Courts rule that the Catholic Church is ‘liable’ for sexual abuse carried out by priests

They have tried the same game here in the USA claiming that abusers were not employees but contractors. I think the courts also threw this garbage in the can. The churhc is desperate - Meaning we need to open the floodgates. It will be the end of the church of the endless hidden molestation, the end of the medieval king (pope) etc Diderot was right during the French revolution - mankind will only be free when the last king is strangled with the guts of the last priest. The whole thing about religion is garbage. If you only do as Jesus said - love thy neighbor as thyself, and remember that jesus upset the tables of the money lenders at the temple gates, the world will move on to a bright future. Everything else is fancy BS guilding etc. Just think at all the money we could save without the church. Need help, go to a neighbor, and you will get it if he can help. I'm sure that more people have been tortured and murdered in the name of GOd then any other reason, including wars for financial gain.

good judgement for a change,an army,a ,country is responsible for the actions of its soldiers,the church NEVER EVER CONDEMNED PUNISHED OR KICKED THEM OUT, or admitted the guilt of the evil men in its service for centuries,ON THE CONTRARY they did everything in their power to hide and protect their members,they still do,now they will be dragged kicking and screaming to face justice,,not before time,bring it on..

cowabunga, I don't believe that the media is "dehumanizing" women & men, through sex appeal. I for one appreciate Jennifer Aniston, as many women appreciate George Clooney. Do you really want to return to the days when the Church considered anything sexual, outside of marriage, to be "sinful"? Some in the Catholic Church still do, but that belief has been mercifully downplayed, in recent decades. For example, I read that consensual activities DO take place between students, at Catholic University, in the U.S.A.. So long as these things are done in private, the school chooses not to take "disciplinary action" against the participants.

Shiite happens everywhere - eire has more than its share of the sick. The answer is to eliminate all aspects of St. Patrick related connections and replace it fully with the Henry VIII type papacy as symbolized by Queen Elisa - bring her back regularily. It should please the natives who were largely upset at the 1916 bother boys. How stupid were those fools to cause pain to their Mother.

@cowabunga - Marcial Maciel Delgado and the Legion of Christ are two of the more obvious "Elephants in the Room" insofar as your view is expressed!!!!!

How apropos of the Penn Sate debacle. Failure to accept obvious responsibility by those in charge, and limit blame and punishment to underlings inevitably results in the condemnation of the institution. The blanket of guilt is not being thrown over the whole church, it is being pulled over her by those denying the church's responsibility to supervise its employees and respond appropriately to reports of their misdeeds. Does anyone really believe that the church lacks jurisdiction in these matters?

No one who is Catholic denies that there have been individuals and even bishops who have absolutely done wrong as wrong can be in these cases of real and proven guilt, as far as clergy abuse goes. But no one-inside or outside the Church-has the right to throw a blanket of guilt over the whole Church, or the whole clergy and bishop's. There have been plenty of cases where good Bishops have yanked perverts out, and defrocked criminals, after one, proven charge. There are too many good priests who have never done these terrible acts, and they should be held as examples of what a real priest and minister should be. Recently one of these big shot 'victims' lawyers from America, went to Rome and saw the files of cases they thought would sure convict the Vatican-they came away with NOTHING! WHY?! Because those bishops who handled these cases badly, NEVER told anyone-police or the Vatican-about them for years. Ive read Catholic newspaper for years here, and I know there have been lots of bad clergy who were sent packing,and thanks to JPII and Benedict. These two men made it, so that for the last 20 years there have been almost no new cases of abuse-no other public or private institution can match that. This is a world wide problem, and the media's are to blame for dehumanizing women, men and, yes, even kids in their sex driven media world. Those who promote gay and abortion rights are usually the loudest anti-Church people-so what are they hiding???

Well said, JuneAnnette! I agree. Justice is always welcome, wherever it comes from. It's interesting to see it in a decision by the High Court in London. No sense looking to Rome for it-- too long a wait already.

It took those Paterno paedophile football buddies to prove his point. Too much touchy feely opportunities exists for those so bent within such pile-ups.

Dodgy claim that priests do not work for their bishops. Ridiculous.

Joe Paterno is the Popeterno character for Americans to gnaw on. What he knew and when did he know it. The News of the World featured stories of Vicars doing their dirty for years upon years. The sick is not unique to just these. Child abuse has been a forever disease and any fair minded soul just knows this being true.

I agree with the ruling; the court gave more than sufficient backup for its decision. I hope I don't sound like I'm mouthing a "pious platitude", but can't help thinking the following. If that girl was known & liked by me, when we were age 7, I would want to punch that priest's lights out, if alive, even though he would now be 80! If that monster could commit an unspeakable act with a 7-year old girl, I should not be condemned for punching out an 80 year old degenerate!