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.
You built a straw man out of whole cloth and are fighting it.
Typical anonymous Interwebs weirdo.
Yup! This has been going on for centuries.
And Michael Cohen is going into the slammer for Obstruction of Justice.
Guess the higher muckety-mucks will have to await the next world for the Judge's gavel to come down.
Lol. You committed an ad hominem because you didn’t like the messenger...and what I did wasn’t a straw man. I drew a logical conclusion based on available data. Don’t try the logical fallacies game, you’ll lose. Again, research the claim of you dare.
I never said I didn’t believe nuns were molested. I said I don’t believe anything Frank the Heretic says.
You made up your straw man that I was a nun-molester denier out of whole cloth.
You need to go to confession for spreading lies.
Not always adult. Remember, in older times, the novices were only 14 or 15 years old. “Barely Legal” is today’s terminology. Read your History. Read about the Borgia popes! So many Catholics are so naive and ignorant about such things. How about Peter Abelard taking Eloise on the Refectory table? It’s in their letters to one another! Consensual ,of course, but racy reading for us young girls in Convent School, back in the fifties!
Then perhaps you should make yourself a little more clear when you speak and people won’t be misunderstanding you. If you look at the back and forth-you said you don’t buy it-I said there are testimonies out there for you to buy and you came back calling me a name. This exchange is on you. Own it. A logical person, given the exchange would know what you “didn’t buy” what was saying, especially given the fact I said there were testimonies of them saying it and you responded NOT by saying “o yeah I believe it’s happened, I just don’t believe him...” but by calling me a weirdo.” So, maybe you should do a job of articulation. The fact you don’t means you’re either really young, really old or drunk. Or perhaps you’re just a jerk.
Agree. BS! Diverting attention away from the greater evil...homosexuality in the clergy!
You’re one self-important know-it-alls who feels compelled to mansplain everything to all the inferiors you perceive surround you.
I remember reading more than a handful of stories growing up in Mexico where an old nunnery was bulldozed and lo & behold behind a wall - dead skeletons including fetus skeletons.
This is really yesterday’s news and at least Frankie the False Prophet admits it.
I think the story you’re referencing was a burial ground. Not necessarily evidence of child sacrifice like it was spun in the media.
You might be referring to this story:
Mass grave of babies and children found at Tuam care home in Ireland
I was actually posting about news stories from the 80s in Mexico. Pretty close to what happened in the above, but in Mexico City specifically. When they demo’ed churches in the aftermath of the 1985 Earthquake they found bodies as well - probably going back decades. I doubt it was done out of child sacrifice, but rather to cover up their abuse.
Not as the successor to St. Peter. He’s hurting the Church. The Pope needs to be leading a renewed fidelity to the Holy Spirit. Yes, he has to admit failings — and correct them — but he must also inspire. I don’t understand what this guy is all about.
I understood and loved John Paul II. I understood and loved Benedict.
I don’t get this guy at all.
Like I said. This is his job. He is carrying out his orders to help destroy the Catholic Church.
Your recollection is incorrect. He returned from Rome and testified before the grand jury. They did not indict him. Please don't spread false rumors; the problem is bad enough as it is without misinformation.
Lots of people died and were buried without the benefit of your modern stereotypical plot back in the day. It doesn’t necessarily in and of itself point to malfeasance by the standards of the day unlike what the Guardian is trying to imply.
“Back in the day” goes back thousands of years.
It’s not a stereotype if it actually happened.
“an old nunnery was bulldozed and lo & behold behind a wall - dead skeletons including fetus skeletons.”
The seminary (not Catholic) I attended had been a monastery at one time. Across the street was a nunnery. On the grounds of the nunnery was a cemetery with a bunch of very small grave stones, but no markings whatsoever. People in town would mention it sometimes, all very hush-hush. It was weird. Not sure if anyone ever got the real scoop, or even if there was a real scoop.
Then he needs to get the boot.
Not the first bad pope — or anti-pope. Just the latest...
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