The Pope Rat

ABC News had this story a few years back involving sexual abuse and the Vatican:

“A trusted ally of Pope John Paul II has been accused of sexually abusing boys a half-century ago at an elite seminary for the Catholic Church. The alleged victims say the Vatican knew of the allegations against Father Marcial Maciel and chose not to pursue them.

In fact, the pope has continued to praise 82-year-old Father as an effective leader of Catholic youth, despite detailed allegations sent to the Vatican… saying the man was also a long-time pedophile.

“Some of the men tried a last ditch effort, taking the unusual step of filing a lawsuit in the Vatican's secretive court…but it was another futile effort — an effort the men say was blocked by one of the most powerful cardinals in the Vatican.

The accusers say Vatican-based Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who heads the Vatican office to safeguard the faith and the morals of the church, quietly made the lawsuit go away and shelved it.

There was no investigation and the accusers weren't asked a single question or asked for a statement.

He was appointed by the pope to investigate the entire sex abuse scandal in the church. When approached by ABCNEWS in Rome…Ratzinger became visibly upset and actually slapped this reporter's hand.”

That was quite a few years ago. Some might say inexcusable, appalling, sick. Let’s check in the Pope Ratzinger today, from a Global News story:

“Pope Benedict XVI deftly confronted the U.S. Roman Catholic sex scandal and its 5,000 victims before his plane arrived in the United States yesterday, using words more powerful than any his predecessor ever uttered to condemn priestly child abuse. It is a great suffering for the church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen. We are deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible that this cannot happen in the future."

He gets a pass in the main stream media?

UPDATE:-----------------------------------------

Finally found the most important information tying our current Pope with the sex scandel.

The Observer Sunday August 17 2003

"The Vatican instructed Catholic bishops around the world to cover up cases of sexual abuse or risk being thrown out of the Church. The 1962 69-page Latin document bearing the seal of Pope John XXIII was sent to every bishop in the world. The instructions outline a policy of 'strictest' secrecy in dealing with allegations of sexual abuse and threatens those who speak out with excommunication.

They also call for the victim to take an oath of secrecy at the time of making a complaint to Church officials. It states that the instructions are to 'be diligently stored in the secret archives of the Curia [Vatican] as strictly confidential. Nor is it to be published nor added to with any commentaries.' The instructions also cover what it calls the 'worst crime', described as an obscene act perpetrated by a cleric with 'youths of either sex or with brute animals (bestiality)'.

Texan lawyer Daniel Shea uncovered the document as part of his work for victims of abuse from Catholic priests in the US. He has handed it over to US authorities, urging them to launch a federal investigation into the clergy's alleged cover-up of sexual abuse. The documents contridict the Catholic Church's claim that the issue of sexual abuse was a modern phenomenon.

Lawyers point to a letter the Vatican sent to bishops in May 2001 clearly stating the 1962 instruction was in force until then.

The letter is signed by Cardinal Ratzinger, the most powerful man in Rome beside the Pope and who heads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the office which ran the Inquisition in the Middle Ages."