Peter
The publication of In the Closet of the Vatican by the French gay polemicist Frédéric Martel has been meticulously timed to coincide with Pope Francis’s ‘global summit’ of bishops to discuss the sexual abuse of minors. The book appeared in eight languages on Thursday morning, just as the gathering began. It is being hyped as a ‘bombshell’ … Read more
The New York Times has spent this past week in a less than subtle attack on clerical celibacy, insinuating it as the cause of the current crisis in the Church. On the eve of the Vatican summit on The Protection of Minors in the Church, the Times, in a panic that homosexuality will be blamed … Read more
In its recent Sunday edition, America’s newspaper of record ran a front-page article on the challenges facing gay Catholic priests titled “A Silent Crisis for Gay Priests.” It is the most recent specimen of the journalistic genre of suffering-gay-Catholic-priests-in-an-unwelcoming-Church. The narrative is well-known by now: a Church which fails to welcome gay priests, whose leaders … Read more
There is no greater pain than shame. I know. When I was a child, I was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Trauma is the devil. It stays in the core of your being. My tears waited nearly a half-century to stream from my eyes. Many victims go to their graves never revealing what they … Read more
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has written an open message to Pope Francis and presidents of episcopal conferences around the world, who are gathered in Rome for the opening of a Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse. Here below is the full text of Archbishop Viganò’s message, issued on the liturgical memorial of St. Peter Damien. *** We cannot avoid seeing as … Read more
This is the first in a series on the roots of the priestly abuse scandal. I know, a sad and depressing topic. But we have to “go there” if we want to “get there.” Father Paul Sullins, PhD, author and professor emeritus of sociology at the Catholic University of America, has done us all a … Read more
Many people – even many Catholics – who only follow Church matters vaguely, have been puzzled by the Vatican’s conspicuous lack of a sense of urgency about the sexual abuse crisis. Yes, there’s a “summit” on abuse that starts today, but only after months and with a program that looks very carefully stage-managed to keep … Read more
When investigators swept in and raided the religious Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf, they uncovered one of the worst cases yet among the global abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church: a place of silent torment where prosecutors say pedophiles preyed on the most isolated and submissive children. The scope of the alleged abuse was … Read more
Those who spend their lives accusing the Church are the “friends, cousins and relatives of the devil,” Pope Francis said on Wednesday, on the eve of the Vatican clergy sex abuse summit. The statement comes as the world’s media is focussed on the Vatican as it tackles accusations of clergy sexual abuse, silence and coverup. In an … Read more
Cardinal Raymond Burke thinks the controversial statement in a joint Catholic-Muslim declaration signed by Pope Francis in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, which says that God wills a diversity of religions, is wrong and should be removed. The statement “has to be removed from this accord because it’s not correct,” Burke said. The prefect emeritus … Read more