Rome, Italy, Oct 9, 2017 / 12:06 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- At the close of a Rome conference on child protection online, a leading expert in the field said that while the statistics are well-known, he was surprised by the lack of awareness about the problem.
He added that all sectors of society need to take a more pro-active approach to the difficulty.
“If you study this field and if you work in it, you know about the numbers. I am more amazed about the lack of realization in many people about the scale of the problem about which we speak,” Fr. Hans Zollner SJ told CNA Oct. 7.
President of the Pontifical Gregorian University’s Center of Child Protection (CCP) and a member of Pope Francis’ commission for the protection of minors, spoke to CNA at the close of a four-day conference on “Child Dignity in the Digital World.”
Organized by the CCP in collaboration with the UK-based global alliance WePROTECT and the organization “Telefono Azzurro,” which is the first Italian helpline for children at risk, the conference took place Oct. 3-6 in Rome and was the first of its kind on a global scale addressing the issue of online safety.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin opened the conference on day one, and other participants include social scientists, civic leaders, and religious representatives. Discussion points include prevention of abuse, pornography, the responsibility of internet providers and the media, and ethical governance.
In his comments to CNA, Zollner noted that the European Union currently has a campaign called “One in Five,” referring to the fact that one in five young people in Europe has, at some point, been sexually abused.
“If you realize, if you think a little bit, I’m shocked, so I don’t know why the existential and the psychological harm that is done does not really translate into concrete political action to counteract this,” he said.
“(It’s) for me one of the mysteries that I can’t explain” other than perhaps “it’s too big, it’s too shocking, so you put it away because nobody can deal with it,” he said. “So we need to start dealing with it step by step, and bringing down the numbers of those who have been harmed.”
Zollner also touched on what he believes were the main takeaways of the conference, the role of both the Church and society at large in safeguarding from online exploitation, and action points for the future, which he said need to have a more “preventative approach.”
Please read below for CNA’s interview with Fr. Zollner, edited for length and clarity:
What, for you, are some of your impressions after the conference? How do you think it went? What are some of the highlights?
I’m really amazed and I’m very happy because this conference was the first of its kind in bringing people together of different areas, of different levels of responsibility in society, in business, on the internet, social media corporations, different religion and so forth. So it was the first of its kind and it went very well, I heard it from I believe every single person who participated, because it was not sectoral. On other occasions we would have only the business people, and here the government people and here the scientists. They were really together and they were discussing, so the format worked really well, where in the morning we would have sessions with top experts who have done research for many, many years and decades. And in the afternoon we would have all these people in mixed groups, meaning from different countries, languages, professions and so forth, to get together and they spoke to each other and challenged each other, and they came up with very interesting ideas, reflections and proposals.
There were outstanding experts in the research in what do we talk about, what is online sexual abuse of minors, what is the impact on the brains, the relational developmental and emotional side of young people when they watch pornography or when they themselves are abused as objects of sexual abuse which is then posted and sold on the internet. What can we do to prevent such uploading of material of that kind, and what can we do so that the people who are likely to become offenders don’t do what they do now? Very often in a hidden space where people say, even police say, there are very few means to tackle that.
We’ve heard from Interpol that if you take together all the sex offenders who commit crimes online, we wouldn’t have enough prisons to put them in. So we need to have a preventive strategy so that people don’t commit crimes. And we need to do that by bringing that together lawmakers, law enforcement, companies who have the technological means with the algorithms and photo DNA recognition which is out there already, but it is not applied thoroughly enough and consistently enough, so we really need to work together.
This was our intention, bringing people together so they enrich each other and they enhance what we can do so that young people grow up in a safer world, also a safer online world. The networking has created so many new relationships and there are so many ideas and concrete proposals for follow-up conferences in different parts of the world: Latin America, Asia, Africa. The ripple-effect is there, so we are happy about that.
So you think some of these regional conferences will actually happen before a second global conference?
Sure, sure. We have worked for more than two years to organize this one, so it’s not around the corner, but I have heard that next year there are concrete ideas and they are already talking to each other, people from Asia, people from Africa, people from Latin America, people who would like to have something among religious leaders, an interreligious prevention conference, if you wish. So the faith communities talk to each other and help each other to understand how much they can do in their schools, in their communities, in their institutions whatever they are, to have for example risk-free WiFi access, so we could do much in terms of preventing abuse happening in open space WiFi for example. Unlimited access doesn’t mean there is an unlimited possibility of crime.
In terms of bringing all these people together, you said it was a model that worked. How was the interaction, and do you expect these connections to continue in the future?
Absolutely. All of the feedback that I’ve heard from the working groups was that it was very interesting, interesting for the participants, interesting also because we invited 10 representatives of the ‘digital native’ generations, so young students here from around Rome, and they brought into the discussion the voices of young people and how they perceive what the adults talk about and what those decision makers think is necessary, whether that’s something reasonable for young people, or they don’t see a need, of they think you should invest here. So we have a lot of leads. It will will be the task, in the aftermath of this congress, that we will concentrate on 3-4 lines that we can really follow through. Some of the major foundations that were represented here, big foundations, gave us the prospect that they would actually help us to find funding for some of these projects. On a large scale there are a lot of possibilities.
One needs to be focused, one needs to be on target, but you can do many things at the same time. For example, one could ask advertisement companies to do their job and help young people become more aware of the risks that are connected to access to internet, engaging in chats and the exchange of messages with unknown people. So all this is a wide range of measures and possibilities and people who were here were probably in this moment, I believe there were no better prepared people to talk about this than these ones. They have a lot of passion for the protection of minors, you could feel it in the big hall, in the small groups. It was just a spirit of communion and a spirit of common intention and interest.
You mentioned that there have been offers for specific investments. What would be the areas that you think should be targeted first if you had the funding?
Of course, the scientists and the governments said, the government responsibles who were here, ministers, those who were the independent commissioners in their country, etc, all of them said they need reliable data. And interestingly enough, for example the question of work in prevention has not been researched well enough. So we need to go into depth and breadth, because we’re talking about millions and millions of young people who are at high risk of being abused, and becoming abusers of other young people when they do ‘sexting’ or even ‘sextortion.’
So one area for scientists would be research in different kinds of prevention measures, safeguarding measures, and finding out where are the keys, so that young people don’t become victims. In the same line, but on the other side, so to say, how can we prevent people who are at risk of becoming abusers, adults who have sexual interest, sexual attraction to minors, how can we prevent these people from acting out? So this would be on the scientific side, but many, many more projects can be thought out. On the side of lawmakers, they need to come up with something that transcends national, legal boundaries, because internet companies are multi-national, and if there’s one thing that became clear in this conference it’s that there is no institution, no science, no single approach, no single nation that can tackle this, because it goes far beyond, in any sense, far beyond what the internet offers, where the access is possible, where the servers are, where things are uploaded, etc. So there needs to be serious thinking about how there can be a joint-effort on the sides of governments.
So we are happy that the WePROTECT initiative partnered with us in our effort, as well as Telefono Azzurro. But there is already an initiative by the British government, and the foundress, Baroness Joanna Shields, was a member of our steering committee, so very dedicated persons who have already had much impact on at least a certain number of governments, even if you can’t ask how much they really then really implement, but there are 70 governments already on board. Then of course we would expect, and in one of the interventions yesterday there was a very strong call on internet providers and software companies like Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Snapchat and whatever to do what they can and to maybe even pay a price in their economic profit, because we’re talking here about billions of dollars and euros, so it’s a big business out there, and having more coherence in the policies that all these companies claim to have and more implementation of that would be a huge step forward. Another area would be in law enforcement, when we talk about the ‘dark net,’ so the hidden traffic that happens below the radar, purposely hidden, how can police intervene if you know that 83 percent of traffic that is going on in the ‘dark net’ has to do with sexual images of children.
Both Microsoft and Facebook attended the conference. What kind of feedback and interest did you see from them on this point?
We really appreciated Facebook’s help, they supported us, they brought it on Facebook live, the major events were streamed with their help. I’ve seen very dedicated people. As the Baroness, who is the British government’s internet safety person, who was at Facebook and I believe also worked for Google and Microsoft, she said in her speech that there are people very committed to the ethical code.
But then we see, obviously, that other interests come into play and there are hard decisions to be made.
Either you protect children coherently or you make more money because you don’t follow your own ethical standards. We heard yesterday that if you compare the use of pornography by young people to the use of cigarettes by young people, maybe in a few years’ time it will be possible to sue pornography companies for bringing out in an unrestricted manner pornographic material that is freely accessible, and if one day it is convincingly shown, robustly shown and scientifically proven that watching pornography at the age of five or eight or 10 has this harmful outcome in young people and for adult life, then the companies will be sued on that.
There are many areas where we need to act, and what I perceive is that everyone has taken something for him or her self back home, and I think this is a good starting point for something that could become a movement.
In listening to the talks and hearing the information, many of the numbers and content were shocking for me personally. Was there anything you heard that was new for you or that you were surprised by?
If you study this field and if you work in it, you know about the numbers. I am more amazed about the lack of realization in many people about the scale of the problem about which we speak.
The European Union has started a campaign called “One in Five,” saying that one in five young persons in Europe is sexually abused, online or offline; one in five, which means every fifth young person you see on the street, the European Union officially says has probably been abused sexually. So 20 percent of the whole population. If you realize, if you think a little bit, I’m shocked, so I don’t know why the existential and the psychological harm that is done does not really translate into concrete political action to counteract this, (it’s) for me one of the mysteries that I can’t explain. Except if I say it’s too big, it’s too shocking, so you put it away because nobody can deal with it. So we need to start dealing with it step by step, and bringing down the numbers of those who have been harmed.
Looking at some of these phenomena, some of the general developments in this area, what are the next, most urgent steps moving forward in terms of action-points. You guys made a list of action-points in your declaration, but what are the most urgent right now?
Right now is to do and apply whatever can be applied in terms of technological means and measures on the side of internet companies and social media. They have many keys and they can and should apply them coherently and according to their own ethical standards. Secondly, governments need to talk together international bodies like UNICEF and the UN in getting governments moving.
Like the Italian government has now engaged in and committed to a very strong position in terms of wanting to do something for the online safety of children. And thirdly all of the scientists that were here, we will have a call for papers. We have invited all the participants here of a high level, the highest level, the stars in the field, to produce original research that will prove what is helpful in terms of prevention, in terms of creating a safe environment, what is helpful in dealing with perpetrators.
As far as the Church goes, both the Pope and Cardinal Parolin mentioned that the Church has learned a lot from her past mistakes in this area, and can given her experience can be a leading voice moving forward. How can the Church lead in this area?
Simply by offering a platform like this one. We asked people from different parts of the world, from different political backgrounds, from different religious backgrounds, from different attitudes towards this whole question of, for example, freedom of expression, and content limitation, and everyone whom we invited came. So it seems that the Catholic Church here in an academic setting here at the Pontifical Gregorian University, and our Center for Child Protection, offered a platform for discussion. We offered a completely free area of discussion of a time, of the forum for the working groups to engage. We chose the names, but not according to a preconceived criteria. We chose the best of the best and they came.
We had a UN person tweeting these days, who is responsible for cyber-crime in the UN, and he said this climate here is outside of political gain, so we can talk freely, we can share freely, and we can really focus on the real issues. So there is a role that we see and that the Catholic Church can play, humbly, within the limits of the surprisingly small resources that we have.
If you talk about the ‘foreign ministry’ or the ‘research ministry’ of the Church, this is but a very, very, tiny portion of what one ministry in one country would have in terms of personnel and so forth. But there seems to at least be this possibility to convene people. What you see in trafficking, the question of human trafficking, has happened with the Santa Marta Group, or with ecology and the climate change topic. So there are issues in which the Catholic Church is seen as engaged, but also as a neutral territory where you don’t need to come up with the ideological battles.
What gives the Church the authority to be able to speak on these issues and arrange these sorts of meetings?
If you show that you are serious about the issue and the scientific world wants to see data, wants to see results, wants to see proven statements. Of course from the political side it’s the pledge that the Holy Father has repeated today, and to do whatever can be done so that young people are safe and safer in the Catholic Church.
[…]
Um, I have a question, Jorge.
What about Rupnik?
Why stop there?
The language of northern Belgium is Flemish (Vlaams). As in Vlaams Belang and Nieuw Vlaams Alliantie (N-VA), two of the political parties.
Little Sisters of the Poor are humbly serving the last, the least, and the lost. May the selfless servers and those served be blessed with joy and happiness.
Why should the Church be ashamed when Bergoglio is not ashamed? Here is the list of the sexual abusers he has and is protecting:https://opentabernacle.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/list-of-sexual-predators-protected-by-pope-francis-grows-and-grows/
Why not praise him for the flack he is taking by standing firm on abortion, no women priests, not accepting homosexuality and trans genderism ? Even the secular media is covering this. Give the man credit when credit is due! By the way he should be addressed as Pope Francis.
Probably because the article is about the Pope’s speech saying the Church should be ashamed of clerical abuse, not about everything he’s ever done.
Touché Amanda.
Bergoglio has continuously in word and deed promoted homosexuality and transgenderism, the heretical agenda of his Synod on women priests, and the raft of pro-abortion “experts” he has appointed just last week to his ruined Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. These are all matters of public record for the past 11 years. If Bergoglio acted and spoke as pope, he could be addressed as pope, but he does not. In fact, serious doubts must be entertained of whether he is pope and not an apostate and heretical anti-pope. Again, these are issues that have been routinely addressed on the public record for the past 11 years.
James Connor: He has never been “firm” on any of those matters. Check again. Early in his pontificate, he even condemned being “obsessed” over abortion, and he has knowingly been praising the work of some of the world’s most notorious abortionists ever since under the pretest of environmentalism. He restructured the Pontifical Academy for Life from a pro-life think tank to an abortion advocacy cesspool. An all-male priesthood was solved definitively by JPII, yet Francis, the politician, keeps finding cynical ways to revive it. And he clearly supports the legitimization of homosexuality.
From no other than Bridget Bardot today —
On Bergoglio: “I have no admiration whatsoever for what Pope Francis says and does. I wrote to the Pope twice, happy to know that he was taking the name of Francis and convinced that he would do something for animals. I never received a reply.”
https://gloria.tv/post/iQwEUxRhkeDk4Zs6txEp1Ds3Z
I too, James, am saddened because those who attack Pope Francis are, like me, sinners and ingrates.
I would only like to add and remember, regarding abortion and euthanasia—topics that are very close to my heart, as they represent the foremost and principal abuses of the apostate Western ‘civilization,’ once Christian and now neo-pagan (let it not be said, as was reproached to the Pope in Belgium for paying homage to King Baldwin, that we have returned to the Middle Ages—we are the ones who change, becoming worse, we have become barbaric, but God and His holy law do not change!)—that King Philippe, precisely ten years ago, abdicated.
Not formally from his power, but essentially from his role. A role that, particularly as a Catholic, required him to serve all his subjects, especially the least among them, in obedience to the famous Gospel paradox which demands that the greatest make themselves small and place themselves at the service of the most defenseless. And who are the most defenseless if not children?
Yet Philippe, forgetful of his *munus* and the responsibilities it entails, signed into law the bill extending euthanasia to minors without any age limit, a law approved by Parliament on February 13, 2014.
The 210,000 signatures collected from every corner of the world and addressed to him, urging him to deny his assent and shield the children of his people with his crown, were in vain. Two hundred and ten thousand signatures to stop a single one. These signatures were gathered not because there was a true belief that without the monarch’s approval, the law would not pass, but because Philippe’s ‘No’ would have embodied the ‘No’ of hundreds of thousands of citizens who do not identify with a Belgium that has taken on the guise of Herod. That ‘No’ would have signified that the word of one man, precisely because he is King, holds far greater weight than parliamentary majorities and political calculations.
None of those issues are relevant to the article. Francis has actively, intentionally, and repeatedly failed to properly discipline and laicize members of the church hierarchy who are guilty of sexual abuse and assault. His behavior is inexcusable and totally unacceptable. I’ll start referring to him as pope when he starts acting like one.
Athanasius, your comment inspired me to revisit the words of Saint Catherine of Siena, who played a pivotal role in the history of the Church. She was instrumental in bringing Pope Gregory XI back to Rome from Avignon. Later, she was summoned by Pope Urban VI to address the cardinals and remained in Rome as his advisor. The challenges faced by the Popes and the Church during Saint Catherine’s time may not mirror our own, but they were nonetheless significant, causing widespread disaffection, especially towards Urban VI. In fact, even those who remained loyal to the Pope and opposed the Antipope were plotting his assassination, blaming him for the Church’s woes. Catherine suffered deeply from this and was tormented by the thought of what she called a potential “parricide.” She not only prayed but asked the Lord to let her bear all the suffering so that the Church might be spared. And the Lord listened to her.
I offer this context because we must always look at the Pope with the eyes of faith. With that very same vision of faith, Saint Catherine wrote: “I urge and desire that you love Christ on earth” (Letter 177, to Cardinal Pietro of Porto). She also requested that her spiritual children offer “a special daily prayer for the Holy Church and for the Pope” (Letter 324, to Stefano Maconi, the future founder of the Certosa of Pavia).
Here is one of Saint Catherine’s prayers for the Pope. It can be recited daily as a tangible expression of our love for the Church, offering it just a minute of our time:
“O eternal God and sweetest charity, I pray and beg your most holy clemency that you purify your vicar, so that his heart may burn with holy desire to recover the lost members of the holy Church. And if his negligence displeases you, O eternal love, punish my body for it, which I offer and return to you, so that you may afflict and destroy it with your scourges, if it pleases you so. I pray that he always does your will, does not heed the counsel of the flesh, and does not cower in the face of any adversity, for truly all things fall away except you, the highest God. Therefore, O eternal mercy, make your vicar a devourer of the food of souls, burning with holy desire for your honor, and uniting himself only with you, because you are supreme and eternal goodness, purify our infirmities for your sake, and restore your bride with his salutary counsel and virtuous deeds. Amen.”
In a letter to Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan, after reminding him that “the sweet Word, Son of God, has placed His blood in the body of the holy Church and wills that it be administered by the hands of His vicar,” she wrote: “Therefore, it is foolish for anyone to turn away and act against this vicar who holds the keys to the blood of Christ crucified. Even if he were a demon incarnate, I must not raise my head against him but always humble myself, asking for mercy through the blood, for there is no other way to obtain it, nor can you share in the fruit of the blood in any other way. I implore you, for the love of Christ crucified, not to act against your head” (Letter 28).
As you may have noticed, Athanasius, I haven’t engaged directly with the content of the debate. But I hope I have helped you love the Pope, who remains the Vicar of Christ, and encouraged you to pray for both him and the Church. The Lord will bless you abundantly.
To the staff of the CNA, and CWR readers:
Here is a photo of the Pontiff Francis on the fateful night after his election:
https://www.tldm.org/news41/francis-danneels.jpg
The man at the right of the photo is Cardinal Godfreed Daneels (who as the article admits, was the “protector” of his friend the nephew-raping-pederast-pedophile Bishop Roger Vangelhue), and who (in league with his fellow sociopath Cardinal Theodore McCarrick) helped engineer the campaign to elect Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to the papacy.
And consistent with the Pontiff Francis’ continuing very deep personal esteem and eternal protection of his friend the sociopath sex abuser Rupnik, following upon similar protections and favors the Pontiff Francis has doled out to other sociopath sex abusers like his Argentinian friend bishop Zanchetta, etc, etc, we should all keep in mind that in his prior role as Archbishop of Buenos Aries and head if the Argentine Bishops Conference, then-Cardinal Bergoglio orchestrated a multi-million dollar secret legal campaign to defend his friend “Rev.” Julio Grassi, the most notorious sex abuser in Argentina, who was tried and convicted of raping orphans in his “orphanage charity organization.”
CNA might consider the option of facing reality of what it means that The Pontiff Francis and the late Cardinal Danneels and the former Cardinal McCarrick are of one mind.
I submit to CNA and all that their “one mind” is NOT THE MIND OF CHRIST.
Thank you Paul and Chris for this information and the devastating links. The Church is being attacked from the inside it seems. May God help the Church. I had heard of this before but had attributed it to de enemies of the Church. Then after checking your links I went and found other links:
ps://www.yahoo.com › news › swiss-guards-39-gay-mafia-104500440–politics.html
The Swiss Guards’ Gay Mafia – Yahoo
January 24, 2014. The Swiss Guards’ Gay Mafia. For more than a year now, there has been ample talk around Rome about a powerful gay lobby at work inside the Vatican. When Pope Benedict XVI ..
Yes, Michel Foucault, the patron saint of post-modernism and liberated sex (he had his own boy) would have been very proud of Danneels.
A possible cover-up by the Belgian Catholic hierarchy of a vast scandal of sex abuse of minors by priests and bishops is likely to be less shocking to a group of parents who spent years trying, with no success, to have a graphically sexually explicit “catechism” textbook withdrawn from Catholic schools.
On June 24, the very day police were raiding the offices of the Archdiocese of Brussels and the home of Cardinal Godfreed Danneels, an article appeared in the Brussels Journal detailing the cardinal’s opposition to efforts to stop the catechism that had been written and approved by Belgian Catholic authorities.
Alexandra Colen, a Catholic member of the Belgian parliament, wrote that because of this “perverted little catechism,” “Hundreds of children who were not raped physically were molested spiritually during the catechism lessons.”
They really were ahead of their times when you think about the content of books now found in school libraries.
Many are so blinded by the resentment they harbor against the Church that they believe it capable of committing the gravest monstrosities imaginable. The concept they have formed of the Church is that it is a criminal organization.
However, this is not the first time in history that some have thought this way. Others before have said, from different perspectives, that the Pope and the ecclesiastical hierarchy are inventions of the Antichrist.
But we need to bring the issue to its core.
The behavior of priests (or rather, we should say: of some priests) is not the object of my faith. The object of our faith is Jesus Christ, God made man, who for each of us is ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6).
Of course, hearing criticism of the Church always causes sorrow, because it is as if we were hearing our mother being criticized: it is the Church, in fact, that gave birth to our faith, and it is in the Church that we nurture our faith. Our mothers eventually leave us. And yet, once we are adults, we can manage on our own.
But this is not the case with the Church. We absolutely need it always, until the very end, because it is through the Church that we encounter Christ. We meet Him primarily in the sacraments.
When I go to confession, it is Christ I want to meet. I am interested in His forgiveness. I care about His grace.
When I am at Mass, it is Christ’s sacrifice that I seek.
His blood is my only treasure, that blood which has a voice more eloquent than that of Abel (Hebrews 12:24). I seek Him for myself, for the Church, for all humanity, even for those who are scandalized by the behavior of some men within the Church.
As you see, Chris, I am not trying to contrast the immense good that exists in the Church with the evil committed by some of its ministers.
Because the object of our faith is Christ. It is Him we follow.
Certainly, the witness of the Church is important. Because through its life and its word, it proclaims Christ. And yet, not even the Church—even if it were composed solely of saints—is our God.
Christ, and Christ alone, is ‘our great God and Savior’ (Titus 2:13).
Only Christ is ‘He who is over all, God blessed forever’ (Romans 9:5).
In the nascent Church, Jesus also co-opted Judas. He knew well that Judas would betray Him and that his behavior would cast a shadow over the Twelve.
Why did He do this?
St. Augustine says that Jesus wanted to use even Judas. He tolerated being betrayed by him to redeem us.
Well, even today, Christ uses those who do harm within the Church to spur others to redouble their zeal.
But even without resorting to Judas, not even the Twelve could boast of their faithfulness.
With this in mind, the Church is called to remain humble, with its head bowed, to play the low notes, as the humble—let me emphasize that word—Francis does continuously.
Despite its infinite merits, the Church must not glory in itself.
Its mission is not to proclaim itself, but Christ.
We must be certain that the Lord did not make a mistake in presenting Himself to the world with such a fragile face as that of the Church.
It must be clear to everyone that its preaching is so marvelous, and its action so transformative, not because of the skill of its men but because of the virtue of Christ that is in it.
Just as St. Paul once said: ‘But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us’ (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Seeing the Church suffer from all these scandals, amplified by the social media, instead of discouraging us, reminds us that the object of our proclamation and our faith is our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
I understand your passion, Paolo, but, what are we to say and do when corruption exists? Nothing. Maybe turning over the tables in the temple is also following Jesus. The thing is sexual abuse by (a few) clergy does, has and is causing people to give up, and even more so when those people go to the Church for help and get rejected. Does not the reality of around 50% of clergy not believing that chastity is integral to their celibacy not bother you? Yes, I know you will question that figure: based on research and experience, I don’t doubt it for a minute anymore. The scandals and depressed morale aren’t due to us highlighting the existence (ever-present- yes) of evil within the church and even ourselves, it’s because of those evils themselves. So, don’t shoot the messenger, man, turn over some of the tables in the temple, while maintaining your deep faith. Maybe doing so is part of the faith. But, you’re the better man: I’ve given up (because of abuse but more so because of my Bishop’s response to me and others I know), so, yeah, I suppose you can, therefore, reject everything I say. We all have points to make, though and together maybe we come closer to reality.
Paolo. Read this response second. Just after I read your comment and replied to it, I received an email from a woman I have come to know who has been deeply harmed by a forced adoption within the RC Church. He husband was also a victim of child sexual abuse. Both after trying to deal with the fallout through the Church have decided to leave, the husband even going so far as to be officially ‘de-baptised’. Here is a short section from her email:
“Ironic is it not? That the very people who profess to be “so-called Christians” but rather acted very non-Christian and became like judge and jury by punishing and condemning innocent children and adults (like myself, husband’s name redacted, and thousands of others) were the ones who turned me against the churches and Christianity in general”.
“I believe, however, that I am a spiritual being within a human physical body (for now). My spirituality resides more in nature. In a universal. divine. all-knowing presence”.
So, unless Francis and his Bishops and religious OPrder leaders can/will actually do something for the many hundreds of thousands of people like this couple (and others I am assisting – and encouraging to keep their faith), as well as fully enact a truly zero-tolerance, nothing will ‘get better’ for the Church nor for the society it could and should be really being a light.
Well, that’s how I see it for now. Maybe I haven’t given up, but at present I also just can’t be part of the Body, and I do miss it.
“Many are so blinded by the resentment they harbor against the Church that they believe it capable of committing the gravest monstrosities imaginable. The concept they have formed of the Church is that it is a criminal organization.”
People have good cause, and plenty of evidence, to support these beliefs. Given Francis’ repeated refusal to properly and decisively address this and hold people accountable, it’s perfectly understandable that the church’s reputation has been tarnished. People aren’t stupid.
I continue to have an objection to the Bishop of Rome fashioning himself as a Head of State and meeting with his counterparts like the King and Queen of Belgium.
This globetrotting activity of the modern day papacy began with Paul VI and went on steroids during Pope John Paul’s tenure. There was less of it under Benedict. We live in an age of superstars, stadiums filled with screaming fans and a hypercommercialism of just about everything which now includes the person of the Bishop of Rome. If the Church were to be truly collegial, it would leave shepherding to the the bishop of each diocese.
I would make this applicable to WYDs and all the globetrotting and expense that yhose events involve. Wouldn’t it make sense to have Diocesan Youth Days when bishops meet with the youth of their individual dioceses, have Mass and conferences for youth to attend and then do a Billy Graham-style altar call for all the young willing to engage in missions of evangelizelization? I think the days of Church-as-Rock-Concert and globetrotting Popes should end.
I’m not a fan of altar calls in the Catholic Church (I mean, besides the entire Mass). I’m not sure about the globetrotting. Popes have been involved in diplomacy since approximately the time of Constantine. For some at least it was probably the right call.
But it would be nice for bishops to be more visible in their dioceses. I suspect most people only see him at their Confirmation, and some don’t even see him then. There are some large dioceses in the US, that take a day (or more) to drive across. Just to have the bishop come to a few regional parishes in a year (so that most people could make it without needing to pay for a hotel), say Mass, and give a conference or two, would probably make a world of difference in the relationship between bishop and people, without requiring him to visit each parish every year.
The appropriate position is for The Church to be ashamed of and shun the Pontiff Francis for his lifelong allegiance to clerical and episcopal sex abusers and sex abuse coverup hierarchs.
The key word in the headline is indeed,’should’. But he/they have an out – ‘the church is both holy and sinful’, the same ‘excuse so many abusers of children AND adults use, like the Salesian who was interrupted while raping a boy and who responded; “Well, God made me this way”. Or like the abusers who sexually harm then go to confession, often to other clerical sex abusers, as ex-Fr Kevin Lee explained in a video shortly before he ‘died’ see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHVhYXLNvlw . No, Francis, words are cheap and will only have value when you deal seriously with the offenders you already know about, such as Punik, for one.
Sorry, typo – not Punik…Rupnik, but I suspect most would know who I meant. By the way, if anyone would like a copy of Kevin Lee’s book, “Unholy Silence: Covering up the sins of the fathers”, I’m pretty sure you can’t get it anymore since his death but I am happy to send anyone a copy.
Sorry, typo – not Punik…Rupnik, but I suspect most would know who I meant. By the way, if anyone would like a copy of Kevin Lee’s book, “Unholy Silence: Covering up the sins of the fathers”, I’m pretty sure you can’t get it anymore since his death but I am happy to send anyone a copy. Email me.
I wish there was an edit button here. I meant to include an article about Foucault, who it wouldn’t be beyond reasonable doubt, to think that Danneels and much of the modern Catholic Church would uphold as a guru of some sort: Read it and weep: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/4/16/reckoning-with-foucaults-sexual-abuse-of-boys-in-tunisia. Of course many scholars try to explain this away – they have to, he is one of the main foundational theorists for current thinking about sex and sexuality. For him to be a ‘true paedophile’ would shake their self-righteous certainties to the ground. Interesting that Foucoult was raised Catholic. So many of our revolutionaries were. One has to ask: was he ‘abused’? There is so, so much more to this issue, it’s not just about a mere sin of the flesh. For example, see http://www.awrsipe.com/click_and_learn/2008-10-preliminary_considerations.html.
Ive heard the rumors about Foucault but is there actually evidence?
Thank you.
Hmmm….
National Catholic Register had this: https://www.ncregister.com/news/abuse-commission-of-church-in-germany-defends-citing-michel-foucault
NCR’s article explained that Germany’s RCC abuse Commission cited Foucault (I don’t know in what way), in a report in January 2021. At the end of March 2021, an American writer alleged Foucault’ abuse of minors. Foucault died in 1984.
This is too big a can of worms for me to find any clarity in it—-the report by Gremany’s abuse commission was intended for the Synod. The darkness increases by the day!
Unknown to me until today in searching for Foucault and RCC, this site intrigued me: https://catholiccritique.com/2024/09/08/from-creation-and-family-to-the-petri-dish/
Thank you so much meiron, I’ll look at those links a little later.
Foucault’s not my hero but I have heard that the evidence for his misdeeds wasn’t clear.
I have a fantasy dream now and again, it comes from the alternative history genre. I imagine the power for good the Church would be if abuse in its ranks didn’t exist since all had taken their calling seriously! What a lovely vision!!!
Sexual abuse of whatever kind isn’t just a «Catholic» matter, although the secularists would have you believe that to be the case.
In a land whose law allows «euthanasia» for young children the shock and horror from Belgium rings like a cracked bell.
The Holy Father deserves praise for actually setting foot in the country.
My dear friend, I thank you sincerely for the warm, honest, and deeply heartfelt tone of your comment. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! Your humility is undoubtedly the result of a special grace.
Just this morning, I too received a “confession” from an elderly person about a tragic case of abuse by a laywoman, the head of a boarding school, and unfortunately, it wasn’t an isolated case.
I see a bright aspect in your spiritual life (“I haven’t completely given up”), and I am convinced that your prayer is a particularly precious good work.
Even though priests are endowed with a special holiness by virtue of the character imprinted on their souls on the day of their ordination, they are not immune to the temptations of the evil one. When Saint Thomas Aquinas asks why Jesus allowed Himself to be tempted, he replies that He did so “for our instruction: so that no one, no matter how holy, should believe they are secure or immune from temptation. And for this reason, He wanted to be tempted right after baptism: because, as He says to Saint Hilary, ‘the devil launches his attacks especially against the saints, for a victory over them is more coveted'” (In Mt 3).
That’s why the Holy Scriptures tell us: “My child, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation” (Sirach 2:1) (Summa Theologica, III, 41, 1).
Alexis Carrel, a Nobel Prize-winning doctor who converted to Christianity after witnessing a miraculous event at Lourdes, once said that “prayer is the most powerful form of energy we can generate.”
After yet another scandal involving priests—something you document in your comment in such a timely and painful way—may the Lord stir in you the desire to pray for them! It is the Lord who “works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
By responding to this call, it is as if you are opening the door to the Lord, who then enters your life once again. Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus was right when she said that one well-received grace is followed by many others.
There are many types of temptations that priests face. I will mention just one: the danger of becoming desensitized to what they do. Priests, accustomed to being in church and moving around the altar, can sometimes lose the sense of the greatness of their mission.
I am part of a Padre Pio prayer group, to whom I am devoted, and whose feast day we celebrated on September 23. Here are some of the instructions Padre Pio gave to one of his spiritual daughters: “Enter the church in silence and with great respect, considering yourself unworthy to appear before the Majesty of the Lord.”
Priests enter the church continuously for many reasons. The risk is that they may not even think about standing in the presence of the Majesty of the Lord.
Padre Pio also wrote to the same person: “When leaving the church, have a calm and collected demeanor: first, greet Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, ask Him for forgiveness for the failings committed in His divine presence, and do not leave Him until you have asked for His fatherly blessing.”
Entering and exiting continuously, a priest may be tempted to forget the profound significance of those moments both for himself and for the faithful entrusted to him. If a priest lives in this awareness, his life becomes a continuous blessing from the Lord for him and a blessing from him to his people.
In a letter sent to his spiritual director, Padre Pio wrote: “Pietrelcina, April 7, 1913. My dearest father, on Friday morning I was still in bed when Jesus appeared to me. He was all battered and disfigured. He showed me a great multitude of regular and secular priests, among whom were several ecclesiastical dignitaries. Some were celebrating, some were vesting, and some were unvesting from their sacred garments. The sight of Jesus in such agony caused me great sorrow, and I wanted to ask Him why He was suffering so much. I received no answer. Instead, His gaze turned toward those priests; but shortly afterward, almost horrified and as if tired of looking, He withdrew His gaze. When He raised His eyes back to me, with great horror, I noticed two tears running down His cheeks. He turned away from that crowd of priests with an expression of great disgust on His face, and shouted: ‘Butchers!’
And then, turning to me, He said: ‘My son, do not think that My agony lasted for three hours, no; I shall be in agony until the end of the world because of the souls I have benefitted most, and they repay me with ingratitude. During the time of My agony, My son, one must not sleep. My soul seeks some consolation from human pity, but alas, I am left alone under the weight of indifference. The ingratitude and slumber of My ministers make My agony even heavier. Oh, how poorly they respond to My love! What afflicts Me most is that they add their disdain and disbelief to their indifference. Many times I was ready to strike them down, but I was held back by the angels and by the souls who love Me. Write to your spiritual father and tell him what you have seen and heard from Me this morning. Ask him to show your letter to the Provincial Father.’”
This vision of Padre Pio is truly dramatic and gives much to reflect on. Let us continue—or begin—to pray fervently for priests so that they may be fully aware of their vocation and of the holy realities they are ministers of.
In proportion to our prayers, the Lord will bless us more and more. I thank you deeply because I know you will include me—a poor sinner—in your prayers. I wish you all the best!
Thank you Paolo. I appreciate your response.