Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Pope failed to address the 'culture of secrecy' - Derry Today

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF), a group that was formed in response to the clerical sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, has hit out at Pope Benedict XVI's failure to address a "culture of secrecy" that compounded the suffering of victims - in his pastoral letter...

“We welcome the papal recognition of the insights that survivors of abuse bring to the church and hope that this will inaugurate an intensive period of listening to them and their families.” Photo 

However they said the Pope failed to recognise a basic structural problem in the church.

“Secularism is blamed for a weakening of faith in Ireland, but there is no acknowledgement that it was secular agencies such as the media, the police, the civil courts and the state that uncovered a problem kept hidden by the church's own systems of governance. There is no recognition in the pastoral letter that the concentration of powers exercised by bishops led to a conflict of responsibilities, to a culture of secrecy and in too many cases to an unjust and intimidatory response to victims which compounded their sufferings. Read complete article - Derry Today

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!




Irish Catholics Furious at Pope’s Letter Blaming Clerical Abuse on ‘Secularization’ – ChattahBox.com

(ChattahBox)—-Against the backdrop of shocking revelations of decades of sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests in Ireland, and new reports of abuse in Germany, while Pope Benedict served as Archbishop of Munich, the Pope issued a lengthy public pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland, saying he was “deeply disturbed” of reports of “abuse of children” by “priests and religious.” Although the letter was a first by a pope dealing with the problems of sexual abuse in the Church, many victims and their families in Ireland have condemned Pope Benedict’s letter for not acknowledging the Vatican’s role in covering up the abuse and for not demanding the removal of bishops involved in keeping the abuse secret for decades, while innocent children continued to be molested. And many Irish Catholics are particularly rankled by Pope Benedict’s blaming the sexual abuse and its cover up on the secularization of modern society. Read more - ChattahBox.com Photo 

Kids Are Being Hurt!!!

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