The cross is not broken but turned upside down. It indicates the rejection of Jesus Christ and contempt for the gospel of salvation. Professor J S Malan
In the late middles ages the Catholic Church thought of a diabolical way to bring in more cash ... These sin credits were a big money-maker … Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s6e6: Being Green, Showtime 2008
If your morality is governed by anything personal, ethical, rational or humanitarian then the Vatican is bullshit. Penn & Teller, Bullshit! s7e10: Vatican
Behold Vatican City. The papal crypt. God’s Las Vegas. ibid.
Making life hell for the billions of the rest of us: from the Crusades to the Inquisition, from condoning slavery to denying the holocaust, for nearly two thousand years Muslims, Jews, Gays, Women, Africans, Children, the Poor ... have all borne the brunt of the Vatican’s irresponsible abuse of its powers. ibid.
The man who puts the asshole in Catholic – Pope Benedict XVI. ibid.
There is still eighty-one countries where it’s illegal to be gay. And seven where you can actually be put to death for it. The Vatican seems to be OK with that. ibid.
Why did the Pope’s apology smell like bullshit? Because he himself organised the cover-up. ibid.
2005: The Pope was granted immunity from liability from any sex-abuse cover-ups in the US by George W Bush. ibid.
Instruction: On The Manner of Proceeding In Cases of Solicitation The Decree Crimen Sollicitationis The Vatican Press March 16 1962 ... Anyone involved in a sex-abuse investigation, the accuser and the accused, are to be restrained by a perpetual silence ... In all matters and with all persons, under the penalty of excommunication. Secret Vatican document uncovered from 2003
Religion that as reported in Time magazine Catholic institutions have recently paid out more than $300,000,000 in the United States in settlement of cases where priests have been accused of sexually abusing under-age boys. And there is no end in sight to other pending cases. Notra Dame Philosophy Professor Ralph McKinnery said, ‘We, the Catholic church could be sued out of existence.’ Derek Partridge, The Naked Truth
I acknowledge the pain that the Church in America has experienced as a result of the sexual abuse of minors. Pope Benedict XVI
The rape and the torture of children were downplayed and managed to uphold instead the primacy of the institution, its power, its standing and its reputation. Enda Kenny, Irish prime minister July 2011
I should have been removed and attended to. Father Oliver O’Grady
He was very supportive. Father Oliver O’Grady, re Bishop Mahony
I called him [Oliver Grady] in and told him he was to decease contact. Bishop Roger Mahony
I am angry at [Bishop] Mahony for claiming that he had absolutely no knowledge at this paedophile who had a file. Nancy Sloan, victim
More accuse Lode priest of sex crimes. Metro front page
The Number One goal of every Bishop, and a part of the vows they take when they become Bishop, is to protect the Church from scandal. Protecting the church from scandal means documents, witnesses and victims are kept quiet and shuffled away. Jewell Casticks, SNAP, survivors’ network for victims of abuse
Case and Jane DeGroot: Before leaving the priesthood Case was pastor of St Anne’s Parish [Lodi, California] where Oliver O’Grady was a priest. Deliver Us from Evil ***** director Amy Berg
1976: Bishop Guilfoyle promises Nancy Sloan’s family Oliver O’Grady will be sent to a monastery. In exchange the family does not press charges. ibid.
1980: Bishop Guilfoyle passes away; he is replaced by Roger Mahony. ibid.
The Howard’s evidence: October 10 1980 letter: ‘I spoke to you once before about Father Oliver O’Grady.’ ibid.
1982: Roger Mahony moves Oiver O’Grady to another parish 52 miles away. ibid.
1983: Oliver O’Grady continues to abuse children in Stockton, Turlock and Lodi. ibid.
1984: Roger Mahony moves Oliver O’Grady to another parish 47 miles away. ibid.
2000: Oliver O’Grady is released from prison and deported to Ireland. ibid.
Pope Benedict XVI was accused of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse in the United States. At the Vatican’s request, President Bush granted the Pope immunity from prosecution. ibid.
Over 100,000 victims of clergy sexual abuse have come forward in the United States alone. ibid.
What I’ve encountered is deception, perjury, denial and deceit at the higher levels of the Catholic Church. Jeff Anderson, attorney for Howards
As of June 2002 we had over 100 criminal investigations ongoing. Bill Hodgman, Los Angeles deputy district attorney
There is no basis in the scriptures for mandatory celibacy ... Married priests when they died their inheritance went to their oldest son. And so the institutionalised church leaders desiring to stop this practice begin to mandate celibacy. Father Tom Doyle
Bishops and Cardinals have consistently lied to us. Father Tom Doyle
The only time Christ ever got angry is when he went to Church. Father Tom Doyle
There’s no policy to help the victims ... And there’s an unwritten policy to lie about the existence of the problem ... This is all over the world. Father Tom Doyle
There are two types of people in the Church: the hierarchy – the sacred pastors as they call them, who are picked out by God to lead – and the vast throng who are the lay people, and their duty is to be docile and obedient followers. The system is a monarchy. Father Tom Doyle, canon lawyer & historian
A politicised reward for thinking the right way. Father Tom Doyle
This is Father Oliver O’Grady, a former Catholic priest. The Church knew he was a child abuser. Instead of reporting O’Grady, the Church hid him from the authorities. No mistake but part of a secret Church directive. The man responsible for enforcing it was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Panorama: Sex Crimes and the Vatican, BBC 2006
Four years ago this priest – Father Sean Fortune – was at the centre of Ireland’s biggest child abuse inquiry. The scandal exposed details of a secret Vatican decree which seemed to shelter the perpetrators and silence the victims of abuse. ibid.
An oath of silence was part of the secret Church decree called Crimen Sollicitationis. The Directive was written in 1962. ibid.
In 2001 he [Ratzinger] created the successor to the Decree: in spirit it was the same – overarching secrecy with a threat of excommunication. He sent a copy to every Bishop in the world. ibid.
Almost 4,500 US priests have been accused of raping or sexually abusing children. ibid.
There are over seven US priests who face allegations of child sexual abuse living with the support of the Church here in and around the Vatican. ibid.
O’Grady does not appear on the Irish sex offenders’ register. ibid.
The Pope under pressure on paedophile priests. The victims of abuse who have lost their faith. And their demands for a personal apology from the Pope himself. Panorama, What the Pope Knew, BBC 2010
What of his personal role in the scandal? … This is the story of how he dealt with several paedophile priests on his path to the top of the Catholic church. ibid.
Whether he put the interests of the Church before those of the victims. ibid.
Ireland’s attachment to the Catholic Church is straining to breaking point. The secret crimes of Irish priests against children have collapsed the Church’s moral authority. This World: The Shame of the Catholic Church, BBC 2012
The cleric abuse scandal is far from ended. It goes to the very top of the Catholic Church in Ireland. ibid.
The police investigation which ended with Father Eugene Green being jailed in 2000 found evidence the priest’s crime were covered up. ibid.
What the Church knew was never explained. ibid.
It involved Cardinal Sean Brady, primate of all Ireland, and the country’s most notorious paedophile priest Father Brendan Smyth. At its centre a boy who in 1975 reported Smith’s abuse to the Cardinal. ibid.
Their families were not warned in any way about the paedophile. ibid.