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Pope Benedict is Living in Denial

Posted April 21, 2008 | 10:02 AM (EST)

Read More: Pope, Pope Benedict, Pope Benedict XVI, Sexual Abuse, Breaking Living News

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He came, he spoke, he conquered.

Pope Benedict XVI is back in Rome, after his razzle-dazzle visit to the United States -- where he impressed everybody with his apologetic comments about the priest pedophile scandal.

Well, ALMOST everybody. He didn't impress me, because -- even though, for the first time, he expressed regret at the way the Church tried for so long to cover up the scandal -- he still refuses to recognize what lies at the heart of the problem.

As long as the Catholic Church insists on only ordaining men as priests -- and only accepting celibate men as priests -- its sex scandals are never going away.

There's nothing in Scripture or in the teachings of Jesus to support a male-only, celibate clergy. Those rules were added much later by misogynist, sexually-screwed up theologians.

After all, some of the closest and most loyal followers of Jesus were women. And most of the Apostles, including St. Peter, were married men.

Look at ministers, rabbis, or Orthodox priests. There's no doubt a member of the clergy can marry and still function as a priest.

If Benedict is really serious about fixing the Church's sex scandal problems, he will let priests get married. Then they won't be so likely to prey on little boys.

 

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collapse KevinMast See Profile I'm a Fan of KevinMast

Ratzinger is just giving us more of the same. I was sexually abused by Father Steve Jeselnick in the Erie Diocese. He still remains an active ordained priest in good standing. He also lives an openly gay life with his lover in Baltimore at the same time preaching the anti-gay Catholic message.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:50 PM on 04/25/2008
collapse JohnFromCensornati See Profile I'm a Fan of JohnFromCensornati

Denial of reality is what it's all about.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:21 AM on 04/22/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

I hate to rain on your parade Mr Press, but if the sexual abuse uncovered in the Catholic Church was caused by the rule of celibacy, what"s the cause of the remaining 99% of the sexual abuse that occurs outside of the Catholic Church? I think you need a new theory. Also, have you got any theories as to why 80% of the sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was male to male? Do you have a genuine concern about the issue of sexual abuse? Or are you just using the issue to push your own agenda? In which case you wouldn"t be too interested with the facts.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:44 AM on 04/22/2008
collapse dugan45 See Profile I'm a Fan of dugan45

The Catholic Church loves extremism. My understanding is that celibacy came into play because the Vatican and priestdom had become a House of Male Slatterns and Concubines and Bastards. The crisis reached critical mass under Pope Alexander VI--the House of Borgia...remember Lucretia, all the murders, the mistresses, and illegitimate kids? Vatican decadence brought about celibacy law, a move from one extreme to its opposite.


With or without celibacy law, priests will want to get off homosexually or heterosexually. The problem with the Catholic Church is that church leadership has promoted pedophilia.Celibacy law won't prevent priests from whoring, nor will reversing celibacy law prevent priests from whoring or committing perversions with little boys and girls.

But gay priests are into men, not little boys or girls. They are also into colorful priestly silk dresses and skirts, wonderful hats; no undergarments to hide baskets. Gays are in it for the drag show and copulation with men.

This most recent pope, conservative, former Hitler youth soldier and Prefect of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, considering his rulings while holding that seat, is in his own way repressed. Who knows? He might have brought Cardinal Law to sit beside him so they can conspire on issues of sexual depravity. They already have by consciously shifting pedophiles from one parish to another. Ratzinger's own "Crimen Solicitationis" itself gave permission to cover up sex abuse crimes.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:49 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

Dugan45, If the Catholic Church is that bad as you think why don"t you just present the facts and let them do the talking, instead of producing posts full of nonsense. But I suspect as with most haters of things Catholic you may have a problem with facts. I"ll ignore most of what you have said. Even a person of average intelligence should be able to see the silliness of what you have written.

However seeing you"ve raised the issue of "Crimen Solicitationis" and falsely claimed that the document gave bishops the right to cover up sex abuse, I"ll present you with some accurate information on what the document actually says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimen_sollicitationis . Happy reading.

If you"re interested in more information about the misinformation peddled by some regarding the document "Crimen Sollicitationis", you may like to educate yourself by reading this article as well: http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol6No3/instructions%20from%20vatican.htm . It seems the whole beat up may have had more to do with greedy lawyers looking for more cash, than a search for truth.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:11 AM on 04/22/2008
collapse Bibbo See Profile I'm a Fan of Bibbo


Reading Mr. Press's analysis and the majority opinion in this blog is disheartening for anybody knowlegeable about catholic theology and teachings. Pope John Paul II (the great) stated that its not in the Pope's power to permit priests to marry. The church has the responsibility to follow the instructions left by Christ as to how the church should function. When disagreement arises about the intentions of Christ there is a decision making process to resolve the issue. This is called the magisterium. Without making it more complicated suffice it to say that the magesterium has stated that the intention of Christ is that priest be celibate and that only males be ordained. These decisions are not rooted in any predjudice(how could they since they originate from God's will) but are so because its the best for the church's mission to help people. That's really all there is to it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:16 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse jotunloki See Profile I'm a Fan of jotunloki

You're Hilarious.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:37 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Idytme See Profile I'm a Fan of Idytme

Considering that Mary Magdalene was an Apostle, and considering that women followed Jesus in a time in place where this was NOT considered normal, and considering that he hung out with sick people - who were not even allowed to go inside the Temple because physical sickness was equated with spiritual sickness, and Jesus talked to tax collectors (condemned because they worked for the Romans) and prostitutes... Jesus was a very hip guy who stood behind all of those who were looked down upon by that society.
And considering that in Paul's letters he makes specific references to female leaders in the Church, and as stated above that Peter and others were married themselves....
all of what you have written about is malarkey.
The Church instituted celibacy when it became concerned that priests were leaving property to their children. It was a power play. Way back when just about the only respectable occupation a man could get was being a priest. He got educated (very rare in that society) was taught to read and write, and was respected in his community. Many times it was either that or live a life of total poverty and no social mobility.
That is no longer true and the church has to change or it will no longer attract enough priests.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:15 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Bibbo See Profile I'm a Fan of Bibbo


As I said...its frustrating to hear the critisicism about the prohibition of female ordination and married clergy based on the superficial interpretation of what it means that women were friends of Jesus in the Gospel accounts. These critics are missing whats important in the Kingdom and its not to be afforded a place of honor or power but rather to grow in humility and to serve(without being noticed or thanked) rather than to be served by others. Women can do this without ordination. Perhaps the irony is that they are being called to a higer position by virtue of the world's tendency to "write them off" since they are not "called" to the priesthood. I do believe God has a sense of humor ...he allows the world to elevate those who are selfish...think about the evil men of power in history...and allows the world to trash the saintly...think about the saints and martyrs...well the Popes critics are trying to trash the orthodox teachings of the church and honor the most vile critics of Benedict. The y did the same to Pope John Paul II.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:36 AM on 04/23/2008
collapse mddragon See Profile I'm a Fan of mddragon

Gods will was inperpreted by men period. Jesus never, I repeat never wrote ANY scriptures. Time to rethink, not just repeat.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:23 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

Yes but it was the Catholic Church, established by Jesus, that determined which writings would be included in the Christian Bible, and which Traditions were consistant with the teachings of Jesus, and hence kept throughout the ages.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:49 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Idytme See Profile I'm a Fan of Idytme

The Catholic church was not established by Jesus, it was established essentially by Constantine, whose questionable story about seeing a cross led him to start state sponsored Christianity. Questionable because the man was not baptized until years later on his deathbed. But what the establishment of the religion allowed him was religious control over the population, something the Catholic church continued very well through most of history. One example, Constantine was upset that the upper-class women were not having children. While there was some form of birth control, it was probably happening due to lead poisoning from wine, but no matter the Church was able to clamp down on women, changing their role from one of more freedom (for rich Romans) to that of servitude to their husbands and having as many children as possible - and child bearing to their death.
While the history is too much to go into here, it is very interesting to find out about Christianity in the beginning, before Constantine and men with many agendas got rid of any teachings and books they did not agree with, anything that did not give them power over the people - kind of the exact opposite of what Jesus really taught.
What ended up was the church of Paul, a Roman who never met Jesus.
The Protestants tried to fix something that was broken, but they could not bring back the wisdom that was lost - that the Constantinian Church declared heresy and made everyone burn.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:31 PM on 04/22/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

Idytme, If as you say Constantine started the Catholic Church, it"s odd that there"s no credible proof to demonstrate such a thing. The Church doesn"t even consider him a "saint", and there are no feast days in the Church"s calendar to celebrate him or his works. It"s also strange that if Constantine started the Catholic Church why is it that when Constantine came to power in 306 the Catholic Church was already in existence along with it"s Bishops including the Papacy. Here is a list of Popes going back to St Peter: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12272b.htm .

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:58 PM on 04/22/2008
collapse Idytme See Profile I'm a Fan of Idytme

The risen Jesus first showed himself to Mary Magdalene, not Peter. The church could not get rid of her because she is the first, and this stayed in the stories. The Apostles spread through out the land. Any writings that teach you can find God within were rejected - just look towards the Gospel of St. Thomas.
The councils that decided what was put in the bible was not done by unanimous consent. One example of odd reasoning - the reason why there are four gospels - one powerful person decided there had to be only four because there were four corners to the earth - north, south, east and west.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:39 PM on 04/22/2008
collapse Idytme See Profile I'm a Fan of Idytme

There were many aspects, churches, lineages and philosophies in Christianity. Constantine is who created one church who everyone then had to follow or were declared heretics. Prior to this the Church never had State sponsorship for punishment of what they declared heresy. This is when the church coelesced, when the New Testament was created, it is when what is now called the Catholic church got all its power. It is when all other teachings ended.
One of the most interesting leaders, Valentinus lost the title of Pope by a very narrow vote. Valentinus believed that you can find God inside of you and not only through priests. Highly esteemed by the Church between 135-160 AD, he then fell into apostasy around 175 AD when the orthodoxy took control. Valentinus had been taught by a disciple of one of Jesus' apostles.
How could his ideas be so highly thought of and then thrown out, except for politics? Was the Church not divinely inspired nearer to Jesus' death, when the teachings were still remembered?
All that is really left is the writings of his students, but his spirit lives on in St. Valentines Day, which a joining of the person with his higher spirit is celebrated now by the symbol of an angel causing two people to fall in love.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:38 PM on 04/22/2008
collapse dugan45 See Profile I'm a Fan of dugan45

Ratzinger's own calling of Cardinal Law to him was a ploy to cover up pedophiliac abuses.

More and more turn toward what Ratzinger calls religious indifferentism, a right-leaning term for enlightenment and moral and ethical clarity based essentially on categorical imperatives....More and more do not buy into state-sanctioned mythologies because they see the hypocrisy and harm traditional, structured religion causes. Popes are not infallible. Church leaders can commit heinous crimes against their own gods but more importantly, against humanity.

People see into that and say they're not living uneducated in squalor with 25 kids so the Church can have its babies. What Ratzinger sees as ignorance, others see as enlightenment. Ratzinger's religious indifferentism is a right-leaning term for moral and ethical clarity based on categorical imperatives. The reason why more and more in the world turn away from Christianity but here in America more and more turn toward it is others see priests as living in their own alternative universe while Americans see it as something their growingly ignorant selves see as enlightenment.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:18 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Bibbo See Profile I'm a Fan of Bibbo


My friend...Have you ever heard of the word "Magesterium". If you have not then you are not able to logically discuss the issues. It describes what make's an issue either a human opinion(even if it comes from the Pope) or a directive from Christ. You must decide only one thing...Do you accept the 'Magesterium" as legitimate or not? If you accept it as legitimate...you become orthodox(thats all there is to orthodoxy.Its quite simple) if you reject the Magesterium as some sort of trick to fool people then nothing anybody says will change you. But please inform yourself on the facts concerning magesterium and magesterial teaching authority. All the councils spoken about in thes blogs are based on "magesterium" authority.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:20 AM on 04/23/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

Dugan45, If the Catholic Church is as bad as you make it out to be, why do you have to make up lies? Pope Benedict (Cardinal Ratzinger) didn"t call Cardinal Law to the Vatican, Pope John Paul II did. And it wasn"t to cover up sexual abuse. The sexual abuse within the Boston Archdiocese had already been exposed. There was nothing else to cover up. Cardinal Law resigned after 50 of his priests expressed no confidence in him, after the way he handled the sex abuse problem. He was nonetheless still a man of considerable talent, hence the Vatican"s decision to call him over to Rome. A more accurate story about Cardinal Law can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Francis_Law . Not surprisingly the rest of your post is just complete nonsense.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:27 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Magi91711 See Profile I'm a Fan of Magi91711

Where are the statistics to back up his contentions re: celibacy and abuse? I'm sure this will come as a huge epiphany to those who have studied the incidence of pedophilia among teachers, cops, ministers and rabbis. Bill speaks with all the conviction of the truly clueless.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:47 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Idytme See Profile I'm a Fan of Idytme

Your post was true until the very last sentence, which left me stunned.
I watched a program which partly included an interview with a Catholic priest who studied sexual problems. Basically he said that the priesthood attracted a certain number of people who were uncomfortable with their own sexuality and who thought praying and chastity would cure these ills. (this as opposed to other men who were not running away from their sexuality but embracing celibacy as a way to find God)
By giving up the celibacy rule, the priesthood would attract a higher number of people with a healthy sexuality - but it would not stop an abuser from abusing people.
The only conceivable abuse I can see it stopping would be possibly hidden affairs with members of the congregation, which could be an abuse of power just as it can be with a psychologist who has sex with patients. But this still happens with psychologists.
I suggest you learn about pedophiles. They are classified as such because they prefer sex with children over that with adults. It has nothing to do with heterosexuality or homosexuality. I don't understand how anyone could not comprehend this part of it.
It has been widely publicized that the Catholic church is running out of priests. They are going to have to allow married men and women as leaders or wither. But even with these additions, they will always have to guard against all kinds of abuse.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:40 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse cmjh See Profile I'm a Fan of cmjh

~ The vast majority of abuse in this country is perpetrated by heterosexual men abusing girls.

~ At least 30% of those abused by priests are girls.

~ Pedophelia and homosexuality are unrelated.

~I agree with IDYTME, please educate yourself about sexual abuse. It's unrelated to sexual identity.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:25 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse cva39 See Profile I'm a Fan of cva39

I tend to agree with Press' point, but my biggesst problem with the Pope's visit was his silence regarding the Iraq war and the human rights violations of this administation. The White House put out a constant barrage of how much the Pope and Bush were in agreement. Allowing Bush to greet him and Cheney to escort him to his plane gives implied evidence of his support for our government's policies. The Islamic world already holds very distrustful views about this Pope, and this appearance of coziness will prove to further this distrust. Photos with the Pope, Bush and Cheney will be carried and probably burned throughout the Muslim world.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:38 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

There's no pleasing everyone.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:29 AM on 04/22/2008
collapse demigod See Profile I'm a Fan of demigod

I totally AGREE - here he is in the heart of America, and he did not MENTION the Iraq war - I'm sorry but no one DIED from pedophile priests, what they did was terrible but the Pope's fixation on this matter was SELF-SERVING, an obvious ploy to reclaim his kingdom while not really DOING anything. Meanwhile, two terrible wars are going on and the Pope, a man of PEACE says absolutely NOTHING about either one of them. He was completely blind to the war that has claimed 4,039 American lives for NOTHING in Iraq. His focus on the pedophile scandals was like talking about littering while the house is on fire. This man is not holy at all, not a man of peace. Likewise his hordes of "followers" are nowhere to be seen in Washington when anti-war marches are being organized. They are not pressuring their Congressmen to end the war. They are absent in the struggle for peace. Going to see the Pope at the White House or the new baseball stadium like he was a rock star counts for NOTHING.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:34 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse cmjh See Profile I'm a Fan of cmjh

to demigod: You're incorrect. Lots of people have died as the direct result of the damage done when sexually abused by priests. Many victims have been unable to deal with the overwhelming pain and have committed suicide, or have become addicts and died from an overdose.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:29 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse dugan45 See Profile I'm a Fan of dugan45

And in my home as well. The Vatican is bankrupt.

The content of your post indicates the degree to which the current drag queen from Italy is fallible.

Maybe they should start wearing slacks rather than dresses. I cannot begin to imagine how many gays love being priests for the costume and splendor of it all, but I do not think it's the gay priests who are sleeping with little boys and girls.

If the Pope, former Hitler youth and soldier and later holder of the seat once held by the rulemaker of the Inquisition, wants to indicate he is anything other than words, he can assign Cardinal Law to a hot place in Hell but first remove him for that chair to his right in the Vatican.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:24 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse nerakami See Profile I'm a Fan of nerakami

The truth about religion is that the human psyche has outgrown most religious rhetoric. If religions dealt less on doctrine and focused more on the principles of God/Christ, we would be much better off as there would be no more arguments between them as to whose ideology is right and wrong. Christ's qualities go beyond ideology; unconditional love, forgiveness, compassion, tolerance, kindness and so on....

Religion appears to be the modern day choke-hold on man's evolution towards enlightenment....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:19 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse SeanPidgeon See Profile I'm a Fan of SeanPidgeon

Interesting article, Bill. Recently where I live, a teacher was fired for having a sexual relationship with a student. If we are to ever stop teacher sexual abuse, the teachers unions will have to stop requiring teacher celibacy, allow teachers to marry, allow women to become teachers, and change there outdated and rigid teachings on sexual morality.

Wait? So there is sexual abuse in the schools as well in the churches? And there is sexual abuse in Protestant churches, as well--all of which allow married ministers and many of which ordain women?

Bill, if you disagree with the Catholic Church's teachings on priestly celibacy and the all-male priesthood, fine. But that has nothing to do with the sex scandal. Sexual abuse permeates all areas of society. Most abusers are not people who took vows of celibacy. And, yes, some bishops covered up the scandal and transferred pedophile priests, but that has nothing to do with priestly celibacy.

To nerakami, this is not a reply to your post. I just couldn't figure out how to post a comment without replying to someone in particular.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:53 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse dora_rice See Profile I'm a Fan of dora_rice

not true. Most sex offenders that prey on boys are married. You either got character or you don't Married, single, gay , black or white.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:55 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse dora_rice See Profile I'm a Fan of dora_rice

the catholic church has always lived in denial. Nothing new. The guys do their thing on the altar and the catholic flock do their own thing in the pews. If you a catholic there is something about the catholic mass and church, you just can't shake.
You feel you are better than the priests, and that these imperfect guys who say mass at the altar are just imperfect humans. But after all is said and done, you are kneeling in the pew and have your one on one talk with god.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:53 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Dannydel See Profile I'm a Fan of Dannydel

Benedict prayed with the victims. Benedict apologized for the atrocities. Why didn't some reporter ask why Benedict gave a Vatican job to Cardinal Law, that heartless, gutless enabler who shifted these child molesters around parishes like hot potatos? The Pope is harboring a fugitive. He is without credibility. And the fact that he sounds like Colonel Klink doesn't do much for him either.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:51 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse CatholicJoe See Profile I'm a Fan of CatholicJoe

Dannydel, You ask, "Why didn't some reporter ask why Benedict gave a Vatican job to Cardinal Law". Probably because Benedict didn"t. John Paul II did, and for good reason. Although Cardinal Law didn"t handle the issue of pedophiles very well, he is nonetheless still a very talented man. And how is the Pope harboring a fugitive? Cardinal Law is not a fugitive. He is not wanted by any police department anywhere. Your suggestion of otherwise is not just wrong, it"s plain stupid. For factual information about Cardinal Law, you might try this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Francis_Law .

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:26 AM on 04/22/2008
collapse bourbonball72 See Profile I'm a Fan of bourbonball72

Bill--

If unmarried men are the ones who prey on children, then let me ask again, since it seems my earlier post wasn't tasty to you, how many children did you molest before you were married? See how baseless your flawed logic is..."no wives equal pedophilia...unmarried clergy have no wives...therefore celibate clergy are pedophiles..." DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Stop attacking the men who honestly and sincerely strive to do God's work day in and day out, without hurting children, in order to rationalize a post modern feel good justification for women's ordination and married clergy. If you dig a bit deeper, you will know that the church already allows married priests who come to the church from the Anglican tradition.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:11 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Dannydel See Profile I'm a Fan of Dannydel

Sounds like a clerical apologist to me..."Is that an alter boy under your cassock Father Bourbonball, or are ya just happy to see me?"

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:54 PM on 04/21/2008
collapse Storm See Profile I'm a Fan of Storm

That's really a ridiculous homopobic contention from a respected Democratic party elder. Pedophiles are drawn to professions where interaction with children is essential. Other professions root those people out through background checks and care.

If the Catholic church really wants to fix its sex scandal it would just do a little more screening. Rooting out gays in favored of "married" priests won't do that. Heterosexual pedophilia is quite possible, you know.

We should let the church be the church. Women and married priests aren't going to make that tradition palatable to people with modern sensibilities.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:01 PM on 04/21/2008