Catholic Abuse News - Let The Blaming Begin

Pope Francis. "It's Satan's fault!"

Photo credit: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Pope Calls Critics of the Catholic Church 'Friends of the Devil'

Speaking on the eve of the crisis meeting in the Vatican, called to decide what to do about the tsunami of complaints about predatory paedophile priests, the Pope has set the tone by reiterating what he said toward the end of last year. It's Satan's fault. The critics bringing the problem to the attention of the public are working for the Devil.

So, the solution is simple. Shame those who spill the beans! God is best served by covering up the problem.

Talking to pilgrims from southern Italy, he told them:

One cannot live a whole life accusing, accusing, accusing, the church. [People who did were] the friends, cousins and relatives of the devil.

The Pope's attempt to distance the church and it's failings from the abuses of its clergy and to pile guilt onto those who have exposed the abuses coincides with a repetition of another fingering of scapegoats - homosexuals. Cardinals Raymond Burke and Walter Brandmüller have issued a public letter in which they blame homosexuals and the "climate of complicity and conspiracy of silence" that protects them.

In a barely disguised side-swipe at Pope Francis, they lay the blame for this at his door whilst trying to absolve themselves with a 'we told you so!" whine.

Open Letter to the Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops
Dear Brothers, Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops,

We turn to you with deep distress!

The Catholic world is adrift, and, with anguish, the question is asked: Where is the Church going?

Before the drift in process, it seems that the difficulty is reduced to that of the abuse of minors, a horrible crime, especially when it is perpetrated by a priest, which is, however, only part of a much greater crisis. The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence. The roots of this phenomenon are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question.

Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel. The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church.

In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent. Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st?

We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, dubia, which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those dubia have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the Faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church.

We pray to the Holy Spirit, that He may assist the Church and bring light to the Pastors who guide her. A decisive act now is urgent and necessary. We trust in the Lord Who has promised: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28,20).

Walter Cardinal Brandmüller

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

It does not auger well for the crisis meeting if the primary concern of those attending is who to blame rather than what to do about the problem. However, this is very typical of the whole Catholic approach to blame and guilt where the problem is regarded as solved so long as blame has been fully assigned. So long as the problem is seen in those terms, it is unlikely that it will ever be solved, and priests will go on abusing, bishops and cardinals will go on covering it up and the Pope will go on shaming those who complain and bring the abuses to the attention of the public, the child protection and law-enforcement agencies.

---

Tweet Link