Yes, there is a fine line between justice and revenge, but the Church clearly endorses temporal punishment for sins and crimes in this life and the next. In terms of temporal judgment, the Church must be a sacramental sign of serving appropriate and just temporal punishment.
For example the temporal punishment of current Church discipline is that Catholics in illicit and immoral sexual relationships, to include adulterous relationships where a valid sacramental bond exists, is that the unrepentant sinner is excluded from Holy Communion until the lifestyle of sin is repented and appropriately resolved.
This of course is being challenged by bishops, to include the Bishop of Rome all in the name of an enabling mercy that removes justice, especially for the victims of damaged marital fidelity.
Thus these victims are a prophetic voice for bishops, to include the Bishop of Rome, whose vision of mercy corrupts the Church's teaching on temporal punishment in this life and the next and never excludes damnation by God to the eternal and actual fires if hell:
In a letter to the Pope, at least six assault victims demanded that the Holy See leave behind the prayers and penance, delivering serious justice to perpetrators for the years of suffering brought on by cover-ups and incredulity.
“We insist on the need for the Vatican to modify its discourse and- in addition to speaking about pain, forgiveness and sins- it is imperative that they recognize crimes, wrongs, and reparations and trust all the information it has to the hands of federal justice," the delegation said, some of whom identified themselves as victims of the Marist Brothers religious order.
The Holy See began a three-day, closed-door meeting Tuesday with 34 Chilean bishops who have been summoned to the Vatican over their possible involvement in a sexual abuse cover-up that dates to the 1970s.
The main agenda revolves around a 2,300-page April report with the pope kicking off the meeting by handing each cleric a list of themes he told them to meditate and pray.
However, since then little else has been accomplished.
During his daily mass Wednesday morning, Pope Francis told the bishops they should all consider their situation and recognize when it’s time to “leave and resign.” The actual meeting, however, drew considerable attention after it was adjourned within just 45 minutes.
While Santiago’s Bishop Juan Ignacio Gonzalez said that resignations of at least
10 Chilean bishops are pending, the Chilean diocese has continued to deny any departures of its religious leaders.
"The actions decided by Pope Francis will be the only measure to consider in order to know if the time of cover-ups has ended within said institution," the victims wrote. "We are concerned that requests for forgiveness are not translated into concrete and exemplary actions."
6 comments:
Victor
said...
The pope is blaming others for his mis-step in this Chilean scandal, and calling for those who "misinformed" him to resign. Yet he was personally handed the letter of the abuse victims in Chile a while back in 2015, and should have known better than to side with the clerics against the victims. Bshp Barros himself had even offered to resign some time ago over this mess, but clearly the clergy were more important than the faithful for this pope until the media got involved. If there is anyone to resign over this scandal it is this St Gallen pope himself because of his incompetence if not outright deceptions.
I know this article concerns itself with the situation in Chile, but there are also American bishops who should resign for the same reasons, covering up for abusers, paying no attention to victims and so on.
"Yet he was personally handed the letter of the abuse victims in Chile a while back in 2015, and should have known better than to side with the clerics against the victims."
THE LETTER.
Why, yes, THE LETTER is completely true and definitive. No other information can be taken into account, no other sources can be listened to.
Thank God we have a Pope who knows better. Thank God that God does not judge us by the same standards so many want to use for Pope Francis.
I'm actually glad the Church is getting it right on the nose for this, because I am immensely scandalized that any bishop or cardinal let this pedophilia happen to begin with. I ask myself, what kind of moral leaders are they that they ignored the injury done to young people entrusted to priests who were wolves in sheep's clothing? How did they let the wolves in with the sheep in the first place? How did they cover it up, and bury it when it came to light? How did they put the wolves in with another flock when they were caught mauling the sheep before? Who does that???? Not good people, I'll tell you. Weak people. Morally suspect people.
And I ask myself, are they doing it now, maybe not with pedophiles, but with immoral and heterodox men allowed to remain priests, even though they are really not fit leaders, preaching the ideas of popular theologians, abusing the norms of the Church to enact some other harebrained gospel like those of Hans Kung or Gustavo Gutierrez but not so much those of Jesus Christ?
But I also think The World is making hay while the sun shines, because they are making like the victims have suffered such damage as to be incapable of living a normal life. And that is absurd. I think the victims of these crimes are politicized. I think there are many that have been told to make a huge stink about it, for money (notice the lack of forgiveness in them; the punitive nature of their demands for so called "justice" which means money and jail time), because a bigger goal for those inciting them is to see large numbers of people leave the Church over it.
Whenever this topic comes up I think of Jesus' words, "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke 12:3) I suppose the same goes for actions.
So why did the clergy, from the Pope on down, not know this and take it to heart before this all happened? Ya gotta wonder...
6 comments:
The pope is blaming others for his mis-step in this Chilean scandal, and calling for those who "misinformed" him to resign. Yet he was personally handed the letter of the abuse victims in Chile a while back in 2015, and should have known better than to side with the clerics against the victims. Bshp Barros himself had even offered to resign some time ago over this mess, but clearly the clergy were more important than the faithful for this pope until the media got involved. If there is anyone to resign over this scandal it is this St Gallen pope himself because of his incompetence if not outright deceptions.
I know this article concerns itself with the situation in Chile, but there are also American bishops who should resign for the same reasons, covering up for abusers, paying no attention to victims and so on.
"Yet he was personally handed the letter of the abuse victims in Chile a while back in 2015, and should have known better than to side with the clerics against the victims."
THE LETTER.
Why, yes, THE LETTER is completely true and definitive. No other information can be taken into account, no other sources can be listened to.
Thank God we have a Pope who knows better. Thank God that God does not judge us by the same standards so many want to use for Pope Francis.
Francis blamed the victims. He should resign.
Bee here:
I'm actually glad the Church is getting it right on the nose for this, because I am immensely scandalized that any bishop or cardinal let this pedophilia happen to begin with. I ask myself, what kind of moral leaders are they that they ignored the injury done to young people entrusted to priests who were wolves in sheep's clothing? How did they let the wolves in with the sheep in the first place? How did they cover it up, and bury it when it came to light? How did they put the wolves in with another flock when they were caught mauling the sheep before? Who does that???? Not good people, I'll tell you. Weak people. Morally suspect people.
And I ask myself, are they doing it now, maybe not with pedophiles, but with immoral and heterodox men allowed to remain priests, even though they are really not fit leaders, preaching the ideas of popular theologians, abusing the norms of the Church to enact some other harebrained gospel like those of Hans Kung or Gustavo Gutierrez but not so much those of Jesus Christ?
But I also think The World is making hay while the sun shines, because they are making like the victims have suffered such damage as to be incapable of living a normal life. And that is absurd. I think the victims of these crimes are politicized. I think there are many that have been told to make a huge stink about it, for money (notice the lack of forgiveness in them; the punitive nature of their demands for so called "justice" which means money and jail time), because a bigger goal for those inciting them is to see large numbers of people leave the Church over it.
Whenever this topic comes up I think of Jesus' words, "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke 12:3) I suppose the same goes for actions.
So why did the clergy, from the Pope on down, not know this and take it to heart before this all happened? Ya gotta wonder...
Evil, all the way around.
God bless.
Bee
"Pope Francis told the bishops they should all consider their situation and recognize when it’s time to “leave and resign.”
A true leader practices what he preaches.
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