So far in his celebrated visit to America, His Holiness has expressed shame and regret for the massive sex abuse scandal and the way it was handled. But he also said it was sort of America's own fault.According to Breitbart: ...He urged efforts "to address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores" as well as a reassessment of "the values underpinning society."
"What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" the pontiff said on the first full day of his US visit.
"Children deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today."
They should also be spared a religious hierarchy that protects the priests that abuse them.The Pope has yet to explain what the Church is doing to expel pedophile priests, and he continues to stand by bishops who covered up the abuse for years.
The truth is, the abuse that went on in the Catholic Church is not "society's" fault. It's the Church's fault. That's why the Church has had to pay out $2 billion in claims. And that makes it ultimately the Pope's fault. The church scandal is not something he can pass off on internet pornography.
For us, the Pope's visit has raised some major questions:
1. How rude is it to attack our morality on his first full day here? President Bush picked him up from the airport.
2. Does anyone know why Benedict's teenage affiliation with the Hitler Youth is excused by his being, in the BBC 's parlance, "not an enthusiastic member"?
3. Any clue why the Pope's autobiography is written through the eyes of his cat Chico?
4. Finally, how seriously should we take what the papers are calling the Pope's "chiding" of American society and its role in the church scandal? Do we as a nation really share some of the blame for the Church's crisis?
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 14)
76. Pedophiles existed long before pornography and violence were viewable through magazines, television, the internet, etc. The problem is that a pedophile is sexually attracted to a human being that has not matured enough to be capable of informed consent to a sexual act. Because pedophiles are attracted to children, they should be prevented from having access to children, period.
Sexual_Abuse_Survivor at 11:51AM on Apr 18th 2008
77. As a resident of the twin tiers in the State of New York, I am embarrassed by this bizarre piece of legislation giving special economic treatment to those who are struggle with very vile passions that have damaged so many young people of our area. It appears that the leadership and some of Ithaca’s residents have become so idle and lazy that they have adopted the idols of Sodom and Gomorrah.
There were two male youths, both aged 15, who experimented with homosexuality for the first time. They both contracted HIV. The liberal public heath agencies and Planned Parenthood covered this story up and it never reached the media. The two boy’s parents were embarrassed and ashamed. I predict that their new little health program will cost area tax payers even more as our local government economically funds this physical and moral dysfunction leading to more STD heath crises.
The shame-filled history of the homosexual has left nations less populated, sicker, and emotionally and financially drained. Even the vast majority of their leaders per capita have fought hard to preserve the STD curse on the earth, while taking pleasure in destroying the minds of children with despicable acts of lewdness and molestation.
Homosexuality is a DEATH-style that destroys the family, manhood, womanhood, and childhood in order the mock at God's divine order and destroys the future generations of humanity. Sometimes youth are bent toward to same sex when they were exposed to sexual images of the same sex during puberty while lacking a father figure at home. This emotional disorder is spread primarily by pornography and child molestation from the same sex. Then feelings of rejection from the opposite-sex have perpetuated this unhealthy dysfunction into adulthood.
Homosexual Child Molesters
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/one.php
NAMBLA And Homosexual Activism http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/nine.php
Exposed: The Myth That Psychiatry Has Proven That Homosexual Behavior Is Normal
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/eleven.php
THOMAS QUINN at 11:53AM on Apr 18th 2008
78. I say amen to Bryce Thompson's blog of celibacy of priests. Part of the reason celibacy was instituted was due to the fact that when a priest died, his property went to his widow and children. The church wanted that property, so they tried and tried till they were successful. In their greed, they acquired said property, so by the beginning of the 20th century the church was incredibly rich. Now with all these lawsuits it has backfired (karma) and the parishoners have to pay the acrchdiocese for the losses. I do however think that at this point 20 or 30 years later, the victims are taking advantage of the situation. A lot of people get abused in one way or another and they get over it. Anyway, I, along with countless others believe that priests should be allowed to be married and the frequency of pedophilia will dramatically decrease. Jesus Christ never said that priests should be celibate and this celibacy did not start until the Roman Catholic church became powerful. This celibacy thing was one of the reasons between the schism of the Western (Roman) catholic church and the Eastern (Greek)
Mdesah at 11:57AM on Apr 18th 2008
79. As a resident of the twin tiers in the State of New York, I am embarrassed by this bizarre piece of legislation giving special economic treatment to those who are struggle with the very vile passions that have damaged so many young people in our area. It appears that the leadership and some of Ithaca’s residents have become so idle and lazy that they have adopted the idols of Sodom and Gomorrah.
There were two male youths, both aged 15, who experimented with homosexuality for the first time. They both contracted HIV. The liberal public heath agencies and Planned Parenthood covered this story up and it never reached the media. The two boy’s parents were embarrassed and ashamed. I predict that their new little health program will cost area tax payers even more as our local government economically funds this physical and moral dysfunction.
The shame-filled history of the homosexual has left nations less populated, sicker, and emotionally and financially drained. Even the vast majority of their leaders per capita have fought hard to preserve the STD curse on the earth, while taking pleasure in destroying the minds of children with despicable acts of lewdness and molestation.
Homosexuality is a DEATH-style that destroys the family, manhood, womanhood, and childhood in order the mock at God's divine order and destroys the future generations of humanity. Sometimes youth are bent toward to same sex when they were exposed to sexual images of the same sex during puberty while lacking a father figure at home. This emotional disorder is spread primarily by pornography and child molestation from the same sex. Then feelings of rejection from the opposite-sex have perpetuated this unhealthy dysfunction into adulthood.
Homosexual Child Molesters
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/one.php
NAMBLA And Homosexual Activism http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/nine.php
Exposed: The Myth That Psychiatry Has Proven That Homosexual Behavior Is Normal
http://www.traditionalvalues.org/urban/eleven.php
THOMAS QUINN at 5:35PM on Apr 18th 2008
80. goddess1prevail:
I did not "defend the Pope's comments" I said, "his comments were valid if" because I (admittedly) did not have the information and the article did not provide it. Finally, I left it as a question, "Does he know something we don't?" about the prevalence of sex abuse by priests abroad. My comment was ambiguous as I merely allowed that yes, culture can play a part in the frequency of certain acts which, while criminal may be more common in some cultures than in others. I will thank you not to twist my words in the future.
Keith J. Mohrhoff at 12:08PM on Apr 18th 2008
81. Our society has become increasingly debauched and the church has not done as much as it can to rid its ranks of pedophiles. Only a child would think both things can not be true at the same time. Stop using your hatred of religion to hold the church to a higher standard than anything else. I don't see too many people up in arms about the underage homosexual prostitutes in San Francisco. Nor do I see too many people up in arms about teenage boys who impregnate multiple teenage girls in the ghetto (though if they were white and doing it in the name of religion they would be excoriated). While I do not approve of polygamy, I also find the selective moral outrage of those whose ohly agenda is hatred of God hypocritical in the extreme.
Helen at 12:11PM on Apr 18th 2008
82. goddess1prevail
Engaging in sexual acts outside of marriage, with multiple partners, or with the same gender is a grave sin; whether consensual or not is a grave sin. The Sexual abuse of a child is also a sin.
janesophie1 at 12:34PM on Apr 18th 2008
83. goddess1prevail
Engaging in sexual acts outside of marriage, with multiple partners, or with the same gender; whether consensual or not is a grave sin. The Sexual abuse of a child is also a sin.
janesophie1 at 12:36PM on Apr 18th 2008
84. Helen:
Thank you, Helen. I also did not see any outrage about the woman/man that is pregnant. How terribly immoral our society has become when a woman that alters her gender, keeps her reproductive organs, marries a woman, and then is inseminated is treated like a celebrity on the news!
janesophie1 at 12:44PM on Apr 18th 2008
85. Jane,
Sin only exists in the realm that is religion. Outside that realm sin does not exist, only crimes. It is not a crime to Engage in sexual acts outside of marriage, with multiple partners, or with the same gender or else our society would punish those acts with penalties. Sexual abuse is a crime.
goddess1prevail at 12:47PM on Apr 18th 2008
86. janesophie,
The pope is a good man?
Dominus Jesus is a catholic position authored by the cardinal Ratzinger. In it he states the only way to salvation is the catholic church.
The church teaches this document to children as part of the catholic dogma.
To tell a child that the church is the only way to have happiness and NOT burn in hell for eternity is bad. Having told children this and then threatening them with expulsion from the church if they tell of their abuse is terrible, not the actions of a good man.
If you still believe the pope is a good man, by all means, do as you will. Please, don't ever leave children alone with one of these monsters.
mac at 12:49PM on Apr 18th 2008
87. goddess1prevail
All sexual acts outside of marriage between a man and woman are sinful. It is time that this truth was proclaimed unequivocally from every pulpit!
janesophie1 at 12:53PM on Apr 18th 2008
88. Again Jane,
You fail to distinguish the line between sin and crime. If you are religious then yes, that sin applies to you. But if you are not religious sin does NOT EXIST, Period, end of story. Sin did not exist until religion was invented and religion was not invented until hunter gatherer societies, before than, no religion, no sin.
goddess1prevail at 1:00PM on Apr 18th 2008
89. mac
I have read Pope John Paul II's encyclical, Dominus Jesus". It does not say there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. I am not going to engage in a debate or waste time catechizing. I suggest you read the document and study it for yourself.
janesophie1 at 1:03PM on Apr 18th 2008
90. goddess1prevail
All sexual acts, except sexual intercourse between a man and a woman within marriage are immoral and a grave sin. I don’t have to prove it. God said it. He exists whether you acknowledge him or not. Truth exists whether you believe it or not. I don’t have to argue history, philosophy or theology; God’s word will never pass away!
janesophie1 at 1:14PM on Apr 18th 2008