The "logic" seems simple enough: The Pope has been accused, so he must be guilty. Some Catholics are defending him, so they must be guilty as well, willing to "justify child-rape" to protect their precious, backwards, vile pile of teetering papal power.As usual, his entire post is worth reading.
As just one simple example of this, consider this comment left here yesterday from one Petros:
Every single person complicit in these horrible crimes must be arrested, put on trial, and put in jail. This includes the pope. Any other person who knowingly allowed a man or woman to continue to rape children is an accessory and is equally as guilty as the one who actually did the act. ARREST THE POPE AND THROW THE BUM IN JAIL! We have had enough of the churches crimes throughout time. The pope and the Catholic Church are irrelevant. Turn the Vatican into an art museum and let the healing begin.I'm all for justice being served, but I cannot and will not support the innocent being arrested and thrown in jail.
Notice the logic employed: guilt is determined and the sentence given even before the trial. No real attempt is made to honestly assess whether someone did in fact knowingly allow such horrendous abuse to occur. All that is necessary is one's belief or desire that someone did so, as is the current case with Pope Benedict.
The evidence clearly shows he is innocent of these charges, but for many people the evidence is not important. All that is important is their desire that he be guilty.
Let us pray for the Pope.
It might also be useful to point out to 'Petros' that a church with 1 billion members worldwide is hardly "irrelevant". By most indications, that number is growing. If only 10% of Catholics are engaged in their Faith and obedient to the Magisterium, that's still 100,000,000 people throughout the world.
ReplyDeleteLet us pray for the Pope.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Father. And also for our priests, who live under a cloud of suspicion and ugly stereotypes. And for the victims of those clergy (and others) who struggle to cope with their pain and anger. The level of hatred against the Church is demonic; we must keep in mind that the Evil One seeks to destroy every human soul, every bit of goodness and charity that exists. This is, in the end, a spiritual battle.