Pope opens Holy Week amid sex abuse crisis
The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.
JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
U.N. Security Council blames Syrian gov't for Houla killings
( 3 )
-
U.S. drones kill 5 militants in Pakistan
( 7 )
-
NATO has fight on its hands in Afghanistan - Panetta
( 1 )
-
Iran may rethink 20% enrichment: spokesman
( 0 )
-
Egypt's uprising activists weigh Brotherhood vote
( 0 )
-
- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
-
- ALT - Mie Prefecture - Yokkaichi City - June start
- NPO法人グローバル教育推進機構（GLAD), Mie
- Salary: ¥230,000 / Month For a full working month. Some months differ.
-
- Business Teaching Positions - Part-time - Kanto Region
- Interac, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥3,000 ~ ¥5,000 / Hour
Order by Time Order by Popularity
14 Comments
Login to comment
0
adaydream
It's not going away by not addressing it. It's the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Sexual abuse by priest that the Pope allowed to continue to serve. Going to have to address it and take responsibility. < :-)
0
suebe36d
Open-plan not cubicles could suppress abuse
0
Kronos
I hate to say this but if this happened to someone else besides the Pope, that person would be toast.
Religious figures should not be above the law. He should go through the judicial process and if found guilty, he should receive the appropriate punishment.
On second thought maybe what I just said is not that easy. He is the head of the State of the Vatican City, which is a sovereign state. He is the head of state. So who is going to judge him?
0
samwatters
Kornos, good point. How about a number of countries petitioning the The Hague and holding the Catholic Church as an organization accountable in international court?
0
Tatanka
I think the Pope took a page out of Japanese politician's play book. He was in charge of handling these types of cases when he worked in the Vatican, but now he claims he never heard of the case in his own former parish. Also, his apology (in Colonel Klink English) sounded hollow...
0
Kronos
Good luck with that :-)
A more entertaining solution would be to allow marriage for Catholich priests and nuns. Maybe that would decrease their frustrations a bit :-P
0
manfromamerica
zzzzzzzz...
0
borscht
The Church has always been against science so it is no surprise that they refuse the evidence that once a pedophile, always a pedophile and there is no cure. Which is why priests 'receiving therapy for pedophilia' were and are allowed to work/guide/teach/molest children.
The Pope should take responsibility for the church he is responsible for - and for his own sweep-it-under-the-carpet response to pedophilia - and resign.
0
yasukuni
It's obvious that the hierarchy of the church in the Vatican and every country have known of the problem of child abuse by priests for decades, and no doubt centuries.
The church itself obviously teaches that child sexual abuse (and ANY sexual activity of priests) is wrong and sin, but has had a tradition of not contacting police but dealing with the problem by confession, transfers, counseling etc, in the hope that problems would cease. They need to just realize that there way didn't help victims, didn't bring justice, didn't stop the problem, and has probably been the reason behind millions of Catholics losing their faith. Who knows how many thousands of more victims there are out there who haven't told anyone, or how many Catholics there are all over the world who didn't press charges but told each other to be careful with Father X.
But that system didn't work, and the Catholic hierarchy who are mostly old, out of touch, and still not realizing that the church is not considered special or above the law anymore, need to face reality. What has gone on up until now, can't go on. Something major and radical has to be done, and it can only be done by the leaders. Must be hard to be a sincere priest or devout Catholic these days.
My gut feeling is that any adult who has anything sexual activity with a child is insane or evil beyond belief and needs to be shot or locked away in a pit with snakes. But, it seems that everyday I look at the news there is another story of a nice priest, teacher, English teacher, policeman, father, actor - people who are trusted, nice and in all other respects seemingly normal who are found to have done this kind of stuff. So its both baffling and depressing at the same time for me.
So bad, that I don't think I would trust my kids to be alone with anyone. And it makes my own problems and complaints in life seem extremely trivial.
0
HeyLars
Psychological science also believes that a pedophile can learn to keep his or her urges in check, just like everybody else. Another thing you have to realize is that according to psychological science not all priests who did whatever with children are pedophiles anyway. I don't agree with church methods, but I don't think they are a total fail either. But we don't have any data to know how many were "cured" and how many were not do we? They church gets a lot of flak for various reasons, but they are not the only org where this sort of thing is endemic.
I think it also has something to do with the sovereignty of Vatican City. A whole bunch of high level priests would, and do, skate.
0
meloveulongtime
ahhh the ever so approriate irony of this sutuation....
0
Madverts
"It's not going away by not addressing it"
This is the first time JT has dared write about the ever-growing child sex scandals from within the Catholic church in the past few weeks, despite every single news service blaring it out on the front page.
Their apparent reticance to cover these shocking events alarms me...
Back to top