Thursday, March 11, 2010

Vatican’s “Omerta” – Criminal Code of Silence

In the wake of child abuse disclosures unfolding across Europe, Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schonborn of Vienna is quoted in writing and makes a link between the RC church’s practice of Celibacy and Pedophilia.

Archbishop links priestly celibacy and Catholic sex abuse scandals
The Archbishop of Vienna today said priestly celibacy could be one of the causes of the sex abuse scandals to hit the Catholic church.

In an article for Thema Kirche, his diocesan magazine, Christoph Schonborn became the most senior figure in the Catholic hierarchy to make the connection between the two and called for an "unflinching examination" of the possible reasons for paedophilia.
Another article by Italian journalist Lucetta Scaraffia in the "semi-official" Vatican’s L'Osservatore Romano newspaper is making comment on the lack of females in the Vatican as a social force to break down the predominately all male culture and the mafia like code of silence surrounding the ongoing and seemingly never ending abuse issue.
Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, Lucetta Scaraffia said women might have helped remove the "veil of secrecy" surrounding the abuse.

(He) used the word "omerta" – the Mafia code of silence – to describe the conspiracy involved in hiding the offences.

"We can hypothesise that a greater female presence, not at a subordinate level, would have been able to rip the veil of masculine secrecy that in the past often covered the denunciation of these misdeeds with silence," she said.

"Women, in fact, both religious and lay, by nature would have been more likely to defend young people in cases of sexual abuse, allowing the church to avoid the grave damage brought by these sinful acts."

6 comments:

Dave said...

No kidding Sherlock..brilliant deductive reasoning! So what now? Just blow the darn thing sky high and forget about it!

M.McShea said...

The cynic in me thinks that the cardinal is campaigning for the old man's seat in the next election. We all know what happens to politicians' promises or statements after the election. But it is a crack in a wall so to speak that could bring that wall finally down.

Dave said...

It would take a nuclear strike to destroy this old boys network. It is all so ingrained and deep seated..so many secret deals and silent pacts. Thing is..if the world would just ignore them..all of it would implode on top of them! So much wasted potential and good will down the drain of history. Shame on them.

M.McShea said...

We cannot change the world overnight. Jesus tried two thousand years ago. It was a start and an ongoing process.

I think that their world is already imploding.

I saw the movie the other night, The Day the Earth Stool Still - the remake. I liked it. The critics trashed it. Keanu Reeves is no Michael Rennie.

The idea though expressed in that movie is that you have to come to the edge of the precipice before you might consider change in light of extinction.

Perhaps that edge has finally been reached by the RC institution.

Debra Harris-Johnson said...

I've always thought that the reason the Catholic church won't recognize and allow women into the circle due to the sexual deviant behavior and cover up of the male priests.
I say allow priest to marry and train women for positions of leadership in the church. We are running out of sex offenders and pediophiles to fill priest positions.

M.McShea said...

Debra, glad to see you back.

It has taken fifty years for John XXIII's wish to let some fresh air into the church. The world is the Internet and the world is knowledge.

The truth will hopefully set many free.