holding a special service in St Stephen’s cathedral, Vienna, entitled “Admitting our guilt”.

Schönborn condemned the “sinful structures” within the church and the patterns of “silencing” victims and “looking away”.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – who became Pope Benedict – had tried to investigate the abuses as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Schönborn. But his efforts had been blocked by “the Vatican”, an apparent reference to John Paul.

Read morePope John Paul II Blocked Inquiry of Paedophile Cardinal Friend Who Abused 2,000 boys

Ireland Archbishop Stunned by Archbishop of Canterbury’s Criticism of Catholic Church

archbishop-of-canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury made the comments during an interview with Andrew Marr for the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week, to be broadcast on Monday. (Times)

The Archbishop of Dublin today said he was “stunned” to hear the Archbishop of Canterbury declare that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of the child abuse scandal.

Diarmuid Martin, the second most senior Catholic in Ireland, responded to a rare breach of ecumenical protocol by Dr Rowan Williams in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

Mr Martin said he had “rarely felt personally so discouraged” as when he woke to hear Dr Williams’ comments. Those working to renew the church did not deserve the remarks, which “will be for them immensely disheartening and will challenge their faith even further”.

Dr Williams criticised the Catholic Church over its handling of the paedophile priests crisis and made plain his anger over the Pope’s plans for

It comes after Dr Williams said the paedophile priest scandal had been a “colossal trauma” for Ireland in particular as he commented for the first time on the crisis.

“I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it’s quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now,” he told Andrew Marr for the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week, to be broadcast on Monday.

“And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility — that’s not just a problem for the Church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland.”

Read moreIreland Archbishop Stunned by Archbishop of Canterbury’s Criticism of Catholic Church

Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism

‘Anti-Semitism’???

The catholic church has all the ‘Nazis’ (in this case the rapists and abusers) in its ranks. The catholic church is not the victim here.

Deaf Boys Tried to Tell of Priest’s Abuse FOR YEARS (New York Times)

Pope failed to defrock an American priest who molested hundreds of deaf boys, despite receiving letters from American bishops pleading with him to act (Times)

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests (Flashback):

Former Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland routinely shredded copies of weekly reports about sexual abuse by priests, according to formerly sealed testimony turned over to Milwaukee County’s district attorney on Thursday.

And now the catholic church wants to get away with it:

How Vatican Tries to Dodge Legal Fallout of Sex Abuse (AOL News)

Vatican offers 3 reasons it’s not liable for abuse (AP)

Religion: Pope claims legal immunity; Vatican, Bishops, defend cover-up (Examiner)

For all these children all around the globe we cannot allow this to happen.


Pope’s preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism

VATICAN POPE HOLY THURSDAY
Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the feet-washing rite in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, Thursday April 1, 2010. The feet-washing ceremony symbolizes humility and commemorates Jesus’ last supper with his 12 apostles on the evening before his Good Friday crucifixion. (AP)

(AP) VATICAN CITY  – Pope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher on Friday likened accusations against the pope and the Catholic church in the sex abuse scandal to “collective violence” suffered by the Jews.

See also:
Attacks on Pope over child abuse scandal are ‘akin to anti-Semitism’ (Times)

The Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa said in a Good Friday homily with the pope listening in St. Peter’s Basilica that a Jewish friend wrote to him to say the accusations remind him of the “more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

Read morePope Benedict XVI’s personal preacher: Abuse critique like anti-Semitism