SEXUAL PREDATORS EXILED, NOT PROSECUTED

Clergyman not withstanding, a sexual predator is a sexual predator. For years, the Catholic church has been covering up the sexual abuse of young boys by priests. Instead of reporting the pedophile priests to the local police, the church merely transferred them to a different parish where many of them continued to prey on young innocents or, in a few extreme cases, exiled them far away to ‘suffer’ in solitude.

By not reporting the priests to the police, the church compounded their crimes. The Holy See is a day late and a dollar short when he is just now getting around to ‘assembling the necessary elements for a detailed evaluation’ of this particular case.

CHURCH ‘STUPEFIED’ AT NEW CHILD SEX BISHOP HORROR

The Straits Times
April 16, 2011

BRUSSELS - THE Roman Catholic Church was left 'stupefied' Friday as Belgium reacted with revulsion to new child sex abuse horrors admitted by an ex-bishop that the Vatican placed in exile rather than face earthly justice.

Roger Vangheluwe told Belgian television that he abused one nephew for 13 years and another for nearly 12 months - but that there was 'no penetration' and that he did not 'in the slightest' think he was a paedophile.

Days after Church bosses ordered Vangheluwe to undergo 'spiritual and psychological treatment' in a French hide-out, identified by media as La Ferte-Imbault in the wine-rich Loire Valley, Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme laid into remarks he said 'go beyond the boundary of what is acceptable'.

'The Church must assume its responsibilities - this cannot go on,' Mr Leterme insisted.

Belgium's bishops likewise expressed collective 'shock' at comments 'playing down' and 'offering excuses' for years spent sexually abusing boys while preaching from a pulpit - and a Thursday night media appearance they said contravened strict orders from Rome.

'We trusted him to withdraw in silence abroad,' a statement said. In the Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI's spokesman Federico Lombardi said the Holy See was 'conscious of the gravity' of Vangheluwe's case, and was assembling 'the necessary elements' for a 'detailed evaluation'. -- AFP