Vatican told bishops to cover up sex abuse

[Az]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1020400,00.html

Excerpt
----------------------
The Vatican instructed Catholic bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse or risk being thrown out of the Church.
The Observer has obtained a 40-year-old confidential document from the secret Vatican archive which lawyers are calling a 'blueprint for deception and concealment'. One British lawyer acting for Church child abuse victims has described it as 'explosive'.

The 69-page Latin document bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII was sent to every bishop in the world. The instructions outline a policy of 'strictest' secrecy in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and threatens those who speak out with excommunication.

They also call for the victim to take an oath of secrecy at the time of making a complaint to Church officials. It states that the instructions are to 'be diligently stored in the secret archives of the Curia as strictly confidential. Nor is it to be published nor added to with any commentaries.'

The document, which has been confirmed as genuine by the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, is called 'Crimine solicitationies', which translates as 'instruction on proceeding in cases of solicitation'.

[indepat]

1. Shocking, if true, but not would not be surprising for it would explain

much of what has transpired.

[Az]

2. Particularly damaging

is the fact that the Vatican has been denying any knowledge of the US problems for some time now. Its never the crime that does them in, its the coverup that does the damage.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. the article is wrong!

flyingfish posted this in GD thread
enlighten yourselves please, about the Catholic Faith?

For Catholics and non-Catholics alike

The entire article appears in
www.pittsburghcatholic.org
Only part of the article is copied below.
Since so many on here were so quick to jump the gun on the meaning of the 1962 Vatican document, here is what is really states.

Reports distort meaning of 1962 Vatican document
by: Robert P. Lockwood

In one of the strangest stories of the year, an English translation of a 1962 Vatican document written during the papacy of Pope John XXIII and before the Second Vatican Council grabbed headlines last week.

It was reported on CBS news and elsewhere that the 40-year-old document allegedly provided proof of a Vatican-mandated “coverup” of criminal accusations of sexual abuse by clergy.

Investigation showed, however, that the news reports distorted completely the meaning of the 40-year-old document, its roots in church law and its intent in dealing primarily with attempts at sexual solicitation through the sacrament of confession.

Rather than a coverup, the March 1962 document restated norms to deter any sexual misconduct related to the sacrament of confession, including dismissal from the clerical state.

The document was not intended to address civil or criminal behavior on the part of the clergy, but related specifically to violations of church law.

“To see this as a blueprint for any form of behavior is simply to misunderstand history and to misunderstand the document,” according to a response released by the Department for Communications of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The decades-old document titled “Crimen Sollicitationes” (“the crime of solicitation”) was portrayed, particularly in reports from CBS news, as a “smoking gun” that established a “ground plan” for the church universal for covering up crimes of sexual abuse of minors by clerics.

That charge

[Democrats unite]

4. Is this not the same Catholic church that is telling us...

Gay marriage is wrong? And they expect us to take them seriously?


EDIT SPELLING.

[papau]

5. Thanks for the post : John 23rd was too good a person for it to have

been real.

It has been an interesting weekend for anti Jew and anti-Catholic
miss-information.

I saw that Sharon is fighting with the Defense folks who want to take no risks for peace - over the Ariel wall not being built out to enclose 3 settlements. Sharon has agreed with the US to more closely follow the Green line. Sharon as good guy! Now that will not get much press in the US!.

[Az]

6. Made no judgements

I have heard too many reversals to jump to a conclusion on such matters. More than welcome to hear this refuted.

[NashVegas]

7. Document Extracts via BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3157859.stm

[Az]

8. Here is the PDF of the original translation

Make of it what you will. Lots of legalese
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Observer/documents/2003/08/16/Criminales.pdf

[CBHagman]

9. Until we see the translation, we won't really know the contents

And the quality of the translation matters, too, unfortunately. Let's see actual text here, when it's available

[section321]

10. Pedophile priests.... brought to you by the same folks who brought you...

The Inquisition....

The Doctrine of Supercession (institutionalized anti-semitism)...

The Crusades....

Indulgences...

Anyone really suprised???

[Az]

11. Lets stick to the issue and not turn this into a bashing thread

We could pick any collection of people and find things they do badly. This issue at hand here is whether or not the Vatican is part of the coverup of pedophile clergy.

[section321]

12. But how many of those groups claim moral authority and divine

guidance?

[Az]

13. Most of them

None the less this is not open season on religion. If in fact certain individuals of a particular sect have failed their charges it is up to their followers to determine whether it has any merrit for them any longer.

It is necissary to understand the nature of how the human mind approaches belief systems. Jumping on a group when they are down is not going to make them feel better about the position you champion. It is already established that many disagree with their belief. We cannot force them to change. If they come to us and ask us our opinion then it is appropriate to offer guidance. Until then we can only report what we learn and allow them to make of the information what they will. We cannot force them to intperpret is as we do.

[section321]

15. Damn! I wrote a six paragraph reponse and the posting failed....

Never Mind.

[Az]

16. Dang

Now I want to know what you had to say!

[PATRICK]

14. In America

it is not paranoid for the Church to be careful. Lay takeovers, nutty fundy trends or political opportunism has always been a threat in America. Since the scandals the righties have been flocking to the Church like sharks to "help" and takeover. The Church opened the door to the righties much wider through the abortion and school funding issues and generally conservative moral values. Thanks to weak bishops the social justice exhortations just get ignored.

Even these exposed stories have to be treated cautiously and not just because of lawsuits and scandals. They want the Church as some sort of polticized NRA run less by clergy than lay private professionals. The fundy loonies, many virulent anti-catholics, and libertarian atheists might not be amused about being dumped for a global organization influencing a billion ordinary people.

Is that paranoid? Just the usual trajectory. If they can they will.