Replies

Your idea that all sins are morally equivalent is ludicrous. There is certainly a difference between the serial thief of a pack of chewing gum a day and the serial forcible homosexual rapist of a six-year-old boy a day. Since we are discussing the Catholic Church, its leaders and its priests here, we can apply Catholic moral theology.

If it IS grave matter and the sinner KNOWS it IS grave matter and the sinner nevertheless INTENDS to so act, then it is a mortal sin. If any one of these three conditions is absent, it is a venial sin or no sin at all.

I am going to go out on a limb here and suspect that anyone homosexually raping forcibly a thirteen-year old or serially raping a six-year old or any other kind of rapist whatsoever raping anyone is engaged in a behavior that is grave matter, knows that rape is grave matter, and is quite unlikely to have raped less than intentionally. Likewise, anyone in authority knowingly covering up such a crime. It is something more serious than minor league shoplifting, don't you think? By the way, the Catholic distinction between mortal and venial sin is quite obviously the medieval root of the governmental distinction between felonies and misdemeanors under Anglo-American common law. See Blackstone's Commentaries on the Common Law. See if you do not agree.