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Showing Original Post only (View all)Pope Resigns Amid New Docs: Several letters to Ratzinger from Mahoney, 30,000 pages Re: Sex Abuse [View all]
Papal cuts: why is really resigning?
by digby
Adele Stan addresses what virtually everyone is thinking but nobody will admit (at least on TV, particularly MSNBC where "pope news" is right up there with a terrorist attack for the amount of attention it garners.)
...............................
At the time that Mahony was covering up the crimes of his priests, Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office that oversaw such matters.
In archdiocese documents released under a court order earlier this month, Mahony is revealed to have taken actions deliberately contrived to avoid legal prosecution of priests who had sexually abused -- and even raped -- children. The documents were so damaging that Mahony, now retired and once thought to be a contender for the papacy, was publicly rebuked by the current Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez, and stripped of any public duties, an unprecedented censure of a cardinal archbishop by his successor.
Amid the cache of church records, released as part of a settlement between the archdiocese and 500 sex-abuse victims, are several letters to Ratzinger from Mahoney, in which the California prelate reports to the Vatican his reasons for various actions (such as defrocking) taken against the offending priests. The records amount to some 30,000 pages, so their full contents have yet to be pored through by investigators and journalists.
What is clear, though, is that Mahony repeatedly failed to act on concerns about the sexual abuse of children by priests that brought to him by pastors and church officials throughout the diocese, and that when he did, his actions were designed to avoid criminal prosecutions of the predator priests. And it is also clear that in his Vatican office, Ratzinger was the recipient of letters from Mahony informing the Holy See of what actions he had taken.
In archdiocese documents released under a court order earlier this month, Mahony is revealed to have taken actions deliberately contrived to avoid legal prosecution of priests who had sexually abused -- and even raped -- children. The documents were so damaging that Mahony, now retired and once thought to be a contender for the papacy, was publicly rebuked by the current Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose Gomez, and stripped of any public duties, an unprecedented censure of a cardinal archbishop by his successor.
Amid the cache of church records, released as part of a settlement between the archdiocese and 500 sex-abuse victims, are several letters to Ratzinger from Mahoney, in which the California prelate reports to the Vatican his reasons for various actions (such as defrocking) taken against the offending priests. The records amount to some 30,000 pages, so their full contents have yet to be pored through by investigators and journalists.
What is clear, though, is that Mahony repeatedly failed to act on concerns about the sexual abuse of children by priests that brought to him by pastors and church officials throughout the diocese, and that when he did, his actions were designed to avoid criminal prosecutions of the predator priests. And it is also clear that in his Vatican office, Ratzinger was the recipient of letters from Mahony informing the Holy See of what actions he had taken.
They haven't even begun to scratch the surface of these document. Mahoney and Ratzinger worked closely together and Mahoney was previously thought to be one of the rare exceptions to the Cardinal cover-up, at least to the degree he's recently been revealed to have been involved. So, most likely, was Ratzinger. Stay tuned.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/papal-cuts-why-is-really-resigning.html
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/pope-benedict-stepping-down-shocking-abdication?paging=off
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Pope Resigns Amid New Docs: Several letters to Ratzinger from Mahoney, 30,000 pages Re: Sex Abuse [View all]
kpete
Feb 2013
OP
I don't believe the Vatican bureaucrats have any notion of what outsiders think of the
hedgehog
Feb 2013
#4
The TV is putting it down to heart disease, exhaustion and a secret operation to replace
MADem
Feb 2013
#56
The Vatican should stop being a country of it's own with darker secrets than any other country.
Lint Head
Feb 2013
#9
I was raised in the RCC, and was a practicing Catholic until the Jesuits got hold of me.
Ikonoklast
Feb 2013
#69
They are bringing in a cover-up expert to handle the details and craft a transistion team
Coyotl
Feb 2013
#27
"We are all sinners": Pope Benedict XVI 'resigns' 24 hours after posting mysterious tweet
Coyotl
Feb 2013
#17
And I thought Pope Maladict had a hard time refilling his Viagra prescription...
backscatter712
Feb 2013
#23
I think that the Penn State thing may have contributed to the Church's undoing.
yardwork
Feb 2013
#35
Paper trails are sneaky things,...sometimes they creep up on you from behind.
Spitfire of ATJ
Feb 2013
#49
Oh come on! The man is 85 years old, and the reason he's resigning is the sex scandal? "Stay Tuned"!
George II
Feb 2013
#26
Papal "Infallibility" applies only to Ex Cathedra pronouncements, not every-day remarks.
WinkyDink
Feb 2013
#39
STOP THE PRESSES! The Pope is making his very last state visit before his retirement!
backscatter712
Feb 2013
#40
Well, i'm gonna share this one with a few friends with a sick sense of humor... nt
agracie
Feb 2013
#65
Yeah, I wondered whether or not Anonymous had hacked his e-mail. Someone has the GOODS on this guy.
Trailrider1951
Feb 2013
#44
Any resignation or stripping a priest of his priesthood had to be reported to Ratzinger
happyslug
Feb 2013
#62
The Pope has had a pace maker for years and a recent operation on the pace maker
happyslug
Feb 2013
#63
The bigger question: Why is the laity continuing to put money in the coffers and support the church?
cleanhippie
Feb 2013
#68
"Benedict, then... Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith"
KamaAina
Feb 2013
#80
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, HBO's must see documentary,
mother earth
Feb 2013
#81