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Vatican Tells New Bishops They Don’t Have to Report Sexual Abuse to Police
Newsweek ^ | 2/11/16 | Lucy Westcott

Posted on 02/11/2016 11:21:34 AM PST by Impala64ssa

Updated | The Vatican has told new Catholic bishops that they have no obligation to report clerical child abuse, according to reports.

During a presentation for newly appointed bishops, French Monsignor Tony Anatrella said they don't have a duty to report abuse because it should be the responsibility of victims and their families to go to the police. The comments were first reported by John L. Allen at the Catholic news site Cruxnow.com earlier this week.

Anatrella, a psychtherapist and consultant to the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, is known for his controversial views on homosexuality, including that the acceptance of homosexuality in the West is creating “serious problems” for children. He also helped to write a training document for newly appointed bishops that further spells out the church's stance on clerical sexual abuse.

"According to the state of civil laws of each country where reporting is obligatory, it is not necessarily the duty of the bishop to report suspects to authorities, the police or state prosecutors in the moment when they are made aware of crimes or sinful deeds," the training document, which was released by the Vatican earlier this month, reads. The document says bishops are required only to report the suspected abuse internally.

When reached for comment, a Vatican receptionist told Newsweek that Thursday is a holiday, so no one in the Vatican press office would be readily available. Newsweek also left a voicemail message at the Vatican's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and emailed every person listed as the Mission’s permanent staff to seek confirmation and clarification of the comments, but has not yet received a response.

(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: childabuse; pederasts; pedophiles; perverts; priestscandal; vatican
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To: StoneWall Brigade

Ok thx.

(Sometimes, I feel like the only one who actually uses a sarcasm tag when I mean it.)


21 posted on 02/11/2016 11:39:40 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: Impala64ssa
The Vatican has told new Catholic bishops that they have no obligation to report clerical child abuse, according to reports.

Why would they have such an obligation? They're not employees of the state. (Maybe except in Germany!) Wouldn't it be very dangerous to require people not directly involved in a case to report their "suspicions" to the "Authorities?" The Authorities and corporations in most places in the urban West love sodomy. What an opportunity for political assassination! Homosexuals would use it against normal priests. As social workers in the employ of states and cities, they've probably been doing it to persecute normal families for years.

Now, should a bishop have the obligation to vet complaints against priests under his authority, and to investigate and punish bad ones? Of course. That's what the National Catholic Register doesn't want, since they hate the conservative nature of Catholic teaching, and side with the almighty secular state and homosexuals wherever they can.

22 posted on 02/11/2016 11:42:02 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: Impala64ssa

He may be technically right when he’s talking about the civil laws of each country, but morally he should try to expect a little more than the legal minimum of people in positions of responsibility in the Church.


23 posted on 02/11/2016 11:43:42 AM PST by livius
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To: Impala64ssa

That’s not the law in post-Jerry Sandusky Pennsylvania.


24 posted on 02/11/2016 11:45:08 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SamuraiScot

The NC Register is good. It’s the National Catholic REPORTER that is the loony left paper that actually has done a huge amount to make it look as if every priest is a child molester, since it gives the paper the power to destroy. At the same time it’s so gay-friendly it makes you upchuck.

The paper doesn’t appear to see the contradiction.


25 posted on 02/11/2016 11:47:01 AM PST by livius
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To: Impala64ssa

Child Abuse laws in the United States are absolutely clear; when it comes to the obligation to report child abuse, there is no “privilege” such as the doctor/patient, counselor/client, or even attorney/client. It MUST be reported.

That means clergy, too.

If the bishop does not report abuse, he gets arrested. And I would think public opinion would not side with the bishop.


26 posted on 02/11/2016 11:47:41 AM PST by henkster (Hillary Clinton's supporters are beginning to realize they are fettered to a corpse.)
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To: Impala64ssa

This Pope, it appears, has lost his moral compass.


27 posted on 02/11/2016 11:48:12 AM PST by deweyfrank
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To: livius
He may be technically right when he's talking about the civil laws of each country, but morally he should try to expect a little more than the legal minimum

One of the Vatican's biggest problems is that it's filled to the brim with lawyers.


28 posted on 02/11/2016 11:49:02 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: SamuraiScot
That's what the National Catholic Register doesn't want, since they hate the conservative nature of Catholic teaching

Notice that the priest the NCR is trying to slime is a veteran conservative. As the article says, his research documents how bad homosexuality is for children's upbringing.

29 posted on 02/11/2016 11:50:29 AM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I was just thinking about that. Ask Joe Paterno how that worked out. Oh, you can’t. He died shortly after being disgraced.

Catholic bishops may not HAVE to report to civil authorities, but they damn well better or their dioceses will go bankrupt from the civil judgements.


30 posted on 02/11/2016 11:50:55 AM PST by ichabod1 (Spriiingtime for islam, and tyranny. Winter for US and frieeends. . .)
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To: Impala64ssa

Look for an upcoming “correction” from the Vatican that His Holiness was misinterpreted. Again.

A few more nails driven into the Mystical Body of Christ by Pope Francis.

Saint Ignatius must be spinning in his grave.


31 posted on 02/11/2016 11:51:06 AM PST by paterfamilias
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To: kaehurowing

I believed it does in Nebraska, as well.


32 posted on 02/11/2016 11:54:29 AM PST by NEMDF
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To: snarkpup

Of course, Hendrie was speaking of absolute numbers. Last time I check, there were not a billion Hell’s Angels.


33 posted on 02/11/2016 12:00:01 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: livius
The NC Register is good. It’s the National Catholic REPORTER . . . The paper doesn’t appear to see the contradiction.

You're right, my total bad. John Allen is with the Reporter. And my take is that Lefty Newsweek was well aware of the logical contradiction built into the story. Probably, the gay mafia within the Vatican or inside some diocese has framed this story to its friends in the media to attack their enemy, Msgr. Anatrella.

The ReporterDistorter has been Newsweek's sole source on matters Catholic for decades.

34 posted on 02/11/2016 12:00:11 PM PST by SamuraiScot
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To: paterfamilias

I kind of feel like that facepalm meme, not this sh!t again...!


35 posted on 02/11/2016 12:00:23 PM PST by ichabod1 (Spriiingtime for islam, and tyranny. Winter for US and frieeends. . .)
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To: SamuraiScot

You’re thinking of the NC REPORTER. The NC Register is more of less orthodox.


36 posted on 02/11/2016 12:01:14 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: ichabod1

In Pennsylvania if you even SUSPECT sexual abuse of a minor might be going on, and you fail to report it, you have committed a crime.

That is the new standard. I am an usher at a Catholic church, and that is the training WE were all put through.
Apparently the Pope did not show up for his.

I suspect that law will not survive it’s first contact with Sharia though.


37 posted on 02/11/2016 12:10:47 PM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Impala64ssa

I don’t think it’s as much coming from the Vatican as it is this pope that shouldn’t be there to begin with...and I’m a Catholic, born and raised in this Church...he’s a disgrace...


38 posted on 02/11/2016 12:12:21 PM PST by HarleyLady27 ("The Force Awakens"!!! TRUMP;TRUMP;TRUMP;TRUMP!!! 100%)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

Nobody tell me the Reformation was a bad thing. The institution of the Roman Church was and is a self-protecting bureaucracy that needed competition. Just like public schools establishment needs competition. That’s one of the results of original sin - you can’t concentrate power in unaccountable bureaucracies, insulated from competition, and deny choices to the people

The Reformation - 500 years old next year - was about freedom and legitimate institutional accountability


39 posted on 02/11/2016 12:17:41 PM PST by WilliamIII
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To: SamuraiScot

Thank God - literally - for the Reformation


40 posted on 02/11/2016 12:20:58 PM PST by WilliamIII
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