Feature Writer: Unknown

Feature Title: Sex crimes and the Vatican

Link: Cannot find the original link; but here’s one to the BBC video

Sex crimes and the Vatican

Documentary of investigation into allegations that a secret church directive, issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became Pope Benedict XVI, is being used to silence the victims of child sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests. Colm O’Gorman, who was raped as a 14-year-old boy by his local parish priest in Ireland, travels to America, Brazil and the Vatican City to uncover more.

Take this in account with the Conspiracy of Silence and you see a pattern of child abuse and ritual sex with children seen in Satanism found in both political and religious structures and covered up for them. It is quite scary to see what people can get away with. These videos are regarding instances where people are caught, what about all the rest and the boys talked about parties of these abuses showing a much larger issue at play here. It is a glimpse of the darkness for which God’s wrath is coming on these evil men.

I would also like to point out that since the perception in many non-believers minds that the Roman Catholic Church represents Christianity, this information will probably be used against believers. Keep in mind that our foundation is the Bible and not the teachings of men. Read the Word of God and live by the Word of God.

Runaway priests: hiding in plain sight

From Africa to Latin America to Europe to Asia, these priests have started new lives in unsuspecting communities, often with the help of church officials. They are leading parishes, teaching and continuing to work in settings that bring them into contact with children, despite church claims to the contrary. The global movement has gone largely unnoticed—even after an abuse scandal swept the US Catholic Church in 2002, forcing bishops to adopt a—zero tolerance—policy and drawing international attention. Starting this week and continuing in coming months, we report the results of a yearlong investigation that reaches all six occupied continents.

Key findings include: Nearly half of the more than two hundred cases we identified involve clergy who tried to elude law enforcement. About thirty remain free in one country while facing ongoing criminal inquiries, arrest warrants or convictions in another. Most runaway priests remain in the church, the world’s largest organization, so they should be easier to locate than other fugitives.

Instead, Catholic leaders have used international transfers to thwart justice, a practice that poses far greater challenges to law enforcement than the domestic moves exposed in the 2002 scandal. Police and prosecutors, however, often fail to take basic steps to catch fugitive priests. Church discipline, such as the U.S. bishops’ new policy, doesn’t keep all offenders out of ministry. Dozens of priests who are no longer eligible to work in this country have found sanctuary abroad.

Sex crimes and the Vatican BBC One (September 29, 2006)

A secret document which sets out a procedure for dealing with child sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church is examined by Panorama. Crimen Sollicitationis was enforced for 20 years by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became the Pope. It instructs bishops on how to deal with allegations of child abuse against priests and has been seen by few outsiders. Critics say the document has been used to evade prosecution for sex crimes.

Crimen Sollicitationis was written in 1962 in Latin and given to Catholic bishops worldwide who are ordered to keep it locked away in the church safe. It instructs them how to deal with priests who solicit sex from the confessional. It also deals with “any obscene external act … with youths of either sex.”

It imposes an oath of secrecy on the child victim, the priest dealing with the allegation and any witnesses. Breaking that oath means excommunication from the Catholic Church. Reporting for Panorama, Colm O’Gorman finds seven priests with child abuse allegations made against them living in and around the Vatican City. One of the priests, Father Joseph Henn, has been indicted on 13 molestation charges brought by a grand jury in the United States.

During filming for Sex Crimes and the Vatican, Colm finds Father Henn is fighting extradition orders from inside the headquarters of this religious order in the Vatican. The Vatican has not compelled him to return to America to face the charges against him. After filming, Father Henn lost his fight against extradition but fled the headquarters and is believed to be hiding in Italy while there is an international warrant for his arrest.

Colm O’Gorman was raped by a Catholic priest in the diocese of Ferns in County Wexford in Ireland when he was 14 years old. Father Fortune was charged with 66 counts of sexual, indecent assault and another serious sexual offence relating to eight boys but he committed suicide on the eve of his trial. Colm started an investigation with the BBC in March 2002 which led to the resignation of Dr Brendan Comiskey, the bishop leading the Ferns Diocese.

Colm then pushed for a government inquiry which led to the Ferns Report. It was published in October 2005 and found: “A culture of secrecy and fear of scandal that led bishops to place the interests of the Catholic Church ahead of the safety of children.”

The Catholic Church has fifty million children in its worldwide congregation and no universal child protection policy although in the UK there is the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children & Vulnerable Adults. In some countries this means that the Crimen Sollicitationis is the only policy followed. The Vatican has refused repeated requests from Panorama to respond to any of the cases shown in the film.