The Pope's Message !!

During this last week the Irish Newspaper 'The Belfast Telegraph' ran a small piece (I'm going to refrain from calling it an 'article',  which carries associations of a large body of writing) on the speech that the present pope Benedict XVI,   made in his traditional Christmas address to cardinals and officials working in Rome.  He said .... wait for it! ....   "In the 1970s,  paedophilia was theorised as something fully in conformity with man and even with children,"  ...   and further  "It was maintained ~ even within the realm of Catholic theology ~ that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than'.  Nothing is good or bad in itself."

The Pope said abuse revelations in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" which brought "humiliation" on the Church.   Asking how abuse exploded within the Church,  the Pontiff called on senior clerics "to repair as much as possible the injustices that occurred" and to help victims heal through a better presentation of the Christian message.  IS THAT WHAT HE IS DOING HERE?????   .......... Minimising the trauma caused by the enforced buggery of little boys in it's charge,  of the rape & sexual assault of  trusting children by it's clergy???   And definitely minimising the role of the catholic church in any 'wrong doing'.   It is not too far a stretch to the philosophical argument here that it only becomes 'wrong' when you consider it a 'wrong' ...?!?!?!?!?

 He then went on to further cement his thoughts & give them a sense of social cohesion even ... "We cannot remain silent about the context of these times in which these events have come to light," he said, citing the growth of child pornography "that seems in some way to be considered more and more normal by society".    Aaaah! ... the light dawns!!   If it is considered normal by society then what is all the big fuss about ????  Let's stop talking about catholic clerical involvement because it is NORMAL in societal terms.  It seems to silly old me that someone is intending to sweep this issue under the biggest carpet he can find.  Am I 'wrong' to think this ??????

Evil Santa beware!!!

 Victims of clerical sex abuse have very understandably  reacted furiously to Pope Benedict's claim that paedophilia wasn't considered an "absolute evil" as recently as the 1970s.   Outraged Dublin victim Andrew Madden last night insisted that child abuse was not considered normal in the company he kept.   Mr Madden accused the Pope of not knowing that child pornography was the viewing of images of children being sexually abused, and should be named as such.  He said  "That is not normal. I don't know what company the Pope has been keeping for the past 50 years."  

I actually think that it is much more insidious on the pope's part than not knowing .... I think he is deliberately trying to minimise the abuse of children, endemic throughout the catholic church, and absolve that institution from it's present perverted image,  to restore it to it's pre WWII days of glory.  Perhaps it is his Nazi training or his sixteen years as head of the 'Office of the Inquisition' in the Vatican that allows him to think he can impose such heinous distortions on an awake world in the 21st century.

Angry abuse victims in America last Thursday said that while some Church officials have blamed the liberalism of the 1960s for the Church's sex abuse scandals and cover-up catastrophes, Pope Benedict had come up with a new theory of blaming the 1970s.  "Catholics should be embarrassed to hear their Pope talk again and again about abuse while doing little or nothing to stop it and to mischaracterise this heinous crisis,"  said Barbara Blaine, the head of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,   "It is fundamentally disturbing to watch a brilliant man so conveniently misdiagnose a horrific scandal," she added.

"The Pope insists on talking about a vague 'broader context' he can't control, while ignoring the clear 'broader context' he can influence ~ the long-standing and unhealthy culture of a rigid, secretive, all-male church hierarchy fixated on self-preservation at all costs.  This is the 'context' that matters."  Yes it is!!!

And the attempt to shift that context to a "sinful" society,  whilst absolving the church from serious criminal activity is nothing short of a psychopathic manoevre by a paedophile supporting pope.  Perhaps this is not even a deviation from the historical path of the Catholic Church?  Sadly many of its  members will continue to support it in spite of its now overt symptoms of psychopathology.