N.Y. pol blasts Vatican 'hypocricy' for Iraq abuse protest

NY Daily News ^ | 13 May 2004

[demlosers]

'If there's anyone in the world who has no right to speak on sexual abuse, it's the Vatican'

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Catholic lawmaker Peter King ripped Church leaders as hypocrites Thursday for the Vatican’s foreign minister claim that the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal is worse for America than the Sept. 11 attacks. “If there’s anyone in the world who has no right to speak on sexual abuse, it’s the Vatican,” said Rep. King, an anti-abortion Republican. “This is the height of hypocrisy.”

In an interview published Wednesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica, Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo described the abuses as “a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam” and said the scandal would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity.

“The torture? A more serious blow to the United States than Sept. 11. Except that the blow was not inflicted by terrorists but by Americans against themselves,” Lajolo was quoted as saying.

Disturbing photographs of Iraqi prisoners being abused and sexually humiliated by American military at the Abu Ghraib prison have stunned the world, and prompted some Democrats to call for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign or be fired.

King said the Catholic Church should be the last group to claim moral high ground on issues of sexual abuse, given the past several years of revelations about priests abusing children for years while church officials failed to stop such behavior.

“Whatever the United States has done to prisoners in Iraq is nothing compared to what priests and nuns did to Catholic kids for decades while the Catholic hierarchy covered it up,” King said.

“Think of the thousands of kids in the U.S. and Ireland who were abused by priests and nuns — you wonder where the Vatican’s moral compass is.”

King argued the U.S. military’s investigation into the prison abuses show America has responded admirably to the abuse problem. In contrast, the church has not done enough to fix its own problems or apologize for them, he said.

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, said the archbishop’s statements show anti-American sentiment within the Vatican.

“This man is an absolute embarrassment to the Catholic Church. I read that and I was just boiling over,” said Donohue.

Donohue said he disagreed with King’s contention that the church should not speak out about abuse issues, but called the archbishop’s comparison of the abuse scandal to Sept. 11 “singularly irresponsible, insulting, and anti-American.”

[BrooklynGOP]

Ouch!

[woofie]

"Leash girl" learns from Monsignor secrets of sex abuse

[Rutles4Ever]

Silly rabbit. Enlighten us with your wisdom...

[Rutles4Ever]

You know it's bad if Donohue can't believe his ears.

[over3Owithabrain]

Be ye warned: You may be swarmed upon by the FReeper Catholic posse, who still deny their church leaders have been steadily crapping on the US while winking at the scandals in their own midst.

[bfree]

Seems to me that the Church knows plenty about abuse. Until they take care of their problems, they should probably just STFU.

[onedoug]

"The proof in the pudding."

[Prime Choice]

Yee-ouch! Spanked.

[Cyclops08]

Every quote from the senile pope reinforces my decision to LEAVE the RCC years ago. This blind pope really ought to step aside and let a competent man take his place.

[thoughtomator]

And thus, the last vestige of moral leadership in the Catholic Church vanished, and there remained nothing more than a cynical, sinister bureaucracy that would endeavor to deliver the Christian world as a slave, to the feet of Islam.

[Adrastus]

Be interesting to see how the Catholic Church gets off the skyline with this one. Sounds like the Vatican has been passing stupid pills around.In this case they are infallibley screwed up......I don't hear the thunder of tiny hoofs yet.

[livius]

It only gets worse. Apparently (according to Vatican muckity-mucks published by AP) the Pope is planning on "scolding" Bush in June for the war and for not "building bridges with Islam."

Barf.

[cwb]

"Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo described the abuses as "a tragic episode in the relationship with Islam" and said the scandal would fuel hatred for the West and for Christianity."

1400 years of unadulterated hatred and violence committed against others...and this is going to fuel more? I'm beginning to think that Urban II was the only one who got it right:)

[ruiner]

Why did they throw in the "Anti-abortion" before republican? I did a search of the article and it was the only time abortion came up????

[cwb]

If the Pope isn't careful, he's going to end up burning bridges...as Islam has been doing for centuries. The Catholic Church should be more concerned with Christians that are being slaugtered around the world by Islam, rather than worrying about "building bridges" to them.

[DannyTN]

"“If there’s anyone in the world who has no right to speak on sexual abuse, it’s the Vatican,” said Rep. King, an anti-abortion Republican. “This is the height of hypocrisy.” "

I strongly disagree with this comment and I'm not Catholic.

The Catholic church like America holds up a standard. It doesn't matter whether the church attains that standard, any more than it matters that America doesn't always perfectly uphold freedom.

What matters is the standard that is being held up. If the church was saying it's wrong for you but not for the church. That would be hypocrisy. But the church has said it's wrong for you and for the church even if the church did it too. That is not hypocrisy.

[weegee]

Wonder what the Vatican has to say about these photos on the dealings with the arab world:

Daily Mirror photos officially fake

Boston Globe caught with pants down: Paper duped into running porn photos

The enemies of good partner with evil. They are responsible for our breakdown of understanding.