“This is an example of what I meant by the Pope criticizing the RCC. Maybe Pope Benedict should be banned from FR?...”
This statement shows a stunted understanding of what PBXVI states. He was criticizing the loss of a sense of Christian morality among Western Civilization, which he conceded had also entered into the very center of the RCC. Thus, he admits that the Church also became vulnerable to this moral collapse, and it resulted in a failure to rectify the problem - which was a total lack of morality among some of the clergy, and the subsequent lack of rapid corrective action in the church.
Anyone who sees this as a specific criticism of the RCC has not really grasped the enormity of the problem he is addressing. Our entire Western Civilization is at stake per Pope Benedict XVI.
Well said and the Pope is correct. May the Lord have mercy on us all.
Gumdrop - take a look at AnAmericanMother’s post. She gets it.
The Pope *IS* being critical of the Church. That ‘subsequent lack of rapid corrective action’ was not a result of the moral decay, but it was a result of the institutionalized denial that exists in the Church. Witness how some FReepers circle the wagons when they’re subject to critique! Now imagine Bishops and Cardinals reacting to major problems. Their predictable reaction is to hush it up and hope it goes away - thus we so so many sexual assault lawsuits settled out of court and the plaintiffs sworn to silence. That’s WRONG.
When the Church spends upwards of over $1 billion to settle out these lawsuits don’t the people who provide that money deserve an accounting of what they paid for?
If the RCC wants to operate in secrecy and its members, as we see on FR, also want it to hide painful truths, then us non-Catholics have no obligation to play along. For that matter, the more difficult thing for the RCC right now is it seems your Pope doesn’t like this crap, either.
Good for him.