Sex Crimes, the Vatican and Benedict XVI

This afternoon, another reader forwarded to me another link to a story (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/5389684.stm) that pre-dates this blog but which once again highlights the fact that the uppermost levels of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church - including Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI - knew full well of the sexual abuse problems taking place within the worldwide Church and reacted by adopting a formal policy that sought to insure that cases of abuse were hushed up and that threatened victims and their families with excommunication if they failed to remain silent. Who was one of the enforcers of this policy? Who could punish all of the cardinals and bishops who had complicity? Benedict XVI, of course. Has he done so? No, and I beleive never will since he is just as guilty as the rest of them. Thus, the fawning and pandering that this false man of God will receive during his visit to the USA and which will be showcased on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops's blog becomes all the more despicable. Here are some story highlights:

Crimen Sollicitationis (described further here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/5392338.stm) was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.

Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with "any obscene external act ... with youths of either sex." It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church. Reporting for Panorama, Colm O'Gorman finds seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City.

Colm started an investigation with the BBC in March 2002 which led to the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey, the bishop leading the Ferns Diocese. Colm then pushed for a government inquiry which led to the Ferns Report. It was published in October 2005 and found: "A culture of secrecy and fear of scandal that led bishops to place the interests of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of children."

Nowhere in any of these documents does it say anything about helping the victims. The only thing it does is say that they can impose fear on the victims and punish the victims for discussing or disclosing what happened to them. It's all controlled by the Vatican and at the top of the Vatican is the Pope so Joseph Ratzinger was in the middle of this for most of the years that Crimens was enforced he created the successor to Crimen and now he is the Pope this all says that the policy and systematic approach has not changed.

Rather than being greeted with pomp and ceremony, it would seem more approriate if Benedict XVI was greeted with a criminal indictment for his role in the coverups and obstruction of justice. The man utterly disgusts me.