D.B. Cooper
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The Vatican announced today that Pope Francis died at 88. I'm not big on religion but give him credit for going after pedofile priests during his tenure.
Pope Francis dead at 88
- Thread starter D.B. Cooper
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Did he?
Ries
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I am 3 rd generation non religious, but he seemed like his heart was in the right place to me.
He frequently bought helados for poor people, and we shared a love of Renault 4 autos.
Plus I rode on his ferry many times and the bathroom was always clean.
theworld.org
He frequently bought helados for poor people, and we shared a love of Renault 4 autos.
Plus I rode on his ferry many times and the bathroom was always clean.
Pope Francis drives himself around the Vatican in a used Renault 4 - The World from PRX
An Italian priest said he was surprised when Pope Francis accepted his gift of a used Renault 4 to drive himself around the Vatican.
theworld.org
Good man, Bergoglio, a Jesuit whose ministry was the poor. When he became head of the Argentina Catholic church, he chose to remain in his humble apartment in, I think, Flores.
Just one example of his guts and commitment: During the dictatorship 1976-83, those found in possession of progressive or anti-government literature were often “disappeared”, so Bergoglio allowed dissidents to stash their books in his apt - my late brother-in-law being one who took his mother’s books and those of other founding members of the Madres de Plaza Mayo to his place.
Just one example of his guts and commitment: During the dictatorship 1976-83, those found in possession of progressive or anti-government literature were often “disappeared”, so Bergoglio allowed dissidents to stash their books in his apt - my late brother-in-law being one who took his mother’s books and those of other founding members of the Madres de Plaza Mayo to his place.
Jerry Nelson
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A little research goes a long way:
Pope Francis has taken several significant actions to address pedophilia within the Catholic Church, though his legacy on the issue is seen as incomplete by some observers.
Key actions by Pope Francis include:
- Abolishing pontifical secrecy: In 2019, Pope Francis abolished the highest level of secrecy that had been used to protect pedophiles within the Church. This change allows greater transparency and access to information for victims and law enforcement, facilitating better cooperation with civil authorities and reducing the Church's ability to shield abusers27.
- Raising the age threshold for child pornography: He increased the age for what constitutes child pornography from 14 to 18 years, strengthening protections against sexual exploitation of minors through any means or technology2.
- Promoting justice for abusers: Pope Francis has called for abusers, including priests and bishops, to be judged and not protected by Church authorities. He emphasized that evil must be brought into the open and that victims’ courage in speaking out should be praised4.
- Establishing and supporting commissions: He created the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors to advise on best practices for preventing abuse, though this commission has faced internal challenges and resignations due to resistance within the Vatican bureaucracy57.
- Advocating pastoral care alongside punishment: Francis has spoken about the complex need to both punish abusers and offer them pastoral care, describing abusive priests as "children of God" who must be condemned but also loved, reflecting a difficult balance in his approach5.
- Public condemnation and awareness: He has described child abuse as a form of "psychological murder" and urged society, including families and institutions, to work actively to eradicate the culture of abuse and exploitation6.
In summary, Pope Francis has enacted historic reforms aimed at transparency, justice, and prevention of clerical sexual abuse, but the complexity and scale of the crisis mean his legacy on pedophilia in the Church remains a work in progress12457.
Citations:
- https://www.lemonde.fr/en/obituarie...n-the-church-feels-incomplete_6740474_15.html
- https://www.npr.org/2019/12/17/789036893/pope-changes-canon-law-surrounding-sex-abuse-cases
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases
- https://www.politico.eu/article/pope-francis-belgium-tour-pedophile-priests-catholic-church/
- https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...le-priests-children-god-vatican-b2336786.html
- https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/...ciation-audience-child-abuse-pornography.html
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44209971
- https://www.newsweek.com/did-pope-f...letter-reveals-pope-knew-about-heinous-799770
While I loathe the Catholic Church for basically being the antichrist as an institution (what else would you call a supposed church that encouraged, blessed, enabled, financed, profited from, and covered up xenophobia, genocide, rape, pedophilia, slavery, all of the seven deadly sins, etc. while claiming to do so in Christ's name) I do think his heart was in the right place.
Whether such an institution can be reformed, let alone redeemed, is up to God himself, but I now worry that the reactionary wing of the Church will take the helm given how much they hated Francis personally, and Liberation Theology more broadly.
Whether such an institution can be reformed, let alone redeemed, is up to God himself, but I now worry that the reactionary wing of the Church will take the helm given how much they hated Francis personally, and Liberation Theology more broadly.
MilHojas
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Why did Pope Francis never return to Argentina during his papacy?
Pope Francis was a source of pride for Argentina - but his failure to visit was a disappointment for many.
www.bbc.com
Pope Francis’s Tangled Relationship with Argentina
Amid the extreme political polarization in his home country, the Pope found himself at odds with nearly every President.
I have followed this closely since Francis became Pope. He did very little to deal with the issue of sexual abuse. Below is a quote from the Wall Street Journal:
“However, no controversy during his reign rivaled the impact of the scandals over the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Francis hardly mentioned the topic in the first year of his papacy. When he did set up an advisory body on child protection that included former victims of abuse, he didn’t act on any of its principal recommendations, including creating a special tribunal to judge bishops who abused or covered up abuse.
Bishops in the U.S. and a handful of other countries urged him to adopt their practice of permanently barring abusers from serving as priests across the whole church. Instead, he established a board that reduced the sentences of a large minority of abusers to periods as short as three years, reversing the policy of the previous pope.
Francis angered sex-abuse victims again in 2018 by repeatedly saying a Chilean bishop accused of covering up abuse was a victim of slander. He later said he had been misinformed and accepted the resignations of several Chilean bishops implicated in abuse scandals.
Later the same year, a former Vatican envoy to the U.S. accused the pope of ignoring allegations of sexual misconduct against then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., and making him an adviser.
Francis waited until the following spring to deny the accusations, by which time a Vatican court had found McCarrick, who has denied wrongdoing, guilty of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with adults. He was the first cardinal in modern times to be removed from the priesthood.”
