The Holy See is expected to assert that bishops aren't Vatican employees because they aren't paid by Rome, don't act on Rome's behalf and aren't controlled day-to-day by the pope _____ Good luck with that scapegoat ploy.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH Pedo bear freaking awesome. Seriously though these sickos have moved pedophiles from town to town so they could get their hands on more kids. they used contributions and donations to defend themselves.
Priest Sex-Abuse Case Hits Church of Pope's Adviser The latest sex-abuse case to rock the Catholic Church is unfolding in the archdiocese of an influential Italian Cardinal who has been working with Pope Benedict XVI on reforms to respond to prior scandals of pedophile priests. Father Riccardo Seppia, a 51-year-old parish priest in the village of Sastri Ponente, near Genoa, was arrested last Friday, May 13, on pedophilia and drug charges. Investigators say that in tapped mobile-phone conversations, Seppia asked a Moroccan drug dealer to arrange sexual encounters with young and vulnerable boys. "I do not want 16-year-old boys but younger. Fourteen-year-olds are O.K. Look for needy boys who have family issues," he allegedly said. Genoa Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who is the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, had been working with Benedict to establish a tough new worldwide policy, released this week, on how bishops should handle accusations of priestly sex abuse. (Read "Vatican Gets Tough on Child Abuse but Not Tough Enough.) Bagnasco said that when he met the Pope this weekend, he "asked for a particular blessing for my archdiocese" in light of the alleged crimes, adding that "like every father toward a son [feels] great pain in seeing a priest who is not faithful to his vocation." Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi praised Bagnasco's handling of the Sastri Ponente case, lauding its "timeliness and competence." On Saturday, May 14, the Cardinal visited the Santo Spirito church, where Seppia was the parish priest. According to investigators, Seppia told a friend — a former seminarian and barman who is currently under investigation — that the town's malls were the best places to entice minors. In tapped phone conversations the two cursed and swore against God. The priest is charged with having attempted to kiss and touch an underage altar boy and of having exchanged cocaine for sexual intercourse with boys over 18. (See inside Benedict XVI's daily life.) Seppia's defense lawyers are expected to argue that those conversations — monitored since Oct. 20, 2010 — were just words, sex games that were played by adults. It was just a game even when he claimed to have "kissed on the mouth" a 15-year-old altar boy, according to the defense. On Monday, May 16, during formal questioning by Genoa's investigating magistrate Annalisa Giacalone, Seppia chose not to respond. The magistrate decided to keep him in custody to avoid a risk of relapse or tampering with evidence. Defense attorney Paolo Bonanni said the defense wants to evaluate all the charges, reserving the right to respond to public prosecutor Stefano Puppo in the coming days. Questioned by the investigators, the altar boy reportedly confirmed the attempted kiss. Another male minor who, according to the investigators, was stalked with messages and pressing invitations, will be questioned soon. Psychologists are helping Carabinieri police officers obtain testimony from the alleged victims. "The boys are ashamed to talk and to admit what happened," says one of the investigators. The evidence amounts to at least 50 messages and phone calls. In the tapped phone conversations, the drug dealer contacted the boys and gave their phone numbers to the priest, who paid them with cocaine or 50 euros each time for sexual intercourse. (Read "Controversial Study Links Catholic Abuse to '60s Culture and Church Hierarchy but Offers Few Solutions.") "[The investigators] made us listen to that man saying terrifying things about our children. Things so terrible that I cannot repeat them," a father of one of the boys said. Investigators are also examining three confiscated computers: the priest allegedly looked for partners via chat as well. Seppia is currently being kept in a confinement cell in a Genoa prison. He met the jail's priest and psychologist. "He has read the newspapers, and he is pained by his parishioners' comments," says his lawyer. The investigation is ongoing. link
Gross. That last case sounds like the Bad Lieutenant in a priest robe. A lot of that movie was centered in a church as it is.
Apparently, the Catholic church does not have a monopoly on abuse . http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...xual-assault/2011/08/17/gIQAvSuKLJ_story.html Toronto imam charged with 13 counts of sexual assault TORONTO — Police have charged an imam at a Toronto mosque with 13 counts of sexual assault and say there may be more victims in other countries. Det. Karen Armstrong said Wednesday Mohammad Masroor, 48, abused his position of authority when he taught the Quran to students at the Baitul Mukarram Islamic Society and in private homes in Toronto since arriving in Canada in 2008. Armstrong says Masroor also worked and lived in France, Germany, Bangladesh, Hungary, Singapore, Sri Lanka and most recently in Florida and Michigan in the United States. Armstrong says they are appealing to the public to assist in finding other victims. She says the charges involve five victims both male and female and that the investigation is ongoing.
The story that just won't die. _____ Vatican rejects child abuse cover-up claims The Vatican has rejected claims by Irish prime minister Enda Kenny that it tried to frustrate a clerical child abuse inquiry insisting the accusations were unfounded. In its formal response to the Irish government in the wake of the damning findings of abuse allegations in the diocese of Cloyne, the Holy See said that it in no way hampered or interfered with the inquiry. ''In particular, the accusation that the Holy See attempted 'to frustrate an Inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago', which Mr Kenny made no attempt to substantiate, is unfounded,'' the Vatican said. In an unprecedented attack in the Dail parliament in July, Mr Kenny accused the Vatican of downplaying the rape and torture of Irish children by clerical sex abusers. In a damning assessment of Rome's attitude to paedophile priests, Mr Kenny claimed the Cloyne inquiry into clerical abuse cover-ups exposed a dysfunctional, elite hierarchy determined to frustrate investigations. The prime minister's attack, which opened a special Dail parliament debate, followed the publication a week earlier of the fourth major report in six years into the church's cover-ups of clerical abuse. Cloyne Diocese in Co Cork was the latest part of the church to be exposed with former bishop John Magee, a Vatican aide to three Popes, singled out for misleading investigators and "dangerous" failures on child protection. His resignation was accepted by Pope Benedict last year. The Vatican statement, more than 10,300 words long, was issued after Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore demanded answers from the Vatican on claims it allowed priests to ignore mandatory reporting guidelines on suspected child abusers within the church. It said the Holy See was ashamed for the "terrible sufferings which the victims of abuse and their families have had to endure." "The Holy See is deeply concerned at the findings of the commission of inquiry concerning grave failures in the ecclesiastical governance of the Diocese of Cloyne and the mishandling of allegations of abuse," it stated. "It is particularly disturbing that these failures occurred despite the undertaking given by the bishops and religious superiors to apply the guidelines developed by the Church in Ireland to help ensure child protection and despite the Holy See's own norms and procedures relating to cases of sexual abuse." The Vatican became embroiled in the latest Irish church scandal after revelations about a 1997 letter, from the then papal nuncio to Irish bishops, a year after reporting guidelines were enforced to enhance child protection. The correspondence stated that the bishops' policy was "merely a discussion document" and that the Vatican had serious moral and canon reservations about mandatory reporting of clerical abuse. But the Vatican says that taken out of context, the comments in the letter from Archbishop Luciano Storero to Irish bishops "could be open to misinterpretation, giving rise to understandable criticism." It said the description of the bishops' policy as a study document was not a dismissal of the serious efforts being undertaken to address the child abuse problem, but senior church figures wanted to ensure that "nothing contained in it would give rise to difficulties should appeals be lodged to the Holy See". The Holy See also denied that bishops sought recognition from Rome for its so-called framework document. "In the light of the findings of the Cloyne Report, the basic difficulty with regard to child protection in that diocese seems to have arisen not from the lack of recognition for the guidelines of the framework document but from the fact that, while the diocese claimed to follow the guidelines, in reality it did not," the Vatican said. The Holy See said the response of the congregation for the clergy, through Archbishop Storero, was not a rejection of the framework document, but an invitation to bishops to re-examine it carefully. It said the congregation was not forbidding mandatory reporting, "or in any way encouraging individuals, including clerics, not to co-operate with the Irish civil authorities, let alone disobey Irish civil law". The Vatican said that as the Irish government did not make mandatory reporting of suspected abuse cases law at that time, it was difficult how concerns raised in Archbishop's Storero's letter could be construed as having subverted Irish law. The Irish government has now committed to tough new child protection in the wake of Cloyne, including making it an offence to withhold information about crimes against children and introducing new vetting to allow "soft information" transfers. The Holy See said while it cannot comment on the proposed legislation, it welcomes and supports attempts to protect children. link
Las Vegas Monsignor stole over $650,000 from his parishioners to feed his gambling habit One of the most senior churchmen in Las Vegas has admitted stealing over $650,000 from his parishioners to feed his gambling habit. Monsignor Kevin McAuliffe faces up to 60 years in jail after confessing to raiding church funds to feed his addiction to video poker. The 58-year-old, the second most senior churchman in Las Vegas Roman Catholic Diocese, kept his gambling secret from church leaders and his parishioners. Over an eight year period he was able to steal $650,000 from a parish by siphoning off funds from its sale of votive candles, gift shop and church mission. A court in Las Vegas heard that McAuliffe spent the money gambling mostly on video poker games. He also used some of the stolen money to pay off debts on his personal credit cards. The former vicar general for the Las Vegas Diocese and ranked second only to the bishop, pleaded guilty to three counts of mail fraud in federal court. A court heard he was member of the diocese's finance committee and was responsible for compiling financial reports and had access to the church's bank accounts and cash in its safe. link
SMH... ______ Roman Catholic church's paedophile investigator jailed for possessing thousands of child p*rn images A Catholic Church child safety co-ordinator who was in charge of investigating sexual abuse allegations was jailed for 12 months today for internet peadophile offences. Christopher Jarvis, 49, a married father-of-four, investigated historic claims of child abuse, interviewing the victims when they were adults. He was responsible for child protection at 120 churches and parish community groups for nine years. He also, as a member of the Devon and Cornwall Multi-Agency Safeguarding Team, had access to police and social services information about victims of child abuse. As a result of the conviction and sentencing, the Roman Catholic Church has ordered a review of child protection across the South West of England. According to The Times, the Bishop of Plymouth, the Right Rev Christopher Budd, has asked the NSPCC to carry out the inquiry into child protection arrangements in Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. The revelations that the church hired a peadophile in a key child protection role will add to the controversy surrounding the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales over its handling of sexual abuse. At the time of his arrest in March this year, Jarvis was leading an investigation into an historic sex abuse allegation at Buckfast Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Devon. He was arrested after uploading images of pre-pubescent boys on to the Ning social networking website. link
U.S. priest found guilty on one count in church abuse case A monsignor who oversaw hundreds of priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was found guilty on Friday of one count of endangering the welfare of a child, making him the first senior U.S. Roman Catholic Church official to be convicted for covering up child sex abuse. The jury acquitted Monsignor William Lynn on two other counts - conspiracy and another charge of child endangerment -after 10 weeks of testimony in a trial that raised questions about personal responsibility and institutional constraints within the church hierarchy. full article
