Discussion » Questions » Religion and Spirituality » The Pope shocks Chile by accusing sex abuse victims of slander. Are You shocked?

The Pope shocks Chile by accusing sex abuse victims of slander. Are You shocked?

Pope Francis accused victims of Chile's most notorious pedophile of slander Thursday, an astonishing end to a visit meant to help heal the wounds of a sex abuse scandal that has cost the Catholic Church its credibility in the country.

Francis said that until he sees proof that Bishop Juan Barros was complicit in covering up the sex crimes of the Rev. Fernando Karadima, such accusations against Barros are "all calumny."

The pope's remarks drew shock from Chileans and immediate rebuke from victims and their advocates.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-shocks-chile-accusing-sex-abuse-victims-slander-52447841

Posted - January 19, 2018

Responses


  • 343
    Sounds foolish if not incomprehensible. Which means there is probably more to this than meets the eye. Where did this tid bit come from anyway - ah, the money-grubbing, shock-inducing news agencies - say no more - and like an awful degenerative disease, juicy news items are passed on from one to the next, none wanting to miss out on the delirious high of another hate-fest and sales surge.
     
    This post was edited by rattbagge at January 19, 2018 10:22 AM MST
      January 19, 2018 10:21 AM MST
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  • 2658
    Yeah..more fake news.  SMH! This post was edited by Beans/SilentGeneration at January 23, 2018 11:34 PM MST
      January 19, 2018 11:28 AM MST
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  • 2657
    Not clear, 
    You think the Pope sounds foolish?
     
      February 6, 2018 7:46 AM MST
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  • 46117
    Since when is the Pope the Judge and Jury.   He needs to be impeached just like Trump.


      January 20, 2018 4:18 PM MST
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  • "Progressive"Popes, like "Progressive" Federal judges are there for life.  That's a long time in which to inflict suffering on us all. Both consider themselves to be infallible. We mortals know better.
      January 20, 2018 5:17 PM MST
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  • 7280
    Unless he is speaking "ex cathedra," both the Pope and the rest of us Catholics know he is not infallible.


      January 21, 2018 8:06 PM MST
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  • 2657
    Interesting.
    When y'all invented Limbo for babies (poor surviving moms), that was before y'all invented 'ex cathedra', right? Or was Limbo part of that? Now that y'all deleted Limbo, is the deletion 'ex cathedra' or will babies be sent there again sometime by another Pope?

    [Are Popes Infallible?
    ‘THE dogma on which the triumph of Catholicism over Rationalism depends.’ That is how, in 1870, the Jesuit periodical La Civiltà Cattolica acclaimed the solemn promulgation of the dogma of papal infallibility at the First Vatican Council.
    In Catholic theological language, “dogma” refers to doctrines that have an “absolute value and are unquestionable.” The exact definition of papal infallibility, as approved by the council of 1870, states:
    “It is a divinely revealed dogma that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when acting in the office of shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he defines, by virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the universal church, possesses through the divine assistance promised to him in the person of blessed Peter, the infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed his church to be endowed in defining the doctrine concerning faith or morals; and that such definitions of the Roman pontiff are therefore irreformable of themselves, not because of the consent of the church.”

    A No-Lose Situation
    This formula, which is difficult for many individuals to understand, is also vague, according to a German theologian, the late August Bernhard Hasler. He spoke of the “vagueness” and “undetermination” of the expression ex cathedra, saying that “one can almost never tell which decisions are to be considered infallible.” According to another theologian, Heinrich Fries, the formula is “ambiguous,” while the late Karl Rahner admitted that the matter had given rise to a “complicated controversy.”
    Hasler maintained that “the vagueness of the concepts” allows both for an extensive application of the dogma in order to increase the power of the pope and for a more limited interpretation so that when faced with wrong teachings of the past, one can always support the claim that these are no part of the so-called infallible “magisterium.” In other words, it is a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation.
    “Infallibility” means, then, that the pope, even though he makes mistakes like all other humans, does not err when defining matters of faith and morals ex cathedra, acting in the office of shepherd of the Roman Catholic Church.
    Nevertheless, what do Catholics themselves think about this doctrine?

    Pope Pius IX insisted on the dogma of infallibility in 1870]
      January 21, 2018 11:28 PM MST
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  • 2657
    I guess antibiotic got a little too offensive? His comments and the rest of our thread are gone.
      January 28, 2018 6:43 PM MST
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  • 46117
    First of all, I don't even know if this is an accurate quote.  I don't follow the pope.    It seems stupid for a World Religious Leader to chime in like this.  Maybe he is getting senile, like the Federal Judges appointed by AHOLE sphincter muscle.  

    Seldom are leaders in this country or any country for that matter, trustworthy servants for even 4 years. 

    Federal Judges should be in for a term.  A short one. This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at January 22, 2018 9:21 AM MST
      January 22, 2018 9:19 AM MST
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  • 7280
    He's not judge and jury.  In this he is like a district attorney in criminal law, but he is performing that function in Canon Law.
      January 21, 2018 8:08 PM MST
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  • No, I'm not the least bit shocked. The Vatican has been losing it's credibility for years. The Pope is a mere man, not a god nor a "replacement" for Jesus the Christ here on earth. However, because he is a pope, what he says is "supposed" to carry more weight. Does it carry more weight? Sure it does. Why? Because the media makes sure it does. And the people who read and listen to the media eat it right up, believing the pope to be infallible However, the pope is fallible and, to the world in general, what he says is no more important than what anyone else says. The Catholic Church has always been a war mongering, political system under the guise of religion. Sticking it's nose where it doesn't belong. Thankfully, more and more people are beginning to realize that. I'm sure what I say will ruffle Catholic feathers every where.
      January 23, 2018 5:04 PM MST
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  • 14795
    I would think most of the Vatican filled with peadophilles.....it's been going on for decades .....noting will ever be done to prosecute the percerts......the church is far to wealthy to take to court and kills any cash cow......

    The child abuse will never stop.....if anything it will only get worse the longer it is before anyone in athority takes notice of the victims.......

    No one it seem cares about its victims......only when it happen on their own doorstep will anything be done to eradicate the perverts.... 
      January 23, 2018 5:21 PM MST
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  • 1326
    No, not surprised, actually expecting it.
      January 23, 2018 11:36 PM MST
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  • 1393
    Q "The Pope shocks Chile by accusing sex abuse victims of slander. Are You shocked?"



    I don't know the facts of the case but accusing victims is and should be shocking to all decent and just people.

    However, it has been done before, and perhaps many times. For example, for decades, with the connivance of the mass media, most people in the world were persuaded to accuse the Palestinians as the aggressors. However, with the arrival of the internet and social media almost the whole world [with the exception of Americans who continue to support Israel with $10 Million PER DAY of their tax money] came to know that they had been grossly misled into accusing the victims. It is in fact the Palestinians, both Christians and Muslims, who have been the victims for decades during which they were ethnically cleansed from their homes, had Palestine colonised by people who had never before lived there, had the land renamed Israel and have ended up as unwanted people, on account of not being Jews, in an apartheid state officially classified by Israel, not as a state for Israelis, but as a state for Jews.

    So yes indeed the injustices we humans commit at the highest levels even in this day and age can be quite shocking.


    This post was edited by CLURT at January 27, 2018 7:02 PM MST
      January 27, 2018 6:56 PM MST
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