Pope talks about Catholic clergy paedophilia, allegedly claiming their numbers inclides CARDINALS ! ! !

[alhoon]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28282050

From the article:

"Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles."


and

"Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals."


Some Vatican official claims that the pope didn't say Cardinals and that the interview wasn't exactly formal.
"Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied that Pope Francis had said that there were cardinals who were paedophiles."
"Mr Scalfari [[The editor that wrote the interview]] does not use a digital recorder, and Father Lombardi said Pope Francis never checked the accuracy of the interview."



Although I admire the courage and apparent sincerity of the pope, I start to think he's a bit... off mentaly. Not exactly crazy, but not totally sane either. Accusing CARDINALS?
Accusing 1/50 priests of the church for paedophilia?
Without checking facts first?!?

Well, while it may lead to a witch-hunt in the catholic church (It's about time the inquisition came around again!) at least it will root out the probably 1/1000 paedophile priests.

[hellheaven1987]

It is possible Pope is trying to pave the road of purging Church.

[Caesar Germanico]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28282050

From the article:

"Pope Francis has been quoted as saying that reliable data indicates that "about 2%" of clergy in the Catholic Church are paedophiles."


and

"Among the 2% who are paedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals."


Some Vatican official claims that the pope didn't say Cardinals and that the interview wasn't exactly formal.
"Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi denied that Pope Francis had said that there were cardinals who were paedophiles."
"Mr Scalfari [[The editor that wrote the interview]] does not use a digital recorder, and Father Lombardi said Pope Francis never checked the accuracy of the interview."



Although I admire the courage and apparent sincerity of the pope, I start to think he's a bit... off mentaly. Not exactly crazy, but not totally sane either. Accusing CARDINALS?
Accusing 1/50 priests of the church for paedophilia?
Without checking facts first?!?

Well, while it may lead to a witch-hunt in the catholic church (It's about time the inquisition came around again!) at least it will root out the probably 1/1000 paedophile priests.

Don't really think this is news, basically Scalfari (who used to be a very good journalist) got his facts wrong.

[alhoon]

Yet, the Vatican official confirmed the "spirit of the discussion" (i.e. hunting down paedophiles in the catholic Church) is true.

[Condottiere 40K]

Francis is probably the only one with the moral and actual authority to do some whole sale purging.

[Mayer]

only 2%?
I thought these hypocrites would harbor a lot more.
Maybe Francis just confirmed the number to disguise that it's actually much more common in catholic circles.

[alhoon]

only 2%?
I thought these hypocrites would harbor a lot more.
Maybe Francis just confirmed the number to disguise that it's actually much more common in catholic circles.

How many pedophiles you think there are, in the general population in general? Even if the catholic church acts as a beacon for pedophiles, getting those freaks left and right ... they couldn't have more than 0.2%-0.3%. It's not like pedophilia is common.

[justicar5]

How many pedophiles you think there are, in the general population in general? Even if the catholic church acts as a beacon for pedophiles, getting those freaks left and right ... they couldn't have more than 0.2%-0.3%. It's not like pedophilia is common.

They would not have to be to have a huge impact on the church % wise. their are 38k priests in the US (to use the US as an example, since the data is the easiest to find) and already given the number of cases in the US, a priest is 10 times as likely to be a paedophile than a lay man. The incidence of Paedophilia among men is estimated to run to about 5%, this is not the number of active abusers, but men who are symptomatic of the disorder, if 1% of all possible paedophiles actually engage in abuse that gives us a number of possibles of: given a US adult male (over 18) of roughly 115million, taking the likelihoods previously stated 5.75 million ish, with tendencies of which 57500 will be active. There are likely to be more active paedophiles on the us, than there are priests, so 2% is a believable number for the church, not saying it is true, but it is definitely inside the realms of possibility (especially as the 1% of possibles as offenders is a touch of an arse pull by the sources I used, as no one is sure.)

[alhoon]

The incidence of Paedophilia among men is estimated to run to about 5%, this is not the number of active abusers, but men who are symptomatic of the disorder

No way! I don't know any "closet pedo"! Unless you count those guys that like 16 year old girls. I know some of those, but they are... like 20 years old so it's not completely unnatural.


In any case 1% of 5% is 0.05%. Which sounds about right. I believe closet pedophiles are like 7-8 times the active ones, i.e. 0.3% - 0.4%.

But the pope was talking (as far as I got it from the article) about those that act on their unnatural desires. So if 0.05% of men are active paedophiles and the church has it x10, then the number is 0.5% not, 2%. 1/200 priests is still too high though. It's increadibly high. I believe I've met and talked to more than 100 priests (thankfully orthodox ones) while I was a kid. Heck, I even went to a Christian school with many priest teachers for 2 years!

You want me to believe that there's a good chance I've been talking to paedophiles as a kid?

[justicar5]

No way! I don't know any "closet pedo"! Unless you count those guys that like 16 year old girls. I know some of those, but they are... like 20 years old so it's not completely unnatural.


In any case 1% of 5% is 0.05%. Which sounds about right. I believe closet pedophiles are like 7-8 times the active ones, i.e. 0.3% - 0.4%.

But the pope was talking (as far as I got it from the article) about those that act on their unnatural desires. So if 0.05% of men are active paedophiles and the church has it x10, then the number is 0.5% not, 2%. 1/200 priests is still too high though. It's increadibly high. I believe I've met and talked to more than 100 priests (thankfully orthodox ones) while I was a kid. Heck, I even went to a Christian school with many priest teachers for 2 years!

You want me to believe that there's a good chance I've been talking to paedophiles as a kid?

5% is not my number, it is taken from the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 2009. On the numbers for women..not sure is fair to say, as access, chances of victim being believed etc are vastly different. The 1% number is as I say an arse pull, no one is sure either way, the numbers I gave fro 10 tiems more likely is taken from population vs reported offences for adults in the general population, vs priests, that is taken from reported incidents, how many remain unreported is anyone's guess.

[Heathen Hammer]

First he ed with Mafia, now this. I predict he won't die by his own death...

[GussieFinkNottle]

The catholic church really is an utterly discredited organisation. Greedy, reckless (e.g contributing to the spread of AIDS), heartless (the cover-ups), borderline psychopathic (Magdalen laundries, baby removal in Spain and Ireland), and woefully useless at providing for the care and safety of its charges (the rapists). The pope is completely sane. This is a genuinely huge problem, not blown out of proportion and not implausibly including cardinals. It is largely the reason why the institution is despised by so many in Europe. Nuns in Ireland say they regularly get spat at in the street now.

They should get rid of clerical celibacy, for a start. It just leads to lots of suppressed individuals who take it out on those with no power. Many of the abusers were probably not paedophiles originally, but suppressed to the point of insanity and that was what they could get away with, kids drilled in obedience. If the Roman church wants to reform and regain some public trust, that's where it should start.

[alhoon]

The catholic church really is an utterly discredited organisation. Greedy, reckless (e.g contributing to the spread of AIDS), heartless (the cover-ups), borderline psychopathic (Magdalen laundries, baby removal in Spain and Ireland), and woefully useless at providing for the care and safety of its charges (the rapists). The pope is completely sane. This is a genuinely huge problem, not blown out of proportion and not implausibly including cardinals. It is largely the reason why the institution is despised by so many in Europe. Nuns in Ireland say they regularly get spat at in the street now.

They should get rid of clerical celibacy, for a start. It just leads to lots of suppressed individuals who take it out on those with no power. Many of the abusers were probably not paedophiles originally, but suppressed to the point of insanity and that was what they could get away with, kids drilled in obedience. If the Roman church wants to reform and regain some public trust, that's where it should start.

I agree that celibacy needs to go and I agree that there is a terrible problem of pedophile priests. But blowing it out of proportion to the point of making every parent suspicious of the local priest is NOT the answer and it does more harm than good.
The Catholic church, for all their crimes are doing some good in the world and there are a lot of priests that act as an anchor for their local communities and help troubled people find answers without preying on kids.

[Salah ad Din Yusuf]

So that is why catamite grants you +1 agent skill!

[Lord of Nihilism]

The amount of supposed paedophiles is over exaggerated to be honest and shouldn't be considered a problem by anyone outside of the Catholic Church, so essentially we should let the Catholic Church and the clergy solve this problem. The Catholic Church has a long history of displaying courage, integrity and fighting just wars so saying that Cardinals or any clergy of the Catholic Church is a paedophile is incorrect, and would most likely be offensive to any religious person. A lot of people are forgetting that the Catholic Church has always been viewed favourably in the eyes of the public, so why would they tarnish that reputation by letting paedophiles into the Catholic Church as a clergy member? It defies logic and reasoning.

[Mayer]

The Catholic Church has a long history of displaying courage, integrity and fighting just wars so saying that Cardinals or any clergy of the Catholic Church is a paedophile is incorrect,

Let's pretend that the long history of catholicism's aggressive proselytism of people, suppression of cultures & customs, exploitation of commoners with excessive taxes, authority over governments, crusades, excommunication for political goals, witch-hunts, business with relics and indulgences, the well recorded sexual abuses as well as infighting, antipopes, inquisition of 'heretics' (everyone who disagrees with politics of the papacy) and the counter-reformation, leading to the Thirty-years war which depopulated huge areas in germany never happend.

and would most likely be offensive to any religious person.

As if i would care, call me a catholiphobe if you like

A lot of people are forgetting that the Catholic Church has always been viewed favourably in the eyes of the public

I remember the spread of Luther's reformation, germany's culture struggle against the church and anarchists burning churches in Spain
Not so favourable ..

[PlPs]

2% reminds me CA's 2%

if you know what I mean...

[removeduser_487563287433]

Nice to have admission of the crimes of the Catholic Church that have been widely documented for sixty years.

[fkizz]

Well this is a based Pope. Seems I underestimated him initially.

Hopefully he will purge the church from filth aswell as reducing celibacy requirements. This guy has the courage of a lion.

Criticizing something is very easy, actually changing it.. is extremely hard.

[Mayer]

we aren't talking about 'attraction', we are talking about catholic circles constituting a society where men can only pursue their sexual instincts by preying on defenseless cildren