Posted on 11/22/2001 1:10:33 PM PST by AdrianZ
Thursday November 22 12:58 PM ET
Pope Sends Document Online
By FRANCES D'EMILIO, Associated Press Writer
VATICAN CITY (AP) - With a tap on a laptop, Pope John Paul on Thursday promulgated a papal document by the Internet for the first time. In it, he offered the church's apology for missionaries' injustices to indigenous people in Oceania.
Bishops and their flocks in Australia, New Zealand and scattered South Pacific islands had been hoping that the pope would come to their lands to personally deliver the message. They had been awaiting it since 1998, when they came to the Vatican to express their concerns to the pontiff in a special gathering known as a synod.
In the past, John Paul traveled afar to deliver messages to his bishops following similar continent-by-continent synods. Two years ago, for example, he went to India. Before that, he journeyed to South Africa.
This time, the frail 81-year-old pontiff decided to stay home and use Internet to address the dioceses spread throughout Oceania.
John Paul has devoted much of his papacy to asking pardon for the past sins of the Roman Catholic church, including those against Jews and other Christians, and his latest document was also soul-searching.
``The church expresses deep regret and asks forgiveness where her children have been or still are party these wrongs,'' John Paul wrote in the document. He noted that in 1998, Oceania's bishops had ``apologized unreservedly'' for the ``shameful injustices done to indigenous peoples,'' citing instances in which children were forcibly separated by their parents by missionaries who wanted to school the youngsters in Catholic teaching.
``The past cannot be undone, but honest recognition of past injustices can lead to measures and attitudes which will help rectify the damaging effects for both the indigenous community and the wider society,'' John Paul said, lending support for ``truth commissions'' looking into abuses.
John Paul also noted that Oceania's bishops have apologized by sexual abuse by some clergy.
The pontiff also expressed concern that not all women in Oceania have a free say in getting married. And polygamy, he added, ``is a serious cause of exploitation of women.''
Opting for the Internet instead of a journey across several time zones and climate changes appeared to be a victory for John Paul's doctors, who have been pressing him for years to slow down.
The pontiff is plagued by symptoms of Parkinson's disease, including a hand tremor and slurred speech. Since hip surgery in 1994, he has had difficulty moving about.
The Vatican said the pope decided to use Internet because the dioceses in Oceania are so far apart.
But such distances didn't stop him in the past from visiting his flock in that part of the world and John Paul seemed a bit wistful about not making the journey.
``I would have wished to visit Oceania once again,'' the pope said before sending the message on its way from his laptop computer. ``But it was not to be.''
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| Pope John Paul II uses a computer to send a special message to bishops via the Internet during an audience in the Clementine hall at the Vatican, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. In an unprecedented event for the Church, the pontiff used the internet to send an official pontifical document around the world. (AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti/Pool) |
Glad that this sort of conduct by the clergy is a relic of the distant past....
DALLAS -- The Diocese of Dallas has agreed to pay $23 million to eight former alter boys who were sexually abused for years by ex-priest Rudolph "Rudy" Kos.
The agreement closes one of the most sordid, difficult chapters in the clergy sexual abuse crisis. One of the victims committed suicide, the perpetrator is behind bars and stripped of his clerical dignity, and the Diocese now has no choice but to sell many of its assets to finance the settlement.
The total payment is much smaller than the $119 million that a Dallas jury ordered the diocese to pay the victims in a verdict rendered last year. After church officials insisted that the sum would plunge them into bankruptcy, both sides agreed to negotiate a smaller settlement. Lawyers for the victims said they were satisfied.
"The Church can do no wrong" group will probably show up shortly.
Personally, I'm opposed to sexual abuse and coverups. I also get really tired of apologies for things that happened long ago.
Grog's ancestors still await...
LOL
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/11/23/MN172663.DTL
Rome -- Pope John Paul II offered an apology yesterday for sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, saying it had caused the victims "great suffering and spiritual harm" and had damaged the church.
The pontiff tucked his one-paragraph "mea culpa" into a 120-page message to Catholics in Oceania on a wide range of issues raised by their bishops in 1998. .....
According to reports cited by the U.S. weekly last spring, some priests and missionaries forced nuns to have sex with them and, in several instances, committed rape and obliged the victims to have abortions. The reports covered cases in 23 countries, including the United States, the Philippines, Ireland and Papua New Guinea.
I've been yelled at by a number of Catholics who apparently can't get their minds around the FACT that a number of Catholics have done some very bad things in the name of Catholicism.
Oddly enough, their Pope, as you point out, doesn't seem to have this problem.
This is not to say that each and every other religious organization does not have similar issues in its history, differing only in degree and by the opportunity its members had to misbehave. (Small minorities seldom had political power and therefore never misused it. That is not necessarily as much a reflection of their virtue as it is of their powerlessness.)
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