A Papal Conversion

NY Times ^ | March 28, 2010 | JOHN L. ALLEN Jr.

[Steelfish]

A Papal Conversion

By JOHN L. ALLEN Jr. March 27, 2010

IN light of recent revelations, Pope Benedict XVI now seems to symbolize the tremendous failure by the Catholic Church to crack down on the sexual abuse of children. Both the pope’s brief stint as a bishop in Germany 30 years ago and his quarter-century as a top Vatican official are being scoured for records of abusive priests whom he failed to stop, and each case seems to strengthen the indictment.

For example, considerable skepticism surrounds the Vatican’s insistence that in 1980 the pope, then Archbishop Joseph Ratzinger of Munich, was unaware of a decision to transfer a known pedophile priest to his diocese and give him duties in a parish. In some ways, the question of what he knew at the time is almost secondary, since it happened on his watch and ultimately he has to bear the responsibility. However, all the criticism is obscuring something equally important: For anyone who knows the Vatican’s history on this issue, Benedict XVI isn’t just part of the problem. He’s also a major chapter in the solution.

To understand that, it’s necessary to wind the clock back a decade. Before then, no Vatican office had clear responsibility for cases of priests accused of sexual abuse, which instead were usually handled — and often ignored — at the diocesan level. In 2001, however, Pope John Paul II assigned responsibility to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s all-important doctrinal office, which was headed by Joseph Ratzinger, then a cardinal.

[hellbender]

Martin Luther and John Calvin would have been in alliance with the Catholic Church against the modern secular Left. There is no doubt that the Left is Satanic and opposed to all flavors of Christianity. That’s why I think all branches of the Body of Christ had better pull together against the Left.

[Smokin' Joe]

That’s why I think all branches of the Body of Christ had better pull together against the Left.

I agree, but that is going to be hard to have when allegedly Christian churches fail to hold the line against the homosexual and abortion lobbies. Whether you'd want to include those misguided souls is a matter for other debate, but they weaken the stance of Christians everywhere by sccepting such policy into their Churches.

That we are under attack by the Left is patently obvious, as is the one they serve.

I, too think Martin Luther and John Calvin would have sided with the Pope in this, where the Christian churches are under assault.