BBC Documentary claims Pope in child abuse cover-up

[IChing]

Daily Telegraph
Doco claims Pope in child abuse cover-up
October 02, 2006 12:00

Over 20 years, the man formerly known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger enforced a secret 1962 document on how bishops should deal with allegations of child abuse which included a code of secrecy, enforceable by excommunication, the BBC Panorama investigation said.

Father Tom Doyle, a canon solicitor reportedly sacked by the Vatican after criticising its handling of the issue, interpreted the document for the BBC and said it was an explicit written policy to cover up cases of child abuse which emphasised total Vatican control and did not mention victims.

The program also claims to have found seven priests facing child abuse investigations living in and around Vatican City.

But the Archbishop of Birmingham in central England, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, told Britian's Press Association (PA) that the documentary "misrepresents two Vatican documents and uses them quite misleadingly in order to connect the horrors of child abuse to the person of the Pope."

>>>>snip

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,20510024-5001028,00.html

Another source on the document that Ratz enforced.

The documentary examined a secret document that apparently sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church. It claimed the document - Crimen Sollicitationis - was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope.

The 39-page document, written in 1962, apparently instructed Bishops how to deal with claims of child sex abuse. This includes an oath of secrecy, enforceable by excommunication, which critics claimed could hinder an outside investigation and prosecution.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6118773,00.html

[4morewars]

1. Jesus wept n/t

[IChing]

3. In his younger days

[dkofos]

2. It's probably HOW he became the pope

[TechBear_Seattle]

6. With that kind of blackmail material in his file? No doubt.

"I don't want to be Pope, but if any of this material were ever leaked to the press...." :puke:

[leftchick]

4. as a Catholic I say

let's get rid of the Pope. We don't need no stinkin Pope!

[malaise]

5. Look DUers

The church and state are up to their necks in every possible form of corruption and scandal known to humanity. It's fugging systemic. Robbers, perverts and criminals run our planet. Get real.

[ljm2002]

7. "Robbers, perverts and criminals run our planet."

Just a few short years ago, I would have disagreed. At least I'd have said it is too broad a brush, that there are some but not the majority.

Now? All I can say is "Amen, brother."

You nailed it.

[Matariki]

8. Hopefully humanity will evolve to the point where we can be anarchists

self ruled individuals who don't pee in their own drinking water.

[malaise]

10. They control power n/t

[moc]

9. I didn't realize this was news. My husband told me this was common

knowledge when the Pope was selected. It was one of the reasons he was so angry they picked Ratzinger.