Pope Benedict's Vatican Legacy May Wind Up Being All About Trust--As In No One Has Any

Change the word 'financial' to 'Catholic sexual abuse crisis' and one gets the same results. Nobody trusts the managment team, no matter their politics.

One can't help but wonder just how stupid Benedict and his Cardinal cronies think the 'simple' faithful are. I no longer believe this is a matter of thinking the 'simple' are naive. No, it's a matter of thinking the 'simple' are plain stupid. Sometimes translated as 'willfully blind' but in either case, perfectly willing to sustain an incredible level of dishonesty and deceit.

One of the recent trends which is a very ill wind for the papal barque, is the admission by true believing Catholics that their faith is hanging by a thread. It didn't get that way because of the 'evil anti Catholic' media, or gay agendas, or what ever else the Vatican has puked forth. It's gotten that way because it is no longer possible to ignore the deceit and the lies.

The latest information on the Hullerman case is just one more nail in the Vatican coffin. This is no longer a story about the 'coincidence' of a multitude of individual bishops hiding predator priests. It is a now story about how the Vatican does business and how little integrity there is in how they conduct their business. It is becoming all too apparent that Jesus's Church conducts its business no differently then any other corrupt wealthy secular organization. This generates a fundamental mistrust of the real motivation for virtually everything the hierarchy may pronounce. It forces backtracking and convoluted explanations and sometimes when prelates are really under pressure, it elicits truth. One such case is the Hullerman case where the pressure forced a monsignor to admit he was pressured to take the fall. Another such case is this one, in which an Archbishop is forced to fumble his way around his truth.

After distorted interview, Brazilian archbishop reaffirms Catholic teaching on abortion
Recife, Brazil, Apr 17, 2010 / 07:16 am (CNA/EWTN News).-

After an interview with a Brazilian newspaper appeared to indicate he supported abortion, Archbishop of Olanda y Recife Fernando Saburido has said there was “a misunderstanding” and that he may have been insufficiently clear. He said he fully adheres to Catholic teaching that life is a “gift from God.”

Last year the then-archbishop of his diocese, Jose Cardoso-Sobrinho, said that anyone who performed or facilitated an abortion would incur an automatic excommunication. Archbishop Sobrinho's remarks came in response to the case of an abortion performed on a nine-year-old pregnant with twins after being raped by her mother’s companion. (I can't help but notice the word 'step father' was not used.)

Recently a forced abortion was performed on a 10-year-old girl, who became pregnant after being raped by her stepfather. (Where was CNA's editor? We're not supposed to use that word anymore.)

Archbishop Saburido responded to the new case by reiterating Catholic teaching that life must be defended at all points. However, during an interview with a local Brazilian newspaper, Diario de Pernambuco, he appeared to imply that abortion was permitted if deemed necessary by a physician.

In a statement provided to CNA, Archbishop Saburido said there was a “misunderstanding.”
“I adhere, in fullness; to the teaching of our Holy Church which defends life and does not admit, under any circumstances, its destruction because it is a gift from God that only He can take away,” he explained. (Except in the cases of war, capital punishment, self defense, and women in life threatening pregnancies forced on them by the state.)

Noting that there are some specific cases in Brazil in which abortion is not penalized, he said: “With the Church, I believe that this law is contrary to the basic principles of Christian ethics and cannot be accepted, because it is a law that kills.” (It's OK if abortion laws kill the mother though.)

He said he disagreed with the case of the pregnant girl, saying he believes it to be “anti-Christian for taking away a life that could have perfectly been saved.”

“A family willing to adopt the baby would have not been missing, providing affection and dignity,” he continued. (That's all fine and good for the baby, but what about the child mother?)

He said his comments to the press corps on April 10 would verify his position against abortion in any circumstances.

“In the specific case of the Diario de Pernambuco, I believe the interview was biased, with repetitive questions, and I admit I may have not been sufficiently clear, leaving room for doubts that I want to clarify by means of this statement,” he continued.

“I believe that all those who know me and know my history, will never have doubts regarding my love for the Church and my fidelity to her Magisterium,” Archbishop Saburido’s statement concluded.

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I have no doubt about Saburido's fidelity to the Magesterium. I have doubts about his compassion for ten year old girls, and his understanding of the medical dangers in pregnancy for ten year old girls, or for the sexual abuse male 'companions' inflict on girl children. And, I have very serious reservations about the motivation for his 'clarification'.

So do conservatives as judged by this comment after the CNA article: I am quite horrified at the statement made by Archbishop Saburido of Brazil. He then compounds the problem by lying.

That's the just the problem Benedict and the Magisterium are now facing: neither conservatives nor liberals are buying into the lies and the clarifications. The Magisterium and their defenders are losing the faith and trust of everybody. In the end, that may just be Benedict's legacy.