New pope shelved sex abuse claim, accuser says

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5701468&cKey=1113962737000

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A former trainee priest who has accused the founder of an influential Catholic order of sexual abuse said on Tuesday that new Pope Benedict XVI deliberately shelved a probe into his claims for six years.

Jose Barba is one of eight ex-members of the Rome-based Legion of Christ, most of them Mexicans, who accuse the order's founder, Marcial Maciel, of sexually abusing them from the 1940s through the 1960s.

The allegations are too old to be investigated under criminal law but nine former members brought a suit against Maciel, 84, under the Vatican's canonical law in 1998. One has since died.

The case was filed at the Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger who was elected Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday.

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[Montauk6]

1. Oh well, I guess this answers my question

[Erika]

2. Yes. He refused to acknowledge such claims

much less act on them.

[BadNews]

8. Confessional Sanctity

I hate to play devil's advocate (pun intended), but let us assume this priest had already confessed his sin to Ratzinger before the charges came out. What would he be obliged to do? I believe the priest should have been excommunicated, but I don't know Catholic procedures. If a priest confesses and is forgiven, would the church hold him responsible for any crime/sin? What if his "sin" had been homosexuality, or adultery with a married woman? What would the stance of the church have been?

Again, I'm not making excuses, I'd like to know the way things are intended to work.

[AngryOldDem]

11. He would be absolved of his sin and life would go on

Plus, everything that was said between the priest and Ratzinger would be under the seal, and Ratzinger could not say or do anything that would violate the seal.

I'm only the messenger on this, so don't jump on me. I don't like hiding crimes under the seal of confession any more than anybody else does.

And defrocking (which is what would happen to this priest) is not such a cut-and-dried process as many want to believe, either. Some cases can take years to go through the system.

[dArKeR]

3. I thought molestations only occurred in America! I wonder if the

American Media Whores ever investigated the Philippines? Taiwan? Thailand? Guam? Japan? Korea? Columbia? Brazil? Chile? Guatemala? Costa Rica?

[6000eliot]

5. Ireland?

That was why Sinead O'Connor ripped up the photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live.

[Is It Fascism Yet]

4. Rat Zinger....there is a lot of synchroncity in that name don't you think?

This appellation is as apt as "Larry Speaks for the President" was! Ratzinger is a rat, and he is a zinger. Pope Benedict The Nazi makes me so proud that I abandoned the corrupt Catholic Church years ago.

[richmwill]

6. All I can say is...

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[genieroze]

7. No, they get worse. eom

[Larkspur]

9. This is what will make Ratzinger the Divider of the Catholic Church

not the uniter.

His Nazi past is a subject of debate but his actions to stymie justice for sex abuse victims by priests is abomdible. Ratzinger is a corporate toady for the Catholic Church.

[Bo]

10. The * of Rome....a uniter