Catholic Bishops Still Seek to Avoid Accountability for Sex Abuse

Here in the USA, the Roman Catholic Church continues its jihad against LGBT equality even as more and more evidence of culpability of the Church hierarchy in the molestation of children and youths comes out in countries literally all around the world. Once again I find myself asking myself why anyone listens to these bitter old men who in many cases ought to be behind bars? In Belgium, the Church is faced with over 500 abuse complaints which led to at least 13 suicides. Meanwhile, Amnesty International is accusing the Vatican of breaching its obligations under international law to protect children from sex abuse. First these highlights from the Montreal Gazette on the debacle in Belgium:
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BRUSSELS - Belgium's Roman Catholic Church vowed Monday to compensate the victims of pedophile priests as lawsuit threats loom after a child abuse scandal that has rocked the Church for more than a year.
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Accused for months of showing little compassion for the victims, the bishops and heads of religious orders deplored the abuses that were documented last year by a Church-backed commission, which revealed nearly 500 cases involving Church workers that took place over several decades, resulting in 13 suicides.
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Some 80 abuse victims are already mounting a class-action lawsuit against the Belgian Church and the Vatican, accusing religious authorities of negligence by turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by predator priests.
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A lawyer for the Belgian victims, Walter Van Steenbrugge, is holding a press conference on Wednesday to present his case against the Vatican and the Belgian Church.
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Last month Van Steenbrugge charged that while Pope Benedict XVI and Belgian Church leader Andre-Joseph Leonard say they were fighting sex abuse, "they are doing quite the opposite — protecting abusers, hailing their protectors, excommunicating those who denounce the facts."
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Then there are these highlights from a Huffington Post story on Amnesty International's allegations against the Vatican:
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VATICAN CITY (RNS) Amnesty International has criticized the Vatican for falling short of its commitments to protect children from sex abuse. "The Holy See did not sufficiently comply with its international obligations relating to the protection of children," the human rights group said in its latest annual report, released on Friday (May 13).
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"Increasing evidence of widespread child sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy over the past decades, and of the enduring failure of the Catholic Church to address these crimes properly, continued to emerge in various countries" during 2010, the report said.
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Amnesty said the Vatican had failed in its obligations as a party to the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child, by "not removing alleged perpetrators from their posts pending proper investigations, not cooperating with judicial authorities to bring them to justice and not ensuring proper reparation to victims."
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So why are these despicable old men still given deference and respect?