"No matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." - - - William Blum

April 21, 2005

Finding the Rat in Ratzinger


From Catholic News (emphasis added):

The Vatican's Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has suggested that a campaign is under way against the Church, judging by the way scandals involving priests have been reported in the United States.

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith shared his views last weekend with a group of journalists attending a conferencein Rome.

He said: "I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offences among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower."

"In the United States, there is constant news on this topic, but less than 1% of priests are guilty of acts of this type," he said. "The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information nor to the statistical objectivity of the facts.

"Therefore, one comes to the conclusion that it is intentional, manipulated, that there is a desire to discredit the Church. It is a logical and well-founded conclusion."

Percent of sexual abuse cases covered up by Ratzinger while acting as prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: 100%

Likelihood that Ratzinger, as Pope, will pursue investigations and punishments in cases of past and ongoing sexual abuse by priests: (fill-in-the-blank)

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