Middle East Focus-Arabia Deserta: Where the Boys Are: the Pontiff in Denial, First Lady of the Vatican……………

Arabia Deserta

Where the Boys Are: the Pontiff in Denial, First Lady of the Vatican……………

“Confronting a sex abuse scandal spreading across Europe, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday apologized directly to victims and their families in Ireland, expressing “shame and remorse” and saying “your trust had been betrayed and your dignity has been violated.” His message, in a long-awaited, eight-page pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, seemed couched in strong and passionate language. But it did not refer directly to immediate disciplinary action beyond sending a special apostolic delegation to investigate unspecified dioceses and religious congregations in Ireland. Moreover, it was, as the Vatican said it would be, focused particularly on the situation in Ireland, even as the crisis has widened among Catholics in Austria, the Netherlands and in the pope’s native Germany……. Nowhere in the letter did Benedict address the responsibility of the Vatican itself. Many victims’ groups have criticized the Vatican for not recognizing the depth and scope of the abuse crisis sooner. Nor did he use the term punishment, or spell out any consequences for clergy or bishops who had not upheld canon or civil law……….”

Cherchez la femme, as the French are always doing avidly (instead of les garcons) .
So are our shaikhs and mullahs: they marry, they marry young and often, and up to four (they should stick to one). They still aspire to paradise and all the promised extra “perks”, but they mostly keep their hands off the flock’s kids. No need to ogle young boys or girls (even if it is partly a self-selecting group).
So, as a non-Catholic I say let the clergy marry, let human nature take its course, and they will not need to become criminals, as many of them apparently have, from North America to Germany. Nothing in any Bible old or new says a priest should be celibate in the flesh even while he certainly is not in mind, and obviously they are not. Let them marry, let there be a First Lady of the Vatican. Let all the begetting (and begatting) begin.
I know it will only happen when pigs literally put on lipstick and fly.
Cheers
mhg

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