The Power of the Paedos - another high profile case hits the 'never happened' wall?

[Jan Klimkowski]

Disenguous, self-serving and highly revealing garbage from the Archbishop of Durban.

Of course there's a cycle of abuse where the abused may become abusers themselves.

The Catholic Church should be striving to break that cycle of abuse, not perpetuating it by hiding the crimes of priests and allowing them to continue abusing.

Paedophilia is an illness NOT a crime, says cardinal just days after papal conclave

Claimed people abused as youngsters who then become paedophiles 'not criminally responsible'
Says paedophilia 'is an illness, not a criminal condition'
Says those people do not deserve to be punished because they are damaged


Pope Francis said that he wants a 'church for the poor'

By Anna Edwards

PUBLISHED: 09:02, 16 March 2013 | UPDATED: 11:20, 16 March 2013

Daily Mail

A South African cardinal who helped elect Pope Francis has described paedophilia as a psychological illness and not 'a criminal condition'.

The Catholic Archbishop of Durban, Wilfrid Fox Napier, told BBC Radio 5 live that people who were abused as children and became paedophiles were not criminally responsible for their actions in the same way as somebody 'who chooses to do something like that'.

Cardinal Napier, who was among the 115 cardinals in the conclave at the Vatican that elected Pope Francis earlier this week, called paedophilia a 'psychological disorder.

And just three days into the new role, the pope and the Catholic Church are now faced with fresh child abuse controversy after the cardinal's remarks.
pope

Newly elected Pope Francis (right), is given a yellow Catholic faith bracelet by Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa following a meeting at the Vatican (left). The South African cardinal claimed that paedophilia is an 'illness'

He said: 'What do you do with disorders? You have got to try and put them right.

'If I as a normal being choose to break the law knowing that I am breaking the law, then I think I need to be punished...

'From my experience paedophilia is actually an illness, it is not a criminal condition, it is an illness.'

The cardinal spoke of two priests he knew who were abused as children and went on to become paedophiles.

He told the BBC: 'Don't tell me that those people are criminally responsible like somebody who chooses to do something like that.


The cardinal said that in his experience, paedophilia is an illness, not a criminal condition, and the people who have been abused as children and then molest others are 'damaged'
Pope Francis explained to journalists in an audience today that he was a 'church for the poor'

Pope Francis explained to journalists in an audience today that he wants a 'church for the poor'

'I don't think you can really take the position and say that person deserves to be punished when he was himself damaged.'

Barbara Dorries, from the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests was abused as a child by a priest.

She told the BBC: 'If it is a disease that's fine, but it's also a crime and crimes are punished, criminals are held accountable for what they did and what they do.

'The bishops and the cardinals have gone to great lengths to cover these crimes to enable the predators to move on, to not be arrested, to keep the secrets within the church.'

The cardinal has made controversial statements before, maintaining that people should abstain from sex rather than use contraceptives, to stop spreading HIV.

He took the official Roman Catholic Stance and argued that government programmes to distribute condoms were ineffectual in stemming the spread of HIV.

Instead, he supported programmes based around abstinence.

He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

The cardinal is a prolific Twitter user, and has kept his followers up to date about the conclave and his meetings with the newly ordained pope.

He wrote: 'Last 2 days quite unreal. Mass with Pope Francis in Santa Martha Chapel, Breakfast, Lunch & Supper with him sitting at a different table!

'What's it like in Conclave? Apart from NO radio or TV, NO newspapers or phone calls, Emails or SMS's, NO Twitter or Facebook, all is normal.'
pope

Pope Francis I sits in the Paul VI general audience hall during an audience for members of the media

The pope thanked the media and told them how he had come to choose his name, saying he wanted Francis of Assisi who represented 'poverty and peace'

'We chat, discuss, get to know each other. Meals are special times. We relax, share stories about our home Churches, dream about the future!'

Pope Francis has said he wants 'a poor Church, for the poor' following his election as head of the Catholic Church.

In a meeting with journalists, the Pontiff said he was inspired to choose the name Francis after the 12th Century saint Francis of Assisi.

He said when news broke that he had been selected, a Brazilian colleague embraced him in congratulations and whispered 'don't forget the poor', the BBC reported.

He chose the Italian saint because he represented 'poverty and peace'.

Newly elected Pope Francis waves as he held his first meeting with journalists - who praised him for his warmth and friendliness

He urged journalists to share the church's focus on 'truth, goodness and beauty', and thanked them for their hard work.

The pope shook hands, held them, embraced people and was warm.

A blind reporter who was accompanied by a guide dog met the pope, and he patted the dog and stroked it, to cheers from the audience, Sky news reported.

He is due to celebrate mass tomorrow and will take part in an inaugural mass on Tuesday.

Pope Francis will visit his predecessor at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo next Saturday in a historic encounter that brings together the new pope and the first pope to resign in six centuries.

The meeting will be private, but every comment and gesture on the sidelines will be scrutinised for hints of how the unprecedented relationship will take shape between the emeritus pontiff and his successor.

Benedict has been out of the public eye since officially leaving the papacy on February 28.

The Vatican dismissed any suggestion that the former pope helped shaped the discussions inside the secret gathering of cardinals that selected Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio on Wednesday as the first pontiff from Latin America.

Vatican officials said there was no contact between the papal electors and Benedict before the conclave.