SPOTLiGHT movie is HALF-TRUTH deceits by VATICAN MOST EVIL POWER on earth. VA’s worst crimes are SECRET Vatican Swiss Banks that HOARD plutocrats’ WEALTH= VA perpetuates poor nations. VATICAN OWNS/CONTROLS SWITZERLAND via SWISS GUARD ARMY. UN must end Switzerland as “neutral” country.ABOLISH ALL VATICAN CONCORDATS. UNITED NATIONS must END VATICAN as a“COUNTRY”. POPES+PRIESTS have NO WOMBS = CANNOT PRODUCE BABIES or BODIES tiny FLESH of Christ in EUCHARIST HOAX+Satanic Mass. VOTE BERNIE SANDERS
As long as John Paul II is a "Blessed" and Cardinal Ratzinger is not tried at The Hague, there can never be "renewal or healing" from the JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army
Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva, read our related article John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-ii-patron-of-pederasts-and.html
See this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children from the Serpent but John Paul II gave countless thousands of little boys to the Serpent of Sodomy to be sodomized and raped by his John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army for over 26 years during his glorious papacy as John Paul II the Great
The Danish cartoonist of the prophet Mohammed portrayed John Paul II as the Pope of Pedophilia with the inscription "I am not for homosexuality but for pedophilia".
In this Danish cartoonist image, John Paul II is the Sun as the Infallible most powerful Pope of the Catholics with seven rays of the 7 Sacraments, he is in his white papal uniform and his two papal hands pulls up the children"s robes because he enabled and allowed thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests to go on freely sodomizing and raping little boys (and girls) during his longest reigning papacy of 26 years, together with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger his right-hand man. See more on the Danish cartoonist describing about John Paul II on Danish radio http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html.
Saint Michael the Archangel tied a giant millstone to John Paul II's neck at the last World Youth Day speech of JP2 -- Read John Paul II the Pope of Sodomy: Vision of St. Michael the Archangel tying a giant millstone to John Paul II at World Youth Day in 2002 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/08/john-paul-ii-pope-of-sodomy.html
John Paul II in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Rome
The original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico revered by beloved companions John Paul II and Fr. Marcial Maciel who built the Legion of Christ Guadalupe Basilica in Rome where is now buried see http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html
The Hague: Full text Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church http:///
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Opening of the Centre for Child Protection
ROME/GERMANY
Pontifical Gregorian University Centre for Child Protection
A consortium has been formed between the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (Prof. Dr. Pater Hans Zollner SJ), the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising (Monsignore Klaus Peter Franzl) and the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the University Clinic of Ulm (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. med. Jörg Fegert). The Centre for Child Protection is to be established for three years (January 1st, 2012 through December 31st, 2014) by the Institute of Psychology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome) under the sponsorship of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and in cooperation with the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic of Ulm based in Munich. The goal is to develop and implement an E-Learning programme totalling 30 hours in four languages (English, German, Italian and Spanish). This programme will draw on a related public-sponsored programme for educational and health care professionals in Germany (Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)), but will incorporate an emphasis on the cultural and theological diversity of the Catholic Church. The project is directed by a Steering Committee while the content development is supported by a Scientific Advisory Board.
The Pontifical Gregorian University will supervise this project and appoints as director of the Centre Prof. inv. Dr. Hubert Liebhardt – educational scientist, deacon and research-group leader at the University Clinic of Ulm. His scientific working group comprises various professions (educational sciences, psychology, psychotherapy, theology).
===
Vatican abuse summit: Web-based 'Center for Child Protection' launched
ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 09, 2012 NCR Today
ROME -- As the final act of a four-day Vatican summit on the sexual abuse crisis, a new internet-based “Center for Child Protection” was unveiled this afternoon in Rome, designed to educate priests, deacons, and other church personnel in fighting child abuse.
According to German Deacon Hubert Liebhardt, an educational scientist who serves as director of the new center, its aim is “to promote a culture of vigilance in Catholic environments.”
With a budget of $1.6 million over its first three years, the center will provide on-line training and certification programs in German, English, Italian and Spanish. It’s a joint project of the Jesuit-run Gregorian University in Rome, the Munich archdiocese, and the University of Ulm in Germany.
At the Eucharistic Congress in Ireland, the Pope's representative works as a wizard to reincarnate the flesh of Christ and heal victims of the JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army - the most heinous crimes against children in Christendom under the longest papacy opf 27 eyars of John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger who were the pair ofhands that steered the morally-sinking Vatican Titanic Ship. The worst lie after the Eucharist is the Opus Dei Golden Cow Saint John Paul II of the 20th and 21st century
IRELAND Irish Independent
Editorial
Thursday June 14 2012
Yesterday's meeting between the papal legate Cardinal Marc Ouellet and victims of clerical sex abuse was a welcome but insufficient gesture of contrition on the part of the papacy. During a visit to Lough Derg, Cardinal Ouellet stated that Pope Benedict XVI had asked him to come to the pilgrimage site to ask God's forgiveness for the abuse of children by priests and religious.
"I have come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness, from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics", Cardinal Ouellet said in his homily.
He went on to say that: "In the name of the church, I apologise once again to the victims, some of whom I have met here in Lough Derg."
While we welcome Cardinal Ouellet's visit to Lough Derg and his apology, the church still hasn't gone far enough. In order to begin to undo the damage caused by clerical child sex abuse, it is the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, who must apologise.
IRELAND CNBC
DUBLIN (Reuters) - An envoy for Pope Benedict has apologized in person to child victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, a gesture that highlights the Vatican's concerns over its deteriorating status in Ireland.
Senior Vatican Cardinal Marc Ouellet travelled to the island of Lough Derg, in a remote corner of Ireland, on Tuesday to speak with victims in a meeting which lasted two hours.
The Church in predominantly Catholic Ireland has been rocked by a series of cases of child sex abuse stretching back decades and by church leaders' complicity in covering them up.
Ireland announced last year it would close its embassy to the Vatican, one of the Catholic country's oldest missions, after relations hit an all-time low over the Church's handling of the sex abuse cases.
IRELAND The Irish Times
CHARLIE TAYLOR
Papal legate Cardinal Marc Ouellet has asked for forgiveness from victims of clerical child abuse during his visit to Co Donegal.
The papal legate, who is representing Pope Benedict XVI at this week's International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, met victims of abuse yesterday while on a pilgrimage to Lough Derg.
The meeting lasted two hours, during which survivors spoke of his or her own personal experience of abuse and its impact on their lives.
After the meeting, the former archbishop of Quebec celebrated Mass in St Patrick’s Basilica on the island with about 100 pilgrims.
IRELAND The Irish Times
Homily of Cardinal Marc Ouellet at Lough Derg
Dear brothers and sisters,
Pope Benedict XVI asked me, as His Legate to the 50th International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, that I would come to Lough Derg and ask God’s forgiveness for the times clerics have sexually abused children not only in Ireland but anywhere in the Church.
Lough Derg in Ireland is the symbol of conversion, penance and spiritual renewal. Many people come here to pray, to fast and to apologise for their sins. According to a long tradition, they follow the steps of Saint Patrick who evangelized the country in the fifth century.
I come here with the specific intention of seeking forgiveness, from God and from the victims, for the grave sin of sexual abuse of children by clerics. We have learned over the last decades how much harm and despair such abuse has caused to thousands of victims. We learned too that the response of some Church authorities to these crimes was often inadequate and inefficient in stopping the crimes, in spite of clear indications in the code of Canon Law.
Updated February 26, 2012. Rudolph Henrich & list of 118 accused clerics in Minnesota prove that Gregorian Jesuit janitors of Opus Dei are mere PR stunts by the Vatican Titanic sinking ship that has hit so many icebergs built by the JP2 Army or B16 Army Benedict XVI & John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army. The UN must end the Vatican as a country. And kudos to Ireland that has finally shut down its embassy in Rome paving other nations to easily do the same and save some money for their country's needs instead of feeding the fat Golden Cow of the Opus Dei, read our related article Ireland appoints new ambassador to the Holy See...to do what exactly...with a few hundred GAY homosexual residents of the smallest country, Vatican? http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/12/ireland-appoints-new-ambassador-to-holy.html
Updated February 9, 2012
The 3rd coincidence that is happening with this Opus Dei's Jesuit Janitors at the Gregorian University Conference in Rome is the 540 victims lawsuits in Milwaukee and Archbishop Listecki is waging the most aggressive legal campaign against victims in USA and is seeking to bar all 540 victims from federal court...so much for the hypocrisy of those 200 (like Queen of Sheba) attendees "Towards Healing and Renewal" in Rome. Read news update below.
The problem with this Opus Dei directed conference is that it is all founded in the sand of lies, lies, lies beginning with citations from John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger who are both the worst criminal-popes against children in the history of Christendom.
As long as Cardinal Bernard Law is a Cardinal and John Paul II is on his way to being a saint, and Cardinal Ratzinger is not tried at The Hague,the whole Catholic Church and the Vatican are a sham and the Vatican Bank is only there to hoard despots' ill-gotten wealth and therefore they perpetuate the rapes of thousands of women - which they could not care less because they also allowed the rapes of hundreds of thousands of children in church rectories - and child soldiers and the oppression of poor countries. That is why Cardinal Ratzinger silenced Liberation Theology because it would awaken the poor of South America of their birthright in Jesus Christ who came to liberate them...read more on Jon Sobrino here Benedict XVI the Rich Man and Jesuit Jon Sobrino the Lazarus http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html
February 8, 2012
There are two coincidences (God-incidence) -- during the Jesuit Gregorian University International Conference to try to patch the child sexual abuse iceberg that has hit the Vatican Titanic Ship and the infestation of the JP2 Army-John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army a.k.a. B16 Army within the Catholic Church –- that prove that pedophile priests are free to roam as sexual predators to more boys, and their complicit Bishops and Cardinals are scot-free criminals, read our related article Sins and crimes are not synonymous. Sinners and criminals are not one and the same, read our full article http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/05/sins-and-crimes-are-not-synonymous.html and Penance is not justice; penitence is inequality to the lifetime suffering of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/04/penance-is-not-justice-penitence-is.html
Those numbers may sound impressive but deceitful - 200 people including bishops, leaders of religious orders, victims of abuse and psychologists - so what, they are all mere handpicked Opus Dei janitors who are there to clean-up the JP2 pedophile mess John Paul II left behind and to try salvage the absolute monarchy of Benedict XVI and make his crimes against humanity forgotten like Catholic Church incense, read our related article The Roman Catholic Church is no longer « Holy ». All Catholic churches, sacristies, rectories are not «holy» but potential priestly pedophile places http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/07/roman-catholic-church-is-no-longer-holy.html and Theology and John Paul II are heartless and together they made the immoral Fr. Marcial Maciel thrive http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/05/theology-and-john-paul-ii-are-heartless.html
Cardinal Levada is one of the worst Vatican Pied Pipers (see news below) because he recalled how Blessed John Paul II's Motu Proprio "Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela" clarified and updated the list of canonical crimes, explicitly including the sexual abuse of minors by clerics as one of the most serious crimes, or "graviora delicta". The fact is John Paul II NEVER preached to the World Youth Day when he knew full well that priest pedophilia was erupting in Boston in his last WYD in North America and he went on to live for 3 more years and he did NOTHING to stop pedophile priests. That is all empty theology and papal writings that Cardinal Levada is citing, read our related article John Paul smelled Devil`s Bowels as roses for 27 years as he deified Father Marcial Maciel and deified Cardinal Bernard Law http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-smelled-devils-bowels-as.html.
Cardinal Levada went on with his spectacle Pied Piper speech that Benedict XVI, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "was instrumental in implementing these new norms" and supported "approving the Essential Norms for the United States". In 2010 Pope Benedict also approved and ordered the promulgation of stricter revised norms. The fact is Cardinal Ratzinger and John Paul II were both the pair of hands that ruled the Vatican and the Catholic Kingdom for more than a quarter of a century and they both condonned and covered-up the JP2 Army of Pedophile Priests named aptly after both of them, read about the most notorious here http://jp2army.blogspot.com/
Will Cardinal Levada please explain why Benedict XVI refuse to meet with Italian victims of pedophile priests who walked across Italy to meet with him at the Vatican doorsteps, read more here http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/
Cardinal Levada is only playing dramatics with his accouncement that "Priests in 4,000 sex assaults" and yet the brutal fact is, the Vatican did nothing about them because John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger wanted these pedophile priests as perpetual sorcerers of Christ's flesh, read our related article Heil Satanas JP2 Patron Saint of Pedophiles, Pederasts Rapists-Priests! John Paul II is the same yesterday and today-- he cannot protect children http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/heil-satanas-jp2-patron-saint-of.html
2 coincidences
The first coincidence that prove this Gregorian Conference is all PR campaign and the attendees are by handpicked only by Opus Dei is that all the readings in the Liturgy are all about King Solomon, the purportedly wisest king in the Catholic Kingdom and yet the most polygamist man that has fooled the planet with his Temple of Solomon which Jesus cursed to its last pillar. At least the columns of the pagain Parthenon are all still standing. We post here the full reading of today because those who are attending the Gregorian Conference have come from all over the world - just like Queen of Sheba and like her, they are mersmerized by King Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican Palace and that includes one of the speakers who was a raped vicitm of a priest who is praising Benedict to the highest heaven, see news below with her Vatican Pied Pipers words “Listening to victims is one of the most important things, and it was something that was maybe not done enough, and the Pope is giving an example as to how it should be done,” Marie Collins said Feb. 7. - cited by Vatican Pied Piper media Catholic news Agency. Obviously she is not aware that Benedict XVI refused to meet and lsiten to Italian priests-raped victims, we invite ehr to read about them here http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/ . For a priest-rape-victim to praise Benedict XVI proves she was well prepared on what to say by Opus Dei, read our related article John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-john-paul-ii-is-opus-deis-patron.html
The second coincidence is the interview of Cardinal Egan of New York wherein he just withdrew his apology for the Catholic Sex-Abuse Scandal he made in 2002, 10 years ago, which illustrate and prove the callous heart and immoral conscience of Cardinals especialy Cardinal Ratzinger, read news below
Benedict XVI as absolute monarch
In ancient times, the king was the law of the land, his every whim and words were laws, whether he was a murderer or an adulterer he was right - all by the merit of his position. The Catholics and the Jesuits treat the Pope as an absolute monarch. Therefore, Pope Benedict XVI is right despite his crimes against humanity pending at The Hague, read our related article John Allen promotes monarchy of Catholicism. As Vatican Pied Piper he announces ‘Meet the new Crown Prince of Catholicism’ http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/john-allen-promotes-monarchy-of.html and Benedict XVI must first be tried at The Hague and face true justice, or else, Gregorian Conference is only a PR campaign and more Vatican deceptions http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2012/02/benedict-xvi-must-first-be-tried-at.html
There is of course the endless articles by the best Vatican Pied Piper of them all, John L. Allen Jr. cooking up the Devil's Bowels to smell like roses for all 1.2 Catholics especially the English-speaking American who give the most money to the Vatican Mammon, read our related article http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2012/02/john-l-allen-jr-pied-piper-fooling.html
Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva, read our related article John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-ii-patron-of-pederasts-and.html
See this image of Our Lady of Guadalupe defending and protecting children from the Serpent but John Paul II gave countless thousands of little boys to the Serpent of Sodomy to be sodomized and raped by his John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army for over 26 years during his glorious papacy as John Paul II the Great
The Danish cartoonist of the prophet Mohammed portrayed John Paul II as the Pope of Pedophilia with the inscription "I am not for homosexuality but for pedophilia".
In this Danish cartoonist image, John Paul II is the Sun as the Infallible most powerful Pope of the Catholics with seven rays of the 7 Sacraments, he is in his white papal uniform and his two papal hands pulls up the children"s robes because he enabled and allowed thousands of pedophiles rapists-priests to go on freely sodomizing and raping little boys (and girls) during his longest reigning papacy of 26 years, together with Cardinal Josef Ratzinger his right-hand man. See more on the Danish cartoonist describing about John Paul II on Danish radio http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007/10/john-paul-ii-portrait-by-danish-artist.html.
Saint Michael the Archangel tied a giant millstone to John Paul II's neck at the last World Youth Day speech of JP2 -- Read John Paul II the Pope of Sodomy: Vision of St. Michael the Archangel tying a giant millstone to John Paul II at World Youth Day in 2002 http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2006/08/john-paul-ii-pope-of-sodomy.html
John Paul II in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Rome
The original image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico revered by beloved companions John Paul II and Fr. Marcial Maciel who built the Legion of Christ Guadalupe Basilica in Rome where is now buried see http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html
Readings on King Solomon. The Queen of Sheba is impressed with the wealth ang grandeur of the Kingdom of Solomon just like all these people attending the Gregorian Conference are awed by the grandeur of the Vatican and Opus Dei King Benedict XVI.
Reading 1, First Kings 10:1-10
1 The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame and came to test him with difficult questions.
2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels laden with spices and an immense quantity of gold and precious stones. Having reached Solomon, she discussed with him everything that she had in mind,
3 and Solomon had an answer for all her questions; not one of them was too obscure for the king to answer for her.
4 When the queen of Sheba saw how very wise Solomon was, the palace which he had built,
5 the food at his table, the accommodation for his officials, the organisation of his staff and the way they were dressed, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings which he presented in the Temple of Yahweh, it left her breathless,
6 and she said to the king, 'The report I heard in my own country about your wisdom in handling your affairs was true then!
7 Until I came and saw for myself, I did not believe the reports, but clearly I was told less than half: for wisdom and prosperity, you surpass what was reported to me.
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Cardinal Edward Egan Just Withdrew His Apology For The Catholic Sex-Abuse Scandal
UNITED STATES Business Insider
Michael Brendan Dougherty
St. John Chrysostom, once said "The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."
Here's proof that he was right.
In an interview this week with Connecticut Magazine, Cardinal Edward Egan, withdrew his 2002 apology for the Church's handling of the sex-abuse scandal, which was once read in all New York parishes.
A decade after that letter, the former archbishop of New York, and former bishop of Bridgeport, now describes the handling of the priest-abuse crisis under his watch as “incredibly good.” He said of the letter, "I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”
“I never had one of these sex abuse cases.” he said, before adding pompously, “If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I’d be happy to know who he is.” He also claimed that the Church had no obligation to report abuse to the civil authorities.
These are lies, strutting around with pride.
The Church is required to report abuse, according to laws on the books since the 1970s.
Bishop Egan ran a diocese that was notoriously dangerous for children. Contrary to his claim, during his twelve-year enthronement at Bridgeport, Egan repeatedly failed to investigate priests where there were obvious signs of abuse, according to The Hartford Courant. His diocese had to settle the cases and awarded victims some $12-15 million in damages.
Here is just one incredible case of negligence. According to the Hartford Courant, in 1990, Egan received a memo about "a developing pattern of accusations” that Rev. Charles Carr of Norwalk had fondled young boys. Egan kept Carr working for another five years, only suspending him after a lawsuit was filed, and then in 1999 making him a chaplain at Danbury's hospital.
How about another? The Connecticut Post also reported that early in his reign, dozens of people came forward to accuse Rev. Raymond Pcolka of Greenwich of sexual abuse and violence against children. Egan claimed that the accusers were never "proved" to be telling the truth. Well, Egan never even bothered to interview them and kept Pcolka in ministry.
And, speaking as a Catholic, who lived in the New York Archdiocese under Cardinal Egan's reign, I can say Egan did punish some priests. But not child-abusers. He swiftly punished and evicted those Catholic priests that said the Traditional Latin Mass (later liberalized by Pope Benedict XVI), if he thought they didn't pay him sufficient deference.
In short: Egan coddled child-abusers, and persecuted decent priests during his ignominious reign as a Prince of the Church. His entire interview reeks of a narcissism and self-regard that is so palpable it makes your eyes water.
Again, speaking as a Catholic, God is merciful with those who repent and do penance.
It is time for Egan to repent before his victims and before God.
Victims want NY & CT prelates to denounce colleague
CONNECTICUT/NEW YORK Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests
Posted by David Clohessy on February 07, 2012
In a new, rare and stunning interview, former NYC Archbishop Edward Egan made shocking statements about the church’s on-going clergy sex abuse and cover up crisis.
We urge US Catholic officials – especially in New York and Connecticut – to publicly rebuke Egan for these shockingly callous comments that will no doubt heap more pain onto millions of victims and Catholics who are still suffering because they have been assaulted by child molesting clerics or betrayed by corrupt church officials. We especially urge Egan’s successors, Archbishop Tim Dolan of New York and Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, to clearly denounce Egan. Ignoring callousness or mouthing vague platitudes aren’t enough. At an absolute bare minimum, Catholics need and deserve explicit, public and repeated condemnations of Egan by his brother bishops.
Among other things, Egan said: ■I don’t think we did anything wrong. ■I’m very proud of how this thing was handled. ■I believe the sex abuse thing was incredibly good. ■There really wasn’t much . . . hidden. ■I do think it’s time to get off this subject. ■I don’t think I should be upset about that, or you should be, or anybody else. ■I never had one of these sex abuse cases, either in Bridgeport or here (New York). And I believe that the cases I had were each handled just exactly as they should have been. ■I did exactly what we were told to do. And as a result, not one of them (the accused priests) did a thing out of line. ■I’m not the slightest bit surprised that, of course, the scandal was going to be fun in the news. ■If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I’d be happy to know who he is.
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Clergy must abide by child protection guides
ROME RTE News
The Vatican's chief prosecutor has said it is unacceptable for bishops or clergy not to abide by "set standards" on child protection within the church.
Monsignor Charles Scicluna said it was possible that clergy or bishops could face sanction under canon law if the non-application of set standards was a result of "malice or fraudulent negligence".
He added that disciplining bishops was a matter for Pope Benedict on a case-by-case basis.
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COOPERATION WITH THE AUTHORITIES IS VITAL IN THE STRUGGLE TO COMBAT SEXUAL ABUSE
ROME Vatican Information Service
Vatican City, 8 February 2012 (VIS) - Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, delivered a lecture before the international symposium "Towards Healing and Renewal" being held in Rome's Gregorian University from 6 to 9 February. The event brings together bishops and religious superiors from all over the world and aims to relaunch the Church's commitment to protecting minors and vulnerable people from abuse.
Speaking English, Cardinal Levada affirmed that for Church leaders the question under examination "is both delicate and urgent". It is "important not to lose sight of the gravity of these crimes" as we seek "to form the priests of today and tomorrow to be aware of this scourge and to eliminate it from the priesthood".
Cardinal Levada recalled how Blessed John Paul II's Motu Proprio "Sacramentorum sanctitatis tutela" clarified and updated the list of canonical crimes, explicitly including the sexual abuse of minors by clerics as one of the most serious crimes, or "graviora delicta". Benedict XVI, then prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "was instrumental in implementing these new norms" and supported "approving the Essential Norms for the United States". In 2010 Pope Benedict also approved and ordered the promulgation of stricter revised norms.
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Priests in 4,000 sex assaults
ROME The Sun (United Kingdom)
FROM Nick Pisa in Rome
MORE than 4,000 cases of Catholic priests sexually abusing children have been investigated in ten years.
A top churchman admitted it is a "dramatic increase" on the 3,000 in 50 years previously suspected.
Cardinal Joseph William Levada revealed at a Vatican conference the shocking extent of the worldwide scandal.
He told 100 international clergy that the Catholic church has an obligation to report paedophile priests to the authorities.
=== Abuse survivor praises Pope for listening to victims
ROME Catholic News Agency
By David Kerr
Rome, Italy, Feb 7, 2012 / 05:59 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- An Irish woman who was abused by a priest in her youth told an international symposium on clerical abuse that Pope Benedict is a model of how to listen to victims.
“Listening to victims is one of the most important things, and it was something that was maybe not done enough, and the Pope is giving an example as to how it should be done,” Marie Collins said Feb. 7.
Collins, 65, was abused while a patient in a Dublin children’s hospital. She told journalists at the “Towards Healing and Renewal” symposium at the Pontifical Gregorian University that she was particularly impressed by the Pope’s numerous meetings with victims during his apostolic visits abroad.
=== Vatican abuse summit: Reassessing the media's role
ROME National Catholic Reporter
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR. Rome
Throughout the arc of the sexual abuse crisis, Vatican officials have often complained about media sensationalism and bias. In 2002, Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos famously took a series of questions in English during a press conference, and then snarled that fact alone “already says something about the problem and gives it an outline.” As recently as 2010, Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the former Secretary of State, appeared to compare media criticism to “petty gossip.”
The tone out of this week’s abuse summit has been strikingly different. If not quite fulsome gratitude, speakers have at least offered an acknowledgment that whatever progress the church has made, has often come as a result of media pressure.
To be sure, those concessions have usually been coupled with insistence that church leaders should now get ahead of the curve, rather than waiting for yet another media firestorm. Moreover, trace elements of resentment over perceived media hostility haven’t been entirely absent.
Still, in comparison to Vatican attitudes on other occasions, one might almost say that the media’s role in the crisis is undergoing a rehabilitation.
Vatican abuse summit: Prosecutor decries ‘deadly culture of silence’ROME National Catholic Reporter
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR. Rome
The Vatican’s top prosecutor on sex abuse cases today bluntly decried “a deadly culture of silence” on clerical abuse, calling such denial “in itself wrong and unjust.”
Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna told participants in a Vatican summit on sex abuse that while the church now has clear laws to punish abusers, just having such laws on the books isn’t enough.
“Our people need to know that the law is being applied,” he said. “No strategy for the prevention of child abuse will ever work without commitment and accountability.”
Scicluna likewise reaffirmed the obligation of church leaders to cooperate with civil authorities, including reporting abuse allegations to police and prosecutors.
Vatican abuse summit: 'Bishops must be held accountable'
ROME National Catholic Reporter
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR. Rome
To all those critics who have clamored for greater accountability for bishops who drop the ball on sex abuse cases, the Vatican’s top prosecutor this morning had a simple message: You’re absolutely right.
“We need to be vigilant in choosing candidates for the important role of bishop, and we also need to use the tools that canonical law and tradition give us for the accountability of bishops,” said Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna.
As a case in point, Scicluna bluntly said it is simply “not acceptable” for bishops to ignore anti-abuse protocols established by the Vatican or by their bishops’ conference. He said the church in Ireland, to take one example, “has paid a very high price for the mistakes of some of its shepherds.”
Sciculuna was apparently referring to a damning government report in 2011 which found that in the Irish diocese of Clone, which founded that both civil laws and church procedures on handling sex abuse complaints were flouted as recently as 2009.
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Bishops seek forgiveness for clergy abuse
ROME Washington Post
By Alessandro Speciale| Religion News Service, Updated: Tuesday, February 7
VATICAN CITY — Bishops and religious leaders on Tuesday (Feb. 7) held an unprecedented service of repentance in Rome, seeking atonement for lapses in church management that led to the abuse of thousands of children by predatory priests.
“We implore forgiveness for those who have abused in various ways,” Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, said during the rite at the Church of St. Ignatius.
“This evil is within us and severely tarnishes our testimony,” he admitted, and said church leaders have at times “become an instrument of evil” toward those they were charged to protect.
The ceremony was organized as part of a Vatican-sponsored conference at Rome’s Gregorian University to help bishops meet a May deadline to craft voluntary “guidelines” to improve the church’s handling of abuse cases.
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SNAP President: New Vatican Guidelines Not Likely To Stop Priest Sex Abuse
CHICAGO (IL) WBBM
[with audio]
CHICAGO (CBS) — The worldwide priest sex abuse scandal is the focus of a gathering of hundreds of Catholic bishops and priests in Rome this week.
As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, more proposed guidelines to deal with priest predators, and to protect children, are to be submitted to Pope Benedict XVI in May. This week in Rome, those who will write those guidelines are hearing from experts and victims.
But Barbara Blaine, the Chicago-based president of the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests, is skeptical that there will be any real change. She calls this week’s symposium at the Vatican a PR maneuver.
“Unless and until they are willing to take concrete action that changes the way they do things, I suspect that children will continue to be raped and sexually violated by priests, and bishops will continue to cover up these crimes,” she said.
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News update for February 9, 2012
Justice for half century of clergy child sex crimes...
MILWAUKEE (WI) SNAP Wisconsin
Justice for half century of clergy child sex crimes and cover up may well be determined in Milwaukee bankruptcy court Thursday
Archbishop Listecki, waging the most aggressive legal campaign against victims in US, seeking to bar 540 victims from federal court
Victim claims to Judge Kelley likely detail thousands of individual felony sex crimes and dozens of previously unidentified clerical abusers
WHAT In Federal Bankruptcy Court on Thursday, February 9, Judge Susan V. Kelley will hear arguments from church lawyers who, at the instruction of Archbishop Jerome Listecki, will seek to dismiss the claims of nearly 540 victims of clergy sexual assault. These record number of claims for a single US court action concerning abusive clergy, likely detail thousands of individual acts of rape and sexual assault by dozens of clergy working or living in the Milwaukee Archdiocese and span several decades. Many of these offenders were routinely concealed or transferred by church officials, and were known to be a danger to children by several Milwaukee archbishops.
More detail on Thursday’s hearing and the motions, can be found in SNAP Milwaukee’s February 7th media advisory.
WHEN Thursday February 9th, the court hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. SNAP leaders and victim/survivors will be available for comment following the conclusion of the court proceedings.
WHERE The U.S. Federal Courthouse, 517 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee
Just because she is a former survivor of the rape of a priest does not make her a spokesperson for countless others who were brutally raped by priests for years. Marie Collins is speaking lies after lies when she praises John Paul II and Benedict XVI in her Opus Dei orchestrated speech and therefore she is denying true justice to the hundreds of thousands of victims of JP2 Pedophile Priests Army. Maybe she secretly finds it was a privilege to have had sex with a sorcerer of Christ’s flesh and blood since "she found a Tuesday night penitential Mass presided over by the prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouillet, “quite moving”. Read our related article OC Diocese buys Crystal Cathedral as flesh-factory of Christ... for wealthy God-flesh-eating Catholics http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/oc-diocese-buys-crystal-cathedral-as.html Really, a mass presided by a "Prince of the Church" what an Opus Dei pathetic mentality, read John Allen promotes monarchy of Catholicism. As Vatican Pied Piper he announces ‘Meet the new Crown Prince of Catholicism’ http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/john-allen-promotes-monarchy-of.html
Her words are all Opus Dei written: “It has been a huge changing point for me personally for how I feel about the church"...Monsignor Charles Scicluna put in place "about everything that we survivors have been asking for." Go to Hell, Marie Collins and dance with John Paul II who has the biggest millstone tied to his ugly papal neck at the World Youth Day in 2002 when St. Michael threw him into a raging sea of fire as WYD youth chanted "JP2, we love you", read Rosary could not defeat JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army in the 20th Century ... unlike the Battle of Lepanto in the 16th Century http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/10/rosary-could-not-defeat-jp2-army-john_06.html
In return for her Opus Dei testimony, (one Opus Dei member kissing another Opus Dei's ass) At a news conference yesterday Monsignor Scicluna said that the “extraordinary witness of Marie Collins” this week had underlined the need for full and total co-operation with civil authorities in fighting clerical sex abuse. Marie Collins then kisses Cardinal Levada's ass “Concerning co-operation with the civil authorities, I am on record and Cardinal Levada said it on Monday here and you have it in the circular letter sent to the conferences of bishops – namely we have a duty to co-operate with civil authorities in a common fight against crime. And when I say co-operation I mean full co-operation.” Nothing could be further from the truth, LIAR Monsignor Scicluna and LIAR Cardinal Levada and LIAR Marie Collins should read about what is going on in Milwaukee today as Archbishop Listecki is waging the most aggressive legal campaign against victims in USA and is seeking to bar 540 victims from federal court - so much for the hypocrisy of those Opus Dei Jesuit Janitors at the Gregorian University, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2012/02/gregorian-conference-prove-penance-isnt.html
Opus Dei controlled the 27 years papacy of John Paul II and is therefore the foremost guilty party who aided and abetted and covered-up the John Paul II Pedophiles Rapists-Priests Army. Opus Dei wrote most of John Paul II’s books and writings and to ensure their perpetuity as “All things Catholic”, they want JP2 to be beatified and canonized now by Benedict XVI so as not to take any chances on other future popes. The FACE of Opus Dei is John Paul II and the PHANTOM Spirit of Opus Dei is their founder St. Josemaria Escriva, read our related article John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-ii-patron-of-pederasts-and.html
Vatican event on sex abuse 'changing point' for survivor
ROME The Irish Times
PADDY AGNEW in Rome
IRISH CLERICAL sex abuse survivor Marie Collins yesterday suggested that her attendance of this week’s “Towards Healing And Renewal” conference at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome has represented a “huge changing point” for her.
Speaking on a day when the Holy See’s promoter of justice, Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna, made reference to the “deadly culture of silence or omertà” that has pervaded the Catholic Church’s reaction to the sex abuse crisis, Ms Collins said: “It has been a huge changing point for me personally for how I feel about the church. I came here quite suspicious, quite cynical, wondering if there was sincerity about this.
“I listened to Monsignor Scicluna this morning and I felt everything he said was very clear, very direct.
“Any bishop listening to him could not have been under any misapprehension about what he was saying about reporting, about putting in place guidelines, about secrecy, about everything that we survivors have been asking for.”
Ms Collins also said she found a Tuesday night penitential Mass, presided over by the prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouillet, “quite moving”. She said that the sight of senior church figures, including Irish Primate, Cardinal Sean Brady, “basically asking forgiveness for what the church has done in the past”, represented something that would not have happened even five years ago.
Asked about Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin who had not been invited to this week’s conference, she said: “He already gets it, he already knows how to do it and he is already doing what these bishops are being taught at this symposium.
“In a way I don’t think he needed to be here because he is already on the right track, I don’t think he had a lot to learn from coming to this ... maybe the bishops that are here are the ones that need to be here to learn. From that point of view, it is no snub to him that he is not here.”
At a news conference yesterday Monsignor Scicluna said that the “extraordinary witness of Marie Collins” this week had underlined the need for full and total co-operation with civil authorities in fighting clerical sex abuse, adding: “Concerning co-operation with the civil authorities, I am on record and Cardinal Levada said it on Monday here and you have it in the circular letter sent to the conferences of bishops – namely we have a duty to co-operate with civil authorities in a common fight against crime. And when I say co-operation I mean full co-operation.” ===
Benedict XVI must first be tried at the international court of The Hague for his crimes against humanity -- or else, the Jesuit Gregorian University's conference on child sexual abuse is all PR stunts by the Vatican Titanic Ship which is sinking in moral bankruptcy because as a country it violated the human rights of tens if not hundred of thousands of children in the latter half of the 20th century as Amnesty International announced, read our related article, Amnesty International Report Vatican “Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment” on tens of thousands of children sexually abused by priests in Ireland http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/amnesty-international-report-vatican.html
Lombardi as a loyal dog puppet of Benedict XVI announced today in his article "Credibility and transparency" that "...the Holy See and the Church...absolutely necessary to remain firm, and – drawing inspiration from the Pope’s following of the Gospel standards of truth and moral strength – to show a firm determination to continue to give a coherent witness to moral values. This is all hogwash because Pope Benedict XVI as Cardinal Ratzinger with John Paul II - for over a quarter of a century - ruled the Vatican as the pair of hands that condonned and covered-up thousands of pedophile priests with Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston as its poster boy and Fr. Marcial Maciel as its poster boy for serial pedophile priests, read more here 9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html
The only justice for all the tens of thousands of abused children is for The Hague to find Benedict XVI guilty and for the United Nations to withdraw the membership of the Vatican as a country because it is only one building for a group of homsexual GAY men made up of the Pope and Cardinals and a few Opus Dei controllers of the Vatican Bank and Vatican Swiss Banks that hoard despots' ill-gotten wealth and therefore perpetuate poor countries and the rape of thousands of women and the perpetuation of child soldiers, read more here Hague Is Asked to Investigate Vatican Over Child Abuse. Bravo to SNAP and the Center for Constitutional Rights!! Court Filing details http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/hague-is-asked-to-investigate-vatican.html
Lombardi is a pathological liar when he announced "drawing inspiration from the Pope’s following of the Gospel standards of truth" because Benedict XVI as the Holy Father never followed the Gospel's standards and he never even wanted to meet the victims of Italian pedophile priests who walked all the way across Italy to speak with him at the Vatican doorsteps, read more here Benedict refuses to meet Italian victims of JP2 Army John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/
We put in bold the Vetican deceptions of Jesuit Lombardi, the puppet spokeperson of Benedict XVI and the janitor of Opus Dei Joaquin Navarro-Valls who controlled all the media spectacles of John Paul II the Great and ignored and downplayed all victims of the JP2 Army - John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, read more of him in our related article, John Paul II, Patron of Pederasts and Opus Dei – analysis of Joaquin Navarro-Valls’ reasons for JP2 beatification at Opus Dei conference in Rome http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/04/john-paul-ii-patron-of-pederasts-and.html
The Vatican maybe the wealthiest country on the planet but it is the most evil and most corrupt. The Vatican is morally bankrupt and it has no moral voice left whatsoever and this Gregorian University Conference by those pedophile Jesuits are PR stunts to try to salvage the Vatican Titanic Ship that is quickly sinking before the eyes of the World. One of the most notorious Jesuit pedophile priest was the personal spiritual advisor of Mother Teresa, just to show that she too was callous hearted towards children and she was obssessed with those Pharisees Opus Dei and John Paul II the Great who hoarded her millions and deprived the poor of those donated money, read more here http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/07/mother-teresa-was-not-living-saint.html We will copy the full excerpt from this book soon.
Benedict XVI was welcomed as a head of state in Germany and Spain because those Presidents and Kings have vested interests and hidden wealth in Vatican Swiss Banks, read more here Benedict used Hitler as mask in German Parliament. Nazis and Vatican are a “band of robbers” http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/09/benedict-xvi-uses-hitler-to-divert.html Shortly after his German visit, the MSM revealed that the German Catholic Bishops Conference owned the pornographic distributor in Germany. Of course the German Parliament applauded Benedict XVI because his pornographic managers Bishops raked in billion of dollars into the German economy, read more here Catholic Church owns 100% German Porn Industry “Weltbild" since 30 years…so much for the Theology of the Body of Blessed John Paul II http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/catholic-church-owns-100-german-porn.html
The financial corruption at the Vatican is just beginning to be revealed like a scratch on the surface lately by Vigano, the Vatican Nuncio to Washington, read news below.
The Vatican has no Gospel values whatsoever as its deception strategy is to simply throw out any numbers that it has this deficit this year - here and there any number to deceive the Catholics and the world -but actually it has surplusses. And those Peter's Pence collections are not distributed to the poor but hoarded by the Opus Dei, read more here Vatican trail (theft) of Peter’s Pence Collection: “Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church” http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/06/vatican-trail-of-peters-pence.html
VATICAN CITY Vatican Radio http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=560476
Credibility and transparency
In these years of heated debate and strong criticism towards the Holy See and the Church, it is absolutely necessary to remain firm, and – drawing inspiration from the Pope’s following of the Gospel standards of truth and moral strength – to show a firm determination to continue to give a coherent witness to moral values. The matter is especially urgent in two fields that attract a great deal of public attention: the issue of the sexual abuse of children, and that of economic-financial transparency.
In the first sphere, the actions taken by the Pope, and the commitments developed in various local Churches that have been harshly tired by the scandal, have set in motion a series of initiatives: to listen to and help the victims of abuse, to examine the causes of abuse; and to raise awareness of, and work to prevent sexual abuse of children. By promoting these initiatives, it can be confidently said that we are heading in the right direction. The Conference being held this week at the Gregorian University of Rome – “Towards healing and renewal” – with the participation of over 100 episcopal conferences and 30 religious orders, and with the launch of an international centre that will continue its drive, is new proof of that. The Church intends to render justice to those harmed by abuse; to be itself renewed; and to be able to help a society and a world where sexual abuse is rampant, to effectively fight this scourge.
In the second sphere, the Holy See is working to insert its institutions into the international system of control over economic activity in the fight against money laundering, organised crime and terrorism. On several occasions the Vatican’s financial institutions, in particular the Institute for Works of Religion, have been accused unjustly: recently in the United States, a legal case against the Institute for Works of Religion—the third in three years—was dismissed due to its total groundlessness. And now, a series of new regulations will guarantee that activities carried out in the service of the Church are completely safe and transparent.
The road is a long and difficult one but the way is clear and the will to do what is right is assured. And the Church’s witness to the Gospel will greatly benefit from it.
Lombardi, the janitor and spokeperson of Benedict XVI and Jesuit dog puppet of Opus Dei to clean up the pedophilia mess John Paul II the Great left behind
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Vatican corruption news
Vatican officials contest corruption charges
VATICAN CITY Chicago Tribune
Philip Pullella Reuters http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-vatican-corruptiontre8130in-20120204,0,4474890.story
10:27 a.m. CST, February 4, 2012
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - In the latest twist of a messy internal conflict shaking the Vatican, four clerics in the office that manages the tiny city-state Saturday rejected charges of corruption, mismanagement and greed levelled by a former deputy governor.
The four said in a statement that charges made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, currently Pope Benedict's ambassador in Washington, were "either the fruit of erroneous evaluations or based on fears not backed up by proof."
Vigano was transferred to the United States against his will last year after he denounced what he saw as a web of corruption in the management of Vatican City, a 108-acre (44-hectare) sovereign city-state surrounded by Rome and where the pope rules as a monarch.
In letters to Pope Benedict and his number two, the secretary of state, Vigano complained about what he said was nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.
The letters, leaked to the media last month, read like a Renaissance drama of court intrigue, rivalry and petty bickering that has embarrassed the Vatican.
By issuing Saturday's statement, the Vatican again confirmed the authenticity of the letters, saying they had been "published without authorization" and had caused "great sadness" among past and present administrators.
As deputy governor of Vatican City from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the city-state's gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.
The statement was signed by Vigano's former boss, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, as well as the current governor and two other clerics in the department. All of them are Italian.
INFLATED PRICES
In their seven-point statement, the four attempted to dismantle one of Vigano's charges - that contracts for building and maintenance were awarded under an established system of cronyism at inflated prices to Italian companies with Vatican connections.
They said contracts for "significant" works, such as the current restoration of the colonnade in St. Peter's Square, were awarded by an ad hoc committee on the basis of bids, while smaller works were carried out by outside companies known to the Vatican and at prices applied in Italy.
Vigano, in one of his letters to the pope, said Vatican-employed maintenance workers were demoralized because "work was always given to the same companies at costs at least double compared to those charged outside the Vatican."
The statement, however, did not mention one of Vigano's most shocking accusations: That when he took the job he discovered that the cost of the Vatican's nativity scene in St. Peter's Square was an exorbitant 550,000 euros ($720,000)in 2009.
He chopped 200,000 euros off the cost for the following Christmas and, in the process, made enemies inside and outside the Vatican because of his insistence on transparency and cost-cutting.
The four officials also attempted to contest Vigano's implicit assertion that his strict style of management helped turn Vatican City's finances from a deficit to a surplus during his tenure.
They say the turnaround was mostly due to the management of investments and "excellent" results from the Vatican Museums.
Vigano has not made any public comment on the controversy but the unprecedented leaking of such high-level letters and the ensuing public spat among cardinals, bishops and monsignors has provoked much consternation in the Vatican.
In one letter, Vigano writes of a smear campaign against him by other Vatican officials who were upset that he had taken drastic steps to clean up the purchasing procedures.
In another, before he was transferred away from the Vatican,
he begged to be allowed to continue his crusade and denounced a "vulgar and insolent" cleric behind a plot to destroy him.
The four clerics said they had written the statement to contest the impression that Vatican City's administration was "an untrustworthy entity in the hands of dark forces."
(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
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Vatican Downplays Corruption Charges
VATICAN CITY America Magazine
From CNS, staff and other sources | FEBRUARY 13, 2012
F ederico Lombardi, S.J., director of the Vatican Press Office, criticized as “partisan...partial and banal” an Italian television news program that on Jan. 25 broadcast portions of letters addressed to Pope Benedict and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state. The letters were apparently signed by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, right, and written when he was the secretary general of the commission that governs Vatican City. One of the letters, dated April 4, 2011, said that when Archbishop Viganò took office almost two years earlier, he discovered “chaotic management” and overspending. The letter complained of a “media campaign” by opponents of his efforts at reform and implored the pope not to remove him from his job “even for promotion.” The pope named Archbishop Viganò nuncio to the United States in October 2011. Under his leadership a Vatican City budget deficit of nearly $9.8 million in 2009 turned into a surplus of $28 million in 2010.
Vigano
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Vatican infighting on alleged corruption now out in Italian media
VATICAN CITY GMA News
Agence France Presse February 4, 2012
VATICAN CITY - The Vatican on Saturday fiercely refuted claims by one of its top officials of widespread corruption and waste in the management of the Holy See, rejecting the accusations as utterly groundless.
"The claims are the fruit of erroneous judgements, or based on groundless fears, openly contradicted by those called as witnesses," the head of the Vatican's governorate, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, said in a statement.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, former secretary general of the governorate and current envoy to Washington, had sent strongly-worded letters warning Pope Benedict XVI of corruption, which were published in January in Italian media.
In a rare public rebuke of another top Vatican official, Lajolo said he was "greatly embittered" by the publication of the letters and accusations made.
"The claims cannot help but give the impression that the Vatican governorate, instead of being an instrument of responsible governing, is an untrustworthy entity, controlled by dark forces," he said.
Lajolo rejected the "baseless suspicions and accusations" the claims had provoked in the media on publication, describing some as "laughable" and pointing the finger at "a certain type of unprofessional journalism."
In extracts from the letters to the pope written in 2011, Vigano said he had faced a "disastrous" situation when he became head of the governorate in 2009 and said his transfer to Washington was "punishment".
"My transfer is causing disarray and discouragement among those who believed it was possible to resolve the numerous situations of corruption and waste" in the Vatican, he said.
Much of his criticism was focused on a Vatican financial committee that includes the head of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. He said the bankers were favouring "their interests" more than the Vatican's.
In one financial operation by the bankers that went wrong, the Vatican made a net loss of 2.5 million euros ($3.2 million), the archbishop said.
He was also highly critical of the cost of basic technical services and said construction contracts for Vatican buildings were always going to the same companies for tariffs that were more than twice as high as in Italy.
He said other cardinals in the Vatican "knew the situation well". — Agence France Presse
The Red Cross are in every disaster areas and every war zone -- while the Pope and his GAY men at the smallest country of the Vatican never dirty their hands to help the poor and all they do is live in the lap of luxury as they amass wealth and deceive the world. The Pope and the Vatican are morally bankrupt.
John Allen the worst Pied Piper
John L. Allen Jr. Of All Things Catholic is the highest paid journalist on the planet because he has possesses the unique skill of the Devil in the Garden of Eden who tempted Adam and Eve with a one-liner subliminal title. The Devil didn't have to say much except one line to make Adam and Eve forget all the warnings of God and the possible consequences of their sins. They simply had to obey him an they would become "like God". John Allen’s task is to keep fooling the Americans and the English speaking members of the 1.2 billion Catholics in the world so that they will continue to pay for the flesh-of-Christ each Sunday and continue to believe in the supernatural magic powers of priests and the Pope - that they are like God -- because they are able to clone in an instant the flesh of God Jesus Christ and thus perpetually feed the Mammon appetite of the Vatican Beast and Opus Dei narcissism.
So in his cunning Devil’s strategy of brainwashing one-liner title today, he says: A make-or-break moment on sex abuse and more Vatican news . This immediately brainwash people that the Priestly Sodomy of Biblical Proportions committed by the JP2 Army- John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army also known as B16 Army because Cardinal Ratizinger and John Paul II were the pair of hands that covered-up this most heinous crimes against children in the 20th century --- can simply vanish in a moment – in his words “make-or-break moment”. That is what the Vatican would like the world to do – simply forget the whole crimes against humanity by Benedict XVI and forgive them like smoke of incense and all those sufferings of tens if not hundreds of thousands of children be simply flushed down the toilet “in one breaking moment” like a news flash. In 2010, he simply compared the sexual abuse crisis like a fashion
As we have been exposing the Devil traits of John L. Allen in all our blogs, the most important to read is his exposé of the fast-track sainthood of Opus Dei biggest Golden Cow (like the Israelites’ Golden Cow in the desert) John L.Allen Jr.Pied Piper of John Paul II deceives Catholics with his essay Fast-Track Saint in Newsweek -- with Vatican lunacy & Satanic timeline -- here we analysed each of his words and paragraphs http://jp2army.blogspot.com/ .
In his new article today in his most-read column, he writes: "...there is also a third constituency, swimming against the polarized tide... who believe the church has made important strides and could become a social pacesetter in anti-abuse efforts..."
Here John Allen is a brilliant Pied Piper fooling people and shifting focus away from the crimes against humanity of Benedict XVI and corroborating with Pope Benedict’s address to US Bishops on Ad Limina Visit to Rome last November when he told them his bishops that "the Catholic Church has led in the fight against sexual abuse of children", read our related article, Cardinal Ratzinger was part of the “plague of pedophilia” for 27 years when he covered-up JP2 Army a.k.a B16 Army-Benedict XVI Pedophile Priests Army http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/cardinal-ratzinger-was-part-of-plague.html
We cite here an axcerpt in reply to the hubris of John Allen's Pied Piper music in today's All Things Catholic "A make-or-break moment on sex abuse and more Vatican news"
National Survivor Advocates Coalition UNITED STATES
It takes hubris for Pope Benedict to tell his bishops that the Catholic Church has led in the fight against sexual abuse of children.
Issuing self satisfied pats on the back while children remain in danger, only further diminishes the Church’s credibility and deepens the laryngitis in its moral voice.
For the Pope to insinuate the Church is a leader and reformer in the movement to protect children from sexual abuse is counterfeit. We hope Catholics out of a false sense of respect and loyalty don’t buy this.
We feel for the Catholics who must be embarrassed by this papal approach and ask them to speak with their wallets and redirect their contributions until the Pope’s words and Catholic Church’s actions match up for the protection of children.
Catholics should remember that their billions go to pay Vatican Pied Pipers like John L. Allen Jr., Catolic Goliath Bullies like Bill Donohue of Catholic League, George Weigel, and those Opus Dei media Pied Pipers listed here Benedict XVI Master Manipulator of the Media…the Pied Piper of Children deceiving them away from truth of his Crimes Against Humanity at The Hague http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/benedict-xvi-master-manipulator-of.html and here SO WHAT, new 22 Cardinals and Pellini...http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2012/01/benedict-appoints-22-new-cardinal.html The Vatican Billions also go to suppress and rape women in poor countries, read more here
John Allen makes Devil's Bowels smell like roses to Catholics
It is important to keep in mind that John Allen slept well in Rome when he was a resident correspondent there and had exclusive access to the Vatican and now he lives in New York because it is the American Catholics (who give the most money) whom the Vatican want him to brainwash and control. John Allen slept well just like John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger slept well while thousands of pedophile priests raped little boys around the world. John Allen smells Devil's Bowels like roses with his Vatican paychecks.
At the end of the decade in 2010, John Allen simply compared the sexual abuse by clergy (he will never use the word pedophile priests per order of the Opus Dei) as simply (one of those little things) one of the “worst fashion blunders” of the decade, read our related article here Biggest Vatican stories of the decade: John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed Holy ES Eucharist-and-Sodomy of Biblical proportions http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/01/biggest-vatican-stories-of-decade-john.html
In his article today, of course, John Allen did not miss the opportunity to toot out for his fastest-tracking saint John Paul Ii wherein he wrote about "The book's sexy title is The Last Exorcist: My Battle against Satan... As is well known, Pope John Paul II performed a handful of exorcisms during his papacy." Again, John Allen corroborates with Benedict XVI who blamed the Devil for priest pedophilia in the Year for Priests ceremony in St. Peter's Square, read our related article, Eve and Benedict XVI blame the Devil. Analysis of Pope’s homily in Year for Priests -sorcerers of Christ’s flesh and blood http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/06/eve-and-benedict-xvi-blame-devil.html
It is a waste of time to point out more details of John Allen's pack of lies but you can see now the Pied Piper tunes he plays to sway attention away from the truth of Benedict XVI's Crimes Against the Humanity. John Allen is buying time because Benedict should be tried at The Hague soon as possible -- before he too orchestrate his convenient euthanasia to avoid trial like Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua, read our related article on his questionable death and John Paul II's convenient euthanasia here http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/2012/01/benedict-appoints-22-new-cardinal.html
John Allen's task is to make Catholics and the world forget about JUSTICE and JAIL TIME for pedophile priests and so he is corroborating with the Vatican Mammon Narcissism Beast by using the words "promote healing and reconciliation with victims".
John Allen's title and ending to deceive people
So this is how John Allen also fool Catholics by his endings in his article in All Things Catholics: "Satan highly feared the election of Ratzinger to the throne of Peter," Amorth writes, "because he saw in him the continuation of the great battle against him carried out for 26 years by John Paul II."
John Allen is the best and worst liar among all Catholic Pied Pipers. John Paul II did not fight Satan because he never preached once against pedophile priests during his 26 years papacy. John Paul II is deep in the fires of Hell because St. Michael tied the most gigantic millstone around his neck at his last World Youth Day in 2002 because he refused to speak up against the 80 pedophile priests in Boston, read about the vision of Paris Arrow wherein she saw St. Michael throw John Paul II in a sea of fire while the WYD youth chanted, "JP2 we love you"http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-decade-and-jp2-millstones-9th.html
A make-or-break moment on sex abuse and more Vatican news
ROME National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 03, 2012 All Things Catholic
In a polarized world, it was probably inevitable that opinion on the Catholic sex abuse crisis, like pretty much everything else, would crystallize into two opposing blocs. On one side are critics convinced the church still doesn't get it because it has failed to enact the sweeping reforms they support; on the other are apologists who believe the church has been unfairly turned into a scapegoat, and that if anything, it's overreacted.
Although there are highly distinct subgroups within each bloc, in general, both the critics and the apologists tend to be well organized and quite savvy about getting their message out. (Without comparing them in other ways, both SNAP and the Catholic League, for instance, have highly effective PR operations.)
Yet there is also a third constituency, swimming against the polarized tide, though you wouldn't really know it from media coverage or the blogosphere. Composed mostly of Catholic insiders, these are people who grasp the church's failures and who regard recovery very much as a work in progress, but who also believe the church has made important strides and could become a social pacesetter in anti-abuse efforts.
Generally, these are folks who work quietly within institutional structures, more interested in getting something done than in issuing press releases. Their effectiveness stems from their focus. Unlike the two other camps, these folks don't believe the sexual abuse crisis is primarily about something else, such as the corruption of the hierarchy or anti-Catholic media bias. They believe the core challenge is to create systems and structures that keep children safe -- and, where possible, to promote healing and reconciliation with victims.
Next week in Rome, this "Get Something Done" camp may finally have its day in the sun.
The occasion is a Feb. 6-9 symposium hosted by Rome's Jesuit-run Gregorian University, co-sponsored by several Vatican departments. Its title is "Towards Healing and Renewal," and its primary audience is officials from bishops' conferences and religious orders from around the world.
The idea is to identify best practices in abuse prevention and detection and to ensure that those practices become part of the church's standard operating procedure.
The impetus was a May 2011 directive from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith giving dioceses one year to develop "procedures suitable for assisting the victims of abuse, and also for educating the ecclesial community concerning the protection of minors." That deadline expires in three months, and officials in many dioceses, especially in the developing world, have said informally that they're waiting for the event at the Gregorian before putting pen to paper.
Voices to be heard include:
•Marie Collins, an Irish victim of clerical abuse who's been an outspoken critic of the church's failures. •Maltese Monsignor Charles Scicluna, the Vatican's top prosecutor on sex abuse cases. •American Monsignor Stephen Rossetti, former director of the St. Luke's Institute in Maryland and a veteran activist in anti-abuse efforts. •Leaders of the Center for Child Protection at Germany's University of Ulm, which has worked with the German bishops in developing their policies. •Pioneers of the "Virtus" program developed in the United States by the National Catholic Risk Retention Group. Its centerpiece is "Protecting God's Children," a program that offers training on the warning signs of abuse and ways to prevent it as well as how to make a report and how to respond to an allegation. •Bishops from Brazil, Mexico and the Philippines -- the three largest Catholic nations on earth -- along with South Africa, discussing responses to clerical abuse in those regions. •Vatican officials, including Cardinals William Levada of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Marc Ouellet of the Congregation for Bishops, as well as Cardinal-designate Fernando Filoni of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Archbishops Joseph Tobin of the Congregation for Religious and Savio Hon Tai Fai from Filoni's office will also take part. One centerpiece will be the launch of a new Center for Child Protection in Rome, a joint project of the Greg's Institute of Psychology, the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, and the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University Clinic of Ulm. The idea is to develop an e-learning course in abuse prevention and detection to be offered in English, German, Italian and Spanish.
The "Towards Healing and Renewal" event looms as a crossroads for the church for at least four reasons.
First, although the "crisis" -- in the sense of lawsuits, massive media coverage, demoralization and confusion in the pews, and all the rest -- has already exploded in Europe and North America, it has yet to arrive in most of the rest of the world. That includes most of the southern hemisphere, where two-thirds of all Catholics today live. The question is whether the church will continue to follow a largely reactive pattern, waiting for a revelation to trigger an avalanche and then scrambling to catch up, or whether it will finally get ahead of the curve.
Second, participants in this event represent a good share of the church's best and brightest minds on fighting abuse, and both the Vatican and the Gregorian have invested considerable resources in putting it together. If these four days don't produce momentum towards wider and deeper reform, it's an open question what might.
Third, both the Vatican and church leaders around the world have long complained of an imbalance in public attention with regard to the crisis. Breakdowns, such as those illustrated by the recent Grand Jury report in Philadelphia and the indictment of Bishop Robert Finn in Kansas City, Mo., generate headlines; success stories, such as the "Protecting God's Children" program, generally go untold.
That was the gist of Benedict XVI's message when he met with a group of church workers dedicated to child protection in the United Kingdom in 2010. He said: "While there are never grounds for complacency, credit should be given where it is due. The efforts of the church in this country and elsewhere, especially in the last 10 years, to guarantee the safety of children and young people ... should be acknowledged."
If there was ever a moment when imaginative communications efforts might produce such an acknowledgment, this event ought to be it.
(As a footnote, the symposium itself is off-limits to the press and the public in order to protect the free flow of discussion, organizers say. Participants, however, have been encouraged to make themselves available to the media throughout the event, and there are a couple of press conferences on the docket.)
Fourth, Catholic leaders have repeatedly stressed that the sexual exploitation of children is a broad social scourge and that the church wants to be a leader and partner with other institutions and movements in keeping children safe. As long as the perception is that the church is part of the problem rather than the solution, however, such partnerships will be tough to forge.
(Don't believe that perception is still widespread? Consider that a Philadelphia judge presiding over the criminal trial of two priests and a former priest recently said in open court, "Anybody that doesn't think there is widespread sexual abuse within the Catholic church is living on another planet.")
This summit represents a unique chance for the church to put its best foot forward, persuading at least some fair-minded people to regard it as a potential ally in child protection efforts. It is only, however, a chance -- next week will reveal how well participants take advantage of it.
For these reasons, the "Towards Healing and Renewal" symposium looms as a sort of make-or-break moment. I'll be on the ground in Rome covering it; watch the NCR Today site for my daily reports.
* * *
As a sidebar, the symposium has already drawn a bit of criticism in Ireland, home to arguably the world's most intense Catholic sex abuse crisis. Observers there have wondered why Dublin's Archbishop Diarmuid Martin isn't among the speakers, especially given perceptions that Martin is on the Vatican's black list because of his searing candor on the crisis, including a willingness to butt heads with other bishops.
On background, organizers say that's not the deal.
First, word out of Ireland is that Martin will actually attend the symposium, along with two other Irish prelates, including Cardinal Sean Brady of Armagh, the country's most senior churchman.
Second, Marie Collins is among the speakers. She's an outspoken Irish advocate of reform and someone sympathetic to much of Martin's agenda. Last year, for instance, Collins was among eight victims who took part in a foot-washing ceremony in Dublin led by Martin and Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, intended as a gesture of repentance.
Third, Martin is not the only prominent bishop with a reform record who's not on the formal agenda. O'Malley, for instance, isn't among the speakers, either. The U.S. conference will be represented by Bishop Robert Conlon of Joliet, Ill., who chairs the bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People.
The primary thrust of the event, organizers say, isn't to preach to the choir or to offer a platform to prominent voices in the hierarchy. Instead, it's to make the church's best practices systematic and institutional, and thus ensure that they outlive the personal charisma of pioneers such as Martin and O'Malley.
How all that plays out in the court of public opinion, especially in Ireland, remains to be seen.
* * *
There are three other Vatican stories this week to which I can't give a full write-up but deserve at least a mention.
A good run for the Vatican's lawyer
Whatever the Vatican is paying Berkeley, Calif.-based attorney Jeffrey Lena, who represents the Holy See in American litigation, it must seem like money well spent. Not only has the Vatican never lost a case in the States and never paid a dime to settle one, most of the roughly 10 cases in which the Vatican has been sued dissolve, sooner or later, because Lena prevails on the issue of jurisdiction and sovereign immunity.
By the way, winning on the grounds of jurisdiction isn't a legal dodge that insulates the Vatican from scrutiny of its conduct. In virtually every case that's come up, courts have taken a close look at the alleged facts, and then asked: Even if all that's true, does it establish a pattern of institutional responsibility for actionable wrongs serious enough to overcome sovereign immunity?
Lena's had another good run of late.
On Jan. 20, he prevailed in a procedural ruling in an Oregon sex abuse case, convincing the judge to deny a request to depose an official of a religious order on the grounds that the legal standard had not been met. On Tuesday, he won another procedural ruling in a Wisconsin sex abuse case, fending off a request from plaintiffs for more time to respond to the Vatican's motions to dismiss.
The big-ticket item, however, came Wednesday.
On that day, a federal court in Mississippi finally dismissed the long-running Dale v. Colagiovanni case, originally filed in 2002. It pivoted on charges by the insurance commissioners of five states (Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas) that the Vatican had been complicit in scams perpetrated by a con artist named Martin Frankel, who's currently serving a 16-year prison sentence for looting a series of insurance companies to the tune of more than $200 million.
The Vatican connection is this: As part of his shell game, Frankel created a bogus foundation in the Virgin Islands named after St. Francis, with the ostensible purpose of serving the poor, but whose real purpose was to buy up insurance companies and pilfer them. To provide a veneer of legitimacy, Frankel recruited an elderly minor Vatican functionary, an Italian named Monsignor Emilio Colagiovanni, to lend his name and support.
Primarily as a result of the lawsuit, the Colagiovanni case has become a favorite of conspiracy theorists everywhere. It's now up there with the Vatican Bank scandals of the 1970s, the death of Pope John Paul I and the kidnapping of Emanuela Orlandi in terms of favorite Vatican mysteries.
Yet from the beginning, Lena always insisted that the Vatican, as such, was never a party to Frankel's scam -- that it was actually among his "unwitting victims." He notes that when Frankel tried to go through official channels in 1998 to solicit Vatican support, he was rebuffed, and when various parties later asked the Vatican if Frankel had any official backing, the answer was always no. Now, after more than a decade of litigation, the insurance commissioners have given up their efforts to prove otherwise.
In a statement this week, Lena bluntly suggested that the insurance regulators had targeted the Vatican in order to divert attention from their own failures to stop Frankel's scam much earlier.
Lena also had a parting shot for the media, which I reproduce here in full:
"That inflammatory accusations against the Holy See and the [Vatican Bank] are easily disseminated and make good fodder for conspiracy theorists cannot be doubted," he said. "But it would inure to the public's benefit if those same journalists who enthusiastically disseminated such allegations when the cases were filed would pick up their pens to write with equal vigor upon the cases' demise. To do so would responsibly reflect the public record that each of the cases died the undignified death it deserved."
The 'Madoff of Parioli'
As papal aides this week struggled to put out a media fire ignited when an Italian TV program revealed confidential letters from the pope's ambassador in the States complaining of financial corruption in the Vatican, they simultaneously found themselves trying to keep the Vatican out of yet another scandal.
On Tuesday, Italy's leading daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, carried a sensational story under the headline "From the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: 1.6 million for the Madoff of Parioli." It reported that an Italian Dominican, Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, had invested slightly more than $2 million in a financial services operation run by financier Gainfranco Lande, who was arrested last April and charged with several counts of fraud.
Lande's Ponzi scheme is estimated to have wiped out the savings of a roster of elite Roman investors to the tune of roughly $300 million. It's earned him the title of the "Madoff of Parioli," a reference to the Italian region from which Lande hails.
Because Ricci is a "postulator," meaning an official responsible for sainthood causes for his religious order, the story seemed to speculate that Ricci might have been acting in a quasi-official capacity on behalf of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints when he invested in Lande's scam.
Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesperson, was quick to reject that suggestion.
In a statement released the same day the Corriere article appeared, Lombardi insisted that Ricci is not a Vatican official. In fact, Lombardi said, people with sainthood causes to push are more akin to "clients" of the Vatican. As a result, Lombardi said, "The Congregation for the Causes of Saints and its Prefect, Cardinal Angelo Amato, have absolutely nothing to do with the events spoken of in the article in question."
The Last Exorcist
I've had occasion before to note that one of the best young Vatican writers going these days is Italian journalist Paolo Rodari. As it happens, Rodari has a new book out this week, co-authored with the world-famous exorcist of the Rome diocese, 86-year-old Italian Fr. Gabriele Amorth.
The book's sexy title is The Last Exorcist: My Battle against Satan.
Amorth, of course, is not literally the last exorcist of the Catholic church. He writes in the preface, however, that he embraces the book's title for its polemical value. Amorth strongly believes that exorcism and demonic combat are not taken nearly seriously enough by the church these days, including most bishops. As a result, he says, every exorcist can't help but sometimes feel like the last.
I predict the book will find its way into English translation, and will do very well. From a marketing point of view, exorcism is always a winner, and Amorth certainly delivers the goods. He speaks in colorful detail about his experiences of Satan, possession, deliverance and exorcism, and it's not hard to imagine a Hollywood screenplay in there someplace.
In terms of news value, one nugget from the book concerns Benedict XVI. As is well known, Pope John Paul II performed a handful of exorcisms during his papacy. (Or, if you prefer, prayers for deliverance, because he didn't always employ the formal liturgical rite.)
Amorth states, however, that to the best of his knowledge, Benedict XVI does not perform exorcisms.
That said, Amorth nevertheless asserts that Benedict's "entire pontificate is a great exorcism against Satan."
He tells a story to illustrate his point. One day in spring 2009, Amorth says, a group of four people attended a large public audience with Benedict XVI in St. Peter's Square. The two women in the group were Amorth's assistants, while the two young men, named Marco and Giovanni, were possessed.
The women escorted Marco and Giovanni to a spot as close as possible to the pope. As Amorth tells it, the two young men began to act strangely as soon as Benedict XVI entered the square. When one of the women told Giovanni to control himself, he responded in a slow and eerie voice: "I am not Giovanni."
When Benedict XVI made his way to the stage, Amorth says, the two young men began to scream. One of them yelled at the pope, "Holiness, Holiness, here we are!"
Benedict, according to Amorth, looked over, raised his arm and offered a blessing. Immediately afterward, according to Amorth, the two young men fell to the ground, stopped screeching and began to cry. Later, he said, Giovanni and Marco claimed to have no memory of any of these events.
Here's Amorth's summary comment: "The way in which Benedict XVI lives the liturgy, his respect for the rules, his rigor, even his posture are extremely effective against Satan. The liturgy celebrated by the pontiff is potent. Satan is wounded every time the pope celebrates the Eucharist."
"Satan highly feared the election of Ratzinger to the throne of Peter," Amorth writes, "because he saw in him the continuation of the great battle against him carried out for 26 years by John Paul II."
[John L. Allen Jr. is NCR's senior correspondent. His email address is jallen@ncronline.org.]
