Does the Pope have control?

[Chris†opher Paul]

Ok, in this article...

http://www.startribune.com/stories/614/2880034.html

...

It appears the Pope did the right thing, as He is required by the Holy Spirit to do. (Something I learned from VOW and company, heh heh). But does he have control over these bishops? They seem completely wacked out to let a one-time child molestor continue to be a priest.

Excerpt:

"Even the pope noted at the meeting that "there is no place in the priesthood or religious life for those who would harm the young."

But since then, some Vatican officials have scoffed at the notion. A few, citing the "professional secrecy" of the confessional, even argue that a bishop should not report sexual abuse of children to civil authorities."

 

[VOW]

To Souljah:

It's hard to tell exactly what came out of the Vatican by a quotation from the secular press. I think we're only getting part of the story here. I'd love to see EVERYTHING said by Cardinal Rodriguez from Honduras, too. By naming him as a potential candidate for the office of Pope, and then giving a one-sentence quote, the press has effectively manipulated it to sound like the Cardinal would give a wink and say, "Boys will be boys."

The BIGGEST change of the way everything is being handled is that all cases will be reported to civil authorities. While the wheels of Rome turn slowly, the local law enforcement has the prerogative of throwing somebody in the slammer. Once the offender has been removed from the situation, then it really won't matter how long it takes the Pope to decide to defrock the priest.

And also note this is not saying that the one-time offender gets off scot-free. He's going to be psychoanalyzed up the wazoo, and then brought before a board of both clerics and laity.

Vatican time is NOT "real time." And for the Vatican, this has been handled with speed-of-light velocity.


Peace be with you,
~VOW

 

[_Orion]

If I could add...

The heirarchy of the church is a large organization. The Bishops posses certain powers. The pope has his Primacy, but certainly doesn't micromanage every diocese. For example, the holy days of obligation are different in the US then in other countries.

It's not a free-for-all, but the bishops have certain powers...always subject to the Pope...

 

[Wolseley]

Rule of Thumb when reading secular news reports about anything having to do with the Catholic Church:

1. Ignore half of it, because it will be slanted, misinterpreted, misunderstood, wrong, or a plain damned lie.

2. Take the other half of it with about 30,000 tons of salt; if they say a Cardinal was seen leaving a strip club in his red robes with a transvestite drug addict on one arm, you can be sure that yes, Cardinals do wear red robes. After that.....well, consider the source.

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

Ok, is there a non-secular news source that I can read about this story? Thanks.

 

[nyj]

Originally posted by s0uljah
But does he have control over these bishops?

Even Judas betrayed Jesus.

 

[Wolseley]

Ok, is there a non-secular news source that I can read about this story? Thanks.

Try these:

http://cwnews.com/

http://zenit.org/english/

 

[Chris†opher Paul]

Originally posted by Wolseley

Try these:

http://cwnews.com/

http://zenit.org/english/

Danke.

 

[Wolseley]

Danke.

Bitte.

 

[seebs]

Originally posted by Wolseley

2. Take the other half of it with about 30,000 tons of salt; if they say a Cardinal was seen leaving a strip club in his red robes with a transvestite drug addict on one arm, you can be sure that yes, Cardinals do wear red robes. After that.....well, consider the source.

Me, I'd assume the cardinal was following Christ's example, and ministering to the lost. Successfully; this person was *leaving* the club, yes?