UNITED STATES
Catholic Online
[with video]
The world is learning that the Catholic Church has not been as immobile against child sexual abuse by priests as previously thought. Last week, the Vatican provided details that Pope Benedict XVI defrocked nearly 400 priests over just two years. All signs indicate more will be defrocked until the Church is cleansed of the threat.
LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – According to the AP, documents reveal that Pope Benedict defrocked nearly 400 priests in just two years for child molestation. To be defrocked is essentially to be fired, and left to the civil authorities for justice. The Church is unable to actually incarcerate abusers, but can -and does hand them over to civil authorities for trial and justice.
The document came from a file delivered to the U.N., which formed a committee to study the worldwide concern this week in Geneva. Last week, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the U.N. Ambassador to Geneva, took eight hours of questions and criticism from the committee.
The data is public record, but is not widely publicized. The Church typically keeps its internal affairs discreet. However, in cases of child abuse, the Church has recognized an urgent need to develop its practices further and has moved over the past decade or more to aggressively protect children from priests who would molest them.
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