As the Vatican tries to ratchet down the tensions with the UN, it reveals its own incongruities.
ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican sought to defuse tensions with the United Nations on Friday after a damning report which accused the church of covering up child sex abuse by priests.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi adopted a markedly softer tone to Wednesday's sharp criticism of a report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The paper accused the Church of valuing its reputation above the protection of children and demanded the Vatican turn over suspected offenders to civil justice.
The Vatican had originally planned a muted response, according to a person familiar with the matter, but attacked the report's demands that the church scale back its opposition to abortion, artificial contraception and homosexuality.
The exchange appeared to leave the church and the United Nations heading for their biggest clash in decades but Lombardi said there was no rift with the world body.
Seriously? Keep reading.
"It is not the case that there has been a confrontation between the UN and the Vatican," he said in a statement. "The Holy See has always given a strong moral support to the United Nations."
Lombardi nevertheless repeated the Vatican's initial criticism of the report, saying it was unfair and biased.
He said that the inclusion of comments on abortion, contraception and homosexuality went beyond the committee's remit and amounted to an attempt to interfere in Church teaching and religious freedom, and accused the committee of pre-writing the report before the Vatican had addressed it.
In my first post on the UN report, I asked if there were any Christians, Catholics, or theologians on the UN Committee. If there were they would know that an external committee cannot change church dogma and that it is absurd to try. The report could not possibly have been written by anyone who had any belief in God, or they would know that.
This report is the first outright attack on religion by the UN, but I guarantee, it will not be the last. Catholics and Protestants should all see this as an ominous sign. Perilous times are coming when all Christians will be persecuted for their beliefs.
The last major clash between the two institutions was in 1994, when the Vatican forced the United Nations to back down on a proposal to approve abortion as a means of birth control at a population conference in Cairo.
Outrage over the abuse of children by clerics has dogged the Church for more than a decade, with lawsuits bankrupting several dioceses, and a series of pontiffs have struggled to put the issue behind them.
Since his 2013 election Pope Francis has called sexual abuse "the shame of the Church" and vowed to continue measures to address it begun by his predecessor Benedict XVI.
Francis announced he would form a committee to advise him on the issue in December, but has yet to appoint its members, and the report increased pressure on the pontiff to act.
The initial anger of the Vatican at the UN report was only slightly muted by Fr Lombardi's response today. Anger is still the dominant emotion instead of contrition and humility. We can blame the tone and the over-reaching of the mandate of the committee for that.
But is the church not under some conviction from God? Yes, I know Pope Francis feels the shame, but I really wonder if anyone else in the church does? I would prefer to see an attitude of humility, of repentance, of responsibility for the covering up and enabling of the child abuse within the church. Instead, they claim no authority to deal with individual priests or bishops. That's just hogwash.
I would also like to see some admission of their great sins against God. Jesus said, "What you do to the least of these, you do unto Me." Yet, as I have mentioned before, I see no mention of God anywhere in the churches responses anywhere in the world.
Yet, they are angry when the UN report assaults their stand on homosexuality, abortion, and contraceptives. They are angry because they see themselves as the keeper of God's righteousness on earth. They claim the high moral ground when abominations are occurring within the church and many are complicit in hiding and enabling it.
Priest are supposed to keep themselves holy, to avoid sex so as give themselves fully to God. Obviously, this is not working. Paul writes in 1 Cor 7:8, "But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I".
But he follows that with v9, "But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Paul, in two epistles states that Deacons or Bishops, "must be husbands of only one wife".
Why on earth does the church forbid priests and bishops to marry? Is it better to molest hundreds of thousands of children than to marry? Is there anything of God in that? These men have not given themselves to God but to their own lusts, yet the church protects them and even enables them.
The Pope needs to admit that celibacy is a complete failure in the priesthood and abandon this unbiblical doctrine.
ROME (Reuters) - The Vatican sought to defuse tensions with the United Nations on Friday after a damning report which accused the church of covering up child sex abuse by priests.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi adopted a markedly softer tone to Wednesday's sharp criticism of a report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child.
The paper accused the Church of valuing its reputation above the protection of children and demanded the Vatican turn over suspected offenders to civil justice.
The exchange appeared to leave the church and the United Nations heading for their biggest clash in decades but Lombardi said there was no rift with the world body.
Seriously? Keep reading.
"It is not the case that there has been a confrontation between the UN and the Vatican," he said in a statement. "The Holy See has always given a strong moral support to the United Nations."
Lombardi nevertheless repeated the Vatican's initial criticism of the report, saying it was unfair and biased.
He said that the inclusion of comments on abortion, contraception and homosexuality went beyond the committee's remit and amounted to an attempt to interfere in Church teaching and religious freedom, and accused the committee of pre-writing the report before the Vatican had addressed it.
In my first post on the UN report, I asked if there were any Christians, Catholics, or theologians on the UN Committee. If there were they would know that an external committee cannot change church dogma and that it is absurd to try. The report could not possibly have been written by anyone who had any belief in God, or they would know that.
This report is the first outright attack on religion by the UN, but I guarantee, it will not be the last. Catholics and Protestants should all see this as an ominous sign. Perilous times are coming when all Christians will be persecuted for their beliefs.
The last major clash between the two institutions was in 1994, when the Vatican forced the United Nations to back down on a proposal to approve abortion as a means of birth control at a population conference in Cairo.
Outrage over the abuse of children by clerics has dogged the Church for more than a decade, with lawsuits bankrupting several dioceses, and a series of pontiffs have struggled to put the issue behind them.
Since his 2013 election Pope Francis has called sexual abuse "the shame of the Church" and vowed to continue measures to address it begun by his predecessor Benedict XVI.
Francis announced he would form a committee to advise him on the issue in December, but has yet to appoint its members, and the report increased pressure on the pontiff to act.
The initial anger of the Vatican at the UN report was only slightly muted by Fr Lombardi's response today. Anger is still the dominant emotion instead of contrition and humility. We can blame the tone and the over-reaching of the mandate of the committee for that.
But is the church not under some conviction from God? Yes, I know Pope Francis feels the shame, but I really wonder if anyone else in the church does? I would prefer to see an attitude of humility, of repentance, of responsibility for the covering up and enabling of the child abuse within the church. Instead, they claim no authority to deal with individual priests or bishops. That's just hogwash.
I would also like to see some admission of their great sins against God. Jesus said, "What you do to the least of these, you do unto Me." Yet, as I have mentioned before, I see no mention of God anywhere in the churches responses anywhere in the world.
Yet, they are angry when the UN report assaults their stand on homosexuality, abortion, and contraceptives. They are angry because they see themselves as the keeper of God's righteousness on earth. They claim the high moral ground when abominations are occurring within the church and many are complicit in hiding and enabling it.
Priest are supposed to keep themselves holy, to avoid sex so as give themselves fully to God. Obviously, this is not working. Paul writes in 1 Cor 7:8, "But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I".
But he follows that with v9, "But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion." Paul, in two epistles states that Deacons or Bishops, "must be husbands of only one wife".
Why on earth does the church forbid priests and bishops to marry? Is it better to molest hundreds of thousands of children than to marry? Is there anything of God in that? These men have not given themselves to God but to their own lusts, yet the church protects them and even enables them.
The Pope needs to admit that celibacy is a complete failure in the priesthood and abandon this unbiblical doctrine.
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