Posted on 02/26/2017 4:22:58 PM PST by ebb tide
ABC News reports: "Pope Francis has quietly reduced sanctions against a handful of pedophile priests, applying his vision of a merciful church even to its worst offenders in ways that survivors of abuse and the pope's own advisers question.
One case has come back to haunt him: An Italian priest who received the pope's clemency was later convicted by an Italian criminal court for his sex crimes against children as young as 12. The Rev. Mauro Inzoli is now facing a second church trial after new evidence emerged against him, The Associated Press has learned.
 The Inzoli case is one of several in which Francis overruled the advice of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reduced a sentence that called for the priest to be defrocked, two canon lawyers and a church official told AP. Instead, the priests were sentenced to penalties including a lifetime of penance and prayer and removal from public ministry.
In some cases, the priests or their high-ranking friends appealed to Francis for clemency by citing the pope's own words about mercy in their petitions, the church official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the proceedings are confidential.
"With all this emphasis on mercy ... he is creating the environment for such initiatives," the church official said, adding that clemency petitions were rarely granted by Pope Benedict XVI, who launched a tough crackdown during his 2005-2013 papacy and defrocked some 800 priests who raped and molested children.
At the same time, Francis also ordered three longtime staffers at the congregation dismissed, two of whom worked for the discipline section that handles sex abuse cases, the lawyers and church official said..."
Contrast the attitude of Francis with that of St. Basil of Cesarea (322-379AD). He instructed that the cleric or monk caught making sexual advances (kissing) or otherwise sexually molesting young boys or men was to be whipped in public, deprived of his tonsure (head shaven), bound in chains and imprisoned for six months, after which he was to be contained in a separate cell and ordered to undergo severe penances and prayer vigils to expedite his sins under the watchful eye of an elder spiritual brother. His diet was that of water and barley bread - the fodder of animals.
Outside his cell, while engaged in manual labor and moving about the monastery, the pederast monk was to be always monitored by two fellow monks to insure that he never again had any contact with young men or boys.
Clearly Francis, his mind corrupted by false notions of "compassion" and "mercy," has more regard for sexual predators than their innocent victims and those who seek to discipline the predators.
I expect this pope to tell us to remember Christ said something about checking out the children.
Kind to the cruel, cruel to the kind.
Hate the sin, love the sinner. Defrock the priest, throw him in jail and visit him in jail.
The church needs to put these priests in jail....period
Francis appears to be of the Todd Nickerson/ Gary Gibson school of thought.
Well said!
Bishop xxxxx” his mind corrupted by false notions of “compassion” and “mercy,” has more regard for sexual predators than their innocent victims and those who seek to discipline the predators.”
And that....... is how the epidemic started and flourished.
If the Pope was serious about stopping abuse he would end the celibacy rule. He’s the Bush of Pope’s, looked good in the beginning but in the end he’s part of the establishment.
It’s standard practice on the left to love criminals and disdain victims.
What does that have to do with it? According to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (part of the City University of New York), over 86% of the molestations were done by homosexual priests. Austrialia just completed a similar study, and it was over 90%. Celibacy has nothing to do with it.
“What does that have to do with it? According to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (part of the City University of New York), over 86% of the molestations were done by homosexual priests. Austrialia just completed a similar study, and it was over 90%. Celibacy has nothing to do with it.”
Hey there sonny, when are you gonna get yourself a girlfriend? That’s a question catholic priests don’t have to answer. Its an appealing lifestyle for homosexuals as being a priest makes them immune to any probing questions or doubts. They never have to tell anyone and they can be admired by their family and the world around them. This draws in the wrong kind of people, people who have something to hide.
If I were a betting man, I would think it a safe bet that every one of these priests shown ‘mercy’ is a fellow leftist.
I think you would win that bet.
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