The Associated Press Published Tuesday, May 6, 2014 12:46PM EDT GENEVA -- The Vatican released comprehensive statistics for the first time Tuesday on how it has disciplined priests accused of raping and molesting children, saying 848 priests have been defrocked and another 2,572 given lesser sanctions over the past decade. The Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, revealed the figures during a second day of grilling by a UN committee monitoring implementation of the UN treaty against torture. Tomasi insisted the convention applied only inside the tiny Vatican City state. But he nevertheless released statistics about how the Holy See has adjudicated sex abuse cases globally, and significantly, he didn't dispute the committee's contention that sexual violence against children can be considered torture. Acknowledging the high number of priests sanctioned with the lesser punishment, Tomasi said it still amounted to disciplinary action and that the abuser is "just put in a place where he doesn't have any contact with the children."Tomasi said that since 2004, more than 3,400 credible cases of abuse had been referred to the Vatican, including 401 cases in 2013 alone. He said that over the last decade, 848 priests had been defrocked, or returned to the lay state by the pope. Another 2,572 were sentenced to a lifetime of penance and prayer or some other lesser sanction, which is often used when the accused priest is elderly or infirm. The Associated Press in January reported that then-Pope Benedict XVI had defrocked 384 priests in the final two years of his pontificate, citing documentation Tomasi's delegation had prepared for another UN committee hearing that matched data contained in the Vatican's statistical yearbooks. Tomasi told the AP on Tuesday that those figures from January were "incomplete" and that the data he provided the torture committee Tuesday -- the first ever year-by-year breakdown of how cases were adjudicated -- was complete. He told the committee that "there is no climate of impunity but there is a total commitment to clean the house" and prevent more abuse. "I think we have crossed a threshold so to say in our evolution of the approach to these problems," he concluded. "It's clear that the issue of sexual abuse of children, which is a worldwide plague and scourge, has been addressed in the last 10 years by the church in a systematic, comprehensive, constructive way."Proof that over 3400 priests knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that there was no God watching them while they tortured children in thier care. Should be a wakeup for many, but they're too blind... The Catholic Church has about 410,000 priests worldwide. Based on the numbers released 3,420 have been defrocked or disciplined in the last ten years for sexual abuse. UPS (United Parcel Service) has about the same number of employees. Imagine the outrage if 3,400 UPS employees were disciplined for sexual abuse in the last ten years. Why aren't we more outraged about the Catholic Church?
_____ · May 6, 2014 2:39 PM · 12,606 views
Believe it or not but the biggest atheists are the priests/pundits etc who reside in Temple/Church/Madrasa etc. Its nothing but just hypocrisy and Billions of people are being fooled. Here are couple of observation from my side. Long time ago, we went to BABA DHAM, India after completing SLC as I had promised the I would go after completing. Our effort to enter the temple and see the god was derailed and we were beaten by sticks in the morning. Then we figured it out that only way was to bribe them. We all paid Rs 20 and went inside easily same day. Taking bribe in temple, do you really think they believe in God? come on. I am sure some of you must have heard about how group of 5 or 6 priests raped and killed one innocent girl in Janaki temple in Janakpur, it was 10-15 years ago and it probably happens every month or week, if not everyday in one of the temples around the world. I know a great priest here (in California). There are 6-7 others under him. His only motive is to capture the property of that trust which has over 10M of land and buildings. He has secretly married at least 3 times and he did it just to bring someone here from overseas and he charges only about 15K for that, not bad huh... and now he has a kept as well. I asked him once how he was able to fool the USCIS as he is a priest but he gave a cunning smile and told me that he is not a Priest in the petition he files, he is a Theology Professor...dam it. I had couple of drinks with him and one time when he was really high, he told me about which girl is better (hotter) than which..and BTW, he perches twice a week on how to devote and concentrate your mind to god and being abstain is good for mankind. How much respect you have now for this kind of priest? You will find similar example everywhere so if this is not hypocrisy, what it is?
nepboy789 · May 6, 2014 4:57 PM
I think humans are older than the gods Majority of Temples/Churches/Mosques are illegal business center to lure the gullible ppl in the name of unknown. I was surprised by the number of cases involving Catholic churches But how many of those are in Prison ? They paid money to settle the case. Abuse in Church is not new . When I was Teenager I read Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron. Collection of 100 stories the ten young Florentines who escaped the Black Death. Most of the story are centered around the sexual activities involving Church/Priest/Nuns.
_____ · May 7, 2014 5:07 AM
Totally agree regarding who is Older and who created who. However, my view is little bit different on importance of religion. Religion played an important role to maintain law and order when there was no law and still it is helping the society (by making people afraid to commit crime) to some extent so its pros easy exceeds cons. Actually all politicians and police should thank to religion, its creators and followers :) Do you agree?
nepboy789 · May 7, 2014 11:30 PM
No doubt , in the beginning religion played a important role in human civilization. Religions were moral headquarter of human civilization at the time of their birth and to some extent few hundred years later too. But as civilization moved on, net contribution of the religion to the society started to became negative. 1. Suffering of Jews before and during second world war 2. Conflict between Hindus and non Hindus in South Asia in history was just because ppl were of different religion. 3. Partisan of India based on religion (they needed a separate state just because they were of different religion and that separation caused massacre of both Hindus and non Hindus at that time. 4. Suppression of Science and technology by Christians in Europe before, during and after middle age 5. Present day three way conflict between Judaism/Islam and Christianity resulted in Golf war I and II , Afghanistan War and lots of Terrorism. Many ppl have taken benefit from religion by misusing it. Yes there are some ppl who have positively benefited from religion. So, In my opinion in the beginning of any religion Less negative effect, more positive effect= total benefit to the society few hundreds years later equal positive and negative effect few more hundered years later more negative effect, less positive effect= harmful to the society Present Day more exploitation by cunning ppl lot more negative influence, less positive effect= dangerous to the society Also at present we have constitution/Laws Civic code for morality, we don't need religion to be moral. Those countries which relied much on religion than generally accepted civil code are always in trouble example many middle eastern countries, Afghanistan, Now Nigeria and as the news of child sex abuse etc becoming rampant in religious Bastion and among Gurus /Pontiffs . At present under the religion humans are suffering a lot. Last edited: 08-May-14 09:46 AM
_____ · May 8, 2014 6:46 AM
yes, there were some unfortunate events/wars triggered by religion which were devastating for society. However, being a fellow atheist, I still respectfully disagree with your point of net contribution to the society. There are billions, probably 4-5 B, of people who believe in religion in a good way (with out extremism) and I am confident that most of their behavior would be very different if they were not influenced by religions from their childhood so in broader sense, I think the net contribution is still positive. Religion is helping us to regulate many people's behavior. It will still be very difficult to govern most of the countries even these days just based on law. Probably, developed countries like USA, Western EU where literacy rate is high and are full of all resources can still function just based on constitution/Law but still it would be very different and difficult. Humans are selfish by nature, think about it, what would be the situation like if there were 4 Billions people in this world who were always trying to cheat each other and just thinking how they can get away from the law? It is also helping the society by making people more selfless, co-operative and generous. Not that Atheists are not generous but I mean, religion helps create more people to donate who otherwise would not have done so. Probably it looks strange to see two atheists discussing on whether we need religion or not but its fun! and I like healthy discussion.
nepboy789 · May 12, 2014 12:13 AM
Yes my friend you are right about 4-5 billion ppl may be religious buit the question is are they truly religious ? They really have not committed the action which their religion portrays as sin again and again? I remember one story about Jesus There is a law in the Old Testament that says adulterers should be stoned to death. The Jews had abandoned this barbaric law and were not practicing it. So the Pharisees took a prostitute to Jesus and asked him what they shall do with her. Jesus, told them “whoever among you is without sin, let him throw the first stone” 4-5 billion ppl claim they are religious but are they? going to the temple, mosque/Church does not make one religious. Religious books say you have follow in deed. And 2000 years ago situation was like in Jesus story then what will be situation today? It is not prudent to expect the society more religious today than 2000 yrs ago. so in that entire crowed there was no one who had not committed a sin. There is a similar story in Buddhism too. The so called "satyauga" didn't lasted forever. if everyone was religious Satyauga should have lasted forever. Udhistir gambled his wife. Had to play trick and said " manche ho ki hatti Aswosthama maryo". all these happened in the era which is supposed to be better than "Kaliyuga". So If 4 billion ppl in Kaliyuga say they are religious , are they really religious. Even Mulbhatta of Pasupati Nath wants more commission for the special puja he performs. So reciting Bible, Koran, Greta does not make one religious. if someone commits action against the norms of religious book he cant be religious. Look at boko haram, just kidnapped more than 250 gals in the name of religion. Modern day slavery can easily be attributed to Christianity. It is the law which is keeping away from criminal activities. That is why we call lawlessness when there is no order in the society. Religion survives because of the fear of unknown in living organism. why we are afraid of Dark? because there is unknown, and it is coded in our genetic code. in the Dawn of the civilization intelligent ppl created law and they said that it is from god , if yo not follow you will go to hell. Fear of hell forced ppl to follow law likewise greed of heaven also forceed ppl to follow the law. religion offers so many incentive to follow it. Virgin gals in Islam, Angels in Christianity and Apsara in Hinduism. but with all "buy one get another free" type of incentive religions failed. and ppl are doing action which religion envisaged as sin. 5000 years and religion failed to establish order in the society that's why laws were introduced. think what will happen in Nepal if there is no police and no Akhtiyar, all those so called religious ppl will so their true nature. it is not the religion which is stopping ppl from bad action it is the law.
_____ · May 12, 2014 8:09 PM
I am with you in most of your points, the only difference is you seems to believe that religion only harms society while I believe that religion is still helping society to maintain law and order by making some people more ethical, honest and generous. yes, we need law and order in these days to govern a country/ function as a civilized society, there is no doubt about it and I mentioned it in my first post. You mentioned religion survives because of fear of unknown, I think the same fear is helping some people to be more moral, generous and co-operative. I don't mean to say that all those 4-5 Billions people are true religious and follow religion completely but probably half of them are more moral, generous and co-operative because of their belief in one of the religion. If there was no religion, the society would be very different and I am sure we would see more crime in this world. Having said that, if we could just eliminate those extreme religious people, we would be much better off and it would yield net contribution to the society.
nepboy789 · May 12, 2014 11:22 PM
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