Pope is being sued in sexual abuse lawsuit by deaf victim

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/23/deaf-victim-of-sex-abuse-is-suing-pope-and-going-public-with-his-story-for-the-first-time/?hpt=C1

It's about time Ratzinger (he has the right name) was included in a lawsuit of this nature. He ignored the pleas of victims and favored the abusive priests over and over again. He covered up the sexual abuse crimes of many priests and allowed them to remain in the Church in positions where they were free to continue the abuse of more and more children.

Right now, there is also an investigation of the Vatican Bank, another criminal part of the Catholic Church, where sins committed by the hierarchy against the followers are shoved under the rug. This religion has all the trappings of a cult, as do most other organized religions. Anytime you have authority figures who set themselves above the people, proclaiming themselves to be the voice of God, you've got trouble. The Catholic hierarchy has been particularly evil for many centuries, and it is time for them to pay the dues for their crimes against the innocent children who were in their care.

EXCERPT: “I think what the Murphy case shows is the deference that Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope Benedict would give to the priests,” said David Gibson, a pope biographer and author of “The Rule of Benedict.” Ratzinger, like other Vatican officials “would always accede to the priest’s wishes first, rather than the victim’s wishes, rather than justice for the victims. They were secondary to what the priest wanted and what he felt was best for keeping things quiet and taking care of the institutional church.”

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Excellent report by Dan Rather on the Catholic Church

...and how it is trying to avoid paying sexual abuse victims by declaring bankruptcy in dioceses where there is actually an abundance of money and assets. In addition, need anyone be reminded of the vast treasures in the Vatican that are kept unreachable and untouchable to the victims -- while the hierarchy lives in glittering splendor? The lies and hypocrisy of those who rule in this Church certainly qualify them as leaders of a Great Cult. Religions may have started with pure intentions--but they all turn into cults as soon as power and greed rule the rulers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-rather/spiritually-bankrupt_b_629424.html

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Pope John Paul II whipped himself

See article at: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/International/pope-john-paul-whipped-belt/story?id=9674114
Self-flagellation is why he should now be declared a saint, according to the convoluted, self-promoting thinking of the Catholic Church. No wonder the ultra-conservative, back-to-the-dark-ages Opus Dei group plays such a big part in today's church. It's interesting to contemplate that these old-time conservatives took back the papacy and kept control of the church after the sudden mysterious death of Pope John Paul I (33 days into his reign), who apparently wanted to continue updating the church in the vein begun by Pope John. He wanted to clean up the Vatican Bank and its illegal doings. The conservative Cardinals were having none of that. And "POOF!" just like that, he was gone. Poor fellow passed in the night, alone, of a "heart attack." But no autopsy was permitted. I wrote more about this in a November posting on this site, as follows:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6632462/Pope-John-Paul-II-whipped-himself-in-remorse-for-sins.html
Some will think this is "holy" -- they are talking about sainthood for him. Opus Dei members think self-flagellation is a "holy" thing to do, too. (Can you see my eyes rolling?) But then, who would know better what his sins were than he himself? The truly good Pope before him, John Paul I, died very mysteriously after only 33 days as Pope -- many think he was murdered because he planned to change things radically in the Vatican and the Church. John Paul I was actually embarking on a revolution. He wanted to set the Church in a new direction that was considered highly undesirable and dangerous by many high-ranking Church officials.

He wanted, first of all, to strip many of the Vatican members of their powers by dismissing them or reassigning them into harmless positions. Six men in particular, stood to lose a great deal if Pope John Paul I remained in power. (These were - Cardinals Marcinkus, Villot, Calvi, Sindona, Cody and Gelli). There was a suspicion of a conspiracy among these men with Villot the instigator and Gelli the executioner. When John Paul II replaced John Paul I, none of the planned edicts of the first John Paul were ever carried out. For more information on this intriguing episode in the Catholic Church, see: http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/10583/

I've read a well-researched book about this alleged conspiracy entitled In God's Name by David Yallop. It presents a very convincing case against the dark elements of the Church's high-ranking clergy and their illegal banking practices that were about to be exposed and up-ended by John Paul I.

To read some fine reviews of this book, go to: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Name-Investigation-Into-Murder/dp/0786719842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259050161&sr=1-1

Here is just one of them:
This is a difficult book to digest for faithful Roman Catholics like myself. It is the story of a wonderful priest who loved the poor and wanted the church to improve the quality of life for Catholics. Pope John Paul the First was a man who would not seek to impose Christian solutions on non-Christians; he was someone who was sensitive to social problems and open to dialogue; with a commitment to the search for unity; a good pastor, a good shepherd in the way that Jesus was; a man who sincerely believed that the church should not be out of date but be a relevant, nurturing factor in the lives of Catholics worldwide.

The press called him the "Smiling Pope." However, in reality Albino Luciani who wished to be called Pope John Paul the First and became the first double name in the history of the papacy was a man of enormous faith. What a shame his 33 days as pope in 1978 was the shortest stint since Pope Medici Leo XI in 1605 who only served 17 days. In all likelihood, he had the inner strength and intelligence to be the greatest pope in the history of the Vatican.

To this end, "In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I," by highly regarded journalist David A.Yallop is a work of monumental research and importance. The author dares to point a finger at the financial corruption within the Vatican. He names names...Michele Sindona, Roberto Calvi, Lucio Gelli, Cardinal John Patrick Cody of Chicago and Bishop Paul Casimir Marcinkus in Vatican City all conducted illegal activities. And Albino Luciani was determined to put an end to it.

This well-written book is difficult to put down. Quite naturally it is officially condemned by the oligarchy in the Vatican. However, I think it is important for all interested in the pursuit of truth to read this compelling book and drawn one's own conclusion. The evidence is hard to ignore. The conclusion is based on facts. It is truly hard to imagine but I am now convinced that Pope John Paul the First was murdered because he dared to promote positive change and rid the Vatican of corrupt banking practices. Highly recommended.

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Go to the Vatican Bank if you want money laundered

Vatican bank charged with money-laundering

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:34:44 GMT

The Bank of the Vatican has been accused of laundering USD 200 million by proxy through an Italian creditor, a report indicates.

The allegation of the Vatican bank's financial corruption has been made by an Italian magazine that pointed to the financial institute's purported involvement in stealth fiscal transactions —via several accounts —with Italy's UniCredit Bank, Russia Today television network quoted the Panorama magazine as reporting.

“This corruption is continuing on a regular basis in the Vatican,” claimed Janathan Levy, a lawyer familiar with the bank.

“Again, there's no reason for a religion to have a bank that does worldwide commercial activities, dealing in gold, dealing in insurance, dealing in property and then hiding behind the Roman Catholic Church," Levy pointed out.

“I had the privilege to walk inside this bank. It's nothing like a bank,” the Russian news channel quoted another lawyer, Massimiliano Gabrieli, as saying.

“If you go there you deposit or withdraw money without limit, without any kind of receipt for the bank and for the client. All you have is a single card with a number,” he stated.

The British London Telegraph, has recently ranked the Bank of the Vatican ahead of the Bahamas, Switzerland and Liechtenstein in banking secrecy.

The Vatican has denied all charges.

November 23, 2001

Vatican Bank Top 10 Money Laundering Destination

According to one global source, the Vatican is the main destination for over $55 billion in illegal Italian money laundering and the number 8 destination worldwide for laundered money, ranked well ahead of such offshore havens as the Bahamas, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

In a recent report by the London Telegraph and the Inside Fraud Bulletin, the Vatican was named as a top "cut out" country along with the offshore banking centers of Nauru, Macao, and Mauritius. A "cut out" country is one whose banking secrecy makes it is all but impossible to trace laundered funds back to their source.

The Vatican Bank is desperately resisting a legal action for an accounting of stolen World War II assets in a San Francisco Federal court (Alperin v. Vatican Bank) filed by Serb and Jewish Holocaust survivors. Contrary to the above reports, a declaration filed under penalty of perjury by the Vatican Bank's attorney, Franzo Grande Stevens, states in part that the Vatican Bank's "fundamental purpose is to promote pious acts" and that its depositors "are essentially limited to Vatican state employees, members of the Holy See, religious orders, and persons who deposit money destined, at least in part, for works of piety." Stevens also declared to the court that the Pope controls the Vatican Bank and that bank records are not retained after ten years.

It seems that the Vatican Bank, a major illegal money laundering operation, is hiding behind the benign image of John Paul II. Given the Vatican Bank's alleged involvement with Nazi loot and current links to organized crime, a reckoning cannot be far off. The accumulating evidence points to a more piratical than pietical Vatican Bank

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Pope John Paul II whipped himself regularly

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/6632462/Pope-John-Paul-II-whipped-himself-in-remorse-for-sins.html
Some will think this is "holy" -- they are talking about sainthood for him. Opus Dei members think self-flagellation is a "holy" thing to do, too. (Can you see my eyes rolling?) But then, who would know better what his sins were than he himself? The truly good Pope before him, John Paul I, died after only 33 days as Pope -- many think he was murdered because he planned to change things radically in the Vatican and the Church. John Paul I was actually embarking on a revolution. He wanted to set the Church in a new direction which was considered highly undesirable and dangerous by many high-ranking Church officials.

He wanted, first of all, to strip many of the Vatican members of their powers by dismissing them or reassigning them into harmless positions. Six men in particular, stood to lose a great deal if Pope John Paul I remained in power. (These were - Marcinkus, Villot, Calvi, Sindona, Cody and Gelli). There was a suspicion of a conspiracy among these men with Villot the instigator and Gelli the executioner. When John Paul II replaced John Paul I, none of the planned edicts of the first John Paul were ever carried out. For more information on this intriguing episode in the Catholic Church, see: http://www.prose-n-poetry.com/display_work/10583/

I've read a well-researched book about this alleged conspiracy entitled In God's Name by David Yallop. It presents a very convincing case against the dark elements of the Church's high-ranking clergy and their illegal banking practices that were about to be exposed and up-ended by John Paul I.

To read some fine reviews of this book, go to: http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Name-Investigation-Into-Murder/dp/0786719842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259050161&sr=1-1

Here is just one of them:
This is a difficult book to digest for faithful Roman Catholics like myself. It is the story of a wonderful priest who loved the poor and wanted the church to improve the quality of life for Catholics. Pope John Paul the First was a man who would not seek to impose Christian solutions on non-Christians; he was someone who was sensitive to social problems and open to dialogue; with a commitment to the search for unity; a good pastor, a good shepherd in the way that Jesus was; a man who sincerely believed that the church should not be out of date but be a relevant, nurturing factor in the lives of Catholics worldwide.

The press called him the "Smiling Pope." However, in reality Albino Luciani who wished to be called Pope John Paul the First and became the first double name in the history of the papacy was a man of enormous faith. What a shame his 33 days as pope in 1978 was the shortest stint since Pope Medici Leo XI in 1605 who only served 17 days. In all likelihood, he had the inner strength and intelligence to be the greatest pope in the history of the Vatican.

To this end, "In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I," by highly regarded journalist David A.Yallop is a work of monumental research and importance. The author dares to point a finger at the financial corruption within the Vatican. He names names...Michele Sindona, Roberto Calvi, Lucio Gelli, Cardinal John Patrick Cody of Chicago and Bishop Paul Casimir Marcinkus in Vatican City all conducted illegal activities. And Albino Luciani was determined to put an end to it.

This well-written book is difficult to put down. Quite naturally it is officially condemned by the oligarchy in the Vatican. However, I think it is important for all interested in the pursuit of truth to read this compelling book and drawn one's own conclusion. The evidence is hard to ignore. The conclusion is based on facts. It is truly hard to imagine but I am now convinced that Pope John Paul the First was murdered because he dared to promote positive change and rid the Vatican of corrupt banking practices. Highly recommended.

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I couldn't have said it better myself! I am in complete agreement

The present pope has taken the church back to the middle ages. And he, as Cardinal Ratzinger (perfect name for him), was one of the high prelates of the church who for years hid from the public the abominable sexual abuse of children by priests. A friend once told me her mother referred to the Catholic Church as "that black brood." When one hears the latest pronouncements of the pope, her assessment seems very appropriate. For an understanding of how innocent, trusting people have been betrayed and abused by the church, I highly recommend a documentary called "Deliver Us From Evil." It is out on DVD and can be rented through Netflix or Blockbuster.

LEGION OF DECENCY? THE CATHOLIC CHURCH COULD USE ONE FOR ITSELF!
by Jaime O'Neill

When I was a kid, I used to read movie reviews in one or another magazine when I was killing time over at my aunt's house. Those reviews linger in my memory because most of them had a code indicating whether or not the film under review was considered acceptable by the Catholic Church. The ratings were offered under the rubric of The Catholic Legion of Decency, and those guardians of public morality found lots of things to be indecent, even by the standards of the rather prudish 1950s.

It might be good if we had another Legion of Decency to rule on the actions of the Catholic Church itself these days because a lot of rather indecent things are being done in the name of Catholicism.

Perhaps you heard the outrageous story of the nine-year-old girl in Brazil, impregnated by her stepfather, whose family was informed by the Catholic Church that the girl's mother and her doctors would be excommunicated from the church for making the decision to abort the twins the child rape victim was carrying. The little girl was four months pregnant when her condition was discovered, and that discovery was made only because she had been complaining of severe stomach pains. At nine years old, the pregnancy was considered a threat to her life. Police in Brazil believe the girl had been sexually assaulted for years by her stepfather, probably since she was six years old. Declaring that "life must always be protected,‰ a senior Vatican cleric has defended the Catholic Church's decision to excommunicate the child's mother and doctors.

Jose Cardoso Sobrinho, the conservative regional archbishop who presides over the diocese where the little girl lives, has said that the child-molesting stepfather who impregnated the girl would not be thrown out of the Church. Although he had allegedly committed "a heinous crime, the Church took the view that "the abortion, the elimination of an innocent life, was more serious.

Now if I'm not mistaken, that nine-year-old girl was „an innocent life, too, had it not been for the stepfather who stole that innocence from her. But that child molester is still a member in good standing of the Catholic Church, and the girl's mother and her doctors are not.

If you're seeking spiritual guidance to help you make good moral choices, could you do much worse than an outfit that would come to such an astounding judgment in such a case?

Coming from a powerful organization led by men who are presumed to be celibates, this is a disgraceful act. And yet their moral judgment is so cloudy they rule that a pedophile is less a sinner than a child's mother who acts in the interest of her abused child's health.

But then the Catholic Church has a history of looking the other way where pedophilia is concerned, turning a blind eye on far too many predatory priests who treat acolytes and altar boys as sex toys, then protecting those molesters after they've been caught out.

This Brazilian case is evil itself, disguised in expensive robes, mitres, slippers and gold rings, supported by the Vatican in Rome, with the full majesty of the church brought to bear on a little girl's mother. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church makes ostentatious display of its wealth, much of it extracted from people like the poor of Brazil.

In its brutal indifference to a young girl's trauma, and to her mother and the doctors whose medical judgment they chose to ignore, the Catholic Church seems uneasily similar to the ruthless Taliban in its oppression of women. And in its overweening concern for the unborn over compassion for the living who are already here, the Catholic Church continues to show a hard heart for the flock it tends--and shears.

And, if the Brazilian case isn't outrageous enough, consider the recent episode surrounding Argentinian Bishop Richard Williamson, who denied the Holocaust in an interview with Swedish television. The Bishop's cavalier dismissal of the historical evidence of one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century generated a storm of anger.

In the interview that raised the storm, Williamson said that no more than 300,000 Jews "perished in Nazi concentration camps ... not one of them by gassing in a gas chamber."

Williamson is one of four bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St. Pius X whose excommunication was recently lifted by the Vatican. Years ago, while a rector in the U.S., Williamson was quoted as saying: In the Catholic Middle Ages the Jews were relatively impotent to harm Christendom, but as Catholics have grown over the centuries since then weaker and weaker in the faith... so the Jews have come closer and closer to fulfilling their substitute-Messianic drive towards world domination. He also said: There was not one Jew killed in the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies. And, according to Bishop Williamson: ...the Jews created the Holocaust so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new State of Israel.

That anti-Semite in the fancy robes was sanctioned by the Pope, who withdrew Bishop Williamson's ex-communication.

And let's not forget how the Pope used his Christmas message last year to broadcast the idea that saving the world from homosexuality was just as important as saving the rainforests, thus continuing the long-standing tradition of spreading fear, ignorance and bigotry.

To put a capper on all this, the Pope recently traveled to AIDS-ravaged Africa to carry a message AGAINST the use of condoms. This is not moral leadership, it is not spiritual guidance, it's criminal insanity cloaked in silk and satin surplices. The Pope was flown on his private jet from Rome to that poor and death-stalked African continent where he offered lethally bad advice about a disease that kills 6,000 people there every single day.

Papal infallibility? You bet your life.

If I did not love my country, I would not loathe George W. Bush.

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The Pope's Visit: Shame or Disgrace?

As a former Catholic, I agree completely with this essay by Stephen Pizzo. The Pope's Visit: Shame or Disgrace? http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/14188
The cable news networks devoted far too much coverage to the visit of this man who tried to keep pedophilia in the church a secret...and who allowed buggering priests to switch parishes and continue their molestation of children. I turned off the TV whenever they showed anything about him, just as I do whenever the lying Bush comes on the screen. UGH! to both of them. I am sorry to see so many Catholics are fooled by his "Faux Holiness." Just my own opinion, of course.

EXCERPT:
The very week Texas officials were rescuing 400 kids from a Mormon cult that allows grown men to have their way with underage girls, the Pope got a total pass on his Church's own sins against the rights of humans.

But, clearly, if you're the Pope you get a pass for discriminating against women and running a well-oiled pedophile protection racket for decades. You can come to America and get royal treatment from politicians and the press.

Hell, no one less than the President of the United States himself picked him up at the airport!

Then again, why should that surprise me? After all, George W. Bush and Benedict have a lot in common. They both prefer to keep the wings of the human spirit well trimmed. (You can say that again!)

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