Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles.
The Pope said that abuse of children was like "leprosy" infecting the Church, according to the Italian La Repubblica newspaper.
He vowed to "confront it with the severity it demands". …
In the interview, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the 2% estimate came from advisers. It would represent around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000.
This seems low, based on “a church-sponsored report based on diocesan records” in which “4,392 Catholic priests in the United States have been accused since 1950 of sexually abusing minors. Updates have increased the USCCB's count to 6,275 priests accused through 2012”.
"Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason," Pope Francis was quoted as saying.
"I find this state of affairs intolerable," he went on.
This is one of the first articles I’ve seen that mentions “the Roman Catholic Sex Abuse Enablement Network” of bishops and higher-ups who enable these monsters to continue to be predators.
Will anything be done about it? The Vatican officially is denying that the pope was quoted accurately.
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ReplyDeleteActually, what the pope said was there was a 2% incidence of paedophilia in the Church - most of which were in family situations (not involving priests). He was taken out of context (again) and a big story was made from something quite small.
DeleteIt also always amazes me when we see "facts" which point to "accusations" (not convictions) and those point back to 1950! Since the average age of a priest when he first gets out of seminary would be in his late 20's or early 30's, if some of these "accused" are even still alive, they would be in their 80's to 90's - assuming that they were so "accused" right out of the seminary. These "facts" get rather silly when looked at objectively.
You may legitimately be accused of not understanding what you read. The actual line is not "2% in the church". It is actually "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles". But you Roman apologists have never had any problem fudging reality to suit your fantasy.
DeleteImagine if "2%" of the population of the US were "paedophiles". That is six million people. You like to accuse "the general population" of pedophilia - "everybody's doing it", and therefore, it's ok that 2% of priests are doing it". There is a lot of sexual immorality in the world, but there's no way there are six million free pedophiles in the US. You've got a hot-bed of pedophilia there. (Even if it is 2% of priests who have been priests in the period since 1950). That's still a disgusting thing (don't forget the period before 1950, which didn't get reported) -- and it's a disgusting way of defending the Roman hierarchy. Don't forget those "Others, more numerous, [who] know but keep quiet.". If course, it suits you to forget about them.