Calls It "Idealogy of Evil"
In the Pope's latest book, he refers to gay marriage as part of "a new ideology of evil." In this time of ever-increasing revelations of child sex abuse within the Catholic Church, I stand in wonder of just how misplaced priorities can be.
The book Memory and Identity is based on transcribed conversations between the Pontiff and his circle of friends. The conversations occurred in 1993, before the extent of the sexual abuse of children by priests was widely known or acknowledged. But I am never the less amazed and horrified at the priorities shown. The timing of the release of the book shows that the Church is still in denial of a problem that has effected tens of thousands of innocent lives.
The Pope argues that there are "pressures" on the European Parliament to endorse same-sex marriages. Certainly those pressures come from people that feel that two adults, of the age of consent, have the right to marry. The passage in question reads as follows: "It is legitimate and necessary to ask oneself if this is not perhaps part of a new ideology of evil, perhaps more insidious and hidden, which attempts to pit human rights against the family and against man." The logic is hard to follow. How can one possibly argue that an increase in human rights is bad for man?
In contrast, the Church and the Pontiff have been less critical of the documented cases of sexual abuse, perpetrated by priests on helpless children, and then covered up for decades by the Church. Last year, for example, 1092 new reports were received and acknowledged by the Church. According to a Reuters report of these new allegations "The charges involved at least 756 priests and deacons, and the vast majority of victims -- 78 percent -- were male. Most were between the ages of 10 and 14 when the abuse began."
Let us look at the case of defrocked priest Paul Shanley, who was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for raping a boy in the 1980s. I offer this as but one example of a serious and on-going problem, not adequately addressed by the Church. The first case of Father Shanley abusing a boy took place in 1960. It was reported by letter to Cardinal Cushing in 1961, when Father Shanley served at St. Patricks parish. He was allowed to continue in service at this parish until 1967. He was transferred to St. Francis of Assisi in 1967. There he continued the pattern of abuse, including allegedly abusing an 11-year old boy. He was transferred several times in the following years. In 1970, Cardinal Cushing dies and was replaced by Cardinal Humberto Medeiros . In 1974, a mother gave Cardinal Medeiros her young son's diary, which detailed Shanley's abuse and how Father Shanley shared the victim with others.
By 1979, Shanley was abusing children as young as SIX YEARS OLD. By 1988, In 1988, Bishop Banks received an allegation that Shanley suggested sadomasochistic sex to a mental patient in 1987. When confronted, Shanley was irate and Banks decided "there really was nothing I could do." Shanley was left in a position of "counselor." Even though reports had been made to those in authority, they were either denied or ignored. See http://www.bishop-accountability.org/assign/Shanley-Paul-Richard.htm for a full chronology.
The case of Father Shanley is but one of many thousands that have recently come to light. Last year the Catholic Church, by it's own admission, stated that there have been at least 15,000 cases reported in the US alone since the 1950's. There have been so many documented cases resulting in lawsuits that the Portland (Oregon) Archdiocese has filed for bankruptcy. See http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=83122 The rationale behind this filing is that the Portland Archdiocese should be recognized as being separate and distinct, at least in financial terms, from the remainder of the Catholic Church. One of the attorney's involved in the cases said “This is just a horrible ploy to avoid responsibility. They’re asking for public sympathy in order to avoid paying out just compensation to the victims.”
So, on one hand we have the Pope decrying gay marriage as the "idealogy of evil" when it would be hard to prove that anyone is hurt by this, unless you consider moral outrage a hurt. On the other hand, we have case after case of abuse, of rape and sodomy against children, occurring within and under the protection of the Church. While it is true and should be acknowledged that, under public pressure, the Church has instituted reforms, the reality is that in case after case the Church knew that there were monsters wearing cassocks and did nothing. That is the real evil and should be addressed.
As for the Pope's opinions on the legalization of same sex marriages, I suggest that he render unto Caesar.......