Francis Must Resign if The Testimony of +Vigano is true!

[Ash Wednesday]

1 minute ago, KnightofChrist said:

What I've seen from them is mostly attacks on +Vigano or in some way to discredit. And articles that this is just a traditional/conservative insurgency trying to take down Francis. Even articles that seem to say his left leaning agenda is more important than covering up abuse. Nothing like how they reported on abuse during Benedict XVI. I can't imagine how they would have reacted if Benedict refused to answer any questions if someone like +Vigano made a testimony against him. 

Yes. They will continue to have a double standard on how they choose to report things depending on which clergy they feel best suits their agenda. 

Look at what Cupich said. "The Pope has a bigger agenda. He’s got to get on with other things of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.”

Can you imagine what the media would have done if Burke said something like that? Ha ha. Ha. 

[KnightofChrist]

 

14 minutes ago, Ash Wednesday said:

Yes. They will continue to have a double standard on how they choose to report things depending on which clergy they feel best suits their agenda. 

Look at what Cupich said. "The Pope has a bigger agenda. He’s got to get on with other things of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on this.”

Can you imagine what the media would have done if Burke said something like that? Ha ha. Ha. 

I watched that in disbelief. All I could think was "really, r e a l l y???" 

His Elmer Fudd response to when he knew about the abuse of McCarrick was also really something else. 

====

Francis has a all too long  history of "redeeming" abusers and their defenders.

Edited September 1, 2018 by KnightofChrist

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ash Wednesday said:

So there's going to be a lot of questions, will there ever be any answers? I'm not sure if we'll ever know.

I don't know either 

1 hour ago, KnightofChrist said:

+Vigano said since that he is an old man and may not live much longer he wanted to be able to stand before God with a free conscience. Which tells me he knew he is guilty of cover up too, but seems to be repenting of that by his pubic testimony. 

Did he actually state this and if so, where.  Was it in the 11 page letter?   

[KnightofChrist]

35 minutes ago, BarbaraTherese said:

I don't know either 

Did he actually state this and if so, where.  Was it in the 11 page letter?   

From LifeSiteNews (link below)

On August 25, Viganò told LifeSiteNews the main reason he came forward is “because of the tragic situation of the Church, which can be repaired only by the full truth, just as she has been gravely injured by the abuses and coverups.” He said he did it in order to “stop the suffering of the victims and to prevent new victims, and to protect the Church: only the truth can make her free.”

Viganò said the second reason he chose to write his testimony is “to discharge my conscience before God of my responsibilities as bishop of the universal Church. I am an old man and I want to present myself to God with clean conscience.”

“The people of God have the right to know the full truth, also regarding their shepherds,” he also said. “They have the right to be guided by good shepherds. In order to be able to trust them and love them, they have to know them openly in transparency and truth as they really are. A priest should be a light on a candlestick always and everywhere and for all.”

 

Source: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/petition-for-archbishop-vigano-calls-for-prayers-support1

[Ash Wednesday]

On a lighter note, twitter in a nutshell is coming across spam like this when you're scrolling through the hot takes.

 

Welcome to 2018. I will continue to keep everyone in my prayers and intentions today, but I don't think I need any bitcoins.

[little2add]

lighten up everybody, take a deep breath and thank the good lord for your blessings   

 

 

[KnightofChrist]

[CatherineM]

I’m a bit punch drunk from lack of sleep, but didn’t Pope Benedict while still a cardinal have control of the desk where every abuse complaint crossed?  If so, should he also resign from being the Pope Emeritus?  

 

Or is it possible these holy men just couldn’t fathom a situation where an abuser was a priest or bishop and go into denial gridlock and make stupid mistakes?

[KnightofChrist]

Benedict has resigned, and I do think it had a lot more to due with the abuse scandal than his health. I've seen the "but Benedict" talking point and it doesn't change my position.  All it does is make Benedict just as guilty. That's it. Also, this is far beyond "stupid mistakes."

[Guest]

8 hours ago, CatherineM said:

I’m a bit punch drunk from lack of sleep, but didn’t Pope Benedict while still a cardinal have control of the desk where every abuse complaint crossed?  If so, should he also resign from being the Pope Emeritus?  

 

Or is it possible these holy men just couldn’t fathom a situation where an abuser was a priest or bishop and go into denial gridlock and make stupid mistakes?

I tend to agree.  Possibly they did not understand the nature of paedophelia and child abuse.  When a priest or bishop, perhaps even cardinal, said "I am sorry and will never do it again" they felt they had to go with that expression of sorrow and repentance.  I don't know how long paedophilia has been a crime and I don't think there was any precedent as a guide to know which should take precedence - an expression of sorrow, or reporting a crime to police. The latter is mandatory - for how many years, I dont know.   I think probably initially one or two cases 'crossed the desk' as it were.  Soon it was 10 and then 20 and then more.  It became something they just did not know how to handle as numbers doubled and then tripled, snowballed.  Fight or flight response? - flight was chosen and cover ups were taking place.

Nothing of the above is an excuse.  There is no excuse nor excuses. 

[Peace]

On 9/1/2018 at 8:39 AM, KnightofChrist said:

What I've seen from them is mostly attacks on +Vigano or in some way to discredit. And articles that this is just a traditional/conservative insurgency trying to take down Francis. Even articles that seem to say his left leaning agenda is more important than covering up abuse. Nothing like how they reported on abuse during Benedict XVI. I can't imagine how they would have reacted if Benedict refused to answer any questions if someone like +Vigano made a testimony against him. 

Pope Francis is anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and anti-women priests. His agenda is a Catholic agenda, not a leftist agenda.

[KnightofChrist]

2 hours ago, Peace said:

Pope Francis is anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage, and anti-women priests. His agenda is a Catholic agenda, not a leftist agenda.

That does not mean he does not have a left leaning agenda in other ways, or is perceived by the media to have one. His latest statement about the emergency of plastic in the ocean is kind of an example. He would rather talk about that than answer questions about the cover up of rapists and sexual assault. Really which topic is an emergency? Plastic in the ocean is important, no doubt, but an emergency now with the current crisis? I don't think so. 

=====

It is grieving to say but there seems to be some kind of pattern of cover up or defence of abusers and protectors of abusers by Francis.

From LifeSiteNews

The following six cases suggest a grave disconnect between Pope Francis’ public gestures on the sexual abuse cover-up and his actions.

1. The Fr. Inzoli case: Shocking papal intervention on behalf of a sexual predator

Earlier this month, Michael Brendan Dougherty reported the troubling case of Fr. Mauro Inzoli, who was accused of molesting children, including in the confessional.  In 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) found him guilty and defrocked him. Yet, shockingly, Inzoli won a reprieve from Pope Francis.

According to Dougherty, the Pope’s close collaborators, Cardinal Coccopalmerio and Monsignor Pio Vito Pinto, now dean of the Roman Rota, both intervened on behalf of Fr. Inzoli. Pope Francis reversed the action of the CDF and returned Inzoli to the priestly state in 2014, inviting him to "a life of humility and prayer." Coccopalmerio is a trusted confidante of Francis. However, the flashy “Don Mercedes,” as Fr. Inzoli was known, did not follow these admonishments. Dougherty reports, “In January 2015, Don Mercedes participated in a conference on the family in Lombardy.”

This past summer, civil authorities concluded the trial of Inzoli, convicting him of eight offenses, while another 15 charges were beyond the statute of limitations. Inzoli was sentenced to 4 years and 9 months by the Italian Court.

2. The sex abuse victims of the Argentina/Italy Provolo Institute for Deaf and Mute

In December 2013, a group of deaf and mute students from the Italian Provolo Institute in Verona who were sex abuse victims of Fr. Nicola Corradi wrote directly to Pope Francis notifying him that Corradi had sexually abused them and informed the Pope that Fr. Corradi was still in ministry with deaf and mute children in Francis' native Argentina.  The letter to Pope Francis details the heartbreakingly brutal treatment of abuse victims by the Vatican:

We are a group of former students of the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf and Dumb of Verona (Italy) who told the press about the abuses committed by paedophile priests at the Institute. This was done only after three years of fruitless contacts with the Curia of Verona and in order to prevent what happened to us from happening to other children. The Bishop of Verona, who had been aware of what was going on, immediately accused us of being slanderers.

On May 9, 2014, the eight Provolo victims of Italy sent Pope Francis a video message pleading for justice. They asked the Pope for safety measures to protect children.

After repeated pleas and requests to the Vatican, in February 2016, the Vatican informed the victims that the Pope had referred the matter to the Italian Bishops’ Conference, refusing their request for an independent investigation. For three years, Fr. Corradi remained at the school, after Pope Francis was informed that an active child predator priest was teaching deaf and mute children in Argentina.

In late November 2016, Argentine Police arrested the 82-year old Rev. Corradi, 55-year-old priest Horacio Corbacho, and three other men. They are accused of sexual and physical child abuse at the Antonio Provolo Institute in northwestern Mendoza province in Argentina. When the police raided the school in Argentina’s Mendoza province, they found pornography and about $34,000 in Fr. Corradi’s room.

Now at least 60 students of the Provolo Institute in Argentina have come forward seeking justice for the abuse they say they suffered at the hands of the accused men. Read about the school of horrors here.

3. Belgian Cardinal Danneels

In 2010, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels was caught on tape attempting to cover up years of abuse involving his close friend and fellow bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, then-Bishop of Bruges. The victim on the 2010 tape was Bishop Vangheluwe’s nephew. In a meeting, which was secretly recorded, Cardinal Danneels directed the abuse victim to remain silent about the abuse, while telling him to “ask for forgiveness” and “acknowledge your own guilt.” When the tape was leaked shortly after the meeting, Bishop Vangheluwe admitted to the sexual abuse of his nephew and stepped down from his post.

While Pope Francis has repeatedly assured Catholics that bishops who cover up abuse will be removed from office, Danneels was instead rewarded. In addition to having Cardinal Danneels accompany him on his initial presentation to Catholics on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis ignored the outcry as he made Danneels one of his personal appointments to both the first and second Synod on the Family.

4. Honduran Cardinal Maradiaga

Shortly after his election as Pope, Francis named Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga as the head of the C9, the newly created Papal Cabinet of Cardinals. As head of the C9, Maradiaga is sometimes dubbed the “vice pope.” Yet, there are questions about how seriously Maradiaga takes the sex abuse crisis.

He came under withering attack in 2002 for an interview he did with the Italian Catholic publication 30 Giorni. Maradiagaclaimed that Jews influenced the Boston Globe to exploit the controversy regarding sexual abuse by Catholic priests in order to divert attention from the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. The "fury" with which the press reported the scandal, Maradiaga said, "reminds me of the times of Diocletian and Nero and, more recently, Stalin and Hitler."

"It certainly makes me think that in a moment in which all the attention of the mass media was focused on the Middle East, all the many injustices done against the Palestinian people, the print media and the TV in the United States became obsessed with sexual scandals that happened 40 years ago, 30 years ago.”

Cardinal Maradiaga also expressed his allegiance to priests over victims: ''For me it would be a tragedy to reduce the role of a pastor to that of a cop. We are totally different, and I'd be prepared to go to jail rather than harm one of my priests.''

5. Chilean Cardinal Errazuriz

After the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith found Chilean priest-predator Fr. Karadima guilty of sexual abuse of minors, Pope Francis appointed Karadima’s bishop, Chilean Cardinal Errázuriz, to his powerful Council of Cardinals (C9).  

Cardinal Errazuriz first was informed of abuse by Fr. Karadima by a young male victim/parishioner who assumed an investigation would be opened.  According to the New York Times, “The cardinal sent back a note, saying he was praying for Mr. Murillo, but failed to open a preliminary investigation. He chose not to do so, the cardinal said in an e-mailed response, because ‘unfortunately, I judged that the accusations were not credible at the time.’”

The Karadima appeals judge criticized Cardinal Errázuriz for not acting on the Karadima allegations for years, and protecting a sexual predator of children.

The Karadima abuse victims were enraged over Errázuriz’s appointment to the Council of Cardinals. "Why would Pope Francis, who's trying to clean up the church, pick a man like Errázuriz who has done so much harm to so many, by his actions?" asked victim Juan Carlos Cruz. "Errázuriz said he did not believe us, and minimized sex abuse cases.”

6. Chilean Bishop Barros

In March 2015, Pope Francis appointed Bishop Juan Barros to lead the Diocese of Osorno, Chile.  The Fr. Karadima sex abuse victims and Osorno Catholics were furious over this papal selection because of Bishop Barros’ long association with Fr. Karadima. The priest-predator was in fact a longtime mentor to Barros.

Over 1,300 Catholics in Osorno, along with 30 diocesan priests, and 120 members of the Chilean Parliament sent a letter to Pope Francis urging him to rescind the appointment of Bishop Barros which was scheduled for March 21, 2015.

The bishops of Chile supported Barros against the accusers and the Vatican rejected the accusations. In May 2015, Pope Francis was filmed criticizing Chilean Catholics who protested Barros’ appointment. Francis called them “stupid” for believing the allegations against Barros.  

The accusations were very severe including two former seminarians claiming that Barros was in the room when they were abused by Karadima.

Worldwide media coverage reported that thousands of Catholics, dressed in black, stormed the Cathedral of San Mateo during Barros’ installation ceremony.

Source: https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/six-cases-where-the-sexual-abuse-scandal-touches-pope-francis

[KnightofChrist]

Cardinal Maradiaga blames ‘hit man’ journalist for allegations against him.

He has been accused of ignoring allegations of sexual misconduct among seminarians

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2018/08/30/embattled-cardinal-maradiaga-says-he-is-the-victim-of-journalist-hit-man/

[KnightofChrist]

Wow, just wow. Thank goodness this cardinal can't vote for the next Pope. 

From Crux

Even though he acknowledged that some allegations are true, he went after the victims and avoided referring to the Pennsylvania grand jury report in the United States that found some 300 abusive priests in a span of seven decades in six dioceses.

Obeso Rivera’s words came last week, after the report was made public.

“I’m here happy to talk about nice things, not about problematic things, it’s an accusation that is made, and in some cases it’s true. But the evil of many is the consolation of fools, because sometimes those who accuse men of the Church should [be careful] because they have long tails that are easily stepped on.”

However, he did say that the accusations “make us feel bad and we want to improve.”

Obeso Rivera was made a cardinal by Pope Francis on June 28. As the prelate is over 80, he will not be participating in the eventual conclave to choose the pontiff’s successor.

[Peace]

2 hours ago, KnightofChrist said:

That does not mean he does not have a left leaning agenda in other ways, or is perceived by the media to have one. His latest statement about the emergency of plastic in the ocean is kind of an example. He would rather talk about that than answer questions about the cover up of rapists and sexual assault. Really which topic is an emergency? Plastic in the ocean is important, no doubt, but an emergency now with the current crisis? I don't think so.

Pope Francis has spoken concerning the Pennsylvania sexual abuse report. If you are referring to the recent Viganò allegations, he has also spoken concerning these. He has indicated that he believes that they are BS, that they are not worth responding to, and that anyone interested in them can look into whether the allegations are true and draw his own conclusions. Pope Francis does not have to respond to every allegation or inquiry put to him at the timing and in the manner that @KnightofChrist deems appropriate. Oh well.

Besides, that is a total non-sequitur. Failure or willingness to speak concerning sexual abuse does not make a person any more "left" or "right". Sexual abuse has nothing to do with being a liberal or a conservative. And care of the planet that God has gifted to us is a legitimate aspect of the Catholic faith, regardless of whether you desire to characterize that as a prerogative of the political left.

And saying that he would rather talk about plastic in the ocean than sexual abuse is slander, plain and simple. You do not know what his intentions and motivations are.

How the media perceives Pope Francis is also irrelevant. In the history of the world the main stream media has not accurately portrayed a pope in a single instance. And you have not listed a single thing that evidences that Pope Francis has a "left leaning agenda in other ways". But please feel free to do so. In the meantime, the Pope is Catholic.