Posted on 06/11/2010 5:13:20 AM PDT by markomalley
(ANSA) - Vatican City, June 11 - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday issued a public apology for the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church.
"We insistently ask for forgiveness from God and the persons involved," the pope told some 15,000 priests from all over the world at a Mass in St Peter's marking the end of the Year of the Priest.
The 83-year-old pontiff vowed to "do everything possible to make sure such abuse can never happen again".
Looking back on the Year of the Priest, the pope said that while being cause for celebration of the 'sacrament" of the priesthood it had coincided with the emergence of "sins of priests, especially towards children, in which the priestly role of helping humanity had been "turned around".
The pontiff vowed to weed out possible future predators when priests were selected and trained.
"We will do everything possible to weigh the authenticity of the (priest's) vocation," he promised.
"The Church "must use the shepherd's staff, the staff that protects faith against falsifiers, against leanings that are, in fact, distortions".
Alluding to cover-ups, he said "conduct unworthy of the priestly life cannot be tolerated".
The Catholic Church has this year been rocked by a series of sex abuse scandals and has had to fend off allegations that the Vatican covered up a number of cases.
Paedophile scandals have hit the Church in the United States, Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Germany and Italy.
Benedict has repeatedly pledged to root out abuse but some victims groups have said they want to see "more concrete" steps.
Castration?
Matthew 18:9 seems appropriate.
Including letting priests get married? The horror! /S
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May God bless and protect our beloved Pope Benedict.
How about defrocking and excommunicating any bishop who knowing hid abuse and turning everything they know about abuse over to local prosecutors so the perpetrators can be punished? To me the greater scandal is that many higher-ups in the Church knew about the abuse and did nothing. For good example start by publicly excommunicating Rembert Weakland the former Bishop who used church funds to cover up his own homosexual affairs. While apologies and expressions of regret are OK the Pope needs to show resolve to do what is right.
While there is no doubt that there has been abuse and cover ups, how many being reported now are current events and not "uncovering" of long past events? *note to the "any stick to beat the Church" usual suspects: this is not an excuse, equivocation or in any way an attempt to diminish the vile acts of some priests, religious or Bishops.
Every Story I have read leaves out the Popes referrence to the EVIL ONE working to drive people away from belief.
Do you know where we can find a Complete address. NOT the filtered version from the secular msm?
Your rod and your staff they comfort me: the shepherd needs the rod as protection against savage beasts ready to pounce on the flock; against robbers looking for prey. Along with the rod there is the staff which gives support and helps to make difficult crossings. Both of these are likewise part of the Churchs ministry, of the priests ministry. The Church too must use the shepherds rod, the rod with which he protects the faith against those who falsify it, against currents which lead the flock astray. The use of the rod can actually be a service of love. Today we can see that it has nothing to do with love when conduct unworthy of the priestly life is tolerated. Nor does it have to do with love if heresy is allowed to spread and the faith twisted and chipped away, as if it were something that we ourselves had invented. As if it were no longer Gods gift, the precious pearl which we cannot let be taken from us. Even so, the rod must always become once again the shepherds staff a staff which helps men and women to tread difficult paths and to follow the Lord.
The complete address was posted in this thread. Also see this transcript (it's the same; just another source).
“The 83-year-old pontiff vowed to “do everything possible to make sure such abuse can never happen again”.
Pretty wods, but that would be like trying to stop the tides. Now if he wanted to say that he was going to do everything possible to ensure that any past cover-ups are exposed and that no future cover-ups can be successful, THAT would be putting some meat on the bones.
Here are his exact words:
We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid lifes dangers.
okay....what’s that got to do with what I said?
Rather than an (Italian) MSM synthesis of what he said, I gave his exact words.
Does it change anything you said? No. Does it imply what you said was wrong? No. It just gives the words in the proper context. No more. No less.
Ok
Thank you very much.
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