Number Nine of Ten

I gotta tell you I always find it amusing when people speak to the masses and include the media for good press.

I also am insulted when the speaker thinks that the masses that read the press release are totally stupid.

I may be dumb but I am not totally stupid, so follow along with me on my rant.

Pope Criticizes Bishops on Abuse Issue

WASHINGTON - Pope Benedict XVI told America's Roman Catholic leaders Wednesday evening that the clergy sex abuse scandal has sometimes been "very badly handled," his harshest criticism yet regarding the crisis that has badly damaged the U.S. church.

I interpret the term "very badly handled" to mean just that to the Pope rather than a sin.

Not a sin, not something to warrant being kicked out of the church for instead of being transferred to another parish to prey on other young boys, not something to be turned over to law enforcement for prosecution of the perpetrator, but rather a bad job of hushing it up.

Benedict's remarks came at a prayer service with hundreds of American bishops at a national shrine in Washington, and marked the second time the pope has addressed sex abuse on his first papal journey to the U.S.

This is the second time he has addressed sex abuse in the Catholic church while on his journey to the United States?

He is 81 years old and has worked his way through the ranks to the Popehood. In all that time, other than this trip to the United States, when has he spoken about pedophiles of the priesthood?

Benedict spoke in English on a special Alitalia flight from Rome to Washington, answering questions submitted by reporters in advance.

"It is a great suffering for the Church in the United States and for the church in general and for me personally that this could happen," Benedict said.

"It is difficult for me to understand how it was possible that priests betray in this way their mission ... to these children."

"I am deeply ashamed and we will do what is possible so this cannot happen again in the future," the pope said.

Benedict pledged that pedophiles would not be priests in the Catholic Church.

Well then that means they might as well start boarding up the churches because when, and if, he cleans the houses, there will be very, very few preists left.

"We will absolutely exclude pedophiles from the sacred ministry," Benedict said. "It is more important to have good priests than many priests. We will do everything possible to heal this wound."

When? Seriously when? What is the delay?

Why is there not a plan already underway? Are clerical molesters something he just heard about?

Is he talking excluding new preist pedophiles or the existing priest pedophiles?

Benedict addressed clerical molesters in the wider context of secularism and the over-sexualization of America. "What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today?" he asked.

So the Pope blames the pedophile priests in the Catholic church on America.

Not only that, he acts like this is new because in America pornography and violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available today.

I wonder what the pedophile priests had in the way of pornography and violence for viewing before technology?

The fact is, the same issues plague the Catholic Church in other countries. Those other countries do not have the legal system or the media coverage we do, but the pedophile priests are there.

So when the Pope uses the phrase "very badly handled" that to me implies he means by the courts and/or the Catholic Churches' attorneys.

Benedict said that it was important to remember that the vast majority of priests served faithfully but that it also was the bishops' "God-given responsibility" to reach out to those who had been "so seriously wronged."

Sorry Pope, but I think the problem started long long ago when the priests reached out.

The Vatican doesn't punish bishops who shelter offenders. There are no penalties for church leaders who fail to discipline predatory priests.

It's easy for the church to continually focus on the pedophile priests themselves and then transfer them to some other unsuspecting parish while not focusing on the broader problem — complicity in the rest of the church hierarchy.

Although a few bishops accused of molestation have stepped down, no bishop has been disciplined for failing to keep abusive clergy away from children.

Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in 2002 after church files were made public showing he and other church leaders had allowed accused clergy to continue in public ministry.

To my knowledge, few if any priests have been arrested and jailed for being a pedophile which indicates to me the church has wielded its authority over law enforcement.

The church has paid out more than $2 billion in abuse costs since 1950, the majority of it since 2002.

Six U.S. dioceses have declared bankruptcy in recent years because of the financial toll of the scandal.

It's time for the Pope to stop hiding from the truth!

In fact, as a friendly reminder I recommend to you Pope Benedict XVI that you read number nine of the Ten Commandments which states:

"Thou shalt not bear false witness"

Which, in layman's terms, means "You shall not lie"!!!!!