05 Mar 2011, 11:51 am
http://www.examiner.com/humanist-in-nat ... z1FhPexYob
Wednesday the Irish Times broke this potentially explosive story, detailing charges initiated against the Pope for crimes against humanity.
The charges were submitted to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Dr Luis Moreno Ocampo. The charges allege that Pope Benedict preserved and directed an institution responsible for the coercion, extortion and subjugation of its members.
Specific charges include endangering members health by forbidding the use of condoms, as well as enabling and promoting the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
Pope Benedict is charged with the "establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes.” The allegation goes on:
Dr Joseph Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his church and as Pope, has up to the present day systematically covered up the sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators, thereby aiding and abetting further sexual violence toward young people.
It remains to be seen whether or not the International Criminal Court will address the charges.
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Pope Benedict XVI charged with crimes against humanity - National Humanist | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/humanist-in-nat ... z1FkEpLhls
16,500-word document http://www.kanzlei-sailer.de/pope-lawsuit-2011.pdf
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jojobean
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05 Mar 2011, 12:49 pm
05 Mar 2011, 1:54 pm
05 Mar 2011, 2:19 pm
I thought I'd see what peoples opinions for first before I posted mines. I half imagined a massive flame war over how it may not be the Popes fault at all happening. So here is my opinion;
GOOD!
I hope this may help fundamentalists to see past outdated religious dogma which causes major problems.
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05 Mar 2011, 2:32 pm
Well I am not happy about many aspects of the Roman Catholic Church, but I think that charging the 'boss' (The pope) with crimes against humanity is not likely to be a good idea.
While I imagine that the pope wants people to avoid getting HIV and other STDs, I know that his church's ideas of how to protect society from sexually transmitted diseases are not popular and many people hold the view that the Catholic church's attempts to fix the HIV problem will back fire and only make it worse.
But I do not think that a criminal court case has any chance of finding that the pope is guilty of a crime against humanity for his policy on sexual matters. I think that a criminal court case against the pope (plus the church as a corporate body) is without merit.
I hold a view that while some catholic clergy are guilty of serious sexual crimes against children the church as a whole should not be held accountable in a criminal court for the actions these rouge priests. I hold a view that those priests who have abused children and other vulnerable persons should be held accountable in a criminal court along with those other priests who have enabled the abuse or have helped to conceal the crime. But the church should not be prosecuted as a corporate body.
Instead the Catholic Church should be held accountable in a civil court for the sexual misdeeds of clergy and the other crimes of priests and other employees of the church.
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I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man ! Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.
05 Mar 2011, 2:48 pm
You also must remember the Pope advised priests who know of it happening not report crimes against children to maintain the image of the Church. So essentially rather than encourage prosecution he encouraged it to happen behind closed doors.
I've not the read the full list as it is a bit long but one thing that may or may not be in there is encouraging hate against non hetrosexual people. (if that is the right term?). There is nothing against freedom of speech here and I don't think it could ever be classed as a crime but I personally find it frustrating that the Pope encourages discrimination against gay and bisexual people. Most rational people can see past it but I've encountered more than a few people who use it actively discriminate against non heterosexual people and discriminate against people who attempt to even point out why predejuices are so bad.
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05 Mar 2011, 2:57 pm
I hold the view that while it might be OK to target the pope in a criminal case for actions which he did while at work, I think that targeting him for the actions of more junior members of the church is not however reasonable.
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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man ! Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.
05 Mar 2011, 3:04 pm
I agree with you there. I guess it is just a case of how large was the Popes influence over others actions?
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05 Mar 2011, 8:06 pm
05 Mar 2011, 8:52 pm
05 Mar 2011, 9:09 pm
Fogman
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06 Mar 2011, 2:44 pm
Specific charges include endangering members health by forbidding the use of condoms, as well as enabling and promoting the sexual abuse of children by clergy.
Pope Benedict is charged with the "establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes.” The allegation goes on:
Dr Joseph Ratzinger, as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of his church and as Pope, has up to the present day systematically covered up the sexual abuse of children and youths and protected the perpetrators, thereby aiding and abetting further sexual violence toward young people.
It remains to be seen whether or not the International Criminal Court will address the charges.
It's about time somebody pressed the issue, especially on the first charge:
06 Mar 2011, 3:30 pm
Yes, somebody absolutely needs to bring St. Dominic up on charges...
Fogman
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06 Mar 2011, 3:52 pm
Yes, somebody absolutely needs to bring St. Dominic up on charges...
It actually refers to the fact that the Catholic Church has been coercing, extorting and subjugating, it's members for a LONG time. Not to mention the fact that it was also historically prone to terrorising and killing non-members.
06 Mar 2011, 4:23 pm
If the Pope and Priests are truly inspired by God, then should we not be taking God to court for creating a flawed "divine truth" which lead to this action?
(That was sarcasm btw)
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06 Mar 2011, 4:37 pm
