By Ed Carty
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 – Irish Examiner
AN international clerical abuse survivors group is calling on Irish bishops to release secret files as it pursues the Vatican for crimes against humanity at the Hague.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (Snap) and New York-based rights group Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) lodged papers against Pope Benedict XVI in a landmark action in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
They allege the Pope and three senior cardinals in Rome “tolerated and enabled the systematic and widespread concealing of rape and child sex crimes”.
Barbara Blaine, Snap president, said they want clerical sex abuse victims around the world to come forward with additional evidence to back up the complaint.
“Snap wants to prevent even one more child from being raped or sexually assaulted by a priest, and we hope that victims around the world will know today that they are not alone and that it is safe to speak up and report their abuse,” she said.
“We as victims are mobilising across the globe, and every survivor is invited to join us.”
Snap and CCR will be in Dublin as part of a 12-day tour of European cities to highlight their case. They will also visit Amsterdam, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, London, Warsaw, Madrid and Rome.
Volunteers will hand out flyers outside the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin urging support for the case and inviting survivors to a meeting. Snap has more than 23,000 members worldwide.
The case at the ICC urges prosecutors to claim jurisdiction over the Catholic Church and investigate some of its most powerful hierarchy — Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state and the Pope’s right-hand man; Cardinal Angelo Sodano, a former secretary of state accused of blocking sex abuse investigations; and Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position once held by the Pope.
Included with the 85-page complaint are more than 20,000 pages of reports, policy papers and evidence of crimes by Catholic clergy against children and vulnerable adults. Some of the reports from the Dublin Archdiocese, Cloyne and Ferns have been included.
Pam Spees, CCR senior staff attorney, said: “Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome. These men operate with impunity and without accountability.”
The complaint has called for investigation and prosecution of Vatican officials for their alleged roles in the rape, sexual assault and torture of thousands of individuals around the world.
Megan Peterson, a 21-year-old Snap member who spoke publicly of her abuse for the first time last week, said: “It’s important that the court understand that this is still happening and that they need to take this case seriously and do the right thing.
“I don’t want any more kids to go through what I went through.”
This address will lead you to the opening statements to the Hague in relation to the charges.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/CCR/2011_09_13_CCR_Victims_Communication.pdf
This document clearly states that the Vatican is today running an organisation designed and maintained to engage in rape and that all vatican actions regarding correction of its activity, amount to little more than window dressing.
The vatican must therefore know and accept that pedophilia, rape and torture are a direct product celibacy, brainwashing and other abominable factors as economic measures necessary to maintain sufficient numbers at low cost accross the world.
Child abuse is therefore central to the continued existence of the vatican and church and this is why ratzinger has gathered his most loyal criminals around him in this fight against the emergence of the truth.
Ratzinger is no fool, he must have weighed this all up in his mind many years ago and chosen the path of church protection at the price of childrens lives and perhaps even concealment of his own proclivities. A gruesome deal indeed to make with oneself and then base a career on it. In other words, let the priests do what they like to little children in order that defections be stemmed, a kind of privilege but to be kept quiet at all costs.
It seems that right at the moment, child abuse can only be top of ratzinger’s daily agenda, perhaps occupying all his time and thoughts as he struggles for tactics to fight back with. The next phase of his activity may now start to become more desperate as attempts may be made to interfere with the underlying power of the Hague and individual prosecutors. These old clerics with shrunken brains have run out of tactics now.
The stakes are high now and one of ratzingers only options may be to die in office. The next one that comes in is likely to be less of a strategist and more of a technician, perhaps Cardinal Law or Sodano, poor strategists though just like their boss.
Unfortunately for them, the truth is out and its only a matter of time before the vatican falls in on itself.
It wont be easy as the church has been in charge of education for generations. the guilt about the death of jesus is imbedded in the minds of so many. we dident kill jesus he died because of the death penalty in use in those days. the constant lessons in everything from sex to food has become part of the way the irish think.but the priests dont know it all nor the nuns.and the image given to people is very intolerent.its made the whole place ill with thier efforts thay dont rule with wisdom.
It is clear from the response given by the Vatican in relation to Enda Kenny’s statement of a fact on Cloyne that:
A: The Catholic church deny responsibility
B: The Catholic church hierarchy does not intend to change.
C The Hierarchy continues to protect its pedophiles.
D: The Hierarchy will continue to assist order to hide files and evade prosecution under the guise of diplomatic immunity.
E: The vatican will take any measure against, any person, family, community, organisation and sovereign state that it can to protect its interests and design on those bodies.
There is a supreme tacit of denial and arrogance that the church has trained its cohorts to believe and that individual clerics and those higher up, have the right to deny the rightful position of Irish people to be governed by their own government. Or in other words to deny the right of a sovereign court to have juristiction in a sovereign state.
In a CBS school in the 70’s I recall the head Christian brother justifying to the boys why he could not cooperate with Gardai who had interviewed him at lunch time in relation to a known pedophile. He ‘explained’ that ‘civil governments’could often down through history be shown to be false governments and for this reason it was important to protect a brother in trouble against civil power. The IRA of course adopted the same stance in court on many occasions. What could be a basis for such indoctrinaton in the wider context.
Going back to to Medieval times, it is important to bear in mind that many European countries were jointly ruled by BOTH royal and religious powers (Vatican that is). The Vatican did not give up that status easily and in fact at one stage sought to have power over all coronations in all states of Europe making it the supreme ruler of rulers. Many wars were instigated as a result.
Such medieval demands may well be at the root of Church arrogance today, concepts which have no place in modern society but which remain firm aspirations for a glorious recovery in the future and a barbaric justification for concealment of crimes against humanity that if fully known would render recovery impossible.
The Irish Examiner can always be counted on. Thank you Ed Carty.
The following sent to the Irish Times:
Why is Irish society, why are we as a People, the most cruel and cold-hearted in the world? Why are we, as a small island on the fringe of Europe, holders of the worst possible records?
“Behind the Walls” at last, has made this question much clearer.
1/ THE FAMINE: this was, without a shadow of doubt, the most cataclysmic calamity any nation could have to suffer. Much has been written about this event, but the catastrophic consequences have been underplayed and underestimated. Sometimes, trauma can be SO devastating as to cause incalculable damage, especially when not reckognized as such. The post traumatic WOUND can become bottomless abyss, where entire Peoples, whole civilizations, collapse and/or disappear.
2/ BRITISH RULE: this plague happened while under the occupation of the British Empire who become a major player in this, and who is hugely responsible for the loss of life and changes which took place. Food was plentiful in Ireland at the time, stores were bursting with food, and the starvation which ensued was INEXCUSABLE. If this state of affairs was ever and FULLY ACKNOWLEDGED by England, it would take much more than a few sorry words uttered by a contrite Queen, to have healing properties. Even if we like to think they were wonderful and soothing.
3/ THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: this was a perfect opportunity for the Catholic Church to pounce on the weak and meek. The desperate people would accept with open arms, anyone and anything that stood up against the Ruler and Oppressor. The Pope, Hitler, sure anybody would do, and understandably so. But the Catholic Church infiltrated, brain-washed, poisoned and contaminated people’s minds in a manner more deadly than any torturer could dream of. The Catholic Church, Rome, the Pope and the Vatican instilled a fear of God and of hell more savage and exclusive than anything imaginable – except that we don’t have to use our imagination; the proof and consequences are all around us to see.
Probably nothing could have been done about the potato blight which rotted the spuds in the earth and deprived the people from their staple food.
The British Empire on the other hand, has a lot to answer to. Indeed, biscuits would have done very nicely for a few weeks to get over the crisis. It is not too late; London can still do a lot to help in way of reparation.
But with the Catholic Church it is quite a different story, as the control IT exerts on the Irish people is still omnipresent and implacable. The crimes are everywhere, even before we get all the Reports. The Bullying, the Fear and the Arrogance can still be seen, heard and felt on a daily basis. For this reason, the Roman Catholic Church stands to BE BLAMED THE MOST today. This needs to be realized if change is to come. Since yesterday (13.09.2011) the Vatican is in the sights of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, accused of the most abominable crimes. It will NOT do, that the story appears on page 7 instead of the FRONT PAGE.
Thanks to “Behind the Walls”, the story of the Irish-the-MOST-Charitable-in-the-World, yet the most cruel and cold-hearted towards HER OWN people, and mostly, HER CHILDREN, makes sense for the first time. Once understood, it might even ( one day – and FOR SOME ONLY !!! ) be put behind (never-mind forgiven), but for this WE NEED TO CHANGE. We must WAKE UP from our CHURCH-INDUCED HYPNOTIC SLEEP. SHAKE OFF THE YOKE of ROMAN CATHOLIC IMPERIALISM. The Church does to a Nation. The (elected) Government does to its People. The People do to each other. But MOSTLY, when 2 get together, they do to THE CHILDREN. Let us stop and change, and do so BEFORE the Council of Europe, indeed the world, shame us and impose fines we can ill afford anyway. (……………………………………………….) (blank space allowed for banging fist on the table)
If it changes anything great. its not right to leave future children in danger. canon law can adapt inself. otherwise no catholics could be cremated. so changing when its for the church is okey with popes. now it needs to change and adapt the church to the needs of the people.otherwise well we would be better off without them. thay are dangerous and many are voilent.and thay are not perhaps the best teachers. thay are too self obsessed.