80 Comments

• Mick10000 | Jul 06, 2012, 04:56 PM EDT

  It's not a mystery Herr Pope. Look into your own theology, I did as a part of a graduate degree in religion. Thomas Aquinas, in his compendium "Summa Theologica", states that it is not a sin to have homosexual feelings, it is only a sin to act on them. Many confused, guilt ridden, catholic young men chose the priesthood as a response to this misguided notion. Sexuality is a natural state of humanity. Celibacy as a voluntary spiritual discipline has merit, but suppressing your sexuality out of guilt and fear results in the abuses that have been evident in the ranks of the clergy for hundreds of years. It is systemic within the corruption that endangers the very existence of the church. Remove the tumor, have a married clergy and get over your homophobia.

• ChillaKilla | Jun 26, 2012, 07:15 PM EDT

  "When will the popes ever learn?" says eiriamach. They are probably waiting for 'inspiration' from another 'wise bird', and it ain't called The Holy Spirit but rather a tough, stringy bird: an old half-plucked chicken like eireamach who sees all, knows all, has an opinion on all that is Catholic.

• peterson | Jun 20, 2012, 06:24 PM EDT

  It is not a mystery but poor leadership and the resulting coverups.

• eiriamach | Jun 20, 2012, 08:07 AM EDT

  Benedict says about RCC in Ireland, "Thankfulness and joy at such a great history of faith and love have recently been shaken." "Shaken"??? He thinks that the Church can return to an age of original innocence if everyone conspires to label its sins "mystery" and move on. But the scandals represent a rupture in Church history, not a little patch of weeds that he can shake out at end of season. The same blindness afflicted him and PPaul VI about Second Vatican Council-- "continuity"? No, a "rupture" with history-- but they stuffed wax in their ears and sailed past, like Odysseus and his men. Was Vatican Council II the work of Satan or the workings of the Holy Spirit? On June 29, 1972, Pope Paul VI spoke of "a power, an adversary power. Let us call him by his name: the devil. It is as if from some mysterious crack, no, it is not mysterious, from some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.” Fast forward to the USCCB's lay Review Board on sex abuse of minors' Feb. 2004 Report. Quoting PPaul, they wrote that the sins of predator priests and bishops who protected them allowed "the smoke of Satan" to enter the Church. PPaul used "Satan" to mystify the faithful about abandoning the Second Council; the lay panel did a turnabout and used the word "Satan" not to mystify, but to condemn, to wake up the bishops to the depths of the human evil that papal retreat from Couciliar reforms had brought about. When will the popes ever learn?

• Collette2 | Jun 20, 2012, 02:30 AM EDT

  If he did really say this and it's not a "misquote" only to be retracted at a later date, it certainly is no mystery, it's a fact. and the cover-up insisted upon for decades and on his watch. The Vatican has far too many 'other mysteries" concerning it's self that needs to be openly dealt with as well.

• seanomelb | Jun 20, 2012, 02:07 AM EDT

  Sure turzovka they buried the science they did not agree with in that labyrinth of books under the Vatican and imprisoned and burned at the stake those who dare to speak the truth.The shroud has never been proven to be that of Jesus who the hell is Christ.

• turzovka | Jun 19, 2012, 08:23 PM EDT

  Oh, spare us your demagoguery. The Catholic Church has contributed as much to science as any of your beloved institutions. If it wasn't for the monasteries during the dark ages you would have lost most of your beloved science and arts manuscripts preserved from invading monguls by the Church. Most importantly, science is not at odds with Christianity. In fact every time you investigate all you do is add to the veracity of the reality of God. Thanks to science, the Shroud of Turin is irrefutably the burial cloth of Christ. Amen.

• seanomelb | Jun 19, 2012, 07:56 PM EDT

  The belated support by the RCC only shows how they were afraid of science as in most cases they felt that science compromised their mythological beliefs.Even Descartes had to put the rider on his writings glorifying God to keep the inquisition from his doorstep.Calon_lan perpetuates the mythology of RCC popes and bishops as if they were God himself(whoever he is)

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 05:56 PM EDT

  Quite a squabble! One of you says that my learning is proof that Satan has me in his power! Another says that the Vatican is a noble "defender" of learning, a pillar of knowledge, and would never persecute learned people or withhold knowledge from anyone! I trust you-all to figure out where the foregoing two claims, if we put them together and follow them to a conclusion, lead us to.

• Calon_Lan | Jun 19, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT

  The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, under the instruction of Pope John Paul II, conducted an in depth study into the whole Galileo affair. Convened in 1979 it presented its findings in October 1992. Contrary to reports in the New York Times the Church was not suddenly acknowledging that the Earth moved around the Sun or even accepted that Galileo’s treatise was correct – as far as the Church was concerned that matter was dealt with in 1741 with the Imprimatur granted to the complete works of Galileo by Pope Benedict XIV. Pope John Paul II was acknowledging that science and theology needed to maintain their respective positions with a more tolerant approach being taken by practitioners of both. Sadly Galileo wasn’t around to offer his humble apology for the intransigence he displayed in trying to embarrass the Church to change scripture to suit his theories. In fact if Galileo had kept purely to astronomy there would have been no problem it is only when he tried to question scriptural passages in a scientific way that he came unstuck. The Bible is not a scientific treatise and in failing to realise this Galileo got a lot of people’s backs up unnecessarily.

• Calon_Lan | Jun 19, 2012, 04:56 PM EDT

  Big Daddy you could also read "Inquisition" by Edward Peters - Professor of Medieval History at the University of Pennsylvania - he will debunk even more of your preconceptions regarding inquisitions. And one more thing please don't make your ignorance so manifest by describing the Holy Father as a "Hitler Youth". It's better that people think that you're stupid than open your mouth and show them!

• KweenOHearts | Jun 19, 2012, 04:51 PM EDT

  Correction: @angrypaddy -- The post should read 'all of us chicks who generally wear pants and other male attire as everyday clothing. ---- @BlessedThistle -- The correct biblical reference should be Mt 28:16-20 " (19)Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

• Calon_Lan | Jun 19, 2012, 04:45 PM EDT

  Big Daddy, I'm glad that I can be of service to you in your old age. Perhaps you would like to read "Galileo Heretic" by Pietro Redoni or "The Galileo Affair" by Maurice Finocchiaro they both recount the way in which the Church supported not just Galileo but also Tyco Brahe and Copernikus and Kepler. And there was I thinking Truman had a decent education policy!!

• KweenOHearts | Jun 19, 2012, 04:23 PM EDT

  @turzovka, re: your6/18 11:16 post --- Dontcha know that the eireamach has her physical and spiritual eyes totally covered by the demons of the NewAge deceit? One would think that with all those conveniently referenced, yet highly slanted posts [where she clearly glories in flaunting her educated-self to the peasants here], she might have caught a flash of who exactly it is that is guiding her queroulosness and pride.-- As 'the church lady' often repeated: "Could it be SATAN??" --- And while I'm at it: @ angrypaddy -- Now, do tell what would your opinion would be about women, like Hillary Clinton who wear pant suits; or about 95% of all of us who chicks generally wear pants and other male attire as everyday clothing? --- @BlessedThistle: Wow, you really sound "Blessed." But just a note of caution about your enthusiasm for either of the Orthodox churches you mention: If there is actual "faithfulness to the word of God there" why are they nothing more than ethnic churches, relegated to a handful of countries? Why are they churches without miracles, without prophecy, without charity or works of mercy, without the desire or power to do as Jesus commanded on Mt 16:18-20! How many missions, schools, hospices, charity organizations with the name of those churches you mention can you count around the world? Didn't Jesus say: 'You are a light to the world.. a house on a hill.. a lamp is not made to be hidden under a bushel basket..' Where is the light of these churches, eh?? That should give you a clue.

• hollabackgurl | Jun 19, 2012, 04:02 PM EDT

  It's not a "mystery" at all. It's unbridled arrogance and power deciding it didn't have to answer to the little people.

• BigDaddy | Jun 19, 2012, 01:44 PM EDT

  calon_lan Stoutest defender? Really? I've been alive since Truman was president and I've seen and heard a lot of crazy things but reading your defense of the church's position made me feel like one of the crows in Dumbo. I've seen a peanut stand, I heard a rubber band but I ain't never heard no bullshit like the "reality" you are trying to peddle. But in a world where a Hitler youth could rise to the apex of "Christ's church", the craziness your pushing seems like Dr. Seuss.

• turzovka | Jun 19, 2012, 01:36 PM EDT

  I will summarize Eiriamach’s response @ | Jun 19, 2012, 05:58 AM EDT. He said nothing. He had no response to my charges, so instead he talked about how the Catholic Church has oppressed women one way or another. (Like some agnostic like him cares one way or another if women become priests or not.) Unfortunately eiriamach, your lack of knowledge of the Catholic Church or your unwillingness to admit anything makes it futile to present evidence or reason why you are dead wrong. Christianity has raised the dignity of women since the time of Christ a hundred fold over any secular nation or government or other religion in ways that are of great noteworthiness beyond your little nit picks. And, no, I will not list them for you. When you are desperate enough to want to know God, then read a few books. Until then, go be the big red rooster crowing to anyone who will listen how wise you are and how the Catholic Church is so evil.

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 01:01 PM EDT

  Errata: Should be "modern day *witch* hunting" of course. Date of Pope Paul's apology was as in my quotation from the NY Times, 1992, not '98.

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 12:45 PM EDT

  hermitTalker, 1) If there were a shred of evidence that the Girl Scouts of America "assist Planned Parenthood," I'd understand, but still not respect, the pope's having a say about it. Planned Parenthood is an invaluable women's health service, and the campaign that the Catholic Church has waged against it has harmed many women for whom it is their only source of preventive and pre- and post-natal health services. This ignominious campaign against the Girl Scouts, on the pretext that they are associated with Planned Parenthood, is modern-day with hunting with medieval trappings. 2) "She champions all that is good, holy and natural, corrects past errors," if you consider 3.5 centuries a timely correction. You expect admiration for the good done by RCC, yet you will tolerate no criticism of its devious, unholy, and unnatural practices. "Semper reformandum," or "semper obtusus"? Ah, the irony of you folks lashing out at my pride!

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 12:28 PM EDT

  If the Church was Galileo's "stoutest defender," why did the pope find it necessary in 1998, a little belatedly, to apologize for its treatment of him, and why was it necessary to smuggle Galileo's treatise out of Italy for publication in the Netherlands, where the Vatican could not control the press? There was no theology in Galileo's manuscript. The rise of science threatened the Church in a multitude of ways. The Church reacted, and it is still reacting, with more of a fundamentalist mentality today than probably ever before. Benedict's throwing the cloak of "mystery" on the sin of pedophilia is another example of churchmen's reliance on the gullibility of others. Did the NY Times editors of Nov 1, 1992 completely distort history when they wrote, "Moving formally to rectify a wrong, Pope John Paul II acknowledged in a speech today that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning Galileo 359 years ago for asserting that the Earth revolves around the Sun. The address by the Pope before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences closed ... one of history's most notorious conflicts between faith and science. Galileo was forced to recant his scientific findings to avoid being burned at the stake"? Of all papal acts you might try to defend, your defense of that one flabbergasts me!

• Calon_Lan | Jun 19, 2012, 11:39 AM EDT

  Eiriamach If you bother to undertake proper research into the Gallileo affair you will find that the Church was his stoutest defender and in fact many bishops and the Pope supported his science. You will also find that he was not the only scientist at the time declaring heliocentric science there were several but they were not in the majority in fact accepted science at the time was for a geocentric philosophy but no one was persecuted for their belief in anything different. Gallileo decided to go beyond his paygrade and decided to pronounce on theological matters and his knowledge of theology was almost as good as your knowledge of history. He then came up against experts in their field i.e. the Pope and the bishops and many theologians. He was asked to restrain publication of the theories until such time as they could be investigated by scientists at large. He was never tortured, nor was he abused in any way, by his own admissions he was treated like a king. In fact the Church was correct in asking him to restrain from publishing his works as we now know that his theory contained a great error - that of a static sun. So you see Eiriamach when you start to spout the protestant myth about Gallileo you really must make sure that your facts are correct!

• hermitTalker | Jun 19, 2012, 11:04 AM EDT

  I do not use personal attacks or suspect others' motives on any of the topics whereon I write, here and elsewhere. I ask questions and correct facts. In my rugby days getting the man not the ball was neither safe, smart nor sportsmanlike. 1. The Girl Scout row in the USA is whether they assist Planned Parenthood which totally denies the humanity of girls in the womb worldwide. 2. The Galileo row was a seeming contradiction of "The sun stood still in the sky," Joshua, an apparent conflict between God and science. That was settled, the Church had always pioneered science and reverence for the earth and has an observatory in the Vatican and a worldwide academy of science, with respected scholars and does the same for Bible study, art and architecture, has preserved a large amount of the Patrimony of the world in the museums or the SCV. She champions all that is good, holy and natural, corrects past errors, and admits when mistakes were made as with Galileo, long after he was vindicated in fact.Harping on the faults of the Church, blaming the wrong people for past sins of others and indicting the entire organisation is neither fair, truthful, just or intelligent conversation.

• CitizenWhy | Jun 19, 2012, 10:59 AM EDT

  Citing the Galileo story gainst the catholic church is tricky. At first the Pope and his court welcomed G's discoveries. Then the pope changed, Protestant Europe erupted against G because they based their whole faith on the Bible, the Catholic church was afraid that the Protestant claim that it did not take the Bible seriously would lead to more defections form the Catholic church, the university professors rose against G. So the Pope decided he needed to look like he was rejecting G's claims while letting him and his discoveries live on. So, for PR purposes, G was under house arrest while the Jesuits in Rome were allowed to teach G's views. In other words the G ruling was political, not doctrinal.

• kscorletta | Jun 19, 2012, 10:27 AM EDT

  The real mystery is imagining a God who loves enough that every flawed person, everyone defined by others as a sinner, everyone who interprets his/her humanity as different from any one else's ideas, and yes, that even includes those who manage to hurt/abuse/destroy love, life and well being of others under some mis-guided beliefs of their own, yes, all of these are loved by MY GOD and I also understand that MY GOD is not your God, and that is a mystery. My favorite mystery is how everybody got to have these different levels of acceptance for what they decide is right, but not having an open mind about the possibility of human error. Oh, and did I add that MY GOD does not make mistakes and it is our job to correct the problems and work from the ALPHA to the OMEGA?

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 08:08 AM EDT

  Calon_Lan, if you cared about the scouts, you'd tell the POPE to stop messing with them! Apparently, you know nothing of his witch hunt against girls (it's the girls' and nuns' turn now that the Church's messing with boys is under scutiny). RCC pastors have banned Girl Scouts USA from their churches because, heaven forbid, scout leaders educate girls about human sexuality. If Benedict were smarter, he could be another Pope Urban VII, who was also clever with words and as keen as Benedict on preserving a sense of "mystery" about science and human nature. Urban VII ordered the Inquisition not to harm Galileo but to threaten him until he recanted his proof of the heliocentric solar system. Brecht's play "Galileo" has the Inquisitor reassure the pope that it will be necessary only to SHOW Galileo the instruments of torture because Mr. Galileo is a physicist; he understands machinery! As a scientist, Urban VII knew Galileo's astronomy was right; nonetheless, he imprisoned the scientist and kept him from publishing to protect the Church from truth. He understood that science demystifies nature and extends our control over our lives. His duty, he thought, was to control Catholics by keeping them ignorant. He tried to preserve "mystery" at the center of the natural universe-- SO WEAK WAS HIS FAITH in the transcendence of Spirit; so weak is Benedict's faith in God that he erects himself as absolute authority in God's place.

• Calon_Lan | Jun 19, 2012, 06:18 AM EDT

  I attended the Eucharistic Congress closing Mass so I know far more about what went on there than any of the hatefilled morons that write here. The Pope was absolutely correct in his question of Why did such people who professed to love Jesus and follow his ways commit such crimes? It is unfathomable to all right thinking people. However there are many who will comment on this post who did not attend but will know better and of course will know exactly why such crimes are committed, and are able to spot a culprit a mile off. If that is you then I have one wish for you and for the good of all people especially if you live in the US. The American Scout movement could do with your knowledge and wisdom at this very moment after they have been forced to open up their books about sex offenders in their ranks over the last fifty years and boy it does not look pretty. So far no one has been called to book and there has been no apologies, so they obviously need a bit of bile and vitriol to help them along their way. Go to it Irish Central Posters! Oh I forgot, it's only Catholic Scouts that you'd be interested in - never mind there's always a next time.

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 05:58 AM EDT

  @turzovna, rant on about "man." I live in the real world of woman and man and humanity! This time I quote Justine McCarthy's Sunday Times article "Women Kneel to Church that Relies on Their Subservience," on church rhetoric and offensive, archaic attitudes like yours: "The same church that deems women unfit to be priests or even lowly deacons and which, just this year, produced a gender-cleansing version of the liturgy that eradicates seditious female pronouns. The women at last week’s [Eucharistic] congress were reciting responses day after day that are designed to deny their very existence. Good as they are, I wanted to shake them and say it’s this ingrained subservience that allows the Irish state to take the church by the hand and dance all over women’s human rights." Don't ever imagine that your demeaning condescension could induce me to become subservient to male bigotry. Talk about pride! Your own words condemn you. It's no surprise that you reject the revelations that come to us in the study of nature and you tie your idea of "natural law" to an androcentric, geocentric cosmos. I reject your mindless misogyny and proclaim my God-given self-respect as a woman capable of thinking for herself. Stuff it!

• eiriamach | Jun 19, 2012, 05:26 AM EDT

  @KweenOHearts, please upgrade your literacy skills: learn to read quotation marks! You have erroneously attributed to me the words that hermitTalker and Turzovna wrote. I QUOTED THEIR words; I did not write those words about them! I quoted them to show their method-- Imitating the pope, they try to MYSTIFY the horror of child abuse in order to induce Catholics not to think about it but to move past it. THAT'S THE POINT you must reply to if you can. But no, in an emotional fit, you pour out your hatred for me instead. You use name-calling: "Satanic song of dissention, confusion and outright hellish evil." You call my words "prodigious, unceasing blathering." And you call me and Portia "harridans, these hellions!" How is your hate speech working out for you? Are you winning friends and influencing people with it? I'd be concerned about the mental state and emotional health of anyone drawn to such behavior. Since you have no rational argument to make in defense of this pope's claim to speak with authority, you resort to scurrilous attacks instead. You compound your Church's disgrace!

• esatdigiwank | Jun 19, 2012, 05:21 AM EDT

  Rottweiler displays his 'evil c**t' aura once again. If only Irish could consign the fake constructs of 'God' and ' Religion' to the dust-bin. St Patrick & St Brigid destroyed Celtic Irish traditions.

• mhichil | Jun 19, 2012, 12:57 AM EDT

  pray for the catholics, may the open their eyes and close their wallets, amen

• BlessedThistle | Jun 19, 2012, 12:48 AM EDT

  Maybe Irish Catholics should return to being Irish Catholics as St. Patrick and St. Brigid taught. In real history, a priest or mayor or chieftain would be dragged through the streets by hooks and had his intestines burned and then drained of his blood if they ever touched a child. 1050AD was the turn for the worst for all catholics when the Italians put the degenerate child in charge of the roman church. There should be no obedience to man but to God and His laws of truth and justice. Every bishop and pope who has lied should have their tongue burned out of their mouth as the old laws said for liars. The Irish should be for God and return to the true Christian. That may be in the Russian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox. There faithfulness to the word of God is still good.

• turzovka | Jun 18, 2012, 11:16 PM EDT

  [eiriamach’s words below: “In this ‘secular’ age, information media and scientists demystify events and riddles of nature to solve problems for humanity. Every mystery resolved gives us an inch more control over our common destiny. We are not only creatures but co-creators when we penetrate into the mysteries of creation.”] Co-creators?... Penetrate the mysteries? Can you say ‘pride?’ Science is to the mysteries of creation and existence beyond earthly life what the minds of ants are to assisting in building a rocket ship. Only through revelations permitted by God can man come to be given a glimpse of the mysteries you so boldly claim are soon to come via science. Why every time a statue of the Virgin Mary begins to weep tears of blood science falls over themselves in confusion or flight.

• KatieMurphy | Jun 18, 2012, 11:14 PM EDT

  He needs only to look in the mirror. He is directly involled in the hiding of these vile crimes to protect the church's pocketbook.......... all of this is propaganda and an attempt to further obfuscate what has rightly destroyed the church In Ireland, the sooner the better...........Lots of molested kids have committed suicide, while the molesters were moved place to place, some even internationally to -FR Ireland and the usa To get an idea re the USA just scan bishopaccountability (dot) org. If your not brainwashed, you should end up like we do - sometimes almost losing our last meal as we drive by a catholic church.........Ans yes I know several people who admit they were given what they call the "sacrament of molestation". They barely can discuss what happened even 20 years ago, without tears

• turzovka | Jun 18, 2012, 10:42 PM EDT

  KweenOHearts, I like you. I am prepared to admit to sin and ask for forgiveness for some priests and bishops in the Catholic Church, but if they think that means the dogma and doctrines are now null and void, well, our eager critics who so want to live their lives as they please are far short of dusting God and the Church away. Email me Kween at brisbane44@hotmail.com and I will send you the most convincing article on purgatory you may one day want to reference to challenge the doubters. Thank you.

• CitizenWhy | Jun 18, 2012, 09:54 PM EDT

  Yes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But powerlessness also corrupts. You had both absolute power and absolute powerlessness in Ireland: absolute power for the clerics, absolute powerlessness for lower class Catholics. Upper class and educated middle class Catholics had some power, the power to run their families with undue interference from the clergy. I can assure you that all these horror stories did not directly touch any of my relatives in Ireland, except for those who tried in the 60's and 70's to expose the abuse. Of course they were vilified. Their children, on the other hand, were never touched, always treated well by clergy.

• OmahaSeamus | Jun 18, 2012, 09:31 PM EDT

  We have the 5 joyful mysteries. We have the 5 sorrowful mysteries. We have the 5 glorious mysteries. Benedict is giving us the evil mysteries.

• sparticusnorth | Jun 18, 2012, 08:33 PM EDT

  CATHOLICABUSESURVIVORSNI.COM----the mystery of iniquity aboundeth much == the roman catholic church?

• KweenOHearts | Jun 18, 2012, 08:16 PM EDT

  Listen to eiriamach and Portia777's Satanic song of dissention, confusion and outright hellish evil. eiria claims HermitTalker and turzovka "have no clue"! Oh... but it's for darn sure that she alone does... in fact, there's not an aspect of Church history, pop theology and psychology, canon law, biblical exegesis, and political discourse where she does not set herself up as the ultimate authority. Her research files are deep and wide --always full of convenient out of context quotes, and heavy on the side of malcontent-author priests, reprobate lesbian nuns, and authors whose specialty is heretical discourse. Not what you'd call a 'fair and balanced' approach, but who can argue against such prodigious, unceasing blathering. --- Please turzovka and HermitTalker... don't stop your efforts, don't stop your defense, do not allow yourselves to be cowered by the insatiable verbosity of these harridans, these hellions!

• KweenOHearts | Jun 18, 2012, 07:39 PM EDT

  Let me see... isn't this at least the 2047th time IC's 'fauxlumnists' have used this picture of Benedict? -- Hey O'Dowd, Counihan, Roberts, O'Doherty, Kelly, et al, let's refresh it! Maybe someone out there can contribute with a different one that makes him look even more evil or stOOpid, because no doubt this is the ultimate purpose of this website, right? --- There's an outside chance this place might be suffering from a shortage of anti-Catholic mudslingers; but don't despair, I'm sure with patience you'll succeed. --- Meanwhile... how did you like the exclamation point those deluded Catholic sheeple put on the Eucharistic Congress?? Damn it... and you were hoping nobody would show up!

• seanomelb | Jun 18, 2012, 06:58 PM EDT

  The only mystery is why the pontiff and his minions tried to hide the sex scandals. To expect Catholics to accept his premise treats the faithful with contempt.

• seamus60 | Jun 18, 2012, 06:05 PM EDT

  Just more jibberish that those still blinded by loyalty can take comfort from.

• mayoman | Jun 18, 2012, 05:45 PM EDT

  Pope Benedict appears to attempting to distant himself from the pedophile scandals by suggesting that they are a mystery; as if to say that it is a "mystery" that clerics would commit such crimes. Not Benedict is neither naive, nor is he ignorant. As Dr. McHugh has rightlt pointed out here, Benedict has been aware of these crimes for some time, and he was content to have the criminals moved from one place to another. He is guilty of obstruction of justice, and for aiding and abetting the pedophiles. Does he think that his behavior was a mystery? Catholics everywhere, liberal and conservative, need to be aware of what is is going on here. We have the very leader of a Church engaged in possible criminal activity. Let's confront this issue honestly, and get pass all this vague talk about

• ChrisVogel | Jun 18, 2012, 05:06 PM EDT

  Keep in mind that the term "mystery" has special meaning for Roman Catholics: it is something essential to their theology, such as virgin birth, that cannot be explained rationally or by evidence from nature. Of course, it would be easy to argue two things: 1) this would apply to all of their theology, and 2) it is equally a mystery (in the normal sense of the word) why anyone would believe any of that childish nonsense. Really, the term is used by the church to explain why something that is ridiculous should be fervently believed anyway.

• ballylanger | Jun 18, 2012, 05:05 PM EDT

  What part of 'gobbledegook' do the easily led not understand? The smile of his 'holiness' is like a fox eating s-h-i-t out of a wire brush.

• merefalow | Jun 18, 2012, 04:42 PM EDT

  disgusting pathetic lack of leadership,mystical allusion to bewilderment,there is no mystery about what has gone on for centuries,ignored,hidden,if not condoned by these sexually repressed holy joe hypocrites,the mystery to me is why anyone listens to these modern day witch doctors.

• CelticQueenUSA | Jun 18, 2012, 04:41 PM EDT

  This article and what PaPa says makes no sense to me. It is religious mumbojumbo as only he and the rest of them can do. We entrusted CHILDREN not PEOPLE to their care. Yes CHILDREN are PEOPLE but not as well informed as OLDER PEOPLE They are INNOCENTS and the church is MANIPULATING words!!! Again!

• Bythebay | Jun 18, 2012, 03:59 PM EDT

  BulldogMania, In Ireland the culture was that the church was always right. If someone reported abuse no one would believe them. They'd be villified. You should read the accounts of the abuse of children at the Industrial Schools, the orphanages, Magdalen Laundries, etc. It's beyond chilling. They're vile. The mystery is they don't want to admit it.

• eiriamach | Jun 18, 2012, 03:47 PM EDT

  @hermitTalker, about the Holy Spirit: She does not waste time trying to guide those whose powers of reason slumber. "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32), to which I'd add only that those who exercise the skills of critical thinking will keep their freedom. You offer a false antithesis between thinking and following the Holy Spirit -- the Spirit of Holy Wisdom! Did not Jesus complain often of his disciples' obtuseness and urge them again and again to open their ears and hear, open their eyes and see, and open their minds and think? It's not a question of how intelligent a person is, but truly a question of how FREE we are to USE whatever intelligence we have. I conclude that a religion that does not free us to think critically shows itself the enemy of truth and of the Holy Spirit.

• Bythebay | Jun 18, 2012, 03:40 PM EDT

  BulldogMania, In Ireland the culture was that the church was always right. If someone reported abuse no one would believe them. They'd be villified. You should read the accounts of the abuse of children at the Industrial Schools, the orphanages, Magdalen Laundries, etc. It's beyond chilling. They're vile. The mystery is their perverts and don't want to admit it.

• Nicoletta | Jun 18, 2012, 02:44 PM EDT

  Michael McGrath, maybe you have a point that sexual abuse is more prevalent in Ireland. The only time in my life that I was sexually molested (thanks be to God) was on a rare 2 week holiday to Ireland at the age of 15. It happened in a crowded shop - many people must have seen what happened to me but no-one said anything. The perpetrator had a big grin on his face.

• Nicoletta | Jun 18, 2012, 02:38 PM EDT

  Indeed it must be a mystery to this holy man, and to holy people everywhere how this heinous abuse could have happened, perpetrated by ordained priests. The clergy in Ireland (and the US) were too powerful and untouchable. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The hierachy in Ireland has been brought to its knees and that is where it should remain, in prayer - not in temporal positions of power. Deo Gratias for Pope Benedict!

• BulldogMania | Jun 18, 2012, 02:13 PM EDT

  The only mystery here is why people didn't speak up decades ago about the abuse. In the USA, as in Ireland, people knew what was going on but said nothing. The only thing it takes for evil to succeed is for good people to do nothing.

• hermitTalker | Jun 18, 2012, 02:12 PM EDT

  At it again Dr McHugh? How could the CDF have the authority to inform the civil authorities, that would be the role of the local bishop and many did that. The CDF works with Church law; furthermore, J R did not take on the abuse of minors until late in JP11's pontificate, before that COC clergy- had the role. Citizens are still waiting for LAWS in IRELAND and in the USA to require reporting, the NYT, that champion of Truth - as they see it- are balking on a law for New York State. EXAGGERATION of the extent by comments on here flies in the face of published surveys regarding other clergy and we are still waiting for the States' and their public schools. Advice; get your several noses out of the Church's past and smell the stink in the air from media, sit-coms and your real, actual citizenry who are now for all sorts of social deviation and think it is normal.

• connemaragirl | Jun 18, 2012, 01:56 PM EDT

  Mystery ? ,the Mystery to me is why has it taken so long to admit guilt ,why those in charge who could have stopped this from happening didn't do anything to protect innocent children,It wouldn't happen anywhere else except in the Catholic Church,The enormous scale of it is appalling.I blame those who knew of these happenings more than than the priests who actually did this because anyone who would molest a child is obviously seriously ill, I'm a practicing Catholic but its very hard to believe anything that comes from the Vatican but I also have had the good fortune of knowing good priests all my life none of which were accused of doing anything unethical but devoted their lives to the Church Comunity.My heart goes out to those priests because they too are now being frowned upon.The Catholic Church also has to stay out of politics ,politics and Religion don't mix.

• hermitTalker | Jun 18, 2012, 12:58 PM EDT

  EiriAmach; You are a thinker but seem not to have delved into the mystery of sin and the PASCHAL MYSTERY of how the GOD-MAN forgave it and is patiently waiting for each of us to see it defeated in ourselves and when he comes back will separate sheep from goats (Matthew 25) and finally kick the Big lying Daddy to hell permanently. REASON is a beautiful Gift of our soul's powers, but we need guidance from the HOLY SPIRIT to steer directly on the road to Natural Law which is discoverable by itself but short-curcuited by our blindness and deafness of soul. I worked for years in earlier years with men and women who murdered their children, paid people to murder their spouses, and murdered for hire. You have not the slightest idea and neither do other commeent-ing people on here IF you think that you understand why depraved humans do horrible things and can blame them or their parents or leaders or their religious organisation for it. Soul and grace and thinking brain and chemical connections are not hooked up in all of us.

• markday | Jun 18, 2012, 12:56 PM EDT

  This is mediocre journalist at best. everybody knows what the pope said. why not get reactions to this from Irish clergy and lay people. There's plenty of hard evidence that both popes--JP II and Benedict XVI covered up case of clerical sex abuse and minimized it over a 30 year period. for the view of an expert on the systemic nature of clerica sex abuse, check out www.richardsipe.com that should clear up the so called "mystery."

• Tilliewillow | Jun 18, 2012, 12:52 PM EDT

  "Mystery" = FELONY.

• DrMcHugh | Jun 18, 2012, 12:50 PM EDT

  As a Catholic physician, the REAL MYSTERY to me is: Why did Pope Benedict XVI not notify police and remove the predator priests from the priesthood, during the 24 years that he was known as Cardinal Ratzinger, and head of the office that dealt with clergy sexual abuse cases, and from 2005 as Pope? I really believe that married women and men, who have raised children, need to be among the leadership in the Catholic Church, if the church is to have any future. The life experiences of the Pope and of many clerics is so limited, that many of them seem to lack discernment about real life issues. So much of their proclamations are academic and impractical, in my view. As we see here, the Pope describes clerical sex abuse as a "mystery" - whereas in the real world, we would describe clerical sex abuse as a "crime" calling to heaven for justice.

• eiriamach | Jun 18, 2012, 12:37 PM EDT

  Listen to HermitTalker and turzovka, the backup singers to the siren song Pope Benedict spins to mystify sexual abuse: "demonic powers are at work," "you do not have a clue," "The MYSTERY of sin," "spawned by the Father of Lies." Being mystified by sin would keep us as fodder for capitalist greed and our children sex objects for churchmen. Should "we give this Pope a pass," really? YOU two can spin until you're dizzy, but not everyone will be lured over those swirling waters to be shipwrecked with you. We know the story of Ulysses/Odysseus and his men. In this "secular" age, information media and scientists demystify events and riddles of nature to solve problems for humanity. Every mystery resolved gives us an inch more control over our common destiny. We are not only creatures but co-creators when we penetrate into the mysteries of creation. If religion awakens what AB Martin calls "the extraordinary sense of our communion with one another," so can knowledge of the way the world functions. It's a great misfortune that Catholic churchmen see only an enemy of religion in this "changed world, increasingly fixated on material things." Religion is not an antidote for the poison of "material things"; it's a resource for living in the spirit of integrity, eyes and ears open to the truth, all the truth, including the ugly truths about pederasty, and not seduced by "mystery" where we need knowledge.

• OmahaSeamus | Jun 18, 2012, 12:18 PM EDT

  While his priests are raping children what does the pope do? He makes silly changes to the liturgy. Like changing "seen and unseen" to "visible and invisible". And inventing new words like "consubstantial".

• lokionline | Jun 18, 2012, 11:33 AM EDT

  The only mystery at play here is why people stay in the Catholic Church.

• turzovka | Jun 18, 2012, 11:28 AM EDT

  If all the Catholic Church has ever done for the world is to provide false hope about some fantasy heaven future and abuse minors on the side, then all you cynics who mock the “mystery” quote have a good case for remaining uninterested by Christian teaching. But as for me, I believe demonic powers are at work here as well tempting the weakness of men, and those in the priesthood are highly prized targets. The bishops’ weakness or lack of moral courage is the greatest mystery and greatest defeat for the Church. But to my other point --- the greates of all myteries to me is how educated souls in the 21st century can go through life without any strong care for why they are here and where they are going? And doing next to nothing about it! THAT blows my mind. God is quite real, quite obvious, and so is Jesus Christ and His message. And you take such risks ignoring it all?

• Jerry Kelly | Jun 18, 2012, 11:09 AM EDT

  Chomh fada agus gur rún é do thaoiseach na Eaglaise, rachaidh sé ar aghaidh. Ní féidir liom aon leigheas ar an fhadhb a shamhlú chomh fada agus a bhíonn daoine aineolach, amaideach, nó dúr mar seo i gceannas ha hEaglaise. /// For as long as it remains a mystery to the head of the Church, it will continue. I can't imagine any improvement for this problem for as long as ignorant, silly, or stupid people like this are in charge of the Church.

• sailmaker | Jun 18, 2012, 10:48 AM EDT

  The "Mystery" is why Irish Catholics still tolerate the insanity of the Church. Even our beloved James Joyce once complained that Ireland was "priest-ridden," and when you consider the enormity of what these priests (some of them, to be sure) have done, is it any wonder the faithful have fallen away, and especially when the Holy Father is so clueless that you wonder if he's senile, or self-delusional. I vote for the latter, and until that changes, the Church will continue to decline and with good reason.

• biggles008 | Jun 18, 2012, 10:34 AM EDT

  I agree with NMcK | Jun 18, 2012, 09:39 AM EDT

• Portia777 | Jun 18, 2012, 10:16 AM EDT

  wow, another mystery. Notice when the man of god cannot offer a logical explanation for rape of children by his own church, he calls it a mystery. What colour is the sky in his world.?: Baltimore Conference aims to normalize and decriminalize Pedophilia. Wake up people of Eire. These evil ones are planning to legalise child rape and the court judges will back them up as they do already in secret courts in Ireland and worldwide. Pedophilia is such a sweet energy compared to rape- but RAPE IS RAPE and it robs the child of their soul. There is no other crime greater than to steal the soul and destroy the child's life forever.

• CitizenWhy | Jun 18, 2012, 10:16 AM EDT

  Selfishness, coldness of heart and abusive behavior are no mysteries when a elite claiming to speak for God demand special privileges, absolute obedience, and freedom from scrutiny

• CharlieM | Jun 18, 2012, 10:13 AM EDT

  Paorach has it exactly right, context is everything. Read ALL Benedict's words and his statement is rock-hard factual, nothing more, nothing less. Of course, that won't register with the professional Catholic haters who haunt this site. Their level of hatred would blind them to the light of the sun itself if they turned it in that direction. Revealed here at Irishcentral day in and day out, it is a seemingly inexhaustible fount of bitterness.

• JohnGalt | Jun 18, 2012, 10:13 AM EDT

  A bit of institutionalized "slap and tickle" is inevitable when Natural Law is violated and the perverse, unnatural, doctrines of celibacy and "only hetero-intercourse and only for procreation" are enforced by mystical threats of Eternal Damnation. A bunch of senile, hypocritical, charlatans have inflicted 2,000 years of genocide, money laundering, alliances with maniacal despots .... They have always exploited the most psychologically, intellectually and economically vulnerable. Innocent children are not only sexually abused, but they and their parents are subject to abject poverty, disease, (i.e., "living death") and obscene mortality rates ... all for the lack of a condom. Church policy kills 100,000 souls each day .... tortures millions more. Pedophiles should be prosecuted and, if guilty, convicted, no matter who their imaginary friends might be. John Galt

• Portia777 | Jun 18, 2012, 10:09 AM EDT

  As Irish Catholics, you are the heirs to a church that has been a mighty force for good in the world, and which has given a profound and enduring love of Christ and his blessed mother to many, many others." Who in their right mind would want to be heirs to such a religious cult from Rome.

• handsome68 | Jun 18, 2012, 10:03 AM EDT

  Beg to differ. Child abuse is not mystery. It is sin, or, if you prefer, crime. Words mean a lot. In the USA, immediately after 9/11, victims were called heroes rather than victims. I immediately sensed litigiousness. But what do I know? I'm just a simple man who is still a practicing Catholic who is trying, and often failing, at being a true follower of Jesus Christ.

• hermitTalker | Jun 18, 2012, 10:02 AM EDT

  Ah you cynics. The MYSTERY of sin has puzzled humanity since Cain killed Abel. The pope was wondering about that. He and his several predecessors live a very simple life-style, his shoes are not Gucci, that was corrected way back, they are made by a shoemaker for him. his vestments are like all bishops and priests' designed to take the focus off the man to his spiritual role. Do you wonder at the mystery of why Governments today pay bankers while the elderly and vulnerable face austerity with more promised, why teenage boys gang-rape their female peers in Cork City as initiation rites, why the US will not challenge China for its total denial of reliigous freedom - money perhaps. Then the "mystery" of why so-called liberals think a woman has a "right " to have her innocent unborn child sliced, sucked or skull crushed in abortion? The mysyery is sin which is spawned by the Father of Lies; the "Mystery" of Jesus who died for all of us and hands His Eucharist over to sinful men is what we celebrate in Eucharist. it started with His first 12 who sold and denied Him and ran from the Cross save John. Now that is worth praying about as we give this Pope a pass and see why he got a standing overation. He prepresents Christ, succeeded Peter who denied in his fear but died out of love upside down on the Cross- buried under the pope's high altar. Law no longer lives in the Vatican, he resigned when he turned 75 from that Basilica, you do not have a clue about what he was responsible for in Boston. Facts are facts, gossip and suspicion are fathered by Satan himself in that "mystery" of how decent people can pick away story after story at the Church of Jesus Christ with neither forgiveness nor mercy.

• MichaelMcGrath | Jun 18, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT

  I think that Benedict is hinting that it is huge amongst the Irish on particular. Certainly Irish enthusiasm for mass immigration is motivated in many instances by sexual considerations and possibilities, that's pretty obvious here. However the Irish Church's toleration of clerical paedophilia is no mystery, it's criminal.

• Jung Woman | Jun 18, 2012, 09:40 AM EDT

  A mystery? How convenient! How would a man surrounded by wealth while wearing golden robes and Gucci slippers have the remotest notion of what suffering through this abuse has done? Like all dictators he is surrounded by a cloak of secrecy by old men who are completely out of touch with reality and that includes Cardinal Law of Boston, Massachusetts who escaped the wrath of victims by running to The Vatican where he now resides in luxury and continues to be supported by the largest non-profit organization in the world!

• eiriamach | Jun 18, 2012, 09:40 AM EDT

  It's a nifty word game, the rhetoric of mystification. It gives the problem a certain mystique. The pope calls priest-pedophiles a "mystery" to mystify Catholics about sex abuse and persuade them to leave the problem in his religious hands (read "renewal" with no "reform"). There's no way to resolve religious mysteries, right? But I ask, is that kind of mystery anything like the mystery of the Eucharist? It's not, and there's no mystery about why. The Eucharist unites the Body of Christ; secrecy and mystification of abuses breaks it down.

• NMcK | Jun 18, 2012, 09:39 AM EDT

  How is this a "mystery" to anyone but the deeply mentally retarded? The Catholic priesthood is a magnet for sexually dysfunctional men, and once it became known that the Church would protect you, aid and abet you, and serve to procure more victims for you rather than prosecute you, of COURSE the priesthood became the go-to career of choice for pedophiles. I think someone needs to check the Pope for Alzheimer's if he seriously doesn't get it by now.

• Clancey | Jun 18, 2012, 09:27 AM EDT

  If the pope sees this criminal behavior as "a mystery" - akin to other aspects of the catholic mystical tradition - that means he has no ability to think systematically about the roots of it or how to combat it in any meaningful way. He is not, therefore, even attempting to exert any leadership. Why anyone remains a member of the R.C. church is the biggest mystery on the planet.

• Paorach | Jun 18, 2012, 08:52 AM EDT

  Context is everything "How to explain the fact that people who regularly received the Lord’s body and confessed their sins have offended in this way? It remains a mystery. Evidently, their Christianity was no longer nourished by joyful encounter with Jesus Christ: it had become a matter of habit" Its true, such huge hypocrisy by those abusers is baffling. Sadly sexual crime/sin can horribly warp people. The Pope is not belittling this tragedy.

• mariehall | Jun 18, 2012, 07:51 AM EDT

  Bollox, this is not the Catholic Church I grew up in. When you go to confession to confess somesmall sin you are confessioning to either a pedofile priest. or one is complicet in the cover up. This men should be in jail with all other pedofiles. I don't believe we must believe the hierarchy of the church, when it is the most severe lies they want use to pretend we must take it on "faith" that they are telling the truth or some such spin. I am done with the infallability of the pope and will find comfort in the goodness and forgivness of God & the Jesus I find in my own heart without the assistance of pedophile priests. Our so called "radical" nuns are truly doing God's work.

• KSERRAHN | Jun 18, 2012, 07:42 AM EDT

  A Mystery.. I wonder What kind of drugs he takes.