Posted on 02/05/2019 2:43:47 PM PST by Gamecock
Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and have even been held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday. The abuse was so severe in one case that an entire congregation of nuns was dissolved by former Pope Benedict.
The scope of the abuse of nuns by clergy members first came to light with the publication at the beginning of February of the monthly Vatican magazine "Women Church World." The edition included Francis' own take on the scandal -- long known about by the Vatican but virtually never discussed -- in which he blamed the unchecked power wielded by priests and higher clergy across the Catholic Church for such crimes.
An Associated Press journalist who first reported on the scandal last year asked Pope Francis on his flight home from the Arabian Peninsula on Tuesday whether enough was being done by the Church hierarchy to address the problem.
The pontiff conceded that it was a problem and said more action was needed. He insisted the will to confront the abuse is there, and stressed that the problem is not new, and that the Church has been working to address it for some time.
"It's a path that we've been on. Pope Benedict had the courage to dissolve a female congregation which was at a certain level, because this slavery of women had entered it -- slavery, even to the point of sexual slavery -- on the part of clerics or the founder," the pope conceded.
Alessandro Gisotti, interim director of the Vatican press center, later confirmed to CBS News that the order of nuns dissolved under Benedict was the Community of St. Jean in France. The reason the order was dissolved had not previously been made public.
The Saint Jean order was dissolved in 2005, the first year Pope Benedict served as the head of the Church. He stepped down and Pope Francis took over as pontiff in 2013.
"I would like to underscore that he was a man who had the courage to do many things on this topic," Pope Francis said of his predecessor on Tuesday.
The pope confirmed that the abuse of nuns was an ongoing problem, but said it was only in "certain congregations, predominantly new ones and in certain regions more than others."
While the pontiff did not provide further detail on Tuesday, nuns in India and Chile, at least, have previously reported abuse at the hands of priests.
Francis told reporters on his flight that the Catholic Church," shouldn't be scandalized by this," adding that "there are steps in a process," and "we are working on it."
The Vatican's new openness in discussing the abuse of nuns comes after years of revelations about clergy abusing children, mostly boys, in their congregations across the globe, and senior clergy members covering up those crimes.
On his last flight home from an international trip, just last week, Pope Francis warned that expectations for an upcoming landmark Vatican summit on clergy sexual abuse should be "deflated," as the problem was unlikely to be resolved through it.
The pontiff's move to lower expectations was likely a disappointment to many Catholics, particularly in the U.S. where the last year has seen a string of revelations about senior church leaders covering up abuse.
So there is that.
Sounds more like the plot of a cheap porno movie.
If Frank says it, I’m not buying it.
Boys, girl, nuns? Good thing animals can’t speak. What a bunch of monsters.
Frankie the Talking Heretic allegedly said it.
See? BS! “News” “reported” it.
Anyone who believes it is foolish.
If this is an order of nuns, wouldn't the founder be a nun, the Mother Superior? Are the "clerics" accused of instigating sexual slavery MALE priests, or FEMALE nuns? According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, nuns are considered clerics in Catholicism.
No mention of any priests being defrocked or excommunicated over this.
Side note: Catholic churches in my area are closing or merging at an accelerating rate. I’m not Catholic. But I used to feel bad about those closings. Not anymore.
Sounds like a few Dioceses ran out of Altar Boys.
Sorry, grew up in Boston, so I’ve heard about many priests’ predilection towards pedophilia with little or no intervention on the part of the heads of the head of the Dioceses or his higher-ups at the Vatican. By no means am I saying that all priests in those areas were guilty, but it still burns my butt that Cardinal Law not only got away with the scandal while in Boston, but he got a promotion to Rome for his part.
Yeah, bringing up a small scandal will definitely get the big scandal off the hooks, right?
I’m just glad to hear they aren’t all homos and pedophiles.
All this Pope does is make things worse for the Church.
Why bring this out a few days before the big conference? Why this unusually calm, controlled, modest tone of Francis? Why pull in the stature and prestige of Benedict just now? Why talk about nuns when this actually is not a huge problem?
Is it too far-fetched to see this as an attempt to deflect from the homo crisis? Suddenly we hear about priests attacking women, not boys. Big risk to publicize more sex stuff now. But if the top priority is to protect the lavenders...?
Thanks, Frank.
Sister Mary Elephant could not be reached for comment.
I recall when the scandal started and Boston was a center of this.
As I recall, Cardinal Law was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury investigating the abuse cases. But before he could testify, he was transferred to the Vatican.
The fact that the Catholic Church has not always been cooperative with law enforcement in these matters is troubling.
The Peter Principle works in the Church too.
Not Catholic but curious. If the Pope dissolves a congregation of nuns what happens to the nuns? Do they still have jobs? Do they have to move?
Yes, I think you put your finger on it. He's being very careful in his choice of words here. I think he's saying that nuns are / were abusing other nuns. Basically we knew that gays utterly corrupted the priesthood, now it's confirmed they destroyed the convent too.
Maybe they need some involuntary TransNuns.
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