Spanish probe estimates more than 200,000 children abused
by Roman Catholic clergy
Over 200,000 minors are estimated to have been sexually abused in Spain by the
Roman Catholic clergy since 1940, an independent commission published Friday
The report did not give a specific figure but said a poll of over 8,000 people found that 0.6 percent of Spain's adult population of around 39 million people said they had suffered sexual abuse by members of the clergy when they were still children.
The percentage rises to 1.13 percent -- or over 400,000 people -- when including abuse by lay members, Spain's national ombudsman Angel Gabilondo told a news conference called to present the findings of the report.
The revelations in Spain are the latest to rock the Roman Catholic Church after a series of sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children, over the past 20 years.
But unlike in other nations, in Spain -- a traditionally Catholic country that has become highly secular -- clerical abuse allegations are only now gaining traction, leading to accusations by survivors of stonewalling.
"Unfortunately, for many years there has been a certain desire to deny abuses or a desire to conceal or protect the abusers," said Gabilondo, a former education minister.
The report is critical of the attitude of the Catholic Church, calling its response to cases of child abuse involving the clergy "insufficient". It recommended the creation of a state fund to pay reparations to victims.
Child protection offices
Just before the report was presented in parliament, the Spanish bishops conference said it would hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday to discuss its findings.
Spain's parliament in March 2022 overwhelmingly approved the creation of an independent commission led by the country's ombudsman to "shed light" on allegations of sexual abuse of "defenceless boys and girls" within the Catholic Church.
Spain's Catholic Church, which for years flatly refused to carry out its own probe, declined to take part in the independent investigation, although it did cooperate by providing documents on cases of sexual abuse that had been collected by dioceses.
But as political pressure mounted, it tasked a private law firm in February 2022 with an "audit" into past and present sexual abuse by clergy, teachers and others associated with the Church, which should be completed by the end of the year.
The Spanish Church said in June it had discovered 927 cases of child abuse through a complaints procedure launched in 2020.
It argues it has set up protocols for dealing with sexual abuse and has set up "child protection" offices withing dioceses.
'Tip of iceberg'
But a probe by top-selling daily newspaper El Pais which began in 2018 has since uncovered 2,206 victims and 1,036 alleged abusers dating back to 1927.
"According to experts, this is just the tip of the iceberg," the newspaper wrote on Friday before the report was published.
The Church's abuse crisis exploded onto the international stage in 2002 when the Boston Globe newspaper revealed priests had sexually abused children for decades and church leaders had covered it up.
Patterns of widespread abuse of children were later reported across the United States and Europe, in Chile and Australia, undercutting the moral authority of the 1.3 billion-member Church and taking a toll on its membership.
An independent commission in neighbouring France concluded in 2021 that some 216,000 children -- mostly boys -- had been sexually abused by clergy since 1950.
In Germany a study found 3,677 cases of abuse between 1946 and 2014 while in Ireland more than 14,500 people received compensation though a government scheme for those abused at juvenile facilities run by the Catholic Church.
(AFP)
A Vatican bishop one admitted to a visiting evangelist that the Catholic Church was indeed the Whore of Babylon described in the Book of Revelations. I have much more to say on this subject but it will have to wait for another day.
Pope Francis lifts statute of limitations in Father Marko Rupnik
sex abuse allegations
By Doug Cunningham
Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The Vatican said Friday that Pope Francis has lifted the statute of limitations on sexual abuse allegations against former Jesuit priest and mosaic artist Father Marko Rupnik.
A statement from the Holy See said Francis was made aware last month of "serious problems" in the handling of the case including a "lack of outreach to victims."
"Consequently, the Holy Father asked the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith to review the case, and decided to lift the statute of limitations to allow a process to take place," it said.
Rupnik was accused of sexual and psychological abuse by consecrated women who he worked with over more than 30 years.
Massachusetts court finds defrocked cardinal unfit to stand trial for sexual assault
Diocese of Oakland files for bankruptcy as it faces hundreds of sexual abuse claims
Ex-Catholic Cardinal McCarrick faces second sexual assault charge
He was expelled from the Society of Jesus in June for failing to obey the directions of his superiors but has returned to work as a priest in a Slovenia diocese.
Pope Francis held a private meeting with Maria Campatelli, one of Rupnik's collaborators after she published a letter alleging "a media campaign based on defamatory and unproven accusations" against him.
Women who said they were victimized by Rupnik responded with an open letter saying they had been left "speechless" by the audience between Francis and Campatelli and a subsequent statement by the Diocese of Rome praising an art and theology center founded by Rupnik as a "healthy community."
"We recognize that the church cares nothing about the victims and those seeking justice; and that the 'zero tolerance on abuse in the church' was only an advertising campaign, which was instead followed only by often hidden actions, which instead supported and covered up the perpetrators of abuse. The victims are left in the voiceless cry of a new abuse," they wrote.
The Vatican's statement came amid a monthlong Synod assembly called by Francis.
"The Pope is firmly convinced that if there is one thing the Church must learn from the Synod it is to listen attentively and compassionately to those who are suffering, especially those who feel marginalized from the Church," the Holy See said Friday.
The Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors welcomed the pope's decision to lift the statute of limitations in the case Friday.
"As the Synod comes to a close, we repeat the important role that a culture of safeguarding should play in any theology of ministry, leadership or worship," it said. "The core of the church's mandate is to render everyone safe, to protect the vulnerable from whatever threatens them, and to lead them to the fullness of life known through God's own promises."
Right! You can take that to the bank and you'll get arrested for attempted robbery.
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Pope Francis Defends Islam as ‘Religion of Peace’ in New Book
By RAYMOND IBRAHIM Published on October 26, 2023
Pope Francis is at it again, misleading his sheep about Muslim violence, suggesting that it has no ideological component, but is a “perversion” of true Islam, which is peace.
In his new book, Non Sei Solo: Sfide, Risposte, Speranze (You Are Not Alone: Challenges, Answers, Hopes), which was published in Italian and released on Tuesday, Francis calls on Europeans to be more open to Muslim migrants, insisting that:
Radical Islam is a problem and represents a perversion of religiosity because Islam, in truth, is a religion of peace and the majority of its members are peaceful…. As they say, either you are a terrorist or you are a Muslim. Then, by the way, we find fundamentalism in all religions. Radical Islam is a perversion because it is a religion that talks about peace.
Same Pabulum, Different Sippy-Cup
The pontiff is certainly consistent; he has been making these relativistic claims for years, no matter the circumstances. For instance, after Fr. Jacques Hamel, an 85-year-old priest, had his throat slit by “Allahu Akbar” shouting Muslims who stormed his church during morning mass in France, 2016, a journalist suggested in an interview with Francis that the octogenarian priest was “killed in the name of Islam.” To this Francis replied:
"I don’t like to speak of Islamic violence, because every day, when I browse the newspapers, I see violence, here in Italy… this one who has murdered his girlfriend, another who has murdered the mother-in-law … and these are baptized Catholics! There are violent Catholics! If I speak of Islamic violence, I must speak of Catholic violence . . . and no, not all Muslims are violent, not all Catholics are violent. It is like a fruit salad; there’s everything."
Is the Pope really that dense? Is he incapable of distinguishing between violence committed in the name of a religion, and violence committed in contradiction of a religion?
He’s Not This Dumb. He’s That Disingenuous.
Yes, Catholics — and people of all religions, sects, creeds — commit violence. That is because humans are prone to violence (or, to use Christian language, we are fallen creatures). But no, the Catholics whom Francis cites do not commit crimes because of any teaching contained in Christianity or Catholicism; on the contrary, Christian teachings of mercy and forgiveness are meant to counter such impulses.
On the other hand, the violence that Muslims are committing around the world are, indeed, contained in and a product of Islam — and they have been from day one.
The violence that Muslims are committing around the world are, indeed,
contained in and a product of Islam — and they have been from day one
Equating Conservative Christians with Hamas and ISIS
As for Francis’s claim in his new book that “we find fundamentalism in all religions,” this too he has been consistent on from the start. During his 2016 interview, after acknowledging that there are “violent persons of this religion [Islam],” he immediately added that “in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists. Fundamentalists. We have them.”
In Islam, there is no 'small group' of fundamentalists. They may be in the minority but it is barely a minority. Pakistan itself makes up 14% of all Muslims and virtually all are radicalized. Every country in North Africa and the Sahel is populated with thousands of radicalized Muslims attempting to commit genocide on Christians. Who knows what percentage of Muslim migrants who have entered Europe in the past nine years are radicalized, but it is not insignificant. Furthermore, Muslims can often be radicalized at the drop of a hat. I often criticize Christian churches for having no discernment, but Francis' lack of discernment is astonishing.
This is another sloppy generalization. Sure, “in pretty much every religion there is always a small group of fundamentalists,” but that which is “fundamental” to them widely differs. One may say that Muslim and Christian fundamentalists adhere to a literalist/strict reading of their scriptures. While that statement may be true, left unsaid by those who think the issue is hereby settled is: what do the Bible and Koran actually teach?
It is because of this all important (but unasked question) that the Christian fundamentalist will find himself compelled to pray for his persecutors, and, depending on the situation, maybe even turn the other cheek. Conversely, the Muslim fundamentalist will find himself attacking, subjugating, plundering, enslaving, and slaughtering non-Muslims. In both cases, the scriptures — Bible and Koran — say so.
Muslims Gonna Muslim
Take a few examples:
The New Testament preaches peace, brotherly love, tolerance, and forgiveness — for all humans, believers and non-believers alike. Conversely, the Koran and Hadith call for war, or jihad, against all non-Muslims, until they either convert, accept subjugation and discrimination (dhimmi status), or die (e.g., Koran 9:5, 9:29, etc.).
The New Testament prescribes no punishment for the apostate from Christianity. Conversely, Islam’s prophet himself decreed: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him.”
The New Testament teaches monogamy, one husband and one wife, thereby dignifying the woman. The Koran allows polygamy — up to four wives — and the possession of concubines, or sex-slaves. More literalist readings treat women as possessions.
The New Testament discourages lying (e.g., Col. 3:9). The Koran permits it. The prophet himself often deceived others, and allowed his followers to lie, including to their wives.
Clearly, not all “fundamentalists” are equal.
As for Pope Francis, when it comes to the question of whether Islam promotes violence against non-Muslims, surely he falls within the ranks of those Western leaders who are either fools or liars — or a little bit of both.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West and Sword and Scimitar is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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