Oh God!
It's so weird - I just read an article in the very conservative Washington Examiner and it actually made sense to me. Why? Because it was about the pope and sex abuse.
America magazine mentioned today that Pope Francis has just spoken about the sex abuse problem in his first public audience since the letter accusing him of covering up abuse was published. He condemned abuse and those who have covered it up in the past, but said nothing about the allegations against himself. He's not worried ... apparently he's feeling quite tranquil.
That's nice. I guess when you're the dictator of your own tiny country, accountability just isn't even an issue, so don't worry, be tranquil.
In the church and to much of the public, the pope is considered a liberal champion, but he isn't. This may sound harsh, but I'm tired of being polite: Pope Francis is a sexist who speaks of women as if they are high-functioning brood mares (It's time to be honest about Pope Francis and women), and he's a homophobe who has described LGBT marriage as the "work of the devil" (Pope Francis Against Gay Marriage, Gay Adoption). If you're willing to sell these two groups, women and LGBT people, down the river because the pope seems so kindly and grandfatherly, you are not a liberal either.
Here's the beginning of the article in the Washington Examiner ...
Catholic leaders continue to pretend the sex abuse scandal is no big deal
They still don’t get it. It's like they're begging for a revolt of the laity.
Catholic officials are still treating the clergy sex abuse scandal like it’s some niggling issue that’s getting in the way of bigger and more exciting things.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, for example, praised Pope Francis’ feeble non-response this weekend to accusations he covered up credible allegations of sexual abuse leveled against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
“The Pope has a bigger agenda,” Cupich told NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern. “He’s got to get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.”
For good measure, Cupich also said of the pope’s critics, “Quite frankly, they also don’t like him because he’s a Latino.”
The Chicago cardinal isn’t being taken out of context. This look-the-other-way line is his actual position regarding an 11-page letter alleging Popes Francis and Benedict knew for years about McCarrick's alleged abuses. Cupich told the National Catholic Reporter this week that he understands Catholics must be “sickened” by the sex abuse scandal. But “this is not what the church is about," he assured.
"We have to speak on behalf of the migrant. We have to make sure the Gospel is preached to people who are left out of society. We have to educate children," Cupich added. "Let's make sure we do not forget the church's bigger agenda." ....
Right - the work of the church is just soooo important that you should consider the sexual abuse of children as just the cost of doing business and get out of our way. Cupich is another of those un-liberal "liberals". As I wrote of him a couple of years ag in my post Cupich: not a liberal beacon, this is the man who implied that marriage equality would lead to incest and polygamy when he was trying to get his parishioners in Washington state to vote down same-sex marriage (Washington State Bishop: Oppose Marriage Equality To Keep Heterosexuality Special).
Wake up, you guys. The pope isn't a liberal and the clergy supporting him are not liberals. He is the "reformer" pope who has reformed nothing, including the way the church handles sex abuse. And now he thinks he's above even answering questions on that subject. I understand the desire to believe there's a liberal light in the church. I used to feel optimistic about the pope too, but the truth is he just aint that guy. And meanwhile, the sex abuse and cover-ups continue.
America magazine mentioned today that Pope Francis has just spoken about the sex abuse problem in his first public audience since the letter accusing him of covering up abuse was published. He condemned abuse and those who have covered it up in the past, but said nothing about the allegations against himself. He's not worried ... apparently he's feeling quite tranquil.
That's nice. I guess when you're the dictator of your own tiny country, accountability just isn't even an issue, so don't worry, be tranquil.
In the church and to much of the public, the pope is considered a liberal champion, but he isn't. This may sound harsh, but I'm tired of being polite: Pope Francis is a sexist who speaks of women as if they are high-functioning brood mares (It's time to be honest about Pope Francis and women), and he's a homophobe who has described LGBT marriage as the "work of the devil" (Pope Francis Against Gay Marriage, Gay Adoption). If you're willing to sell these two groups, women and LGBT people, down the river because the pope seems so kindly and grandfatherly, you are not a liberal either.
Here's the beginning of the article in the Washington Examiner ...
Catholic leaders continue to pretend the sex abuse scandal is no big deal
They still don’t get it. It's like they're begging for a revolt of the laity.
Catholic officials are still treating the clergy sex abuse scandal like it’s some niggling issue that’s getting in the way of bigger and more exciting things.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, for example, praised Pope Francis’ feeble non-response this weekend to accusations he covered up credible allegations of sexual abuse leveled against former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
“The Pope has a bigger agenda,” Cupich told NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern. “He’s got to get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.”
For good measure, Cupich also said of the pope’s critics, “Quite frankly, they also don’t like him because he’s a Latino.”
The Chicago cardinal isn’t being taken out of context. This look-the-other-way line is his actual position regarding an 11-page letter alleging Popes Francis and Benedict knew for years about McCarrick's alleged abuses. Cupich told the National Catholic Reporter this week that he understands Catholics must be “sickened” by the sex abuse scandal. But “this is not what the church is about," he assured.
"We have to speak on behalf of the migrant. We have to make sure the Gospel is preached to people who are left out of society. We have to educate children," Cupich added. "Let's make sure we do not forget the church's bigger agenda." ....
Right - the work of the church is just soooo important that you should consider the sexual abuse of children as just the cost of doing business and get out of our way. Cupich is another of those un-liberal "liberals". As I wrote of him a couple of years ag in my post Cupich: not a liberal beacon, this is the man who implied that marriage equality would lead to incest and polygamy when he was trying to get his parishioners in Washington state to vote down same-sex marriage (Washington State Bishop: Oppose Marriage Equality To Keep Heterosexuality Special).
Wake up, you guys. The pope isn't a liberal and the clergy supporting him are not liberals. He is the "reformer" pope who has reformed nothing, including the way the church handles sex abuse. And now he thinks he's above even answering questions on that subject. I understand the desire to believe there's a liberal light in the church. I used to feel optimistic about the pope too, but the truth is he just aint that guy. And meanwhile, the sex abuse and cover-ups continue.
posted by crystal | 1:08 PM
2 Comments:
Hi Crys,
There's only so much a progressive pope can doe without causing a schism. The trads seem determined to have a schism anyway, so maybe that won't be much of a concern anymore.
In any case, maybe it wasn't a bad idea for Francis to stay quiet and tell the journalists to just do their jobs, because it is becoming increasingly clear that Vigano is a liar, and he was put up to this by Timothy Busch and the folks running EWTN, Lifesite News, and the National Catholic Register. Even the women's group "asking for the truth" are connected to them. For decades, these people didn't give a damn about the sexual abuse crisis. They just consistently accused the secular media of telling lies, and trying to destroy the church. They've hated Francis since Day 1, and are now trying to exploit the misdeeds of a liberal cardinal as an excuse to get rid of Francis. This is a coup attempt. Exploitation of the sexual abuse crisis for factional infighting.
Vigano is not in hiding because he fears for his life. He's in hiding because his story is falling apart. There never were any sanctions on McCarrick worth speaking of. Benedict wasn't ever going to punish a cardinal.
https://twitter.com/Cindy_Wooden/status/1034746617952436224
Francis, on the other hand, took McCarrick's cardinal title away from him as soon as he found out he'd abused a minor. That hadn't been done in about a hundred years. After a shaky start, he replaced about five Chilean bishops too.
No, Francis has not been great on the issue overall, but he's miles ahead of where his predecessors were.
I'm finding that the best journalist to follow on these events is Andrea Torniella. Most of the US press is so religiously illiterate, they don't know what they are talking about.
http://www.lastampa.it/vaticaninsider/eng/authors/andrea-tornielli
We'll have to disagree. It's depressing to see this issue divide people so cleanly along political lines ... if you are conservative, you believe Vigaro, if you are progressive, you believe the pope. Sex abuse shouldn't be a political issue - everyone should be against it.
The pope has done a crap job on sex abuse, from the very first day, when he visited Cardinal Law's church and had a nice chat with him. He has failed on sex abuse in so many cases, not just with Barros, that I can easily believe he would cover up abuse, even though I am a political liberal.
If anyone is interested, I have many posts since Francis became pope with examples from the news of the many mistakes he has made on sex abuse ... I'd be happy to detail them.
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