UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
(by Jerry Slevin, retired Wall Street lawyer)
Recently, Pope Benedict XVI, a foreign sovereign, interfered significantly in the U.S. election campaign by pressing his indefensible moral position against couples in the U.S. planning their families with contraception as covered by Obamacare. This was especially objectionable because this Pope has failed for over three decades to curtail effectively the sexual abuse by priests of children in the U.S. and elsewhere. The Pope apparently protects zygotes much more than he protects children. Not surprisingly, U.S. voters, including a majority of Catholic voters, rejected strongly this papal interference.
Experts at a Vatican conference recently estimated over 100,000 children in the U.S. alone have been abused so far by priests. It is clear by now that this Pope will not take effective action to curtail priest abuse of children sufficiently. A new Pope will be arriving soon.
President Obama needs to do some of his own election signaling. He needs to make clear to the Vatican now that whomever is elected the new Pope, he must curtail the abuse of children by priests or else. The Prime Ministers of Ireland and Australia have already sent their own signals, now President Obama must do so as well. Children in the U.S. deserve no less.
Beginning in a few weeks on February 4, HBO will begin airing multiple showings of the documentary, “Mea Maxima Culpa”, about a Milwaukee priest who sexually abused over 200 deaf boys. Millions of viewers worldwide will see the sickening story that includes the failure of the present Pope to deal with this predatory priest promptly. State governments in the U.S. are too beholden to organizational child abuser protectors like the the Catholic hierarchy and have failed dismally to protect children adequately from organizational sexual abuse. These viewers surely will, and should, demand prompt and effective action at the Federal level by President Obama.
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