As Christians get ready to celebrate, perhaps their most holiest of days, I am reminded of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and all that it entails. Forgiveness of sins. Everlasting life for those who are saved through him. And all of that is good if you believe in that kind of stuff. But I wonder whether or not there is forgiveness and everlasting life awaiting those Catholic Priests that have raped and tortured innocent children over the centuries?
This ridiculous dogma of celibacy and not allowing priest to marry is denying man of one of his most powerful and basic instincts. Priests need to eat also but I don’t see any edict banning the consumption of food. The two rules were instituted for two reasons, first, to have sex with a woman was considered to make a man unclean and if you’re dirty, you really can’t serve God can you? Secondly, and by far more importantly, the ban against marriage was to keep heirs from making any claims against church property. Damn if the Pope was going to give up one of his golden candle sticks.
I am not qualified to comment on the psychological problems that these restrictions have on their actions. But one could reasonably assume that by denying themselves of their basic needs could manifest some deviant behavior. Now that this deviant behavior is coming into the light again and the Pope has been implicated in the cover up, you have more denials coming out the Vatican than a Republican Senator caught in an airport bathroom. When the Vatican starts comparing the accusations against Benedict to Anti-Semitism you know the wheel is about to come off. What’s even worse is that as an institution, the Catholic Church has a long history of Anti-Semitic behavior.
The only way to save what little integrity the Church has left is for Pope Benedict to resign and make public the names of all abusive priests and turn their names over to the civilian authorities. They may also want to adopt the practices of the Eastern Catholic Church which allows their priests to marry. The rape and torture of defenseless children must stop. The Holy See needs to open his eyes and do the right thing.
