The Catholic Church will abolish the celibacy requirement for priests, but not for the purest reason. This exhaustive article will present a brief historical timeline on the priesthood and celibacy, examine six reasons why the Vatican will eliminate the celibacy rule likely before 2030, and offer conclusions. The following six rationales will be significantly reviewed: a. Celibacy position is not biblical or an early church tradition, b. Shortage of Priests, c. Exodus of Catholics, d. Pressure of Catholic adherents and organizations, e. Celibacy is a failed method and is continually on Vatican agenda, f. Vatican already allows certain priests to be married. Before addressing these topics, a brief note on how the Sexual Abuse Scandal was handled.
Brief note on the handling of the Sexual Abuse Scandal
In 1985, the Catholic Church was warned, including by high-level advisors to openly investigate and settle the Sexual Abuse cases by priests globally. After the Gauthe case in Louisiana (‘father’ Gilbert Gauthe of Lafayette indicted for repeatedly sodomizing and sexually abusing children), Attorney Ray Mouton (a Catholic), knowing that the Diocese and its insurers had already paid about $5 million on this one case, warned those he could reach – including Father Thomas Doyle and Rev. (psychiatrist) Michael Peterson. Doyle, Peterson and Mouton wrote a memorandum (‘The Manual’ – linked below) for U.S. bishops, that was presented to all the bishops at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (1985) explaining that if left to smolder the scandal would cost over a billion dollars in settlements, also stating ‘a ten billion dollar class action lawsuit has been threatened.’
The Vatican continued to ignore the warnings or confront the public and systematically moved known offenders. This practice did and has led to the Catholic Church paying out over $3 billion in settlements in the United States alone and losing a significant number and percentage of followers worldwide. According to BishopAccountablity.org, the U.S. settlements to date (2019) involve 5,679 persons (6% of the estimated 100,000 U.S. victims – 1993 Greeley Study). NOTE: the Vatican’s Institute for the Works of Religion (Istituto per le Opere di Religione –Bank) held $5.3 billion in assets (2018 Annual Report; down from $5.7 in 2016); but the Vatican has a Euro printing press and another $10-$100 billion in art and properties.
http://www.bishopaccountability.org/assign/Gauthe_Gilbert_J.htm
https://www.bishop-accountability.org/reports/1985_06_09_Doyle_Manual/
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/settlements/
Professionals and laity alike have called and warned the Catholic Church to allow priests to marry; and being about 1,000 years late, they will see a major Reformation. They will allow priests to married and abolish the archaic monastic rule as a requirement – maybe even as a recommended practice; they will open the floodgates for married ministers; and the Catholic Church will significantly change their position on women’s roles. About 2003, I wrote in a book that same-sex marriage would be legalized in America by 2020 – Massachusetts legalized it in 2004, then all states in 2015 by the Supreme Court. Once ‘domestic partnerships,’ then ‘same-sex marriages,’ were made legal in a few states, then a few countries, the U.N., politicians, professors, psychologists and most large corporations and organizations pushed the unbiblical arrangements through all the formerly “Christian” nations.
Historical Timeline of the Priesthood and Celibacy in the Church (3 pages)
Day 6 (3760 BC; 5,780 years ago – from 2020 – according to Hebrew calendar and KJV): “God created man… then (the) female… and God blessed them and said, ‘…be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth…’ (Gen. 1:27-28).”
Year 2194 (c. 1566 BC): Levi was born; third son of Jacob (Israel) – son of Isaac, son of Abraham.
Years 2364/2368 (c. 1391 BC): Aaron and Moses were born to Amram (son of Kohath; son of Levi).
14th century BC: Aaron married Elisheba and had 4 sons (Exodus 6:23).
Year 2448/2449 (c. 1311 BC): Moses received the Ten Commandments (2 tablets) from the Lord; and the Lord God commanded to Moses: “Take… Aaron your brother, and his SONS with him, from among the children of Israel, that he and his sons may minister unto Me in the PRIEST’s office (Exodus 28:1).”
14th century BC: “as for Moses, the man of God, his sons (of his wife Zipporah – Exodus 18:2) were named among the tribe of Levi (1 Chron. 23:15).”
14th century BC: the MARRIED “Levites were appointed for ALL the service of the Tabernacle of the House of God. Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for ALL the work of the MOST HOLY PLACE, and to make atonement for Israel, according to ALL that Moses the servant of God had commanded [(according to which the Lord told and revealed to Moses in the wilderness) (1 Chronicles 6:48-49)].”
For over 1300 years, the sons of Aaron were priests of the Jews – children of God – until the time of Christ, even after that and some claim for over 3,300 years, Levi’s descendants – nearly all married males – have ministered as priests.
5th-6th century BC: Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monks (worshiping false gods) sought to live celibate.
2nd -1st BC: a few certain Jews lived monastic lives.
5 BC: Jesus Christ, the Son of God – God our Salvation – was born of the virgin (Luke 1:31; 2:11)
27 AD: Jesus appointed the 12 apostles (His original 12 disciples), Judas would fall and Jesus would personally make/see hundreds more (though “many turned back and did not walk with Him;” John 6:66).
1st century: Apostle Simon Peter was married (Matt. 8:14-; Luke 4:38; 1 Cor. 9:5). [He was inaccurately considered 1st Pope; at “Jerusalem Council” “the apostles and elders,” still “in one accord (Acts 2),” with Paul and Barnabas, spoke to the churches saying, not the pope, but “the apostles and elders, your brothers (Acts 15:23).” But if anyone had the lead, it would have been James (Matt. 13:55; Acts 15:13), the half-brother of Jesus; the different apostle James, brother of John, was already martyred (Acts 12:2,17)].
1st century AD: Paul, the celibate by choice with offering and dying service, apostle and high-priest, even of the tribe of Benjamin (not Levi; but among ALL CHRISTIANS – “called to be saints,” Priesthood Order established by Christ), speaking to the churches said, ”Don’t we have the right to have a believing wife, AS DOES Peter, and the Lord’s brothers (Matt. 13:55), and the other apostles (1 Corinthians 9:5).”
1st century AD: Paul, to ALL Christians: “it is good (so they can devote life to the gospel) for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman; but because of temptation to sexual immorality (‘fornication’ – sin leading to hell – 1 Cor. 6:9), let every man have his own wife…”
1st century AD: Paul to all bishops (overseers/elders): “the bishop/overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, self-controlled… able to teach… a deacon must be faithful to his wife… (1 Tim. 3).”
Early church: a very few gnostic types lived as monks.
1st century AD: Josephus testifies of Antiquities of Jews, including how God “overthrew the nation of sodomites out of his wrath against them for their sins.”
ALL of the early church fathers were for marriage (most married) and against adultery and sin.
c.400: John Chrysostom (Homily 2 on Titus): “’If any be blameless, the husband of one wife…’ (Paul says this) to stop the mouths of those heretics, who condemned marriage…”
306: Council of Elvira (Spain): Decree #43: a priest who sleeps with his WIFE the night before Mass will lose his job. (Paul: ‘abstain from sexual …for a short time… by agreement… but come back (1 Cor. 7:5).’
325: Council of Nicea (where Nicaean creed was approved): Canon 3: “Council has stringently forbidden any bishop, priest, deacon, or any of the clergy, to have a woman living with him, except a mother, sister, aunt…” Canon 10: “IF some lapse… they must be deposed.”
352: Council of Laodicea: “women are not to be ordained.”
380s: Augustine (a pillar of the Catholic church; and early church father): wrote “on the Good of Marriage.” Augustine had a son (named Adeodatus – ‘gift of God’) in his youth, out of marriage with a former unnamed lover before his conversion. He and his son were baptized in 388.
385: Pope Siricius left his wife and children and accepted Pope position (384-399). Then also decreed that priest may no longer have sex with their wives. (seriously foolish, ungodly and unnatural declaration)
401: Augustine (now in Rome) wrote, “nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman (Soliloquies 1:10).”
567: 2nd Council of Tours (who also wanted the calendar year to begin with their guess when Easter was): “any cleric found in bed with his WIFE would be excommunicated for a year (LOL – excuse me).”
580s: Pope Gregory (590-604): Pastoral Rule III: “Those who are joined in marriage should be advised that, as they mutually consider what is good for their spouse, they should be careful that when they please their spouse , they do not displease their Maker… they should conduct their affairs in this world without relinquishing their desire for God…”
580: Pope Pelagius II: did not condemn MARRIED priests if they handed their property to their wives, children or the church.
Middle ages: most priests were married and had children.
700s: St. Boniface of England, missionary to Germany, who lived a time at the Monastery of Adescancaste, wrote to the pope reporting that very few bishops and priests in Germany were celibate.
836: Council of Aix-la-Chapelle: reported that it was true that abortions and infanticide was practiced in convents and monasteries in hopes to cover up uncelibate acts of priests, nuns and clerics.
c.950: Ulrich, a bishop of Germany, Abbot – Zell Monastery, upheld priests marriages. (Analecta Boll, XXVII).
1045: Pope Benedict IX resigned (reasons included possibly to married; and selling his office).
1074: Pope Gregory VII: Issued a decree (Latin Rite) requiring all priests to be celibate. Historians say he said, “The Church cannot escape from the laity unless priests first escape the clutches of their wives.”
1089: Pope Urban II, with majority bishops at Synod of Melfi, ruled that secular princes could sell the wives of priests into slavery; and the sons of priests were debarred from ministry.
1123/1139: Popes Calistus II and Innocent II: at First and Second Lateran Councils decreed that clerical marriages were invalid.
1525: Martin Luther (professor, Augustinian Catholic priest, a leader of the Protestant ‘protest’ Reformation – 1517, and author of German New Testament – 1522) married Katherine – a former nun.
1545-63: Council of Trent: “If anyone says that it is not better and more godly to live in virginity or in the unmarried state than to marry, let him be anathema.”
1869: First Vatican Council. Convened by Pope Pius IX: Chapter 4: Infallible authority of the Roman Pontiff. “…primacy the Roman pontiff (pope) possesses as successor of Peter, the prince of the apostles… this holy see… the Roman pontiff is the true vicar of Christ, the head of the whole church… the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when, in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church… (with) infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church… anyone who rejects this… let him be anathema.”
1950: Pope Pius XII allowed German Lutheran clergymen who converted to remain married.
June 1967: Pope Paul VI: Sacerdotalis Caelibatus: “To the bishops, priests and faithful of the whole Catholic world. Priest celibacy has been guarded by the Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel, and retains its value undiminished (lol; wow-sorry again) even in our time when the outlook of men and the state of the world have undergone such profound changes… We have, over a considerable period of time earnestly implored the enlightenment and assistance of the Holy Spirit and have examined before God opinions and petitions which have come to Us from all over the world… concerning the sacred celibacy of the clergy… It has been examined from the doctrinal, historical, sociological, psychological and pastoral point of view. …Jesus Himself did not make it a prerequisite in His Twelve, nor did the Apostles… It is (also) asserted that the maintaining of priestly celibacy in the Church does great harm in those regions where the shortage of the clergy – a fact recognized with sadness… – gives rise to critical situations. …(and) there are some that are convinced that married priesthood would remove the occasions for infidelity… the sum of these objections would appear to drown out the solemn and age-old voice of the pastors of the Church and of the masters of the spiritual life (Jesus and the apostles were not?), and to nullify the living testimony of the countless ranks of saints and faithful ministers of God, for whom celibacy has been the object of the total and generous gift of themselves to the mystery of Christ… But no, this voice, still strong and untroubled, is the voice not just of the past but of the present too… Hence We consider that the present law of celibacy should today continue…”
http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_24061967_sacerdotalis.html
1970s: Certain Czech women were ordained to serve imprisoned women.
1980: Married Anglican and Episcopal pastors were ordained as Catholic priests.
1983: Codex luris Canonici: Code of Canon Law: Canon 150: “An office which carries with it the full care of souls, for which the exercise of the order of priesthood is required, cannot validly be conferred upon a person who is not yet a priest.” Canon 236: “Those who aspire to the permanent Diaconate are to be formed in the spiritual life… young men are to reside for at least 3 years in a special house… men more mature, whether celibate or married, are to prepare for 3 years in a manner determined by the Episcopal Conference… Canon 273: Clerics have an obligation to obey the Supreme Pontiff… Canon 276: priests and deacons aspiring to the priesthood… honor the Virgin Mother of God…. Canon 277: Clerics are obliged and …bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God…”
https://juiciobrennan.com/files/bishopselection/code_of_canon_law_1983.pdf
1994: About 40 married Anglican vicars converted to Catholicism and were allowed to become priests.
2004: A married German pastor converted from Lutheran to Catholicism and was ordained as a priest.
July 2013: Pope Francis: “If someone is gay… Who am I to judge him?”
2015: Oscar Crespo, friend of Pope Francis, said the Pope wants to unturned the ‘archaic’ celibacy law.
May 2018: Pope Francis reportedly told (J. Cruz), “…that you are gay does not matter. God made you like that and loves you like this and I don’t care. The Pope loves you like this…”
September 2019: Vatican spokesmen (A. Tornielli) said, bishops at “synod will discuss the possibility, for territories like the Amazon, to propose the ordination of married men…”
October 2019: Germany’s Catholic bishops are moving ahead to National Reform ‘Synodal Way.’
October 8, 2019: Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon: several bishops put forth the request to allow for married priests in certain regions.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)
Chapter 3: The Sacraments at the Service of Communion
Article 6: The Sacrament of Holy Orders
1536 – Holy Orders… includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate and diaconate.
1538 – Today the word ‘ordination’ is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters and deacons… it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit and permits the exercise of a ‘sacred power’ which can come only from Christ Himself through His Chruch…
- The Sacrament of Holy Orders in the economy of Salvation
1539 – Old Covenant …priests (were of) the tribe of Levi…
- Who Can receive this Sacrament?
1579 – All the ordained ministers of the Latin Church, with the exception of permanent deacons, are normally chosen from among men of faith who live a celibate life and who intend to remain celibate ‘for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.’ Called to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord and to the ‘affairs of the Lord,’ the give themselves entirely to God and to men. Celibacy is a sign of this new life to the service of which the Church’s minister is consecrated; accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God.
1580 – In the Eastern Churches a different discipline has been in force for many centuries: while bishops are chosen solely from among celibates, married men can be ordained as deacons and priests. This practice has long been considered legitimate; these priests exercise a fruitful ministry within their communities. Moreover, priestly celibacy is held in great honor in the Eastern Churches… In the East as in the West a man who has already received the sacrament of Holy Orders can no longer marry.
1599 – In the Latin Church the sacrament of Holy Orders for the presbyterate is normally conferred only on candidates who are ready to embrace celibacy freely and who publicly manifest their intention of staying celibate for the love of God’s kingdom and the service of men.
1600 – It is bishops who confer the sacrament of Holy Orders in the three degrees.
Code of Canon Law (1917; revised 1983)
Chapter III: Then Obligations and Rights of Clerics
Canon 273: Clerics have a special obligation to show reverence and obedience to the Supreme Pontiff…
Can. 274: Only clerics can obtain offices …requiring the power of order or… ecclesiastical governance.
Can. 276: Clerics have a special obligation to seek holiness… because they are consecrated to God…
Can. 276, sec. 2: In order that that they can pursue this perfection:
- They are in the first place faithfully and untiringly to fulfil the obligations of their pastoral ministry;
- They are to nourish their spiritual life… (with) the Scriptures and the Eucharist…
- They are obliged to make spiritual retreats…
- …to engage regularly in mental prayer, to approach the sacrament of penance… to honor the Virgin Mother of God with particular veneration…
Can. 277: Clerics are obliged to observe perfect and perpetual continence (self-restraint) for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven and are therefore bound to celibacy. Celibacy is a special gift of God by which sacred ministers can more easily remain close to Christ with an undivided heart, and can dedicate themselves more freely to the service of God and their neighbor…
http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_PX.HTM
WHY THE VATICAN WILL ALLOW PRIESTS TO MARRY:
- CELIBACY as a Law or Rule is not Biblical; nor early tradition of the church.
As shown in the previous historical timeline the Lord God Almighty commanded Moses to: “Take… Aaron your brother, and his SONS with him, from among the children of Israel, that he and his sons may minister unto Me in the PRIEST’s office (Exodus 28:1).” The MARRIED “Levites were appointed for ALL the service of the Tabernacle of the House of God. Aaron and his sons offered on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, and were appointed for ALL the work of the MOST HOLY PLACE, and to make atonement for Israel, according to ALL that Moses the servant of God had commanded (1 Chronicles 6:48-49)
1st century AD: Paul to Timothy and the churches prophesies: “The Spirit clearly says that in the last times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared… They FORBID people to MARRY and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth… (1 Tim. 4:1-3).”
1st century AD: Paul, the celibate by choice, with offering and dying service, apostle and high-priest, even of the tribe of Benjamin (not Levi; but among ALL CHRISTIANS – “called to be saints,” Priesthood Order established by Christ), speaking to the churches said, ”Don’t we have the right to have a believing wife, AS DOES Peter, and the Lord’s brothers (Matt. 13:55), and the other apostles (1 Corinthians 9:5).”
1st century AD: Paul, to ALL Christians: “it is good (so they can devote life to the gospel) for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman; but because of temptation to sexual immorality (‘fornication’ – sin leading to hell – 1 Cor. 6:9), let every man have his own wife…” Paul to all bishops (overseers/elders): “the bishop/overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, with self-controlled… and able to teach… and the deacon must be faithful to his wife… (1 Tim. 3).”
In the early church: a very rare gnostic types lived as monks. The early church fathers were for marriage (most married) and against adultery and sin. About 400 AD, John Chrysostom (Homily 2 on Titus) in his commentary wrote, “’If any be blameless, the husband of one wife…’ (Paul says this) to stop the mouths of those heretics, who condemned marriage…” He nor Paul or the apostles, or Jesus Christ, distinguished between married Christians and married Christian priests/ministers. Moreover, we were ALL “men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints (holy, kodesh; 1 Cor. 1:2; Rom. 1:7). As Peter said, “To God’s elect… chosen… obedient children… you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession… Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy… (1 Peter 1:1, 2:9).”
Genesis 2:18: “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him…’” 1 Corinthians 7, Paul: “To the unmarried… it is good to remain unmarried as I am. But if you cannot control yourselves, marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion (primarily love) …”
Jesus Christ: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘…man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife… (Matt. 19:4-).”
II. Shortage of Priests
As the World and Catholic population has more than double from 1970 to 2017, the number of priests has remained the same. In 2014, it was reported that over 49,000 parishes in the world had no resident priest. Vatican Press, “Summary of Bulletin” for the Pontifical Yearbook 2019 compiled by the Central Office of Church Statistics states that “Out of the world population of 7,408 million, 1,313 million or 17.7% are baptized Catholics… 48.5% in America (North and South), 21.8% in Europe, 17.8% in Africa, 11.1% in Asia and .8% in Oceania… the number of priests has decreased from 414,969 in 2016 to 414,582 in 2017… the number of candidates to the priesthood worldwide has decreased from 116,160 in 2016 to 115,328 in 2017.”
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2019/03/06/190306b.html
| World Data on Catholic Priests and Population | |||
| Year | World Population | Catholic Population | No. of Priests |
| 2017 | 7.55 billion | 1.31 billion | 414,582 |
| 2010 | 6.96 billion | 1.19 billion | 412,236 |
| 2000 | 6.14 billion | 1.05 billion | 405,178 |
| 1990 | 5.33 billion | 928 million | 403,480 |
| 1980 | 4.46 billion | 784 million | 413,600 |
| 1970 | 3.70 billion | 654 million | 419,728 |
| In U.S.: total priests fell from 59,192 in 1970 to 36,580 in 2018; and the U.S. population increased during the same period from 203 million to 327 million. Baptisms and attendance have decreased significantly. | |||
Catholic data from http://cara.georgetown.edu/frequently-requested-church-statistics/
The 2017 Annuario Pontificio or Vatican Statistical Yearbook reported the countries with the most Catholics, in order: Brazil, Mexico, Philippines, United States, Italy, France, Colombia, Spain, Congo and Argentina. Baptized Catholics grew 1 percent in a year to reach 1.285 billion as of Dec., 2015. 2010-2015: the global Catholic population increased by 7.4 percent, the Vatican said. Africa continued with the largest percentage growth, increasing by 19.4 percent over the five-year period. The increase in Africa outpaced the growth of the general population. Of the world’s 1.285 billion Catholics, it said, almost 49 percent live in North or South America, including the Caribbean. Europe is home to 22.2 percent of the global Catholic population; 17.3 percent are in Africa. In 2010 there were an average of 2,900 Catholics for every Catholic priest in the world; in 2015, the ratio had climbed to 3,091 Catholics per priest.
In 2014: The Vatican “defrocked” 848 priests who raped or molested children and sanctioned another 2,572 with lesser penalties… of the over 3,400 cases of abuse since 2004. CBS-News (May 7, 2014)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vatican-reveals-how-many-priests-defrocked-for-sex-abuse-since-2004/
According to CARA, over half of the priests in America are over age 65. The U.S. lost 2,400 parishes between 1990 and 2016. In 1965, 549 parishes were without a resident priest and in 2016, 3,499 parishes were without a resident priest. Futurechurch.org (using CARA) reported over 50,000 of the world’s 218,865 Catholic parishes do not have a resident priest.
In part, due to a serious shortage of priests in Brazil’s ‘Pan-Amazon region’ and other such areas in the world, October 2017, Pope Francis stated a special Synod would meet in 2 years. The matter of allowing priests to be married in certain regions was brought before the Oct. 2019 Synod of Bishops in the Amazon.
http://www.sinodoamazonico.va/content/sinodoamazonico/en.html
III. Exodus of Catholics
TheTruthSource extensive article https://thetruthsource.org/quantitative-analysis-the-world/ reveals (2019) that over 3/4s (≈ 77%) of the 7.7 billion people in the world are non-Christian, about 23% (≈ 1.77 billion) are Christian by records (census, birth certificate, baptism records, etc.), but by practice and surveys, less than half are practicing or belief in the fundamental teachings of Christ Jesus. At least half the world is truly non-religious by practice and beliefs. After the rise in technology, more Catholics going to universities, and the sexual abuse scandals, statistics reveal that less than a billion are professed Catholics.
The Roman Catholic Church claims about 50% to 55% of all the Christians in the world. However, both claims – that the world has 2.3 billion Christians or that there are 1.2 billion Catholics – are grossly inaccurate. In 2019, there were about 1.8 billion Christians by profession (not practice and belief), and less than 900 million Catholics.
Most articles, books and sources that make statistical claims about the number of Christians use one of the very few primarily sources, such as the CIA Factbook, UN Database (UNSD), ARDA (Association of Religion Data Archives) and the Pew Research Center or European Social Survey. These sources mainly have relied on outdated Censuses that are often a decade or more old. The world trend last 2 or 3 decades has been significantly towards non-religion and an exodus from the churches (primarily the Catholic Church) – especially by young adults (often called millennials).
Examples supporting these facts are as follows: Argentina (44.3 million people), Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures has Argentina at 85% Christian and 73% Roman Catholic (2019). The CIA Factbook states that less than 20% are practicing Catholics. However, Latinobarómetro.org (2017 & 2018) surveys revealed that only 65.5% are Catholic by profession, a decline of 21% from 1995 to 2017.
Australia (24.6 million) was reported to have 22.6% of their population as Catholics by the CIA Factbook and 67% Christians by Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures. However, the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed by the 2016 Census that those with no religion rose to 30% – doubling since 2001. And Mccrindle’s 2017, Faith and Belief in Australia report found 32% identified as non-religious, only 15% attend Church regularly and only 38% agreed with the statement ‘I consider myself a Christian.’ Christians have declined from over 90% of the national census in 1901 (not counting aboriginals) to about 52% in the 2016 census. Less than 21% of the entire 2019 population is Catholic.
St. Mary’s University in London reported in their “Europe’s Young Adults and Religion (2014-2016)” study of 23 countries that “Christianity as default is gone.” Almost ¾ of young British adults (age 16-29) have no religion and the majority of young Europeans are no longer religious. “Only 2% of Catholic young adults in Belgium, 3% in Hungary and Austria, 6% in Germany say they attend Mass” regularly. “Only 26% of French young adults identify as Christians.” In Ireland, now only 54% of young adults claim to be Catholic and less than half of those attend mass regularly.
The German Bishops Conference found that Catholics make up 28.2 percent of Germany’s population of 82.7 million, according to a 2018 church yearbook, yet only one in 10 Catholics practice regularly, and formal departures from the Church have increased sharply in the last two years.
The decline in Catholicism in Latin America is epidemic and well known. In 1970 South America claimed to be 92% Catholic and Latin America has claimed 39% of the world’s assumed 1.2 to 1.3 billion Catholics. However, even Francis – the Argentinian Pontiff – can’t stop the exodus. Latinobarómetro (2017) found the Catholic populations as follows: Uruguay 38%, Guatemala 43%, El Salvador 40%, Honduras 37%, Nicaragua 40% and 54% in Brazil. Even with significant majorities still in many countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Mexico, they showed Catholics in Latin America dropped to 59% in 2017 and much less among young adults and those that actually go to church.
In 2017, the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (ufjf.br) in Brail reported, a “Datafolha survey, released on Christmas Day (12/25/2016), shows that the percentage of Catholics fell from 63% in 2010 to 50% in 2016, evangelicals rose from 24% to 29%, those without religion 6% to 14% and the other denominations were constant at 7% over the same period… Between 1994 and 2016 the loss of Catholics has been 1.14% per year, higher than the IBGE demographic censuses point out…”
In the United States (330 million population), Catholic membership has dropped sharply in the past 20 years. Studies show only half of Americans are church members, down from about 70% in 1999. The non-religious has risen from 8% in 1998 to 19% in 2017. Of those that are members of a church: those professing to be Catholic have dropped from about 76% in 2000 to 63% in 2017, and only 41% of those 18 to 29 years old and 49% of those 30 to 49. Yet, CARA reported 21% of population as Catholic in 2017.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/248837/church-membership-down-sharply-past-two-decades.aspx
CARA (Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate) shows a serious downward trend in the number of ‘sisters (nuns)’ and priests: from about 180,000 sisters and 58,600 priests in 1965 to less than 50,000 sisters and 38,275 priests in the United States. As stated, the U.S. Catholic population dropped to 21% in 2017.
https://thetruthsource.org/decline-of-the-catholic-church/
In 2002, about one quarter of adult Catholics said they reexamined their commitment to Catholicism after the sexual abuse scandals. In 2019, Gallup showed that percentage climbed to 37%. And with the issues of celibacy and abuse, woman’s roles in the Church and even the Catholic LGBT position, many are still leaving the Catholic Church.
In Canada, CIA Factbook had 39% of their population as Catholic based on 2011 data. Canada’s The Globe and Mail in a 2017 article reported that “before 1971, less than 1% of Canadians ticked the ‘no religion’ box on national surveys. Two generations later… 23% say they aren’t religious… 28% of young adults…” In 2013, Augus Reid/EFC surveys revealed 53% of the French (and 42% of the English) Catholics said they never go to Mass except for weddings and funerals.
In Spain (46.7 million) the Catholic Church claimed 43 million followers (including those ages 0-10). The CIA Factbook estimated 68.9% of the population as Catholic (2019) ≈ 32 million. From 2002 to 2010, Spaniards who said they were Roman Catholic fell from 80% to 73%, and so the now the Factbook – 69%. St. Mary’s Uni. European Survey of young adults and religion found in 2018 that of those ages 16 to 29, about 54% of Spanish young adults identify with no religion [< 40% Catholic; i.e. < 60%/28Mil. Catholic].
REFORM THE CHURCH are the EXODUS will continue.
SAVE THE CHURCH AND THE LOST: REFORM THE CHURCH – LET THE PEOPLE WORSHIP
[It is the Spirit and the Truth in Worship (Praise, Worship, Adoration, Prayer), not the Eucharist line that can revive the churches; more from the Word of God that brings life and not superficial sayings– John 6:68]
IV Pressure of Catholic adherents and organizations
In April 2012, TheGuardian.com reported, in their article “Almost 9 in 10 Catholics in Ireland want priests to be allowed to marry,” that a survey of 1,000 Irish Catholics found that 77% believed women should be ordained; and the Association of Catholic Priests’ opinion poll found that 87% of Irish Catholics said priests should be allowed to marry. However, 60% also see no problem with homosexuality, except of course when it is by paedophile priests. The same article noted that former bishop of Derry, Dr. D. Daly, has called for priests to be allowed to marry.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/12/catholics-ireland-priests-allowed-married
March and April 2019, LifeSiteNews.com, reported in two articles that the German Bishop’s Conference of 2019 would revisit Catholic sexual teaching that prohibits contraception, cohabitation and homosexual relationships, as well as discuss the celibacy rule. Professor Thomas Sternberg, the head of the German Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), attended the conference. He is known for advocating that priests should be able to marry. Likewise, Thomas Schüller, a German canon law expert and university professor, stated in May 2019 that there will soon be married priests in the Catholic Church. First, the Amazon Synod will vote to approved married priests. Then, Schüller says “This will encourage the episcopal conferences and the regions of the universal Church, which are also affected by the shortage of priests, to make a similar application – with great appreciation for the voluntarily lived celibacy…”
Likewise, according to CruxNow.com in June 2019, German Cardinal W. Kasper, a close adviser to Pope Francis, said, “It the bishops agreed through mutual consent to ordained married men – those called viri probati – it’s my judgement that the pope would accept it…”
Mattias Kopp, a spokesman for the German Bishops’ Conference, said in September 2019 that, “The bishops’ conference has verified the issues – authority, participation, the separation of powers, sexual morality, the priestly life, women in church services and orders – and wish to face these issues. A vast number of believers are waiting for this, and the bishops see it as their pastoral mission.”
A 2015-2016 survey, released in 2018 by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of Catholics in the United States believe that the Vatican should “allow priests to get married.” Yet, 61% of them also believed ‘cohabiting Catholics’ should be allowed Holy Communion. Also, in 2018, in more than half of the 10 Central and Eastern European countries polled, the majority of Catholics said priests should be allowed to get married.
October 2019, MarriedPriestsNow.com, state on their website, “’We the People’ demand Congress make the Archdiocese for Military Services, whose Catholic Chaplains’ salaries are funded with U.S. taxpayer dollars, mandate mature-married Priests be allowed to serve to fill the almost 300 vacancies…”
The Catholic Herald (2/25/2016) published their article, ‘The new push to end priestly celibacy,’ in which they wrote, “The Catholic Church is once again embroiled in arguments about whether priestly celibacy has a place in today’s world. As Catholicism in most Western countries faces a rapidly ageing priesthood, a severe shortage of vocations and declining congregations, abolishing or at least relaxing the ancient rule has become a major item on the agenda of those who advocate large-scale change in the Church… There has also been the long-term effect of the sexual abuse scandals… Probably more important is that the Church has been so defeated and demoralized by the endless scandals that it lacks the confidence to stand by its traditional teachings… (more over)… there are few defenders among the laity…”
https://catholicherald.co.uk/issues/february-26th-2016/the-new-push-to-end-priestly-celibacy/
V. Required Celibacy is a failure and is continually on Vatican agenda
It is well documented both that the Vatican knew about the mishandling of priests and information in the Sexual Abuse Scandals, and that a significant percentage of priests are gay. On one hand Pope Francis tells the press, “The question of homosexuality is a very serious one… (there is) no room for this (in the lives of priests)… it is better that they leave the priesthood or the consecrated life rather than live a double life… (Reuters Press: August 2018).”
Then two weeks later, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano (former ambassador to the Vatican), confessed to a “Homosexual Network” in the VATICAN and according to Reuters: “accused the pope of having ignored alleged sexual misconduct with adult male seminarians by former …cardinal …McCarrick…” The National Catholic Reporter likewise confirmed the pope’s statement to Fr. Prado for his book, ‘The Strength of Vocation: Consecrated Life Today.’ Yet, the Reporter noted that in 2013, Francis told reporters, ‘if someone is gay…. who am I to judge….?’
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-homosexuals-book-idUSKBN1O10K7
Psychologist Thomas Plante, professor at Santa Clara Uni. and clinical professor at Stanford Uni., said in December 2018, ‘Pope Francis, I love him, but he is not a mental health professional.’ Dr. Plante told reporters, “I think the folks in the Roman collars and red hats (cardinals) writing these documents could use a little help from professionals in the field… what we really know now about human sexuality and homosexuality and how it all works.” Plante has to say ‘now,’ because homosexuality was considered ABNORMAL and a MENTAL DISORDER by the APA in their DSM until it was removed in 1973. Nevertheless, Plante who “has conducted thousands of evaluations of seminary applicants… and consulted seminary directors…” speaking on “people’s sexual orientation” reported that the Pope would have to remove “one-third to half” of the priesthood if for homosexuality.
Paul not only said that a priests/pastor/minister/overseer/bishop should be married if they cannot be celibate due to self-control or lust, or do not choose to because of love and passion; but Paul also said to the married, and to popes, bishops, ministers and the flock, “do not deprive one another (of sex) except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves (the husband and wife) to prayer. Then come together again; otherwise, Satan may (will) tempt you because of your lack of self-control (I Cor. 7:5).”
FranciscanSecumenical.org states that in 836 the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle found and reported that abortions and infanticide took place in convents and monasteries to cover up activities between uncelibate clerics (deacons and priests, etc.) and nuns. The Vatican’s practice of hiding the sinful truth is well documented and has led to the billions of dollars in lawsuits over just of the past few decades.
History of the Christian Church (Schaff, 1889-)
The renowned historian, Philip Schaff (with much help) wrote “History of the Christian Church (in several volumes).” In Volume VI, ‘The Middle Ages,’ he wrote: after ‘Black Death (the Bubonic Plague that in 1347 killed about a third of all Europeans),’ and the “ravages made among the clergy,” “… there was a movement from within the English people to limit the power of the bishops…” Schaff informed us: “The mass of the clergy had little learning… the prelates lived in abundance (wealth). The famous bishop of Winchester… had 50 manors of his own… ‘
Schaff continued, “…Many of the clergy were taken from the villain class, whose sons required special exemption to attend school…. By the middle of the 13th century, the Church’s claim to the tithes was extended not only to the products of the field, but the poultry of the yard and the cattle of the stall, to the catch of the fish and game in the forests… The Church received and gave not back…’
“Gower, in his Vox clamantis, gave a dark picture of clerical habits, and charges the clergy with coarse vices such as now are scarcely dreamed of. The Church historian Capes, concludes that ‘immorality and negligence were widely spread among the clergy.’ The decline of discipline among the friars, the their rude manners, a prominent feature of the times, came in for the strictures of Fitzralph of Armagh, severe condemnation at the hand of Wycliff (‘forerunner of the Reformation’) and playful sarcasm from the pen of Chaucer (Canterbury Tales)…’
“Fitzralph… chancellor of …Oxford… incurred the hostility of the friars by a series of sermons against the Franciscan theory of evangelical poverty. He claimed it was not scriptural nor derived from the customs of the primitive Church… Of the 4 orders… the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Augustinians, Longland sang that they ‘preached the people for profit and themselves…’
“Pierre Dubois… a royal attorney… delegate to the national council in Paris, 1302… was living as late as 1321… (stated) the French king is the successor of (king) Charlemagne. The pope is the more teacher of mankind… to care for souls… to exercise oversight over the clergy…”
Yet, “Dubois criticized the rule and practice of CELIBACY. Few clergymen keep their vows. And yet they are retained, while ordination is denied to married persons. This is in the face of the fact that the Apostle permitted marriage to all. The practice of the Eastern Church is to be preferred…”
“…Durante (renown historian) had proposed the abrogation of the rule, and Arnald of Villanova had emphasized the sacredness of the marriage rite, recalling that it was upon a married man, Peter, that Christ conferred the primacy…’
Schaff continued…“Pope Innocent’s children were not persons of marked traits… Common rumor gave their number as 16, all of them children of married women…. The pope’s granddaughter was also married in the Vatican to the marquis of Finale. The pontiff sat with the ladies at the table… The statement of Infessura is difficult to believe, although it is made at length, that Innocent issued a decree permitting concubinage in Rome both to clergy and laity… from the highest to the lowest, they had concubines or mistresses. According to the Roman diarist, there were 6,800 listed public courtesans (prostitutes, call girls) in Rome besides those whose names were not recorded… Infessura was in a position to know…’
In 1520, Martin Luther wrote: in his work ‘Celibacy is Contrary to Nature:’ “…First, not every priest can do without a woman, not only on the account of the weakness of the flesh but much because of the needs of the household… Secondly, the pope has as little power to give this command (of celibacy) as he has to forbid eating, drinking and the natural process of bodily elimination, or becoming fat. No one is duty bound to keep this commandment… God has been more gracious to many… at their end than the pope had been during their life. Nothing good has ever come out of the papacy and its laws…”
At that time Luther and others, at the risk of their lives (and many were killed), stood against the errors of the Catholic Church – one namely being the selling of ‘indulgences’ to get yourself or loved one less time or out of the (fictitious) purgatory. In 1522, Luther also wrote the first German New Testament.
Luther in his work on “Marriage and Celibacy” reported that many priests had ‘secret marriages.’ More revealing, Luther noted, “The celibacy of spiritual persons began in the time of Cyprian, who lived 250 years after the birth of Christ; so that superstition has continued 1300 years. St. Ambrose and others believed not that they were human creatures, like other people. St. Ulrich, bishop of Augsburg, related a fearful thing that befell at Rome. Pope Gregory, who confirmed celibacy, ordered a fishpond at Rome, hard by a convent of nuns, to be cleared out. The water being let off, there were found at the bottom, more than 6,000 skulls of children, that had been cast into the pond and drowned. Such were the fruits of enforced celibacy. Hereupon Pope Gregory abolished celibacy, but the popes who succeeded him, reestablished it. In our own time (early 1500s), there was in Austria, at Nienberg, a convent of nuns, who, by reason of their licentious doings, were removed from it, and placed elsewhere, and their convent filled with Franciscans. These monks, wishing to enlarge the building, foundations were dug, and in excavating there were found twelve great pots, in each of which was the carcass of an infant. How much better to let these people marry, than, by prohibition thereof, to cause the murder of so many innocent creatures.”
http://godrules.net/library/luther/NEWluther_c30.htm
CBSNews.com, February 15, 2019, issued their article, ‘Bombshell book alleges rampant homosexuality, hypocrisy with Vatican. They reported, “A gay French writer has lifted the lid on what he calls one of the world’s largest gay communities, the Vatican, estimating that most of its prelates are homosexually inclined and attributing much of the current crisis in the Catholic Church to an internal struggle.” They added that the author Martel “spent four years researching it in 30 countries, including weeks at a time living inside the Vatican.” CBS reported that Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of “Building a Bridge” with the LGBT community, said that Martel’s book, “makes a convincing case that in the Vatican many priests. Bishops and even cardinals are gay…”
In the Closet of the Vatican / Sodoma (Sodom) 2019
The book “In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy” by Frédéric Martel has not only opened another door to the documented sinful truth, but it also has opened the floodgates with reactions from the press and soon Catholics in the Church. If the actions and mishandling of the sexual abuse scandal cost the Catholic Church at least 10% of its former members in the Americas; this 576-page book (along with others articles and books such as “The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ… and the faithful…”) will give the 37%, who were considering leaving in 2019, (Gallup poll Feb. 28, 2019) something to think about.
Haaretz.com reported Martel said that originally “the producers of his regular program on French state radio sent him to Rome to do a story on the waves of refugees from Syria and Africa. And it was there Martel encountered for the first time a network of young migrants who were working as male prostitutes around Rome’s main train station. They told him about an extensive system of gay relationships that they maintained with junior clerics and senior figures alike in the Vatican. Martel decided to dig further.”
Martel’s book, also titled ‘Sodoma (Sodom – as in the ancient Old Testament city that God leveled for its sins and sodomy; Gen. 13:13)’ speaks about the homosexuals in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. After more than 1,500 interviews, he specifically found “41 cardinals, 52 bishops and monsignors, 45 apostolic nuncios, secretaries of nunciatures or foreign ambassadors, 11 Swiss Guards and over 200 Catholic priests and seminarians” that were admittedly gay. That is over 21% of those interviewed that admitted it.
Martel named many sources including F. Lepore, translator and priest (who had ‘several lovers among archbishops and prelates’), who stated that numerous cardinals, archbishops, monsingori, nuncios, priests, assistants to the hierarchy and confessors at St. Peter’s are openly homosexual. Martel documented “chem-sex parties,” the endless hiring of prostitutes, and the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
And all of this being paid for with church money – with tithes and offerings. In Washington, “Cardinal W. Baum… lived for many years with his personal assistant… and Cardinal T. McCarrick …was well known for his ‘sleeping arrangements’ with seminarians and young priests whom he called his ‘nephews.’ …Archbishop R. Weakland was ‘outed’ by a former boyfriend…”
Martel said, two of John Paul II’s favorite cardinals where nicknamed within the Vatican as Platinette (a drag queen) and La Mongolfiera, who set up an elite prostitution service that continued into the papacy of Benedict XVI and was financed from the Vatican coffers. This is verified through police records and many of the leaders of this system remained anonymous and uncharged due to the Vatican’s diplomatic immunity. A myriad of records from the courts reveal phone calls and text lining up prostitutes, some describing them – ‘he’s 2 metres tall… age 32,’ ‘1 metre 93, very handsome,’ ‘a Cuban situation,’ ‘I’ve got a footballer,’ ‘a guy from Abruzzo,’ etc. etc.
Martel being gay, said they felt free around him and even were “cruising all around him.” He noted how Cardinal Burke sat “on an asparagus-green throne twice as large as he is, surrounded by silvery drapery… wearing a fluorescent yellow mitre… and long turquoise gloves… his mozzetta… lined with lace.”
In a conversation with some Swiss Guards, Martel recorded one saying, “The harassment is so insistent that I said to myself that I was going straight home. Many of us are exasperated by the usually rather indiscreet advances of the cardinals and bishops.” Others spoke of the “prostitutes,” Martel noted that many of which “keep elaborate records of their clients and have already caused huge scandals in Italy. One confessor-priest in St. Peter’s welcomed Martel into the Vatican saying, ‘Welcome to Sodoma.’ This is from where he co-names his book in some countries – Sodoma.
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/andrew-sullivan-the-vaticans-corruption-has-been-exposed.html
The Smoke of Satan…
November 15, 2018, CatholicWorldReport.com published the article ‘The Smoke of Satan provides clear, concise analysis of the episcopal crisis.’ The Smoke of Satan: How Corrupt and Cowardly Bishops Betrayed Christ, His Church, and the Faithful, and What can be done (Philip Lawler; 2018) got its title in part from a quote by Pope Paul VI (1972), ‘through some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.’ The Catholic World Report writes, “The sex-abuse crisis, now in its episcopal phase, is certainly the worst crisis the Church has faced in American history. Internationally, it is probably the worst crisis since the Reformation.” Of course it is – the masses have left the Masses and the Church. Although many will agree the Reformation was not a crisis. The article: “as Lawler observes in his aptly titled The Smoke of Satan, Catholics in America have no confidence in the bishops… ’they were shown to be dishonest’.”
‘Lawler writes: “…To advance through the ranks of the hierarchy in the late twentieth century, clerics were expected to suppress problems rather than confront them… to conceal problems rather than admit them. In that atmosphere, when bishops learned that priests molested young men, they did their best to ‘manage’ the issue, to keep things running smoothly, above all to avoid calling public attention to the problem. So the abuse continued – just as the theological dissent and the liturgical abuse continued. But finally, as almost always happens, the cover-up failed; the truth of the abuse scandal emerged. Now that the evidence that was suppressed for decades has exploded into public view, the bishops’ neglect… is unmistakable…’
‘If the fundamental problem facing the Church is dishonesty – a habit of deliberate ambiguity, a failure to grapple with hard truths – then the solution must be a candid, unapologetic return to the truth… And if the bishops have lost their instinct… then it falls upon lay Catholics… to demand the truth…” The Catholic World Report adds, “The gross malpractice of the American episcopate… coupled now with aggressive and incomprehensible stonewalling by Pope Francis, means that the current crisis will most likely end in disaster for the hierarchy… The U.S. Justice Department has commenced a RICO investigation of the Church and a host of state investigations have opened as well. These developments will not go away; in fact, we can expect a steady flow of Pennsylvania-like grand-jury reports detailing clerical corruption in revolting detail and criminal indictments, all of which will continue the destruction of what little remains of the moral authority of the bishops in this country…”
“IS IT NOTHING TO YOU, ALL YOU WHO PASS BY?” (Lamentations 1:12)
Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, cry for the sorrow of it all, cry for the abused and their families, pray for their needs, cry and pray for the weak that have and will fall from all of this; however, don’t waste many tears on the abusers and the structure of the hierarchy that let it happen – don’t cover these up with your tears and mercy – for let the truth and the Lord God bring them to their knees and rune if necessary – then will stand a stronger body of Christ.
The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010: A Report Presented to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (John Jay College Research Team; 2011)
“In June 2002 the …Catholic bishops of the United States in their General Meeting… approved the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People… to assign responsibility to oversee the completion of the study of the causes and context of the recent crisis.”
“Findings …No single ‘cause’ of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is identified as a result of our research. Social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s manifested in the increased levels of deviant behavior in the general society and also among priests of the Catholic Church in the United States. Organizational, psychological and situational factors contributed to the vulnerability of individual priests in this period of normative change… The crisis of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests is a historical problem… prior to 1985, reports of abuse were predominantly brought forward by parents… By the mid-1990s, reports of abuse were being made by adults ten to twenty years after the incident date. In 2002, reports …were more likely to be put forward by lawyers for the person who was abused… There is little evidence that diocesan leaders meet directly with victims before 2002…’
‘In 1992, the American bishops endorsed the ‘Five Principles’ in response to the sexual abuse of minors… 1. Respond promptly to all allegations… where reasonable belief… 2. If allegation is supported by sufficient evidence, relieve the alleged offender promptly… 3. Comply with …civil law… 4. Reach out to the victims and their families… 5. With respect for privacy… deal …with the community….’
“Like sexual offenders in the general population, priests with allegations of abuse show patterns of behavior… Minors who were abused typically did not disclose their victimization… findings …indicate few of the priest-abusers exhibited serious pathological, developmental or psychological characteristics or behaviors that could have led to their identification prior to the commission of their abuse acts…”
“The results of the Nature and Scope study indicated that the total number of priests with allegations from 1950 through 2002 was 4,392 out of a total of 109,694 priests…. 4% of priests in ministry…”
TTS RESPONSE: First, the crisis was only significantly revealed because of the technology available; the practice has always been a problem and a principle “CAUSE.” Secondly, stating the ‘few priests exhibited… characteristics or behaviors’ both shows the lack of discernment by the overseers/bishops and the lack of common understanding and knowledge, that it is not wise to leave young children alone in private with any man that is not a parent or trusted relative or friend. Yes, one would think that a priest should be trusted, but statistics and studies reveal the fact the as many as 15% to 50% of all unmarried priests are homosexuals – which is not only sad – but meaning some flocks are led by spiritual wolves.
Third, BishopAccountability.org states (‘Who We Are’), “It is a matter of public record that U.S. bishops have knowingly transferred THOUSANDS of abusive priests into unsuspecting parishes and dioceses.” Moreover, lawsuits are still in the courts and victims still coming forward. And of course, there are more abusers and still those that prey on children (priests, pastors, scout leaders, etc.), with and without consensual unsupervised freedoms. What percentage (%) is needed to say it is epidemic?
TraditionInAction.org, posted an article under ‘Homosexuality and the Clergy’ titled ‘Male Prostitute Outs Homosexual Priests to Vatican in 1200-page Dossier.’ They offer links to the massive dossier and state that it is explicit with ‘WhatsApp messages, erotic photos and lurid descriptions of priests involved in gay sexual activity and drug use.’ The male prostitute, F. Mangiacapra named 40 priests among his clients and stated “their behavior is, in many cases, a result of the impunity that the high hierarchy of the Church has made habitual… that unjust tolerance that feeds the idea that it is possible to separate that which is lived from that which is professed, as typical of those who have a schizophrenic, double morality…” The dossier list names and spoke to how the Vatican deals with such problems when opened to the public. In one case they moved Fr. Morini (who lied that he was a judge and who was caught on video snorting cocaine with male escorts) into a paid €200,000 house with an allowance for food, utilities and expenses.
https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/N034_Dossier.htm
The same site reported that “the Italian periodical L’Espresso recently (2006) published a scoop reporting that Paul VI had been blackmailed about a certain secret. The “hush-hush” information was his supposed “waywardness” involving homosexual acts. The gist of the article was reported by the newspaper Il Giornale online, January 27, 2006.”
https://www.traditioninaction.org/HotTopics/a02tPaulV_Accusations.html
ilgiornale.it (Italian News Chronicles) in their article (2/25/2018), “A secret dossier on 60 homosexual priests: the Curia confirms,” reports that the dossier was confirmed to be true. They note, the “network (was)… from Rome to Catania… chat set up for sexual encounters” Neapolitan Curia press release stated, the ‘dossier was issued to the chancellery of the Archbishop of Naples… with attached photos, screenshots of conversations and so on… (some) taken with the canonical ones…”
LaRampa.it, in their February 2018 article showed some of the texts and pictures with blacked out portions. They add that Mangiacapra said, “I compiled this catalog of rotten apples not with the intent to throw mud on the Church, but with that of helping to uproot the rot that would contaminate everything that is whole…” The problem is the system itself is rotten and needs to be uprooted and changed or discarded.
This is a continual problem, the New York Times reported in February 2018, that Monsignor P. Amenta “a Vatican judge pleaded guilty in a Rome tribunal to having child porn on his computer after police were brought in when he allegedly tried to fondle an 18-year old man.” Amenta was a judge on the Holy See tribunal that heard marriage annulment cases. He resigned after a plea deal.
https://nypost.com/2018/03/07/gay-escort-outs-nearly-40-catholic-priests-in-vatican-dossier/
The Remnant Catholic Newspaper (Remnantnewspaper.com) in a September 12, 2017 online article, “The Capozzi Cover-up: A Massive Vatican Scandal,” showed a picture of Cardinal F. Coccopalmerio (President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts) with his Secretary, Msgr. L. Capozzi. The report asked, “How stupid does the Vatican think we are? The contempt for which the hold the laity knows no bounds. The people of God are treated like ignorant sheep who are on a need to know basis and they need to know nothing…” Then the article addresses the ARREST of Capozzi for “Hosting a raucous DRUG fueled Homosexual ORGY.”
The Catholic news source stated, “The Bergoglian Vatican operates like the Costa Nostra, fear prevails, loyalty is rewarded, and omerta’ is the dominating dogma. Not surprising since Cardinals who self-identified as the St. Gallen Mafia bragged about their powerful influence to elect Bergoglio as pope.”
“Vatican II, Homosexuality & Pedophilia”
Atila Guimarães wrote “Vatican II, Homosexuality & Pedophilia (2004)” in which he exposes the practices of those at the Vatican. Gary Morella, Catholic member of the Research Faculty at Penn State Uni, said this book “is a must read for Catholics wanting to understand why Rome has essentially done nothing to remove the dissident rot that has spawned a sodomite subculture in the Church.” He says, “Guimarães clearly shows how words have consequences with a litany of saints to include St. John Chrysostom telling us that “A murderer only separates the soul from the body, whereas these (sodomites) destroy the soul inside the body” vs. the post-conciliar attitude of Cardinal Basil Hume.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/glm7/m185.htm
Guimarães chapters include “1. Excerpts from Sacred Scriptures, 2. Tradition… Popes and Councils… Apologists… II. 3. Vatican position regarding pedophile priests… Dallas documents… Washington documents… III. …Homosexual priests and Bishops… The ‘McNeil affair,’ The ‘Weakland affair,’ 8. Percentage of homosexual priests, 9. Homosexuality: the new face of the priesthood. 10. The homosexual mafia in the seminaries and support it receives from the Bishops… IV. Accusations against Paul VI…”
Guimarães cites scriptures such as Leviticus 18:22 and Romans 1:24- against homosexuality. Then he adds quotes from early church fathers, such as St. Basil: “The cleric or monk who molests youth or boys, or is caught kissing or committing some depravity with them, let him be whipped in public, deprived of his crown (tonsure) and, after having his head shaved, let his face be covered with spittle and let him be bound in iron chains, condemned to six months in prison, reduced to eating rye bread once a day in the evening three times per week. After these six months of living in a separate cell under the custody of a wise elder advanced in the spiritual life, let him make prayers, vigils, and manual work, always under the watch of two spiritual brothers, without being allowed to have any relationship…with young people.” St. Bernadine of Siena adds: “One who lived practicing the vice of sodomy will suffer more pain in Hell than anyone else, because this is the worst sin that there is…”
Guimarães noted the Los Angeles Times survey to priests, in which some said, “I can’t wait for a Bishop or Cardinal to go to jail;” or “They must know that nobody is above the law…” yet, some said, “I am homosexual by nature and the grace of God…. I am a priest and not a Sodomite.”
Guimarães shows the attitude of the Catholic hierarchy, such as the quote of Cardinal Hume, “The particular orientation or inclination of the homosexual person is not a moral failing… Being a homosexual person is, then, neither morally good nor morally bad; it is homosexual genital acts that are morally wrong.” TTS source (with the weak flesh wanting to use more adjectives) adds, what a blind foolish idiot leading many blind masses: that is like saying a the soul and spirit of the murder, rapist or theft is not morally bad, except when the body it occupies commits those acts. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you (with such demonic doctrine) (Gal. 3:1)?” Don’t you understand the apostles clearly taught, “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (nor the false purgatory; but the real hell and lake of eternal separation)? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators… nor homosexuals …thieves …murders …the like… will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:21-; Rev. 21:8).”
Don’t you understand dear Catholics and Protestants, it is written: “…if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice (Jesus’ blood) for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a FIRE… (Hebrews 10:26-27).”
CatholicBridge.com askes the question, “Did Vatican II cause the priest sexual abuse crisis? Catholic Bridge found that 40% of all priests and religious convicted of abuse in the United States were ordained before Vatican II. TTS (TheTruthSource response): This only shows that the problem has been a continual one since the failed system of celibacy began to be enforced.
The New York Post’s (2/14/2019) article states that “80 percent of priests in the Vatican are gay: new book.” This is according to Martel’s book. They also note that Colombian Cardinal “Trujillo defended the church’s positions on homosexuality while hiring male prostitutes, according to The Guardian.”
BBC News (10/29/2015), quoted K. Charamsa, a former senior Vatican priest, “stripped of his post after admitting being in a gay relationship,” said in a letter to Pope Francis, that the Vatican was full of hypocrisy because it is “full of homosexuals.”
In PBS’s (LPB) film, “Secrets of the Vatican” they reported that in 1976, Father Juan Vaca sent a report to the Vatican. He described abuse and misappropriation of funds. He named himself in the list of 21 colleagues that he knew personally that abused women and children. The Vatican did nothing. And this method primarily continued until modern technology exposed them globally.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/secrets-of-the-vatican/transcript/
All, ok maybe 99.999∞ of all priests are or have been sexually active under the age of 80ish. They are either homosexual, bisexual, fornicating with boys, men and or women (some desiring to marry), married, and or masturbating to pornography. Even LgbtNation.com (8/17/2017) has noted that 11 POPES were openly gay or bisexual. One example they site is Cardinal Giovanni Maria del Monte, who was elected Pope and took the name Julius III (1550-1555). He appointed his 17-year old lover, Innocenzo, to be a cardinal and ‘chief diplomatic agent.’ They note in modern times that Popes John XXIII and Paul VI were exposed as having homosexual affairs.
According to Vanity Fair, “The Vatican’s Secret Life (12/2013),” “…Despite headlines about a powerful ‘gay lobby’ within the Vatican, and a new Pope promising reform, the Catholic Church gay cardinals, monks and other clergy inhabit a hidden netherworld…. (2013) before the College of Cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to choose the 266th Pope, the largest Italian daily newspaper, La Repubblica, reported that a ‘gay lobby’ – a more or less unified cabal of homosexual power brokers – might be operating inside the Vatican… a 300-page report… was presented to Pope Benedict XVI by three cardinals he had appointed to investigate the affair known as ‘VatiLeaks.’ That scandal… the papal butler, made off with some of Benedict’s private papers and leaked them to the press…’
‘According to the La Repubblica …gay clerics in the Vatican were being blackmailed…” They noted that “between 20 and 60 percent of ALL CATHOLIC PRIESTS are gay, according to one estimate cited by Donald Cozzens in his well-regarded The Changing Face of the Priesthood… Dozens of interviews with current and former gay priests, gay monks, veteran Vatican journalists, Italian aristocrats and gay men at Roman gyms, bars, nightclubs, sex clubs and restaurants…” reveal that though “the more graphic stories are… a limited part of the reality of gay clerical life in Rome… Gays in the Vatican are creatures of a cutthroat bureaucracy whose dogmatic worldview denies or denigrates their own existence. They live in a closet that has no door…”
https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/12/gay-clergy-catholic-church-vatican
The National Catholic Reporter (2/18/2019), “Excerpt: ‘In the Closet of the Vatican,’ written by Martel, states, “The gay dimension doesn’t explain everything, of course, but it is key for anyone wishing to understand the Vatican and its moral postures. We might also put forward the hypothesis… that lesbianism is a major key to an understanding of convent life… Lastly – alas! – homosexuality is also one of the keys that explain the institutionalized cover-up of sexual crimes and misdemeanors, of which there are now tens of thousands. Why? How? Because the ‘culture of secrecy’, which was necessary to maintain silence about the huge presence of homosexuality inside the Church, has made it possible to hide sexual abuse, and for predators to benefit from this system of protection within the institution – even though paedophilia is not the subject of this book. ‘How much filth there is in the Church,’ said Cardinal Ratzinger, who also discovered the extent of the ‘closet’ through a secret report by three cardinals, the content of which was described to me and that was one of the major reasons for his resignation. This report is said to reveal not so much the existence of a ‘gay lobby’, as said, as the omnipresence of homosexuals in the Vatican, blackmail and harassment built into the system. There is, as Hamlet might have said, something rotten in the state of the Vatican…”
Children of Priests
The New York Times reported (2/18/2019) on “Vatican’s Secret Rules for Catholic Priests who have Children.” As the sons and daughters of priests were interviewed, one thing was sure, as many said, “There are kids everywhere” born of priests. One such, V. Doyle, a psychotherapist in Ireland, said ‘he learned from his mother that the Roman Catholic priest he had always known as his godfather was in truth his biological father…”
Copinginternational.com is a charity of and for “Children of the Ordained & Religious.” Current front webpage (10/2019): “Main Object: Coping International facilitates free psychological and pastoral support for children of priests and religious… Coping advocates for the rights of children of priests with the institutional Catholic Church. Coping operates under mandatory reporting …thus all information shared relating to child abuse will be notified to the statutory authorities (Police & Social Services) …”
Coping EXPLAINS part of the great FAILURE of the CATHOLIC CELIBACY SYSTEM: “…There exists in society an assumption, that if a priest/religious fathers a child, he must leave the priesthood/ministry to care for his child(ren). Therein lies the problem and perhaps one of the reasons for the secrecy that shrouds these children’s existences. How can a man be expected to provide for his family having left his livelihood? There is nothing intrinsic to priesthood itself that inhibits or contradicts paternity… Canon Law does not require a priest to leave… What’s more ‘Latin priests who are celibate do the same pastoral work as the Maronite married priests… that a priest cannot be a parent and priest simultaneously. This assumption is erroneous since the ‘double responsibility’ of priesthood and parenthood has coexisted for centuries and ‘married and celibate priests do the same pastoral work…”
Coping asked Canon Lawyer Rev. R. Kaslyn “if a priest breaks his vow of celibacy and neglects a child (does) …Canon 384 mean the bishop has …to respond?” Rev. Kaslyn: “Pre-1960, a bishop would have an obligation to make sure his priests fulfilled their obligations and responsibilities, including the celibate life. If a priest fathered a child, in general, the bishop and the Holy See would be obliged to make sure that the priest fulfilled his obligations to his wife and child… such responsibility is not compatible with the clerical state…. Since 1983, canon 384 would require that the bishop respond pastorally both to the priest who violated celibacy and the woman involved… What the bishop does exactly depends on circumstances of time and place: does the woman want him involved at all in the raising of the child? To what extent was there a relationship between the two… answers would assist the bishop… to ensure …any obligations of fatherhood…”
VI. The Vatican already allows certain priests to be married.
We know that both in the Old and New Testaments (of the Holy Scriptures – Bible) that priests, ministers, bishops, elders and deacons were almost always married. Celibacy was an extremely rare choice. We know that Peter and the apostles (with very rare exceptions by choice; such as Paul who knew he was going to soon die for Christ – Acts 21:11) and most of the early church fathers that were not in the midst of persecution until death.
In early Church history and more so through most of the Catholic Church’s history priests have married. In addition, many of the popes were married, such as: Felix III, Hormidas, Silverus, Hadrian II, Clement IV and Felix V. And many so-called ‘holy’ popes had children through fleshly fornication or adultery, including: Innocent VIII, Alexander VI, Julius, Paul III, Pius IV and Gregory XIII. And many popes were sons of priests and popes: Damascus I, Innocent I, Boniface, Felix, Anastasius, Agapitus, Silverus, Deusdedit, Boniface VI, John XI and John XV.
In the United States there are more than 110 married Catholic priests. This is in large part due to the policy change by Pope John Paul II in 1980, who allowed certain Episcopal priests to remain married in their ministry after converting to Catholicism. For example, Fr. Paul Sullins of Maryland was ordained by the Catholic Church in 2002, four years after leaving the Episcopal church. The allowances for married priests were made following significant shortages: there has been a more than 30% drop in the number of U.S. priests between 1965 and 2010.
The Los Angeles Times reported (3/12/2017) that in 2014, Pope Francis “quietly lifted a 114-year-old bay on married Eastern Catholic priests serving outside their rite’s home country, opening the door for them to serve in the U.S., according to Sullins’ book “Keeping the Vow: The Untold Story of Married Catholic Priests.” https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-pope-married-priests-2017-story.html
Concerning this, the National Catholic Reporter (11/17/2014) in their article, “Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholic in diaspora,” explains, “The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia. Pope Francis approved lifting the ban… in exceptional cases, Eastern Catholic bishops in the diaspora (dispersed people; from their original land) could receive Vatican approval to ordain married men. In recent years, however, some Eastern Catholic bishops went ahead with such ordinations discreetly without Vatican approval. Cardinal L. Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, signed the decree June 14 (2014). It was published later online in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official periodical through which Vatican laws and decisions are published…”
https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-lifts-ban-married-priests-eastern-catholics-diaspora
Catholic Clergy cannot “go into all the world” as they please or even as they are led by the Holy Spirit. Someone desiring or led to become a Catholic priest and go into the world to preach the gospel and care for the weak and lost must first, in nearly all cases, make application into an order or seminary to become a Candidate according to the Sacrament of Holy Orders (CLC 1026-1032). There they must prove themselves by knowledge and discipline. There is an age and sex requirement: male 25 to ≈ 55. According to the order or seminary the Candidate will study and go through a process which takes usually between 4 and 7 years to Ordination, typically the last two years the seminarian becomes a deacon, then a priest. In most cases, only a bishop can ordain a priest. Then they are in most all cases Assigned to a parish, which could be anywhere in the world, and from which they cannot move without (bishop) approval.
According to Catholic News Service (catholicnews.com; 1/30/2019): January 27, 2019, “Pope Francis told reporters flying with him from Panama that he did not think optional celibacy for priests in the Latin-rite church was a good idea. “Personally, I believe that celibacy is a gift to the church,” the pope said. “Second, I’m not in agreement with allowing optional celibacy.” But before that… he told reporters, “A phrase St. Paul VI said comes to mind, ‘I would rather give my life than to change the law on celibacy’.” …However, he did say ‘there could be some possibility’ of ordaining married men in very remote locations where there are Catholic communities that seldom have Mass because there are no priests…”
Amazon Synod
October 6-27, 2019: Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region. Amazonia: News Paths for the Church and for an Integral Ecology. Part of the agenda in the ‘Working Document for the Synod of Bishops’ is ‘New paths of dialogue,’ ‘A time of serious and urgent challenges,’ and ‘the Church reaching out.’ The Pan-Amazonian Region includes those areas on or near the Amazon in Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Ecuador, French Gianna, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.
In the October 8 ‘Press Release,’ the Synod reports: “The question of Viri Probati:” “Some interventions also touched upon the question of the so called viri probati. The Instrumentum Laboris proposes the idea of viri probati as a way of ensuring the frequent celebration of the sacraments in areas where there is a certain shortage of priests. An intervention highlighted though that this cannot result in a substantial revision of the nature of the priesthood and its relationship with celibacy as envisaged in the Latin Rite of the Church. Along with these interventions was the suggestion to develop a pastoral vocation amongst the young indigenous peoples so as to promote evangelization in the most remote areas of the Amazon. This was made so as not to create a type of ‘first class Catholic’ who must wait long times to have access to the Eucharist. In some parts of the Amazon peoples wait more than two years for the Sacrements.”
Viri Probati – “approved men’ meaning ‘tested MARRIED men’ – is in a Vatican II document, Constitutio Dogmatica de Ecclesia Lumen Gentium, which translated states, “they therefore appointed such men, and gave them the order that, when they should have died other ‘approved men’ would take up their ministry…” This comes from the writings of early church father Clement (Letter to the Corinthians).
October 10, 2019 Press Release: “MOST Amazon bishops SUPPORT MARRIED PRIESTS.”
“Several bishops and other speakers at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon proposed the ordination of married men, preferably elders in their respective communities, as a solution for remote communities that often go from one month to up to one year without the celebration of the Eucharist. During the synod’s morning session on Tuesday (October 8, 2019) this week, the Vatican said several bishops proposed the ordination of married ‘viri probati’ and at least one suggested the church could ‘evaluate over time whether this experience is valid or not.’ …Bishop Krauler said that when it comes to ordaining married men of proven virtue, ‘there is no other option.’ He said: ‘The indigenous people don’t understand celibacy; they say that very openly and I see it…’.” [TTS response: most people don’t understand/respect a system of forced – and in most cases – bogus celibacy]
https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/12110/most-amazon-bishops-support-married-priests-says-bishop
Among the Greatest Problems: Acceptance of Homosexual Priests
IF even 1 in 4, but studies reveal could be greater than 1 in 2, priests are homosexual, why is this allowed? In his book, “The Changing Face of the Priesthood (2000), Rev. Donald Cozzens explains how the priesthood has become an increasingly gay profession. He estimated as many as 58% of all priests are gay, and a higher percentage for younger priests. In Fr. Gary Meir’s book, “Hidden Voices, Reflections of a Gay Catholic Priest (2011), he stated in his experience “30 percent are gay, 30 percent are straight, and 30 percent are in denial.”
It is allowed, because the practice is accepted by the great majority of both the clergy and the laity. In response to Pope’s Francis’ 2013 statement, “if someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Fr. James Bretzke, professor of MORAL Theology at Boston College, expressed that it was a much-needed shift that reflects the reality of the priesthood. Bretzke said, “It’s an empirical fact that lots of men are gay who are priests. And they are very good priests…”
Before the early 1990s, over 70% of American adults opposed same-sex marriage. By 2011, the majority saw no problem with it. Before 1990, less than 25% of the public would support same-sex marriage. Less than a generation later, by 2013, the majority supported legalizing the homosexual arrangement. TTS’s article on How Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage became accepted in ‘Christian’ Societies shows the path to acceptance.
In c.1,300 BC Moses issued the command of the Lord God, “if a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads (Leviticus 20:13).” Around 50 AD, the apostle Paul said, “Do you not know that …homosexuals …will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (I Cor. 6:9-11).” Around 700, the Koran followed the same: “You practice your lusts on men rather than to women; you are sinning beyond bounds… we rained down on them stones… Will you commit such abomination… Will you approach males, and leave your wives, who Allah has created for you…? (Qur’an 7:80; 26:165).
The stance against homosexuality as an unnatural abomination continued for centuries. In Catholic nations in the 13th century, the penalties for sodomy included torture and castration. In 1533, in England, King Henry VIII issued laws against sodomy (Buggery). In the American colonies, in 1683, there were laws against it: for example, Pennsylvania called sodomy an ‘unnatural sin,’ and New Jersey said it was ‘an offense against God’ and an immoral crime. In 1791, when the Bill of Rights were ratified in the U.S., all 13 states had criminal laws against sodomy.
In 1812, Benjamin Rush published the first American systematic textbook on Psychiatry (Medical Inquiries and Observations upon Diseases of the Mind) in which he spoke of ‘Moral Derangement.’ In 1869, Karl Kertbeny coined the words heterosexual and homosexual. In 1892, the American Psychological Association was founded. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court put up ‘the impenetrable wall between church and state’ in McCollum v. Board of Education. That same year, Alfred Kinsey of Britain published “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male.” The work, full of false and shewed statistics, became accepted as authority and would become a chief facture in laws changing – that, and a rational public not wanting to see young people or loved ones embarrassed or jailed over homosexual acts.
In 1952, the APA’s Diagnostic …Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) included homosexuality. In 1955, sodomy was a felony in every U.S. state. In 1957, the ACLU took up the homosexual right cause. In 1961, Illinois adopted the Model Penal Code, which following England’s use of Kinsey’s materials, removed sodomy as a felony. In 1962, the Supreme Court removed public school sponsored prayer. In the 1960s and 1970s, American TV shows began introducing gay characters. In 1968: the DSM-II still listed homosexuality as a ‘sexual deviation…disorder.’ In 1969, the Stonewall riots caused gays to better organize and unite. Philadelphia saw the first Gay Pride parade in 1972 – now they are annually held throughout the world with tens of thousands in some cities. In 1977, the World Health Organization still listed homosexuality as a mental illness. In 1985, GLAAD was founded (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation). In 1986, the courts still upheld Georgia’s sodomy law.
In 1987, GLAAD moved the N. Y. Times to begin using the word ‘gay’ instead of homosexual. In 1990, GLAAD began Project 21, to teach their version of sexual orientation. In 1993, the Presbyterian Church (USA) reversed its 1861 position on gay ministers (and started a split in their denomination). In 1994, the TV show Roseanne aired a lesbian kiss. In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act. In 2000, the U.S. Census revealed over 601,000 same-sex unmarried partner households; up from 145,000 in 1990. In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled ‘Sodomy’ laws to be unconstitutional; and in 2004, Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage and England passed the Civil Partnership Act.
In 2008, Just the Facts Coalition (1999) made up of the APA and a dozen other professional associations, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Association of Social Workers, produced: Just the Facts about Sexual Orientation and Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and… Personnel. “This booklet… will help you respond to …sexual orientation…”
http://www.glsenboston.org/JustTheFacts.pdf
In 2009, President Obama signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act which included penalties for crimes against ‘gender identity.’ By 2010, 21 of 51 countries in Europe recognized same-sex unions. In 2013, most Fortune 500 companies recognized ‘equal rights’ benefits for civil union partners. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme court basically legalized Same-Sex Marriage. May 2019, Pew Research Center published their article ‘Attitudes on Same-Sex Marriage,’ which states “…in 2004, Americans opposed same-sex marriage by a margin of 60% to 31%. Support for same-sex marriage has steadily grown over the past 15 years. …Based on polling in 2019, a majority of Americans (61%) support same-sex marriage, while 31% oppose it.” https://www.pewforum.org/fact-sheet/changing-attitudes-on-gay-marriage/
Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study showed that 60% of the United Methodists in the U.S. said homosexuality should be accepted – up from 51% in 2007. In 2017, Pew Research Center found that 83% of Democrats and 54% of Republicans supported homosexuality. Gallup.com has tracked the question on accepting homosexual relations in society. And in 2019, 73% saw no problem with “gay or lesbian relations between consenting adults.”
Here lies a problem, both the Vatican and their Catholic adherents fundamentality do not follow and or interpret the Holy Scriptures in forbidding homosexuality in the priesthood. Also, if a priest can be homosexual, then why do we need married priests? And thus, the ‘gay lobby’ and gay authority figures are making/enforcing/ignoring the rules concerning marriage and celibacy in the priesthood.
CONCLUSION (Plea One of Two)
There are flaws and errors in every religious sect or denomination, including every Christian one. However, when the errors and shortcomings are willful, criminal, or grossly negligence, then they must be exposed and corrected – regardless of their time and practice of tradition. A “Substantial Revision of the nature of the priesthood and its relationship with celibacy” is the only course of action.
There were four principal reasons for this article. The First reason is the decades the understanding of certain significant flawed doctrines, traditions and practices within all religions and dominations (in this case – the Catholic Church). And here the willful and gross negligence of following the unbiblical practice of celibacy by rule, coercion and the false ‘traditions of men.’ Second, the movie “Spotlight (2015)” brought the sexual abuse scandal to such an exposed place that it could not be ignored. It is the portrayal of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation by priests and how it was covered up by the Catholic Archdiocese (first Spotlight article of the scandal – Jan. 2002). As many others have (Schindler’s List, Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, etc.), this show planted an unforgettable seed.
Third, by certain chance or fate, September 2019 TTS saw The Atlantic June 2019 Issue cover – with a large cathedral and the title “ABOLISH THE PRIESTHOOD.” TTS opened the magazine to the article, and it was ripped out except for the golden colored title page, and the sub-sentence: “TO SAVE THE CHURCH, DISMANTLE THE PRIESTHOOD” “To save the Church, Catholics must detach themselves from the clerical hierarchy – and take the faith back into their own hands.’ Immediately after, the article was on cellphone (excerpts below). Fourth, after reading the article (which also referred to the ‘Spotlight’ series), the seeds that had been planted were immediately transforming by the Holy Spirit into the first 5 of the 6 reasons that the Church will change its position on celibacy.
TheTruthSource (TTS) produces hundreds of articles and desires to write a myriad more than possible; nevertheless, this was a Spirit moving must write – regardless of the tens of hours, on top of the thousands of combined hours put into those works we use and quote. Not because TTS desires to see the Catholic hierarchy brought down, though many do need to reach their knees in Spirit and Truth, but rather in hopes that children of God, Catholics in particular, in order to ‘Save the Church,’ would petition and DEMAND from the Vatican – significant, Scriptural, reasonable and needed Godly inspired Change for the sake of the weak and the lost. Namely “a substantial revision of the nature of the priesthood and its relationship with celibacy,” that CELIBACY SHOULD BE ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY as in the Bible and early tradition; and that the Catholic Church should welcome MARRIED candidates into the priesthood in EVERY PARISH in the World, AND should ALLOW ALL PRIESTS to follow their hearts and the Spirit of the LORD to be MARRIED – male and female, according to the Holy Scriptures.
TTS, for the six [sex] reasons previously and herein listed, believed that the Catholic Church will significantly change its stand on allowing priests to marry within a decade – by 2030.
However, TTS offers this modest solution to the status quo: if the Vatican and priests resolve to remain celibate, then for the sake of removing sexual abuse and willful sinning – let them be castrated. And to ensure the process, let it be administered by a medical professional in the present of 2 mature witnesses; and thus, let’s not entrust the sexual organs of the priests to be handled by other priests or the Vatican. If the Vatican has a problem paying for the procedures, they can use some of the proceeds from the selling of their abandon churches, or crypts, or perhaps the some of the ancient naked sculptures in the Vatican.
Excerpts from The Atlantic article (5 pages) /with comments following
The Atlantic (June 2019): “Abolish the Priesthood: To save the Church, Catholics must detach themselves from the clerical hierarchy – and take the faith back into their own hands.” (former Champlain Boston U.)
“…Not long before The Boston Globe began publishing its series on predator priests, in 2002 – the ‘Spotlight’ series that became a movie of the same name – the government of Ireland established a commission, ultimately chaired by Judge Sean Ryan, to investigate accounts and rumors of child abuse in Ireland’s residential institutions for children, nearly all of which were run by the Catholic Church. The Ryan Commission published its 2,600-page report in 2009. Despite government inspections and supervision, Catholic clergy had, across decades, violently tormented thousands of children. The report found that children held in orphanages and reformatory schools were treated no better than slaves – in some cases, sex slaves. Rape and molestation of boys were ‘ENDEMIC.’
“Other reports were issued about other institutions, including parish churches and schools, and homes for unwed mothers – the notorious ‘Magdalene Laundries,’ where girls and women were condemned to lives of coercive servitude. The ignominy of these institutions was laid out in plays and films, and in Philomena, the movie (2013)… based on a true story. The homes-for-women scandal climaxed in 2017, when a government report revealed that from 1925 to 1961, at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home, in Tuam, County Galway (Ireland), babies who died – nearly 800 of them – were routinely disposed of in mass graves or sewage pits. Not only priests had behaved despicably. So had nuns.”
“In August 2018, Pope Francis made a much publicized visit to Ireland. His timing could not have been worse. Just then, a second wave of the Catholic sex-abuse scandal was breaking. In Germany, a leaked bishops’ investigation revealed that from 1946 to 2014, 1,670 clergy had assaulted 3,677 children. Civil authorities in other nations were launching investigations, moving aggressively to preempt the Church. In the United States, also in 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury alleged that over the course of 70 years, more than 1,000 children had been abused by more than 300 priests across the state. Church authorities had successfully silenced the victims, deflected law enforcement, and shielded the predators… The charges told a ring of pedophile priests who gave many of their young targets the gift of a gold cross to wear, so that the other predator priests could recognize an initiated child who would not resist an overture. “This is the murder of a soul,” said one victim who testified before the grand jury.”
“Attorney generals in at least 15 other states announced the opening of investigations into Church crimes, and the U.S. Department of Justice followed suit. Soon, in several states, teams of law-enforcement agents armed with search warrants burst into diocesan offices and secured records. The Texas Rangers raided the offices of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, which was presided over by Cardinal D. DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. DiNardo had been presented by the Church as the new face of accountability and transparency… (2004). The rangers seized an archive of abuse – boxes of sex-allegation files along with computers… The Cardinal was accused of protecting a particularly egregious predator priest.”
“These and other investigations will produce an avalanche of scandal for years to come. As all of this was unfolding, Pope Francis responded with a meek call for a four-day meeting of senior bishops… under the rubric ‘The Protection of Minors in the Church.’ This was like putting Mafia chieftains in charge of a crime commission.”
“Before, during and after his trip to Ireland, Francis expressed… ‘shame and sorrow.’ But he showed no sign of understanding the need for the Church to significantly reform itself or to undertake acts of true penance.”
“One of the astonishments of Pope Francis’ Irish pilgrimage was his claim, made to reporters during his return trip to Rome, that until then he had know nothing of the Magdalene Laundries or their scandals: ‘I had never heard of these mothers – they call it the laundromat of women, where an unwed woman is pregnant and goes into these hospitals.’ Never heard of these mothers? When I read that, I said to myself: A lie. Pope Francis is lying. He may merely have been ignorant. But to be uninformed about the long-simmering Magdalene scandal was just as bad… a taut wire in me snapped.’
‘The wire had begun to stretch a quarter of a century ago, when I was starting out as a Boston Globe columnist. Twenty years earlier, I had been a Catholic priest, preoccupied with war, social justice, and religious reform… One of my first columns… 1992, was a reflection on the child-sex-abuse crimes of a Massachusetts priest named James Porter. I argued that Porter’s predation had been enabled by the Church’s broader culture of priest-protecting silence. Responding to earlier Globe stories about Porter… Cardinal Bernard Law, the archbishop of Boston, had hurled an anathema… ‘We call down God’s power on the media, particularly the Globe.’ It took a decade, but God’s power eventually came down on Law himself.”
“…the ‘Spotlight’ series and afterward… (I wrote) columns… such as ‘Priests’ Victims Victimized Twice’ and ‘Meltdown in the Catholic Church.’ …I bring all of this up to make the point that, by the summer of 2018, as a still-practicing Catholic, I harbored no illusions about the Church’s grotesque betrayal. So it took some doing to bring me to a breaking point, and Pope Francis – whom in many ways I admire, and in whom I had placed an almost desperate hope – is the unlikely person who brought me there.”
“For the first time in my life, and without making a conscious decision, I simply stopped going to Mass. I embarked on an unwilled version of the Catholic tradition of ‘fast and abstinence’ – in this case, fasting from the Eucharist and abstaining from the overt practice of my faith…”
“The virtues of the Catholic faith have been obvious to me my whole life… I cherish the countless men and women who bring the faith alive. The Catholic Church is a worldwide community of well over 1 billion people… Around the world there are more than 200,000 Catholic schools and nearly 40,000 Catholic hospitals and health-care facilities, mostly in developing countries. The Church is the largest nongovernment organization on the planet… selfless women and men care for the poor, teach the unlettered, heal the sick, and work to preserve minimal standards of the common good. The world needs that Church… to be rational… a champion of the equality of women, and a tribune of justice. That is the Church many us hoped might emerge from the Second Vatican Council… (1962-1965)…”
“…I was very much a part of the Vatican II generation. In due course I would become a priest… (among the) Paulist Fathers. …What Vatican II did not do, or was unable to do, except symbolically, was take up the issue of clericalism – the vesting of power in an ALL-MALE and CELIBATE clergy…”
[TTS: make that a nearly all white male; less than 1% black and 5% hispanic priests in the U.S.].
“My five years in the priesthood, even in its most liberal (for change) wing, gave me a fetid taste of the CASTE SYSTEM. Clericalism, with its CULT of SECRECY, its THEOLOGICAL MISOGYNY, its sexual repressiveness, and its hierarchical power based on threats of a doom-laden afterlife, is at the root of Roman Catholic dysfunction. The clerical system’s obsession with status thwarts even the merits of otherwise good priests and distorts the Gospel’s message… Clericalism is both the underlying cause and the ongoing enabler of the present Catholic catastrophe… Clericalism’s origins lie not in the Gospels but in the attitudes and organizational charts of the late Roman empire…”
“The celibacy of priest which grew out of the practice of ascetic monks and hermits… over time the cult of celibacy and virginity developed an inhuman aspect… In the Middle Ages, as vast land holdings and treasure came under Church control, priestly celibacy was made mandatory in order to thwart inheritance claims by the offspring of prelates… celibacy was less a matter of spiritually than of power… The Church’s maleness and misogyny became inseparable from its structure…’
“…Pope John XXIII’s successors were in clericalism’s grip, which is why the reforms of his council were short-circuited. John had, for instance, initiated a reconsideration of the Church’s condemnation of artificial contraception… but it was shut down by Pope Paul VI, mainly as a way of protecting papal authority. Now, with children as victims and witnesses both, the corruption of priestly dominance has been shown for the evil that it is. Clericalism explains both how the sexual-abuse crisis could happen and how it could be covered up for so long. IF THE STRUCTURE of Clericalism is not dismantled, the Roman Catholic Church will not survive, and will not deserve to…’
“…In 2013 …the pope from Argentina (Francis) …kindled hope (for reform)… (then) Archbishop Carlo Maria Vaigan’, formerly the Vatican nuncio in Washington, D.C., ambushed Francis during that pilgrimage to Ireland (8/2018), publishing a letter claiming that the pope himself had covered up the abusive behavior of clergy… Vigano’ is supported by the pope’s American nemesis, Cardinal Raymond Burke… Foreshadowing these events was a letter …leaked – by 13 cardinals ahead of a synod in 2015, warning against any change on the question of divorce and remarriage…’
“(late 2018) Pope Francis, challenged by the disgrace of his close ally, the now-defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick… (and) by accusations, like Vigano’s, of his complicity in the cover-up of sexual abuse; and by the moral wreckage of the Church around the world, responded with silence, denial and a business-as-usual summoning of crimson-robed men to Rome.’
“Events in subsequent months only magnified the scale of the Church’s failure. With maddening equilibrium, Pope Francis acknowledged, in response to a reporters’ question early this year, that the rape of nuns by priests and bishops remains a mostly unaddressed Catholic problem (N.Y. Times 2/5/2019). In Africa, once AIDS became common, priests began coercing nuns into becoming sexual servants, because, as virgins, they would likely not carry the HIV virus. It was reportedly common for such priests to sponsor abortions when the nuns became pregnant. ‘It’s true,’ Francis said calmly. ‘There are priests and bishops who have done that.’
“Nuns have come forward in India to charge priests with rape. In April (2019), a bishop was charged with the rape and illegal confinement of a nun, whom he allegedly assaulted over two years… in Kerala… The nun said she reported the bishop to the police only after appealing to Church authorities repeatedly and being ignored.’
“In February, a Washington Post report suggested that early in his pontificate, Francis learned about the systematic priestly abuse of institutionalized deaf children in Argentina (WP 2/18/2019), decades ago. The abuse had originally been brought to light not by Church officials but by civil authorities… That same month, the Vatican was forced to acknowledge that it had long-established secret protocols for handling ‘children of the ordained.’ According to this policy, a priest who violated his vow of celibacy AND fathered a child was encouraged to resign from the priesthood in order to ‘assume his responsibilities as a parent,’ but was in no way required to do so…’
“…Cardinal McCarrick was found guilty by a Vatican tribunal of abusing minors and …was stripped of his clerical standing. A ‘reduction to the lay state’ …defrocked… (yet) the humiliation consists in his being made to appear… like everyone else, which reveals how the clerical caste perceives the laity…’
“…February (2019) …(in) the meeting of bishops in Rome… Francis …turned on those he called ‘accusers.’ He said, with pointed outrage, ‘Those who spend their lives accusing and accusing are… the friends, cousins, and relatives of the devil.’ …At the meeting, the bishops dutifully employed watchwords such as transparency and repentance, yet they established no new structures of prevention and accountability.’
“An edict promulgated in March (2019) makes reporting allegations of abuse mandatory, but it applies only to officials of the Vatican City-state and its diplomats, and the reporting is not to civil authorities but to the Vatican officials. Francis proclaimed ‘an all-out battle’ against priestly abuse and said the Church must protect children ‘from ravenous wolves.’ But he said noting about who breeds such wolves and who sets them loose.’
“Worst, he deflected the specifically Catholic nature of this horror by noting that child abuse and sexual malfeasance happens everywhere, as if the crimes of Catholic clergy are not so bad. Coming like a punctuation mark the day after the Vatican gathering adjourned was a full report from Australia on the matter of Cardinal George Pell (The Atlantic, 3/13/2019). Formerly the head of Vatican finances and one of Francis’s closet advisers, Pell had been found guilty of sexually violating two altar boys… (got 6 years).’
“In the Americas and Africa; in Europe, Asia and Australia – wherever there were Catholic priests, there were children being preyed upon and tossed aside. Were it not for crusading journalists and lawyers, the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests would still be hidden, and rampant. A power structure that is accountable only to itself will always end up abusing the powerless.’
“According to one victim, Cardinal Law, of Boston, before being forced to resign because of his support for predator priests, attempted to silence the man by invoking the sacred seal: ‘I bind you by the power of the confessional,’ Law said, his hands pressing on the man’s head, ‘not to speak to anyone about this.’
“…For Catholics, priests are the living sacrament of Christ’s presence, delegated above all to consecrate the bread and wine that define the soul of the faith. This symbol of Christ (the priests) has come to stand come to stand for something profoundly WICKED… there are good men (among the priesthood)… But the institutional CORRUPTION of Clericalism transcends that concern (of betraying or offending them), and the anguish should be reserved for the VICTIMS OF PRIESTS. Their suffering must be the permanent measure of our responses…”
[TTS pauses to note: Christ’s body and word alone is the bread – and His blood has already been poured out – the wine; Eucharist is symbolic/spiritual communion – Jesus said, ‘do this in remembrance of Me’ – all believers give thanks and do this – women and men – you don’t need a priest! Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24 – the first Christians were ‘breaking bread from house to house (Acts 2:46)’ – not in temples with priests.]
Article continues: “While a relatively small number of priests are pedophiles, it is by now clear that a far larger number have looked the other way. In part… because many (the great majority) priests have themselves found it impossible to keep their vows of celibacy, whether intermittently or consistently. Such men are profoundly compromised. Gay or straight, many sexually active priests uphold a structure of secret unfaithfulness, a conspiracy of imperfection that inevitably undercuts their moral grit.’
“At a deeper level, Catholic clerics may be reluctant to judge their predatory fellows, because a priest, even if he is a person of full integrity, is always vulnerable to a feeling of having fallen short of an impossible ideal: to be ‘another Christ.’ Where in such a system is there room for being human? I remember retreat masters citing scripture to exhort us priests during our seminary days ‘to be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Moral perfection, we were told, was a vocational mandate. That such hubristic claptrap came from blatantly imperfect men did noting to lighten the load of the admonition…”
The article concludes: “…The VERY PRIESTHOOD is TOXIC… Insidiously, willed ignorance encompasses not just clerics but a vast population of the faithful. I’ve already noted the broad Catholic disregard of the Church’s teachings about divorce and remarriage, but on the issue of artificial contraception, Catholic dissent is even more dramatic: For the past two generations, as Catholic birth rates make clear, a large majority of Church members have ignored the hierarchy’s solemn moral proscription – not in a spirit of active antagonism but as if the proscription simply did not exist. Catholics in general have perfected the art of looking the other way.’
“Pope Francis expresses ‘shame and sorrow’ …yet he …defends perpetrators against their accusers. He has called clericalism ‘a perversion of the Church.’ But what does he actually mean by that? He denounces the clerical culture in which abuse has found its niche but does nothing to dismantle it… Pope Benedict XVI prohibited bishops from referring cases of predators priests to civil authorities, binding them under what he called the ‘pontifical secret.’ Even now …Cardinal Ratzinger is defending the old order. In April (2019) he published, in a Bavarian periodical, a diatribe that was extraordinary as much for its vanity as for its ignorance. Benedict blamed sex abuse by priests on the moral laxity of the 1960s, the godlessness of contemporary culture, the existence of homosexual cliques in seminaries – and the way his own writings have been ignored… But alas, the pope emeritus and his allies may not have real cause for worry. That an otherwise revolutionary pope like Francis demonstrates personally the indestructibility of clericalism is the revelation. Francis has stoutly protected the twin pillars of clericalism – the Church’s misogynist exclusion of women from the priesthood and its requirement of celibacy for priests. He had FAILED to bring LAYPEOPLE into positions of REAL POWER.’
“Equality for women as officeholders in the Church has been resisted precisely because it, like an end to priestly celibacy, would bring with it a broad transformation of the entire Catholic ethos… The power structure is not the Church. The Church is the people of God. I refuse to let a predator priest or a complicit bishop rip my faith from me… To SIMPLY LEAVE THE CHURCH IS TO LEAVE ITS WORST impulses UNCHALLENGED and its best ones unsupported… The Vatican itself may take steps, belatedly, to catch up to where the Church goes without it… The future will come at us invisibly, frame by frame, as it always does… One hundred years from now, there will be a Catholic Church… (but) the Church I foresee will be governed by laypeople… Sacramental enablers may well be known as priests… They will include women and married people.”
[The TTS notes: Behold, Jesus Christ, after giving the ‘Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11),’ and after teaching many things to His disciples said, ‘therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5:48).’ And the apostle Paul prayed and exhorted the Church saying, ‘may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit, soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ… (1 Thes. 5:23).’ And the apostle Peter quoted Moses – who quoted the Lord God – ‘Be holy (Kadosh, saintly), for I am holy (Kadosh) (1 Peter 1:16).’ The GREAT difference is that none of these were led by foolish and deceiving traditions – only by the Spirit of the Lord and His Scriptures; NONE of them BOUND the ‘royal priesthood (men, women and children – 1 Peter 2:9)’ to a life of mandated or involuntary Celibacy or forbid Marriage. They all provided a way of Repentance.]
TTS notes that the author was for allowing priests to marry and for women in all church positions, but also for allowing homosexual priests, and them to be openly homosexual. All of these would benefit the Church, except having homosexual priests. But if the Catholic Church is going to be made up of 15%-60% homosexual priests – then let them not be liars to themselves or their congregations – then it is up to the elders and adults to choose their courses of action. NEVERTHELESS, to all: “Let us hear the conclusion: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or it be evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).
Conclusion: Plea #Two
It was said in 1985 ‘that if left if left to smolder the sexual abuse scandal would cost over a billion,’ and the Vatican’s choices has cost the Catholic Church more than $3 billion in settlements, not including the cost to the victims and their families (medical and suicides). Likewise, if the Vatican does not significantly reform their culture of quasi celibacy and mendacity, they will lose another 100,000 million Catholics in the next decade or two at the most.
In the movie ‘Spotlight (2015),’ reporters call Richard Sipe – former priest & psychologist (died 8/2018):
Walter Robinson (Editor of Spotlight): Richard this is Robby here, we think we have 13 priests in Boston that fit this pattern, which would be a very – very big story. Does that sound right to you in terms of scale?
Richard: No, not really. Sounds low to me. My estimates suggest 6% ACT OUT SEXUALLY with minors.
Michael Rezendes: Six percent of what?
Richard: Six percent of ALL PRIESTS.
National Catholic Reporter (NCR: 7/22/2019), in their article ‘Celibacy advances the priesthood’s Culture of Compromised truths,’ reported that Dr. Richard Sipe in his book, A Secret World: Sexuality and the Search for Celibacy,’ “estimated then that at any given time only 50% of priests, monks and bishops are actually celibate.” And that in a 2016 letter to San Diego Bishop R. McElroy, Sipe wrote:
“Sooner or later it will become broadly obvious that there a SYSTEMIC CONNECTION between the sexual activity by, among and between clerics in positions of authority and control, and the abuse of children. …When men in authority – cardinals, bishops, rectors, abbots, confessors, professors – are having or have had an unacknowledged – secret – active – sex life under the guise of celibacy, an atmosphere of tolerance of behaviors within the system is made operative.”
NCR: “In other words, priests and bishops are not going to expose others because they may be guilty themselves. The recent cases… prove this point.”
Cardinals and Bishops have been found complicit. The pope has said, ‘Whom am I to judge’ the homosexual (thus, even among priests)? The Catholic Catechism says, ‘they are contrary to the natural law… under no circumstances can they be approved.’ Well they are between 30% and 60% of the Catholic priesthood! Between 120,000 and 250,000 of the 415,000 priests.
Obviously, no profit-making corporation would lay off half of its work force – it would bankrupt the organization. That is true for secular corporations, but in truth not for the Church – do as Christ did in days/weeks – not 7 years – made disciples and instructed them and taught them – married men – most who labored for free.
Nevertheless, if 6% percent ACT OUT SEXUALLY with minors, that means they have 15,000 predators. BishopAccountability.org reports “Catholic priests who have been accused of sexual abuse number between 5,700 and 10,000… only a few hundred have been tried, convicted and sentenced for their crimes.” They said there are tens of thousands of victims who either have not come forward or now being to contact lawyers and authorities. In the U.S. 6,721 have been reported.
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/settlements/
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/removed/
http://www.bishop-accountability.org/bishops/accused/global_list_of_accused_bishops.htm
August 2018, retired Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, former apostolic nuncio to the United States under both Pope Benedict (who resigned February 2013) and Pope Francis, called on the Supreme Pontiff to resign saying, “We must tear down the conspiracy of silence with which bishops and priests have protected themselves at the expense of their faithful, a conspiracy of silence that in the eyes of the world risks making the church look like a sect, a conspiracy of silence not so dissimilar from the one that prevails in the Mafia.”
How can bishops tell Benedict and Francis to resign, when they are supposed to be not only the Bishop of Rome, but the infallible Most Holy Father, His Holiness, the Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Summus Pontifex Ecclesiae Universalis (Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church)? Julius Caesar was also elected ‘Pontifex Maximum,’ but he also was a fallible man.
The man – Jorge Mario Bergoglio (Pope Francis) – is only a part of the System. Although, he could run to the Throne Room and speak ‘ex cathedra’ and say: I am moved by the Holy Spirit to decree that celibacy from this point is to be voluntary; and more over priests are allowed the follow their Spiritual discernment and passion and marry – male and female, according to the words of the Lord.
It is the System itself that is fallible and needs serious reform. But it was sure to happen when cardinals and bishops and many priests act like the Pharisees before them. Men of flesh, of whom the Lord Jesus Christ said, “Watch out for the scribes and Pharisees. They like to walk around in flowing robes and desire to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the chief seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets… Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy… (Mark 12:38; Luke 12:1).” Rather, “I exhort you elders… Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight… not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock… Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God… (1 Peter 5:3).”
TO THE PRIESTS and OVERSEERS (Bishops – as you say): Be examples as was Peter – married to one wife, and yet still feed the flock and gave his life for Christ’s namesake. Or as Paul, celibate by choice, but speaking against those sins that keep people from the kingdom of Heaven and doing the will of God until martyrdom. And if you want to help children and seek martyrdom – as Peter, Paul and your beloved Ignatius – there are millions of orphans in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq from the wars that could use your resources and services.
TO THE faithful CATHOLIC: “Be doers …and not hears only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves… (James 1:22).” RISE UP and REFORM your own church. DEMAND that the CONGREGATION of Catholics have a say in what affects their own church. There are many changes that are needed, but here specifically, TTS suggests and implores, PETITION the Vatican and the Pope by letter and or Emails to: 1. Remove all canons and rules that require Priests to be or remain Celibate in the priesthood. 2. Amend all canons and rules to Allow all Priests to Marry. 3. ALLOW in Every Parish, in every nation, Married Men that meet the spiritual requirements a path to become priests.
His Holiness, Pope Francis or Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace Saint Martha House
00120 Vatican City 00120 Citta’ del Vaticano, Vatican City
Vatican switchboard: +39 06 6982
Vatican Press: info.tipografia@spc.va
+39 06 698 85037 (telephone)
Vatican: Congregation For Bishops, Secretariat of State
Palazzo della Congregazioni
Piazza Pio XII, 10
00193 Roma, Italy
Email (General Affairs) vatio23@genaff-segstat.va
Email (Office of the Cardinal-Secretary) vatio26@relstat-segstat.va
Phone: 06 69 88 42 17
Pontifical Council for the Laity: Email: vatio89@laity.va
http://www.stpetersbasilica.info/contacts.htm
https://www.tldm.org/email/vatican_emails.htm
The TRUTH SOURCE 