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Australian Ex-bishop: the Church Loses Credibility Due to Pedophilia Cases

Latin American Herald Tribune
March 25, 2016

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2408554&CategoryId=12395

Australian former bishop Geoffrey Robinson said on Friday the Catholic Church has lost “almost all credibility” due to the cases of pedophilia and called on Pope Francis to demand the resignation of every bishop who failed to properly address child abuse cases.

“Every bishop who has ever been responsible for the abuse of a child, because he did not do what he should have done, should be asked to resign,” said the author of books like “Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church” in an interview with Australian ABC Radio.

Robinson, who was a key player in the Australian Catholic Church’s response to child sexual abuse cases by members of clergy between 1994 and 2003, stressed the need of “death and resurrection” in the Church during Easter.

He also added that the church needs to “get rid of obligatory celibacy” and demanded a role for women in the church. Catholic teaching must rethink about their teachings on sexuality, which should include a new look on homosexuality and “the concept of what is natural.”

Robinson made the statement a few weeks after the Australian Cardinal George Pell, currently the Finance Minister of the Vatican, admitted before a commission of inquiry that cases of child abuse were covered up when he was archbishop of Melbourne.

There have been many calls for Pell to resign or be revoked from office, but the Australian Cardinal said Pope Francis has shown him his support.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican – the former Holy Office – examines nearly 600 cases of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church annually.

 

 

 

 

 




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