Why are we allowing the pope to judge criminals???

[Manel]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/pope_francis/index.html

The pope is judging criminals who would deserve long imprisonment, and comdemning them to leave the church, or even just to pray!

Shouldn't our voice be heard loud at this criminal stupidity????

This is incredible

[Zeff]

You're quoting the Daily Mail, which can be wildly misleading. Always check the facts with another source, especially if original source is the UK's Daily Mail. Virtually all UK newspapers (with the possible exception of the Financial Times) seem to do a poor job of separating reporting from editorial comment to some degree. The Daily Mail is perhaps the least trustworthy, in my opinion. The problem seems to be the British public who still buy these publications.

I'm no friend of the Pope but I would treat this report (and every Daily Mail article) with extreme caution.

[Manel]

Hello, Zeff! Happy to hear from you again.

I've seen it in several news agencies from several countries, and I think the facts are hundreds or maybe thousands of catholic priests around the world have no punishment for these horrible crimes. This should drive people crazy, but I'm amazed at how tolerant society is with these criminals. I have no words for describing how serious this matter is.

Best wishes

[Zeff]

.. I've seen it in several news agencies from several countries, and I think the facts are ...

There isn't usually a problem finding one or two hundred sources of a particular "report". (Journalists now openly call them "stories" and they are often on what's called the 'Newsfeed' so are routinely repeated around the world). That is how fake news works. I hope you agree that it isn't the number of times and occasions a news item is repeated that determines its degree of veracity, it is the source of the material and the correct context in which it should be seen that are important. In this case the Daily Mail report happens to be basically correct, according to Vatican friendly sources.

The problem isn't just the dubious wisdom of a Pope's authoritarian decisions, nor even how arbitrary they may be. At the root of the problem is widespread recognition of the Vatican as a State. The Pope has a right to govern the Vatican State as he sees fit which naturally includes the right and obligation to have laws and to see they are enforced. What is wrong is firstly that the Vatican is a State and secondly that it is ruled in a fundamentally undemocratic and opaque way.

http://childabuserecovery.com/catholic- ... g-orphans/

At the root of the problem of the Vatican and paedophile priests is that religionists often do not understand the nature of paedophilia. They seem to think it is curable like a disease.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/20 ... e-priests/
Quote: Francis has repeatedly proclaimed “zero tolerance” for abusive priests and in December wrote to the world’s bishops committing to take “all necessary measures” to protect them. But he also recently said he believed sex abusers suffer from a “disease” – a medical term used by defence lawyers to seek mitigating factors in canonical sentences.
Unquote.
Some people hold the view that all paedophiles can always control their sexually driven desires.

And it's always a pleasure for me to see you here too. I must get my Skype set up again in the next week or so, so I'll probably try and contact you and see if you happen to be available.

[Manel]

Thanks for your clarifying answer!

See you in skype!

Best wishes