Sexual abuse of children occurs in all societies, irrespective of culture, religion or race. What varies is the way different societies deal with the problem. In societies where sexuality is suppressed, there is a culture of denial, silence or blaming the victim. When sexuality is severely suppressed there is likely to be a manifestation of warped views and attitudes towards sex.
The Catholic Church had always dictated its brand of morality – particularly in sexual matters to the masses and still expects people to abide by its moral code, which is mandated by an “infallible” pope. It still endeavours to inflict its moral code on all, via the UN and Catholic parliamentarians. Sexual abuse would have always existed within the Catholic Church and in recent years there have been an ever-growing number of victims coming forward, speaking out and demanding justice through the secular courts.
Are Roman Catholic priests the only paedophiles? The answer is no! Paedophiles are from all walks of life. What angers many people is the way the Church has been handling, or rather mishandling, the issue and its attitude towards the victims.
Rather than promptly deal with the problem, the Catholic Church has been habitually transferring offending priests to parishes where the public has no knowledge of their wrong doings. Money has been offered to victims in order to shut them up!
It is odd that an institution that claims to be pro family has been persistently protecting proven paedophiles.
The Catholic Church has had a long record in siding with villains; after all, didn’t it aid the escape of Nazi war criminals to Catholic Latin America?
By Voula Papas