by: John Prager
According to Pope Francis, “about 2%” of Catholic clergy are pedophiles. The Pope called the massive amount of child abuse “leprosy” infecting the church, according to an Italian newspaper–something that Catholicism’s head honcho vowed to “confront it with the severity it demands”.
“Among the 2% who are pedophiles are priests, bishops and cardinals. Others, more numerous, know but keep quiet. They punish without giving the reason,” said the Pope. This represents about 8,000 out of a global number of 414,000 priests. “I find this state of affairs intolerable,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Pope begged forgiveness of those who have been sexually abused by priests, and last year strengthened the Vatican’s laws against child abuse–something that should not have needed to happen in the first place. As a show of good faith, the Pope appointed a woman who was molested by a priest as sex abuse expert.
“The problem certainly exists but it is not on a large scale. It will need time but the solutions are there and I will find them,” the Pope vowed.
The Pope’s promises, however do not seem to hold water when we consider that priests are still allowed to get away with their crimes. As recently as last year, a priest was sentenced to a “life of prayer and penance.” for abusing children. If nothing else, the Catholic Church will continue to do what it traditionally does: throw money at the problem and fail to do anything to actually address it.
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