Vatican letter told Ireland's Catholic bishops not to report child abuse
31 replies, posted
[quote=richarddawkins.net]A letter to Ireland's Roman Catholic bishops has been revealed by the broadcaster RTE that contradicts the Vatican's frequent claim it has never instructed clergy to withhold evidence or suspicion of child abuse from police.
The 1997 letter documents rejection of a 1996 Irish church initiative to help police identify paedophile priests. Signed by the late Archbishop Luciano Storero, Pope John Paul II's envoy to Ireland, it instructs bishops that their new policy of making the reporting of suspected crimes mandatory "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature".
Storero wrote that canon law, whereby allegations and punishments are handled within the church, "must be meticulously followed"; any bishop who tried to go outside canon law would face the "highly embarrassing" position of being overturned on appeal in Rome.
A 2009 Irish state report found this actually happened with Tony Walsh, one of Dublin's most notorious paedophiles, who exploited his role as an Elvis impersonator in a popular "All Priests Show" to get closer to children. In 1993, Walsh was defrocked by a secret church court, but successfully appealed to a Vatican court, and was reinstated in the priesthood in 1994. He raped a boy in a pub restroom that year. Walsh since has received a series of prison sentences, with a 12-year term imposed last month. Investigators estimate he raped or molested more than 100 children.
Catholic officials in Ireland and the Vatican declined requests from the Associated Press to comment on the letter, marked "strictly confidential"; RTE said it had been given it by an Irish bishop.
"The letter is of huge international significance," said Colm O'Gorman, director of the Irish section of Amnesty International. "It shows that the Vatican's intention is to prevent reporting of abuse to criminal authorities. And if that instruction applied here [in Ireland], it applied everywhere."
Joelle Casteix, a director of the US advocacy group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, described it as "the smoking gun we've been looking for."[/quote]
[url=http://richarddawkins.net/articles/580909-vatican-letter-told-ireland-s-catholic-bishops-not-to-report-child-abuse]Source[/url]
Wooooow
Anything to keep their sins a secret, eh? Seems they value their reputation enough to commit the Sin of Fraud. (is fraud an official sin in Catholicism?)
Not that suprised at all, Vatican is huge manipulating state anyway.
In other shocking news the sun came up this morning and pie tastes great.
[QUOTE=Rack;27520085]Not that suprised at all, Vatican is huge manipulating state anyway.[/QUOTE]
This
[QUOTE=Acesarge;27520102]In other shocking news the sun came up this morning and pie tastes great.[/QUOTE]
But pie doesn't taste great... it's all a lie!
[QUOTE=ironman17;27520079]Anything to keep their sins a secret, eh? Seems they value their reputation enough to commit the Sin of Fraud. (is fraud an official sin in Catholicism?)[/QUOTE]
it's not a sin
[I]And thus I clothe my naked villainy / With old odd ends stolen forth from holy writ / And seem a saint when most I play the devil.[/I]
They probebly tought Jesus died for their sin.
[quote]who exploited his role as an Elvis impersonator in a popular "All Priests Show"[/quote]
Sounds like an episode of Father Ted
Wtf vatican. :saddowns:
I expected better from you.
[quote]Walsh since has received a series of prison sentences, with a 12-year term imposed last month. Investigators estimate he raped or molested more than 100 children.[/quote] pretty light for 100 child molestations
-snip-
[QUOTE=Sparkwire;27520521]pretty light for 100 child molestations[/QUOTE]It's possible they haven't yet found hard evidence for the vast majority of them, so they worked to get him convicted on one solid case in order to keep him away from children immediately. Just speculation on my part, though.
Stay classy, Vatican.
Who's all in support of stripping the Vatican of it's sovereignty? I know I am.
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;27522909]Who's all in support of stripping the Vatican of it's sovereignty? I know I am.[/QUOTE]
What right do you have to do that?
[QUOTE=Explosions;27523251]What right do you have to do that?[/QUOTE]
I don't, but i'm pretty sure Italy could nullify the treaty that granted it. I see no reason for the Vatican to have sovereignty, it's not a historical ethnic group, it's not a historical anything besides a church headquarters. It serves no real purpose these days other that artificially inflating the power of the Vatican and protecting it's internal members and head from legal responsibility. It has no precedent in the world either, there's no other country, micro or otherwise, that's solely the headquarters of an organization and nothing else. That and they've been demonstrated to be complicit in cover ups and protection of it's own rank in spite of illegality. They should be liable for what they've done.
e: Give me one valid reason why the Vatican should be their own country.
[QUOTE=Johnnsen;27520001]the reporting of suspected crimes mandatory "gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and canonical nature".[/QUOTE]
Reporting crimes is immoral explain that one to me again please
[QUOTE=ironman17;27520079]Anything to keep their sins a secret, eh? Seems they value their reputation enough to commit the Sin of Fraud. (is fraud an official sin in Catholicism?)[/QUOTE]
the church's entire business model is fraudulent
Italy should embargo the Vatican, that would be hilarious
If the government of any other country was running a kiddy fiddling ring they'd have sanctions up the ass
I don't know what is worse; That they did this, or that I'm not suprised anymore.
Not surprised, abolish vatican, etc etc.
Same stuff that I've said for years.
[QUOTE=Xen Tricks;27523321]I don't, but i'm pretty sure Italy could nullify the treaty that granted it. I see no reason for the Vatican to have sovereignty, it's not a historical ethnic group, it's not a historical anything besides a church headquarters. It serves no real purpose these days other that artificially inflating the power of the Vatican and protecting it's internal members and head from legal responsibility. It has no precedent in the world either, there's no other country, micro or otherwise, that's solely the headquarters of an organization and nothing else. That and they've been demonstrated to be complicit in cover ups and protection of it's own rank in spite of illegality. They should be liable for what they've done.
e: Give me one valid reason why the Vatican should be their own country.[/QUOTE]
Probably comes in regards to the days where the Vatican ruled territory through the Papal States. They ruled a large part of Italy until it was seized by the Kingdom of Italy. Then there was the question of what the Vatican/Pope actually controlled - Lateran Treaty made Italy recognise the current Vatican as a sovereign state, while other nations had already recognised it as so for many years. Unlike other faiths, historically Catholicism was not just a non-physical religion, but actually controlled territory as a ruling force. Regardless, I don't think you can just remove a state's sovereignty. There's also not enough to suggest an actual "Vatican conspiracy", rather than wrong decisions stemming from the actions of a few. This letter is signed by an archbishop, not the Pope.
Still sad, though. I can understand motivations for the Arch-bishop's decision, but it is certainly more important that justice be served rather than protecting the reputation of the Church. I'd really like to know what was proposed to happen to the pedophile priests.
I'm not surprised in the slightest. Vatican is a joke. A church state? Seriously?
Fuck the Vatican and the Pope.
[img]http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/images/Touchme_jesus.jpg[/img]
When did we go wrong?
end christianity
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