Does anyone really listen to this idiot?

[Kaloki]

Story here

Talking about police raids on suspected child abusers in the church, Pope Benedict has said,

"I want to express, dear brother in the Episcopate, as well as to all the Bishops of Belgium, my closeness and solidarity in this moment of sadness, in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, searches were carried out"

Surely he should be more upset by the child abuse than the attempts to find the child abusers?

All they did was drill into a tomb and use a camera to search for papers relating to this; a sort of tomboscopy?

"Several buildings were searched in raids targeting a retired archbishop and the graves of two prelates"

what are they hoping to find in graves?

why not just burn it then? Why hide it in a tomb IYSWIM?

It's a bit Dan Brown.

So what that tells me is that the all stuff he's saying by way of apology re Ireland and US cases of abuse, and his strong words condemning any abusers in his church to date is actually just lip service and bullshit.

Millions of followers around the world not only take the Pope seriously but also regard his every word as infallible. This unthinking loyalty contributed to the problem in the first place since no-one seems to have entertained the idea that priests were capable of wrongdoing. However, RCs and priests in general now find themselves demonised by public opinion for the actions of a 'few bad apples' and they are looking for expressions of support. That's what he's doing here....

Chil - although I am no fan of the Catholic Church (am atheist), I do not like to see inaccurate information, especially when the correct version is easily found on the web. Catholics do not believe the Pope's every word is infallible see here

Back to the thread topic - it would be nice to think the pope would sympathise more with the victims than the perpetrators, but as far as I can tell, he has no idea how to relate to the general public.

Its now quite clear that the pope supports and protects child rapists and abusers.

The question is when are they going to get rid of him, and why is he still there now?

He is an absolute disaster for the church's reputation. Do we have to wait until he himself is convicted of child abuse?

You can't get rid of a Pope...he needs to die to be replaced.

So when/how do you think he'll be bumped off then? Wouldn't be the first time a Pope hasn't lasted very long.......