The leader of Catholics in England and Wales has staunchly defended the Pope over his handling of the case of a US priest suspected of abusing children.

The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was not an "idle observer" when dealing with the 1990s case.

Writing in the Times, the Archbishop said the Pope had introduced changes into Church law to protect children.

He said the issue was "deeply shocking and totally unacceptable".

The Church in England and Wales was "committed to safeguarding" vulnerable people, he said.

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Gus: safeguarding vulnerable people — priests...

MUNICH — The future Pope Benedict XVI was kept more closely apprised of a sexual abuse case in Germany than previous church statements have suggested, raising fresh questions about his handling of a scandal unfolding under his direct supervision before he rose to the top of the church’s hierarchy.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future pope and archbishop in Munich at the time, was copied on a memo that informed him that a priest, whom he had approved sending to therapy in 1980 to overcome pedophilia, would be returned to pastoral work within days of beginning psychiatric treatment. The priest was later convicted of molesting boys in another parish.

An initial statement on the matter issued earlier this month by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising placed full responsibility for the decision to allow the priest to resume his duties on Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy, the Rev. Gerhard Gruber. But the memo, whose existence was confirmed by two church officials, shows that the future pope not only led a meeting on Jan. 15, 1980, approving the transfer of the priest, but was also kept informed about the priest’s reassignment.

What part he played in the decision making, and how much interest he showed in the case of the troubled priest, who had molested multiple boys in his previous job, remains unclear. But the personnel chief who handled the matter from the beginning, the Rev. Friedrich Fahr, “always remained personally, exceptionally connected” to Cardinal Ratzinger, the church said.

The Vatican has dismissed a fresh allegation by The New York Times that Pope Benedict XVI, as archbishop of Munich, failed to bar the transfer of a known paedophile priest.

"The then archbishop had no knowledge of the decision to reassign [Reverend Peter Hullerman] to pastoral activities in a parish," the Vatican said in a statement, adding that it "rejects any other version of events as mere speculation".

Reverend Hullerman was suspended from his duties in the northern German town of Essen in late 1979 over allegations that he abused an 11-year-old boy.

The following January, the then Joseph Ratzinger led a meeting approving Reverend Hullerman's transfer to Munich despite a memo warning that the priest was a potential "danger," the Times said.

Six years later, in 1986, Reverend Hullerman was found guilty of molesting boys in another Bavarian parish.

"The article in The New York Times contains no new information beyond that which the archdiocese has already communicated concerning the then archbishop's knowledge of the situation of Father H," the Vatican said.

On March 10, the chief exorcist of the Vatican, the Rev. Gabriele Amorth (who has held this demanding post for 25 years), was quoted as saying that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican," and that "when one speaks of 'the smoke of Satan' in the holy rooms, it is all true-including these latest stories of violence and pedophilia." This can perhaps be taken as confirmation that something horrible has indeed been going on in the holy precincts, though most inquiries show it to have a perfectly good material explanation.

Concerning the most recent revelations about the steady complicity of the Vatican in the ongoing-indeed endless-scandal of child rape, a few days later a spokesman for the Holy See made a concession in the guise of a denial. It was clear, said the Rev. Federico Lombardi, that an attempt was being made "to find elements to involve the Holy Father personally in issues of abuse." He stupidly went on to say that "those efforts have failed."

http://www.slate.com/id/2247861/

The head of the Catholic church is bracing himself for a new round of allegations by victims of paedophile priests - in Italy

Pope Benedict XVI is facing growing pressure over his handling of paedophile priests as new cover-ups come to light in Italy, the country with the greatest concentration of Roman Catholic clerics.

After the latest allegations - that Benedict took no action in the US when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican's enforcer - the church is now "terrified" as more victims stand up to be counted in Italy, according to Roberto Mirabile, head of La Caramella Buona, an Italian anti-abuse group. "With the scandals erupting abroad, we will see a huge growth in victims' groups in Italy in coming weeks," said Mirabile yesterday. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict handled abuse cases at the Vatican for 24 years before he became pope in 2005.

"We are likely to discover that the Vatican worked even harder in Italy with bishops than elsewhere to hide cases, simply because the contact was closer and the church is so powerful in Italy," Mirabile added.

Sergio Cavaliere, an Italian lawyer who has documented 130 cases of clerical paedophilia, also believes that the Vatican's backyard could follow Ireland, the United States and Germany in producing a wave of abuse revelations. "The cases I have found are just the tip of the iceberg given the reluctance of many victims to come forward until now," said Cavaliere. "And in no single case did the local bishop alert police to the suspected abuse."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/28/pope-paedophile-priests-italy

Jewish groups and victims of sex abuse by Catholic priests have condemned the Pope's preacher for comparing criticism of the pontiff to anti-Semitism.

US-based abuse victims' group Snap said the remarks were "morally wrong".

The head of Germany's Central Council of Jews described the Easter sermon as unprecedented "insolence".

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a wave of sex abuse scandals this year. The Vatican said Raniero Cantalamessa's did not represent its official view.

Drawing such parallels could "lead to misunderstandings", spokesman Rev Federico Lombardi told the Associated Press.

However, Fr Cantalamessa's sermon was printed in full on the front page of the Vatican's official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

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see toon at top...

The Pope is facing allegations he was responsible for delaying Church action against a paedophile priest - the first time he has been accused so directly.

The allegations stem from a letter signed by Benedict XVI in 1985, when he was a senior Vatican official.

Associated Press said it had obtained the letter, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, resisting the defrocking of offending US priest Stephen Kiesle.

The Vatican says he was exercising due caution before sacking the priest.

Cardinal Ratzinger - who was at the time the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - said the "good of the universal Church" needed to be considered in any defrocking, AP reported.

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Gus: according to some very well-informed sources, in the 1950-60s, the vatican, as well as writing its "diplomatic" letters in latin, also used unexposed photographic paper to convey its most secret missive. A letter was thus photographed then the negative was used to make a special bromide, but the bromide was not processed and was placed in a dark sealed envelope. Should someone try to "steal" the information, once taken out of the envelope the bromide was useless once in the open, unless one knew the trick... Some smart secret service departments used to "steal" the diplomatic bags, open the sealed bag by unthreading parts, open the letters in the dark (red light) and process it. There it was rephotographed and rebromided with the SIMILAR photographic paper and placed in the SAME envelope that had been opened with exteme care as not to damage the vatican seals (usually the experts opened the bottom of the envelope and reglued it with a specially made paper paste, that made the tampering invisible). The diplomatic "bag" was then rethreaded by "invisible mending". This secret service department enployed a small army of graphic designers, of experts at mending cloths, and of professional lock pickers to pilfer most diplomatic bags — and embassies — in and out of the country... see toon at top.

Most Excellent Bishop

Having received your letter of September 13 of this year, regarding the matter of the removal from all priestly burdens pertaining to Rev Stephen Miller Kiesle in your diocese, it is my duty to share with you the following:

This court, although it regards the arguments presented in favour of removal in this case to be of grave significance, nevertheless deems it necessary to consider the good of the Universal Church together with that of the petitioner, and it is also unable to make light of the detriment that granting the dispensation can provoke with the community of Christ's faithful, particularly regarding the young age of the petitioner.

It is necessary for this Congregation to submit incidents of this sort to very careful consideration, which necessitates a longer period of time.

In the meantime your Excellency must not fail to provide the petitioner with as much paternal care as possible and in addition to explain to same the rationale of this court, which is accustomed to proceed keeping the common good especially before its eyes.

Let me take this occasion to convey sentiments of the highest regard always to you.

Your most Reverend Excellency

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

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see toon at top...

The Vatican has defended the Pope against allegations that he was responsible for delaying Church action against a US paedophile priest.

A spokesman said the claims, which stem from a letter signed by Benedict XVI when he was a senior Vatican official, had been taken out of context.

AP published a letter, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1985, resisting Stephen Kiesle's defrocking.

The Vatican says he was exercising due caution before sacking the priest.

A leading British Catholic commentator said the issue had exposed an ongoing power struggle between senior Vatican cardinals that started during the papacy of Pope Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II.

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see toon at top...

Two leading atheists are investigating the possibility of arresting the Pope for "crimes against humanity", lawyers have confirmed.

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are paying lawyers to investigate whether Pope Benedict XVI should be arrested when he visits Britain in September.

Mr Dawkins and Mr Hitchens, according to The Guardian, believe the pope should face charges for the alleged cover-up of sex abuse in the Catholic Church.

The Guardian reports that a letter written by the Pope in 1985, when he was then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, urged that a paedophilic priest in the US not be exposed for the "good of the universal church".

Mr Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, told The Times: "This is a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence."

Mr Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, added to the London-based paper: "This man is not above or outside the law. The institutionalised concealment of child rape is a crime under any law and demands not private ceremonies of repentance or church-funded pay-offs, but justice and punishment.

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see toon at top...

Pope Benedict XVI has created a new office to "re-evangelise" the Western world in an attempt to roll back secularist advances in what the Vatican sees as the traditional heartland of Christendom.

The Pope has made no secret of his dislike for secularism and has been determined to persuade Western countries to rediscover their Catholic roots. He has frequently railed against some of the key pillars of secular liberalism such as the acceptance of homosexuality and abortion rights and the use of contraception.

At one of the last vespers' service before the Vatican shuts down for the summer break, the Pope announced the creation of a Pontifical Council for the promotion of New Evangelisation which would be dedicated to what he described as "a grave crisis in the sense of the Christian faith".

The creation of the council is a stark reminder of just how far secularisation has progressed in an area that was once called Christendom and is a tacit admission that the Church's recent attempts to reinvigorate Christianity in Europe have not succeeded.

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Gus: as a committed atheist, I should not be helping the pope... But I will anyway... One simple decree that would increase the size of his flock would be to allow priests and nuns to marry (not necessarily to each other but I know of priests who married nuns but were never defrocked by the Church)... And suddenly the number of priests would triple overnight, enhancing the preaching of his good book...

But as history shows, most civilisations hit development stagnation by placing their faith only in a godly holy book rather than into proper observation of our world and into science. Thus progress of civilisations is only made via secular "enlightement", although in some cases, a coating of religious morality rounds the corners — as an illusion of "spiritual hope" to make us swallow our lonely terminal animalistic human fate...

Societies that do not allow secularism, face religious extremism, fanaticism and stagnation of ideas... It fosters hatred and revenge, narrow-mindedness and silly hats or burquas...

Amish amen...      

A Vatican department advised Ireland's Catholic bishops in 1997 not to report priests suspected of child abuse to the police, a newly revealed letter shows.

Obtained by Irish broadcaster RTE, the letter shows Vatican officials rejected an initiative to begin the "mandatory reporting" of abuse claims.

The proposed policy "gives rise to serious reservations", it says.

The Vatican has persistently said it never instructed bishops to withhold suspicions or evidence of crimes.

Abuse victims in Ireland and the US said the letter, which RTE said it had received from an Irish bishop, was a "smoking gun" that would serve as important evidence in lawsuits against the Church.

But the Vatican said it represented an approach to sex abuse cases shaped by a particular Vatican office, the Congregation for the Clergy, before 2001.

In that year, Pope John Paul II asked the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - then led by the future Pope Benedict XVI - to handle such cases.

Veteran Vatican analyst John Allen said that, while embarrassing, the letter was "not a smoking gun because it is not a directive. Not an order. This is one Vatican official giving his opinion. It is not a policy document.

"It's another confirmation that, in the late 1990s, there was deep ambivalence in the Vatican about how far they should go in terms of reporting priestly sex abuse to civil authorities," said Mr Allen, a reporter for the National Catholic Reporter.

Vatican officials told Irish not to report child abuse