Roland, you have not put on your Papal hat. You are thinking like a good moral person but not like the Pope in these circumstances. Never mind that this Pope (or any Pope) does not want to be remembered as the Pope who presided over the Church's bankruptcy and his self-interest in not wanting to be part of that outcome. Never mind too that he might be upset his Papacy is consumed by this issue - the rape of children by male clergy, none of which was his doing. He is Pope for all the "flock" of 1.2 billion.
Think like a Pope. You want to do the right thing, but you do not want 1.2 billion people to pay for the sins of a few, especially due to USA courts where the financial judgments can bankrupt your church. You know that if bankruptcy occurs, you need to sell your Catholic schools and hospitals who millions around the world depend on (even the anti-Catholic brigade hypocritically use Catholic schools and hospitals). You also have to sell parishes too, to pay the sex abuse claims. On the one hand, you want the animals who committed these crimes (and those who covered for them) to pay the price and give financial restitution to the innocent victims. On the other hand you do not want an entire institution to pay the price for less than 2% of priests who are guilty. And you realize there are powerful forces who want to end religion and will use any issue (in this case the rape of children) towards their goals, some of whom could not care less about the rape of children but are committed to their anti-religion agenda. Keep thinking ... and while you are at it, a bonus - put on your Theresa May Brexit hat and figure out a solution. So many think the answers are easy. George On Monday, February 18, 2019, 5:01:31 AM PST, <roland.fran...@gmail.com> wrote: George, you threw the gauntlet to readers and so I dare to reply. As Apostle of Christ and the voice of the abused children whose lives were shattered and many of them ended prematurely, how about doing the only thing really open to you. Make a full admission of guilt no matter the consequences financial and otherwise. If the Church goes bankrupt because the Big Guy allowed it to happen, then it was not worth saving anyway. Wasn’t it the Lord and Master himself who taught us Love and Truth above all things and in Mathew 18:6 is believed to have said: “If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” George Pinto wrote: “The other side of that coin, is the Vatican knows any admission of legal guilt is grounds for the many legal cases filed in the USA to end in huge monetary judgments which will bankrupt the Church. The Pope knows that and that is why every response he gives in this matter is careful about admitting moral guilt but not legal guilt. There is NO ONE on this planet who can thread the fine line the Pope has to take if he wants to avoid bankrupting the Catholic Church especially through USA courts (put yourself in the Pope's shoes and see what great solution you can come up with given your Papal responsibility)”. Roland. Toronto
