[watsonfellow]

Although, John Paul perhaps had reasons to deny the homosexualization of the Church.

He was such a strong, heterosexual man, who had no experience with homosexuals.

From the article,

"Whenever Vatican investigators brought the results of their vetting process regarding an individual's candidacy for bishop, cardinal or other office, and they revealed he was a homosexual, John Paul II would refuse to believe it," he writes.























"He did so because accusing someone of homosexuality was a standard practice of the Communist government in his native Poland regarding anyone it regarded as an enemy of the state. From his ordination as a Catholic priest in 1946 to elevation to Archbishop of Krakow in 1963 and Cardinal in 1967, the then Karol Wojtyla witnessed this personal destruction repeatedly. So traumatized, he summarily dismissed such accusations as pope, and would approve the elevation of anyone so accused. "

Wheeler says that's why the church is "riddled" with homosexuals today.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's the best explanation I've heard so far.

You combine that with the natural reluctance of the Vatican to interfere in "internal" matters in the U.S. -- because of the longstanding tradition of nativist, anti-Catholic agitation (just look at poor Al Smith, and how hard JFK had to work to overcome it even in the 60s) -- and it goes a long way to explain why something wasn't done a whole lot earlier to weed these guys out.

IIRC, Ratzinger began taking charge of these cases in 2002. Hopefully he will take a harder line, even if the anti-Catholics whine about "interference from a foreign potentate" etc. etc.

[FormerLib]

Wheeler says that's why the church is "riddled" with homosexuals today.

Quite interesting to hear that, actually. For some reason, I always thought the fact that John Paul II was just such a decent person that he found it particularly difficult to believe such a charge against a priest.

[mmercier]

>> Wheeler says that's why the church is "riddled" with homosexuals today.

the catholic church is riddled with homosexuals because it is one of the few places a young homosexual can be employed and still have a credible explanation to the parents as to why he (or she) does not have a mate.

i always had a problem with the "roman" part of the catholic church. the romans were catholic murdering sodomite pigs, till constantine had his vision... then things supposedly changed... they used to feed us to lions, now they own the catholics. perhaps we get what we deserve for accepting their rule.

the romans had no problem with homosexual acts, they only cared about who was on top.

guess that is why i am a "lapsed" catholic today. i do not accept roman rule.

[Aquinasfan]

"He did so because accusing someone of homosexuality was a standard practice of the Communist government in his native Poland regarding anyone it regarded as an enemy of the state. From his ordination as a Catholic priest in 1946 to elevation to Archbishop of Krakow in 1963 and Cardinal in 1967, the then Karol Wojtyla witnessed this personal destruction repeatedly. So traumatized, he summarily dismissed such accusations as pope, and would approve the elevation of anyone so accused. "

That's the first plausible explanation I've heard for the late pope's behavior.

[SolomoninSouthDakota]

Sorry, but to me that sounds lame. I would love to see just what it is that could excuse John Paul the Great's weakness in this regard. This excuse doesn't cut it with me. Certainly he should have had enough doubt as to send someone after more evidence on the identified homosexuals.

[ontos-on]

Wheeler says that's why the church is "riddled" with homosexuals today.======================================================================================================

"Well, how do you explain all the homosexuals that enterd the church and supposedly filled seminaries inthe 60's and 70's?