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Pope accused of ignoring pleas to stop priest who molested 200 deaf boys
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Posted 2010-03-26, 10:55 AM
A video and the original article can be found here.

Pope Benedict XVI was drawn deeper yesterday into the clerical sex abuse scandal that has begun to overwhelm the Roman Catholic Church, when he was accused of personally failing to take action against a serial paedophile.

The Pope was blamed directly for ignoring repeated pleas by senior American churchmen to take action against a priest who had molested up to 200 deaf boys.

Father Lawrence C. Murphy, who worked at the St John’s School for the Deaf in St Francis, Wisconsin, from 1950 to 1974, starting as a teacher and rising to director, allegedly molested scores of pupils, preying on his victims in their dormitories and on class trips.

But instead of being defrocked and the police called in, it is alleged that Father Murphy avoided justice and remained a member of the Church after a key intervention by the Pope — then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. Murphy was quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974 and spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes and schools. He died in 1998 at the age of 72, still a priest.

In 1996 Monsignor Rembert Weakland, then the Archbishop of Milwaukee, twice wrote about Father Murphy to the current Pope — who was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, a position he held between 1982 and 2005 — requesting that Father Murphy be defrocked after admitting to the abuse. Documents obtained by The New York Times show that Archbishop Weakland told Cardinal Ratzinger that he was referring the case to him as head of doctrine, not least because the priest was alleged to have used his role during confession to solicit victims.

Archbishop Weakland said his aim was to defuse anger among the abused and to restore their trust in the Church. Cardinal Ratzinger did not reply.

Nonetheless, eight months later Father Murphy was subject of a secret canonical trial — one using internal Church law — ordered by Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy at Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. Cardinal Bertone is now the Pope’s right-hand man as Secretary of State, or the Vatican prime minister.

The trial was halted after Father Murphy wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger protesting that he had already repented and was in poor health, adding that the case had run out of time under the Church’s own statute of limitations because it related to allegations made more than two decades previously. “I simply want to live out the time that I have left in the dignity of my priesthood,” Father Murphy told Cardinal Ratzinger, adding: “I ask for your kind assistance in this matter.” Cardinal Bertone agreed, saying that the priest should instead repent, undertake a spiritual retreat and be restricted from celebrating Mass outside his diocese.

“This Dicastery [Vatican administrative department] has every hope that the priest in question will demonstrate a willingness to co-operate in the solution to this painful case which will favour the good of souls and avoid scandal,” wrote Monsignor Bertone.

The documents on the Murphy case were made public by lawyers representing five men who have brought lawsuits against the archdiocese of Milwaukee. They include letters between bishops and the Vatican, victims’ affidavits, handwritten notes by a sexual disorders expert who interviewed Father Murphy and minutes of a final meeting on the case at the Vatican.

A letter from Monsignor Bertone later in 1998, after Father Murphy had died, said: “This Dicastery commends Fr Murphy to the mercy of God and shares with you the hope that the Church will be spared any undue publicity from this matter.”

Victims of Father Murphy’s abuse said yesterday that the Pope should be held responsible. Arthur Budzinksi, 61, said: “The Pope knew about this. He should be held accountable. I believe somebody should be punished.”

Critics of the Pope are also focusing on a 1962 document entitled Crimen Sollicitationis, which he updated in 2001 as Vatican head of doctrine in De Delictis Gravioribus. Referring to cases in which priests were accused of sexual relations with minors, the 2001 instruction said: “Cases of this kind are subject to the pontifical secret” — a phrase interpreted by many in the Church as an instruction not to alert the police to sex abuse claims.

The latest allegations undermine the Pope’s efforts to draw a line under a series of abuse cases that have emerged in the past few months. After official government reports revealed decades of abuse in Ireland last year, cases have begun to emerge more recently in the Pope’s native Germany, as well as Austria, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Brazil. Last week Benedict XVI issued an unprecedented letter to bishops in Ireland, saying that he was deeply disturbed and “truly sorry” over years of abuse by Catholic priests in the country, which the Church had covered up. He stressed that the Church must co-operate with civil authorities.

Victims’ groups said they were disappointed because he had made no reference to the Vatican’s — or his own — responsibility for cover-ups. The Vatican has insisted that no cover-up took place and has denounced what it calls a campaign “to smear the Pope”.

The growing scandal provoked a protest at the Vatican yesterday. Leaders of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) were detained by police after demonstrating on the edge of St Peter’s Square, holding up pictures of Father Murphy and some of his victims and signs reading “Stop the secrecy now” and “Expose the truth”.

“The goal of Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was to keep this secret,” said Peter Isely, the Milwaukee-based director of Snap. “This is the most incontrovertible case of paedophilia you could get,” he added, flanked by photos of other clerical abuse victims and a poster of the Pope.

“We need to know why he [the Pope] did not let us know about him [Murphy] and why he didn’t let the police know about him and why he did not condemn him and why he did not take his collar away from him.”

Barbara Blaine, president of Snap, said: “I would ask the Pope if he would please open up the files from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and turn over all the information to the police. I would also ask him to make a public order to all bishops across the globe that all predator priests must be removed from ministry immediately.”

Inside the Vatican there was little sign that that was going to happen. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said that there was a “clear and despicable intention” to strike at the pontiff “at any cost” over revelations of how the Vatican handled clerical abuse.

Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope’s spokesman, admitted Father Murphy had violated “particularly vulnerable” children in Milwaukee who “suffered terribly from what he did” in a “tragic case . . . By sexually abusing children who were hearing-impaired, Father Murphy violated the law and, more importantly, the sacred trust that his victims had placed in him.”

But he said that the Vatican had not learnt of the case until 1996, two decades after civil authorities had investigated and dropped it. The “decisive factor” in the decision not to punish or defrock Father Murphy had been his age, his “precarious state of health” and the lack of further accusations against him. Father Lombardi added that the Crimen Sollicitationis and its updated version had not “prohibited the reporting of child abuse to law enforcement authorities”.

Cases that link the Pope to a policy of secrecy

The Vatican argued yesterday that there had been no systematic cover-up of clerical sex abuse and that the Pope was being criticised unfairly . However, three incidents seem to link the Pope with the Church’s apparent policy of secrecy:

1980 As Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger presided at a meeting about Father Peter Hullermann, who had forced an 11-year-old to have oral sex and had assaulted three other children. Diocese authorities approved Hullermann’s transfer to southern Germany for therapy; police were not told. Hullermann returned to pastoral duties within two weeks but it is unclear whether Ratzinger knew this. Hullermann reoffended

1996 The Archbishop of Milwaukee wrote to Ratzinger, then head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to ask that the Rev Lawrence C. Murphy, a child abuser, be put through a church trial. Father Murphy had molested up to 200 youngsters. The Archbishop received no response but cardinals halted proceedings against Father Murphy after he wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger begging for mercy

2001 Ratzinger ruled that child abuse claims must be handled in canonical trials behind closed doors. Critics say it has done little to stop paedophile priests from transferring to another parish or to encourage reporting of abuse
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Posted 2010-03-26, 07:32 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post "Pope accused of ignoring pleas to stop..."
Heard about this story and posted it on a different forum.

Pretty fucked up.
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Posted 2010-03-26, 10:15 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post "Pope accused of ignoring pleas to stop..."
That many deaf boys are all in one town? Holy crap!
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-29, 08:46 AM in reply to Skurai's post starting "That many deaf boys are all in one..."
That's awful, if it is true.














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
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Posted 2010-03-29, 11:28 AM in reply to D3V's post starting "That's awful, if it is true."
And they all go to the same church!??
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-29, 02:12 PM in reply to Skurai's post starting "And they all go to the same church!??"
getting excited?














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
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D3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidences
 
 
D3V
 



 
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Posted 2010-03-29, 07:49 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post "Pope accused of ignoring pleas to stop..."
Is this surprising? He's wanting to sweep it under the rug. There are countless examples of this in many different organizations. Saving face has come back to bite him in the ass. There's also the possibility that he has raped kiddos too.
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Posted 2010-03-29, 10:23 PM in reply to Willkillforfood's post starting "Is this surprising? He's wanting to..."
Y'see, this is why nobody likes Catholics. It's easier to point the finger at their bad deeds, and ignore our own.
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-30, 08:21 AM in reply to Skurai's post starting "Y'see, this is why nobody likes..."
You mean kinda like how these same priests pointed fingers and called people sinners while diddling little boys?
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Posted 2010-03-30, 08:25 AM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post starting "You mean kinda like how these same..."
That's exactly what I said, right? Priests/Pope = Catholic.
Other religions don't give a honkin' hoot what the Pope says.
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-30, 03:36 PM in reply to Skurai's post starting "That's exactly what I said, right?..."
Yeah, but there's like 1 billion Catholics in the world.














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
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D3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidences
 
 
D3V
 



 
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Posted 2010-03-30, 07:09 PM in reply to D3V's post starting "Yeah, but there's like 1 billion..."
Yea. I'm sure them not believing in birth control isn't to perpetuate their influence and increase the number of births in ignorant populations that follow their rules to the T? :P
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Posted 2010-03-30, 07:43 PM in reply to Willkillforfood's post starting "Yea. I'm sure them not believing in..."
That sounds remarkably like the southern half of our country. Without the intelligent conspiracy behind it though.
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Posted 2010-03-30, 07:44 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post starting "That sounds remarkably like the..."
it is illegal to sell sex toys in Mississippi.
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Posted 2010-03-31, 12:27 AM in reply to KagomJack's post starting "it is illegal to sell sex toys in..."
Mississippi? That place is still around!?
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-31, 07:20 AM in reply to Skurai's post starting "Mississippi? That place is still..."
This video details pretty well the corruption and deceit in the Catholic church over the past few decades. It's well worth the watch, and quite disturbing.
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Posted 2010-03-31, 01:48 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post starting "This..."
What makes me sad about this scenario, well with all corruption within the Church, is the fact I was raised a Catholic and up until only a few years ago, upon my own curiosity and research, found out the other side of the story. Good video K_A, i'll be watching it asap.














Quote:
!King_Amazon!: I talked to him while he was getting raped
[quote][16:04] jamer123: GRRR firefox just like quit on me now on internet exploder[quote]
...
[quote=!King_Amazon!]notices he's 3 inches shorter than her son and he's circumcised [quote]
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D3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidencesD3V is convinced there are no coincidences, only the illusion of coincidences
 
 
D3V
 



 
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Posted 2010-03-31, 02:50 PM in reply to D3V's post starting "What makes me sad about this scenario,..."
I recommend everyone watch it, especially if you don't know much about this stuff. It's pretty damning, and pretty fucked up. I'm really interested to see how this plays out. The only way the Catholic church can save face now is to make the Pope resign, and have complete transparency in regards to these internal cover-ups of sorts. The fact that the Vatican acts as a sovereign nation, and abuses things such as diplomatic immunity to protect and continue to allow pedophiles to molest and rape children, should be more than enough reason to take their power away. They obviously are not using it for "good" like they would have us all think.
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Posted 2010-03-31, 05:54 PM in reply to !King_Amazon!'s post starting "I recommend everyone watch it,..."
This may be the first time in Zelaron history that everyone agrees on something.

Next up on our list - Scientology!
Skurai
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Posted 2010-03-31, 06:44 PM in reply to Skurai's post starting "This may be the first time in Zelaron..."
Stop spamming up my serious threads you fucktard. I'm serious. I've accepted that you're just going to deposit more shit on the forum with every post, but I had at least hoped you would keep it to the appropriate places.
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