In clearest statement to date, Pope prays for victims of sex abuse

[onehandle]

Source: CNS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In his clearest public reference as pope to the subject of clerical sex abuse, Pope Francis urged bishops to support abuse victims while also reaching out to priests who have "fallen short of their commitments."

The pope made his remarks Dec. 2 to bishops from the Netherlands making their first visits "ad limina apostolorum" ("to the threshold of the apostles&quot since they met with Blessed John Paul II in 2004.

Speaking in French, the pope brought up sex abuse near the end of his talk, in a section devoted to bishops' care of priests under their authority.

"Like fathers, find the necessary time to welcome (your priests) and listen to them, every time they ask. And do not forget to go out to meet those who do not approach you; some of them unfortunately have fallen short of their commitments. In particular, I want to express my compassion and assure my prayers to all victims of sexual abuse and their families; I ask you to continue to support them along their painful path of healing, undertaken with courage," the pope said.

Read more: http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1305047.htm

[Warren Stupidity]

1. Sounds like the same old bullshit to me.

[warrant46]

6. Rather than pay the outstanding jury rendered civil judgments for his criminals deeds

He has dozens of his Diocese Leader Bishops file Federal Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Petitions to avoid paying child victims who were raped and molested by his Shepherds of the Flock (The Pedophile Priests)

[olddad56]

25. Really, you have heard other Popes say the same thing? I never have.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. yeah, almost word for word.

[pangaia]

2. ".... some of them unfortunately have fallen short of their commitments."

I am not sure if this refers to priests who have committed sexual abuse.
If it does..... WOW!!! that ain't the half of it.
Put those f***ers in jail..

[madrchsod]

3. i think he is referring to those who have looked the other way or were afraid

those who do not heal the churches where abuse took place.

he`s fighting an entrenched bureaucracy as bad or worse than any organization on earth

[niyad]

8. there was nothing in his comments to indicate he was talking about any but those doing the abuse.

and referring to it "as not living up to their commitments" is insulting. the pedophiles, and those who covered and protected them, are CRIMINALS-- CHILD-ABUSING CRIMINALS, each and every one of whom belongs in prison, up to, and including, ratzi.

[Deep13]

4. Writing a bad homily is falling short of commitments...

...Raping a child is an active and willful evil.

[Demo_Chris]

13. Lighten up! He keeps an old car parked by the palace and that makes everything okay...

Besides, in photographs he is really good with kids.

[Deep13]

14. He probably is very good with kids and past crimes are likely not his fault...

...Continuing complicity in evading justice, however, is his fault.

[Whisp]

19. yeh. That line amazes me.

Falling short...


wtf.

[skepticscott]

5. So what does that even mean.."support abuse victims"?

It sure sounds warm and fuzzy, but what is he really telling them to do in practice? Not much.

A better start would have been to turn all of the evidence of child sexual abuse in the RCC, and the coverup and enabling of it, over the the proper authorities. But we know that will never happen.

[niyad]

7. colour me soooo not impressed--sounded way too much like the non-actor "apologies" of chimpy's

reign of terror-- "mistakes were made". "victims of sexual abuse" without reference to exactly WHO was committing that abuse, is pretty useless. oh, and nothing about compensating those victims on their "painful, courageous road to healing".

the rest of that little article was equally disgusting. insisting that the priests in the netherlands whine and try to take that country back to the dark ages. of course, the fact that the church is losing power and traction there. . . .hmmm.

oh, and when is the church going to both apologize to, and compensate, the victims of the magdalene laundries? don't hold your breaths, everyone.

[Vashta Nerada]

9. "some of them unfortunately have fallen short of their commitments"

Um, excuse me? They didn't "fall short of their commitments". They broke the law and committed heinous crimes against children.

[mountain grammy]

10. Sure, I'm as skeptical as anyone, after all the Catholic church hasn't been worthy

of our trust. But I really want to give this Pope the benefit of the doubt. His past is sketchy, for sure, but he seems to take his role seriously. I do feel his "falling short of their commitments" statement is ludicrous if he was referring to rapist priests, but I'm not sure that's who he meant.
This Pope has been more outspoken on world poverty and unregulated capitalism than any in my memory. He's saying the things all religious leaders who claim to be Christian should be saying. I'm not a believer, but have read the Bible and Jesus was quite clear on the subjects of economics, poverty and social justice and those who claim to believe in Him should follow His lead like the Pope seems to be doing.
When the Pope speaks, people listen; and right now he's saying some things I've been saying for a while, but nobody listens to me.

[niyad]

18. unfortunately, he is not saying anything positive about women, reprouctive choice, gays, or

end-of-life issues. oh, and still waiting for "the clearest statement yet" on the magdalene laundry victims, including compensation for their abuse and suffering.

and, if he is serious about poverty, etc., let's see him opening up the church's vaults and bank accounts. it's easy to talk, waiting to see positive action being taken.

[mountain grammy]

23. He's been pope for 9 months and, at age 76, will probably be pope for 10-15 years

He's just getting started. I'm beginning to have hope.

[niyad]

24. hope is a good thing. however, knowing the church as well as I do, I have none.

[Demo_Chris]

11. To the hundreds-of-thousands or millions of these rape victims, have a prayer...

To put this horror into perspective, based upon the Catholic Church's own numbers it seems fairly safe to assume that every single priest and official working in America either knew about or actively participated in the rape and torture of these children. And that's HERE, where the church's power is at least somewhat limited. Lord only knows how bad it was elsewhere.

They are STILL covering it up and sheltering these rapists, and the current pope is the chief conspirator.

[Deep13]

12. "In clearest statement to date, Pope gives list of child rapists to prosecutors."

Still waiting for that headline.

[Demo_Chris]

15. If it included every priest who raped kids, and those who knew and did nothing...

It would include the names of virtually every Catholic priest to have lived over (at least) the last century. Most people simply do not understand the unbelievable scale of the abuse that was taking place, largely because the media has done a marvelous job repeating the "few bad apples" lie. The Church's own numbers show that to be false, and that's just the numbers they are willing to admit to.

[Deep13]

16. The expression is, "A few bad apples spoil the bin."

And yes, the bin is spoiled by complicity.

[theHandpuppet]

22. Do you mean instead of this one?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25204805

Vatican rebuffs United Nations sex abuse inquiries

[Deep13]

28. Yeah. Instead of that. nt

[niyad]

17. sorry, but THIS is the clearest statement to date on the child-sex-abuse scandal:

. . .


According to a 2011 report by a Dutch government commission, as many as 20,000 children may have been abused in the country's Catholic institutions between 1945 and 1981.

In his remarks to the pope, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk, president of the Dutch bishops' conference, said the conference had established an independent foundation to assist victims.

"We are determined to recognize the problems of the victims, to compensate them for damages and help them to heal as much as possible," the cardinal said.

. . . .

TWENTY THOUSAND in the netherlands ALONE in 36 years. who knows how many more children have been victims in the last 32 years?

[Whisp]

20. 20,000 in the Netherlands alone

...

That is so horrible it's beyond the beyond.
I suggest the Vatican burn itself down and start over. This will never be righted. Never, unless they all volunteer to remove themselves from the planet.

[niyad]

21. and that is just the ones they know about, in a 35-period. who knows how many since the end

of the report in '81.

a person I used to think of as intelligent said that the whole pedophile priest thing was blown way out of proportion by a catholic-hating media, that the numbers were insignificant. have not spoken to that person since.

[Lint Head]

26. Words? Action.