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EVEN WHEN a religious institution has its own procedures for punishing wayward clergy, the sexual abuse of children is a serious crime that warrants prosecution by civil authorities. But when the Vatican revised its disciplinary system for sex-abuser priests, it missed the opportunity to take an unambiguous stand against pedophiles and those who protect them. The new rules do not order church officials to report allegations of sex abuse to the police, nor do they establish even internal penalties for bishops who cover up cases of abuse.

Rome won't change because it doesn't think it has to change.

God willing, civil, legal and moral authorities will prove them wrong.

Rome won't change because it doesn't think it has to change.

Couple of things here, "Rome" in the person of the current pope isn't the problem. Joseph Ratzinger is about the only curial official who actually saw "the problem" as a PROBLEM. The rest of the Romans were just oblivious, eight years ago the actual quote most Romans were throwing around was "let the Americans take care of 'the American Problem'". I really believe they were, on the whole, really that clueless, except for then Cardinal Ratzinger. If the American bishops had been minding the shop we wouldn't be in the mess we are now in.

One thing I find interesting in all of this that nobody else has picked up on is that this has been transferred to CDF, the former Holy Office, the Former "Universal Inquisition". The abuse of minors by members of the clergy has been turned over to the thumbscrew mob rather than The Congregation for the Clergy where one might expect it to be.

We should expect the CDF to be charged with the female ordination craziness, having the CDF charged with resolving the abuse of minors by clergy is like having the Joint Chiefs tasked with solving murders.

God willing, civil, legal and moral authorities will prove them wrong.

You might want to reconsider who you're making common cause with here. Think about it, those "civil, legal and moral authorities" won't stop with one issue and they won't stop with us. Once they get done with us not practicing what we preach they'll go after us for practicing what we preach... then they'll move on to you. It isn't like they care about the actual sexual abuse anyhow.