Monday, July 14, 2014

Pope claims that about 2% of priests are pedophiles. Sadly 100% of their victims are innocent children.

"Oy vey, what did I say?"
Courtesy of Slate:  

Pope Francis touched on particularly thorny issues confronting the Catholic Church during an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica published on Sunday. The Pope—known for extemporaneous remarks that at times simultaneously delight and confound his followers—addressed the lingering questions of sexual abuse in the church, saying about “2 percent” of the church’s clergy are pedophiles and pledged to "confront it with the severity it demands." “Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason," the Pope was quoted saying by La Repubblica. "I find this state of affairs intolerable." 

“In the interview, Pope Francis was quoted as saying that the 2% estimate came from advisers. It would represent around 8,000 priests out of a global number of about 414,000,” the BBC reports. “While the incidence of paedophilia in the general population is not accurately known, some estimates have put it at less than five percent.” 

Of course there is already an attempt by the Vatican to walk back the 2% estimate, saying that the Pope was misquoted.

Personally though I think the idea of 8,000 pedophile priests on the loose to be extremely troubling, I would be willing to bet that the number is even higher than that.

Especially when you consider that only a small portion of victims are willing to report abuse in most instances, and that the number becomes even lower when the abuse happens at the hands of a priest.

After all how many Catholic kids want to face the shame of identifying themselves as a victim while also facing the anger of the congregants who almost always side with the priest?

That means that there are almost certainly a large percentage of unreported abuses that are not counted among those of which we are already aware.

No I'm guessing the number is much larger, much larger indeed.

And what's more important, no matter what percentage of priests are involved in molesting children, is that the church was 100% involved in keeping it secret and protecting them from prosecution.

26 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:17 AM

    If they know 2% are child molesters, why the hell are they still priests, bishops and cardinals? The Pope didn't buy their excuse of being the first time, did he?

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    1. Anonymous8:49 AM

      Not defending any molester, but if I line up 5 strangers can you point out the molester?
      Unfortunately until there is an accusation no one knows. Besides the priests I blame the parents that did not educate their children on what abuse is and what to do if someone touches you( and bull if you say older generations didn't know how to teach their children that, because my parents did), the parents are to blame for directing their children that priests are like Gods and they have to listen and do whatever they say. Too bad none of these parents , many that knowingly participated in coverups, have ever been held responsible.
      That said, the hugest problem with prosecuting any molester is that we place the victims on trial, not the molesters and the conviction rates are very low as are the sentences.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous9:08 AM

      8:49 I think the 2% that 6:17 and the pope is referring to are the known offenders. They've already been pointed out by the victims. Most of these are already in the RCC Catch and Release Program.

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    3. Anonymous10:36 AM

      8:49, the RCC know who is what. 100% of the clergy know exactly who is doing what to whom and it is a big tell that they claim it is only 2%. That's 1 out of 50 clergy are abusers with 50 out 50 knowing about it, aiding it, and abetting it.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous2:27 PM

      9:08!
      Catch and release program is absolutely the funniest thing I have read in days!! Can i borrow it? Truly truly perfect.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous6:20 AM

    I think you are wrong on that last, Gryphen. I am recovering RCC. Most congregants do NOT side with the priest. (unless the victim is female.) In Protestant abuse cases, especially if the victim is female, those congregations essentially make the victim and her family's life a living hell.

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  3. Anonymous6:22 AM

    @ 6:17 a.m. Stats challenged much? If you knew that one of your five very precious, successful children were a child abusing murderer, what would you do?

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    1. Anonymous7:48 AM

      Well first off, I was unable to have children, But if I was a parent, I would have been involved in the upbringing of my children. and not some MIA parent And as part of that position, I would have seen the changes in my child that would raise red flags. If I couldn't get the help my child need, you sure as hell believe I would call the authorities.

      The Catholic church has known for centuries Priests were manipulating and taking advantage of not only children, but women and men also,, and they let it continue until so many came forward, they had to address the issue. The only problem is they're still white washing the problem.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous8:50 AM

      If I knew one of my children was a molester, I would remove any children from their home as I called the police.

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    3. Anonymous8:57 AM

      Anonymous 6:22 AM wrote: @ 6:17 a.m. Stats challenged much? If you knew that one of your five …

      Percentage-challenged much? Two percent is one in fifty, not one in five.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous9:24 AM

      Hey Ted Pussell, do you know an example, need not be a direct correlation?As for the rest of you - what I'm tying ot point out is that is you know ONLY the stats, that gives you no help in sorting out, unless other factors are present.

      So let me be a little clearer if you have five successful children (because an example with 50 children of one parent would be pretty stupid outside of FLDS world)and the you are told that one of them is very, very likely to be an abusive murderer - but there haven't been any accusations, evidence, etc. which one will you put in jail??? call the cops on???? Now do you get it?

      Delete
  4. Randall7:34 AM

    What other institution could get away with molesting children for centuries without repercussion?

    Because, you know - magic.

    Think about it, what a racket:
    The Church sells an invisible product, that you don't know if it's real or not - until you DIE. And so for your whole life you pay 10% of everything you make - and when The Church molests your children you can't say anything, because, you know - the promise of an afterlife.

    sheesh

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:25 AM

      the RCC doesn't tithe.

      Delete
    2. Anita Winecooler4:50 PM

      True, they grift, plunder, rape and steal the spoils of war, Beg the devout wealthy to include them in their wills, etc. etc. etc.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous7:35 AM

    That's 2% too many.

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    1. Anonymous9:26 AM

      Since we'll never get to 0% in the population as a whole....

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:04 PM

      Can't get to 0%, but we can detect and protect. That is, supervise adults that have access to children, investigate at the first sign of trouble and shunt those people into jobs with 0% access.

      Delete
  6. Forgive me if this sounds like bragging, but I was good looking little boy in grade school, and this kind of thing never came near me, nor did I hear of it in the Philadelphia parishes we lived. Still, I'm grateful for this reason too that my parents put me in public school after 6th grade. Back in 2002 I think I was visiting the Boston Globe's website every day, and the stories just got worse and worse.

    Francis doesn't seem as dismissive on the point as did John Paul and Benedict, but acknowledging it and eradicating it are a long way from one another.

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    1. Anonymous10:39 AM

      Good looking had nothing to do with it and may have helped you NOT to be molested. The predator priests went after children who were shy, with low self esteem, and easy to manipulate. The ugly fat kid was an easy target for grooming to be abused because he or she NEEDED that affection a power figure could provide, and did they ever.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous8:29 AM

    And no one even notices that there is a problem with some of the nuns too. And the slew of "lay" people that the church puts in charge of children.

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  8. Pat in MA9:10 AM

    PROSECUTE them in CIVIL court, not under Vatican protection! Cardinal Law (Boston) should be in jail, instead got a cushy Vatican post.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous9:26 AM

      That would be criminal court.

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    2. Anonymous10:30 AM

      Both. Civil & Criminal.

      Delete
  9. Pat in MA10:54 AM

    Right, thanks. My point is their cases should not be adjudicated by the Vatican.

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  10. Anita Winecooler4:44 PM

    The entire article is well worth reading. Pope Francis was interviewed with a tape recorder running during the interview, Now his faithful secretary and spokesman, Father Lombardi is saying the Pope never said that.... his words were taken out of context....etc. Sorry, Pope Francis, wrong is wrong and what you just did was beyond immoral. How are people to trust a liar to fix a problem he either mitigates or denies.

    ONE child is one child too many, and one pedophile priest doesn't stop with an appetizer.

    I went to Catholic School in Philadelphia, and had a few of the priests the archdiocese published in the first round of lawsuits. They were told the problem no longer existed, and we're on our third round of lawsuits. Archbishop Rigali passed away in his sleep the day before he was to testify, after defying the Pope's call to work at the Vatican. Dan Brown couldn't write a plot line like that.... oh wait, he did.

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  11. Anonymous5:01 PM

    He's off by a factor of 10.

    And why is Dolan still walking around a free man:

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/religion/Cardinal-Dolan-sought-to-protect-money-from-claims-struggled-with-Vatican-to-defrock-abusers-b9943953z1-213832541.html

    ReplyDelete

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