The Devil made them do it: Catholic League president Bill Donohue argues that when predator priests are raping kids it is really “the work of the devil.”

In yet another lame excuse for predator priests raping children, Catholic League president Bill Donohue blames the devil. In a bizarre, insensitive and outrageous post, Donohue blames Satan for the monstrous crimes of the Catholic church.

Donohue writes:

… when we read that a few Pennsylvania priests used sacred objects like the crucifix to molest their victims, we cannot plausibly say that this is simply the work of men gone bad. No, it is the work of the devil. What other source would provoke such monstrosities?

The Apocalypse (12:7-9) speaks of Satan as the one who “seduceth the whole world.” Jesus referred to Satan as the Father of Lies who perverted the truth. The Catholic Catechism says Satan’s “seductive voice” seeks to turn us against God.

If Satan tempted our Lord in the desert, he is surely capable of tempting the clergy, and sometimes winning…

Blaming the devil for abhorrent criminal behavior is nothing new. In fact, it is a strategy often deployed by guilty parties in a pathetic and desperate attempt to escape responsibility for their crimes. By trying to blame the devil for the crimes of Catholic clergy Donohue insults the intelligence, and demonstrates a pathetic and perverse need to defend the existence of predators and predophiles in the church at all costs.

Earlier this month Donohue attacked the recent grand jury report documenting the rape and sexual abuse of over a 1,000 children by hundreds of Catholic priests in Pennsylvania.

In that post Donohue called the report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court an “obscene lie” while defending the Catholic Church and their deplorable record of covering up and enabling the rape and sexual abuse of children by predatory priests.

In his post titled “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked,” Donohue desperately tries to minimize the findings of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, claiming that the statement “the priests raped their victims” is actually a “myth,” writing:

Myth: The priests “raped” their victims.

Attempting to justify his assertion that the claim that “the priests raped their victims” is a “myth,” Donohue writes:

Fact: This is an obscene lie. Most of the alleged victims were not raped: they were groped or otherwise abused, but not penetrated, which is what the word “rape” means.

In a fleeting moment of self-awareness the rabid defender of all things Catholic continues:

This is not a defense — it is meant to set the record straight and debunk the worst case scenarios attributed to the offenders.

Donohue is being dishonest. He is defending predator priests. When he claims it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated, he is attempting to minimize the horrific crimes of predator priests, and in so doing he is defending those predator priests. Full stop.

In fact, Donohue frequently tries to minimize and excuse the behavior of predator priests by pointing out that some victims are “post-pubescent,” as if raping or sexually assaulting a 13-year-old is more acceptable than raping or sexually assaulting a 9-year-old.

Donohue also has the habit of blaming “the gays” for the moral corruption of the Catholic Church. It is all part of his pattern of trying to excuse and minimize the deplorable and criminal behavior of predator priests, and the the deplorable and criminal behavior of Catholic leadership that covers-up for and enables predator priests.

And now Donohue is blaming the devil for priests raping kids.

Bottom line: Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends predator priests raping and sexually abusing children by suggesting that it is really “the work of the devil.”

In a letter filled with empty rhetoric Pope Francis offers thoughts and prayers while expressing his sorrow that Catholic clergy was once again caught raping and sexually abusing children.

CNN reports:

Pope Francis has acknowledged “with shame and repentance” the Catholic Church’s failure to act over sexual abuse by clerics against minors going back decades, writing “we showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.”

In the letter released by the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis writes:

I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons.

Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated.

While the letter is filled with trite, feel-good pablum for gullible Catholics, it offers nothing concrete to address the criminal activities of the Catholic Church, activities that include not only the rape and sexual abuse of children, but the criminal conspiracy to cover up those crimes, a criminal conspiracy at every level of the Catholic Church, from the Vatican on down, to protect and enable the predator priests raping and sexually abusing children.

To be clear, the letter from Pope Francis does not call for resignations; the letter does not call for changes to policy or procedures; the letter does not call for criminal prosecutions.

Instead, Pope Francis calls on Catholics to engage in “penance and prayer” while suggesting that “fasting” is the way to combat sexual abuse:

… penance and prayer will help us to open our eyes and our hearts to other people’s sufferings and to overcome the thirst for power and possessions that are so often the root of those evils. May fasting and prayer open our ears to the hushed pain felt by children, young people and the disabled. A fasting that can make us hunger and thirst for justice and impel us to walk in the truth, supporting all the judicial measures that may be necessary. A fasting that shakes us up and leads us to be committed in truth and charity with all men and women of good will, and with society in general, to combatting all forms of the abuse of power, sexual abuse and the abuse of conscience.

Pope Francis is wrong. Prayer, penance and fasting is not a strategy to combat the rape and sexual abuse of children by predatory priests. However, criminal prosecutions for every Catholic official raping and sexually abusing children, as well as criminal prosecution for every Catholic official involved in the cover of the rape and sexual abuse of children by predator priests, would be a start. However, such a policy would expose Pope Francis himself to criminal prosecution, as he is the leader of the criminal conspiracy that defends and enables predator priests.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of the watchdog website BishopAccountability.org, called the letter “2,000 words of recycled rhetoric” that failed to provide concrete measures to make ending abuse a priority. Doyle notes:

In the wake of the atrocities detailed in the Pennsylvania grand jury report, heartsick Catholics again look to the pope, yearning for a specific plan for ending the cover-up once and for all.His rambling letter today dashes this hope.

Doyle is correct: The letter is empty rhetoric from a moral coward unwilling to protect children from predator priests. However, the tepid and vacuous reaction from Francis should come as no surprise.

A  2017 in-depth report from the Associated Press found that Pope Francis was “quietly making the Catholic church a safe space for pedophile priests.”

The report found that Pope Francis has been reducing sanctions against pedophile priests, and even refusing to defrock priests found guilty of sexually abusing children, all in the name of mercy.

Bottom line: Pope Francis is sorry Catholic clergy got caught raping and sexually abusing children again, and he sends his thoughts and prayers to the kids raped and sexually assaulted by his priests.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends predatory priests by claiming it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated.

In a bizarre, insensitive, and outrageous post, Bill Donohue, president of the very conservative Catholic League, attacked the recent grand jury report documenting the rape and sexual abuse of over a 1,000 children by hundreds of Catholic priests in  Pennsylvania.

Donohue called the report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court an “obscene lie” while defending the Catholic Church and their deplorable record of covering up and enabling the rape and sexual abuse of children by predatory priests.

In his post titled “Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report Debunked,” Donohue desperately tries to minimize the findings of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and in so doing Donohue reveals the profound poverty of both his intellect and his character.

At one point in the deplorable post Donohue has the audacity to claim that the statement “the priests raped their victims” is actually a “myth,” writing:

Myth: The priests “raped” their victims.

Attempting to justify his assertion that the claim that “the priests raped their victims” is a “myth,” Donohue writes:

Fact: This is an obscene lie. Most of the alleged victims were not raped: they were groped or otherwise abused, but not penetrated, which is what the word “rape” means.

In a fleeting moment of self-awareness the rabid defender of all things Catholic continues:

This is not a defense — it is meant to set the record straight and debunk the worst case scenarios attributed to the offenders.

Donohue is being dishonest. He is defending predatory priests. When he claims it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated, he is attempting to minimize the horrific crimes of predatory priests, and in so doing he is defending those predatory priests. Full stop.

Donohue also denies that the Catholic Church uses a “playbook” for concealing the truth about predatory priests:

Furthermore, Church officials were not following a “playbook” for using terms such as “inappropriate contact”—they were following the lexicon established by the John Jay professors.

Again, Donohue is being dishonest. The fact that the Catholic Church received legal advice about how to set up the playbook only confirms the fact that the playbook does indeed exist.

Commenting on Donohue’s post, Joe. My. God. notes:

Donohue goes on to denounce the media for using the term “pedophilia” to describe the incidents when, Donohue claims, most of the victims were “postpubescent.”

And, as he always does, Donohue rants that the media is providing cover for the LGBT movement by not describing the assailants as “gay priests” and by sensationalizing the “minority” of cases involving preteen girls.

Donohue frequently tries to minimize and excuse the behavior of predatory priests by pointing out that some victims are “post-pubescent,” as if raping or sexually assaulting a 13-year-old is more acceptable than raping or sexually assaulting a 9-year-old.

Donohue also has the habit of blaming “the gays” for the moral corruption of the Catholic Church. It is all part of his pattern of trying to excuse and minimize the deplorable and criminal behavior of predatory priests, and the the deplorable and criminal behavior of Catholic leadership that covers-up for and enables the predatory priests.

Bottom line: Catholic League president Bill Donohue defends predatory priests by claiming it’s not rape if the child isn’t penetrated.

New grand jury report reveals the Catholic Church has a seven step playbook they use to conceal the truth about priests raping children.

It is now common knowledge that the Catholic Church has been protecting and enabling predatory priests for decades if not centuries. In so doing the Catholic Church is responsible for the rape and sexually abuse of countless children.

But now a new grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court explains the policy and procedures the Catholic Church uses to cover-up, deny, and obfuscate the epidemic of sexual abuse and rape of children by Catholic clergy.

The Los Angeles Times reports on the Catholic Church’s seven step playbook for concealing the truth about priests raping and sexually abusing children. The seven steps in the “playbook” are:

1) use euphemisms like “boundary issues” instead of “rape”

2) use fellow clergy to conduct investigations

3) send problem priests to church-run treatment centers

4) decline to say why abusive priests were removed

5) provide housing and living expenses for predator clergy

6) transfer problem priests to new dioceses

7) avoid reporting the priests to the police

The revelation that the Catholic Church has an official playbook they use to discredit and essentially re-victimize the victims of rape and sexual assault at the hands of Catholic clergy is appalling, but it is only one part of the horrific grand jury report detailing more than a thousand instances of sexual abuse allegedly committed by hundreds of priests in Pennsylvania.

And, of course, it is important to note that the rape and sexual abuse of children in the Catholic Church is not unique to Pennsylvania. In fact, wherever there is a Catholic Church one can be certain there is at least one predatory priest that has been raping and sexually assaulting children, and many other clergy members willing to cover-up the abuse, always more concerned with protecting the tattered reputation of the corrupt church then the welfare of the children raped and abused by their colleagues.

Indeed, the grand jury report makes it clear that every level of Catholic leadership is complicit in the cover-up, ultimately protecting and enabling predatory priests:

Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted. Until that changes, we think it is too early to close the book on the Catholic Church sex scandal.

Bottom line: The Catholic Church uses a seven step playbook for concealing the truth about priests raping and sexually abusing children. The playbook is an orchestrated and well thought out method to conceal the truth about priests raping children, and serves as further confirmation that the Catholic Church is a morally corrupt institution that victimizes and re-victimizes innocent children in the vain attempt to protect it’s tattered and dirty reputation.

New grand jury report shows Catholic priests in Pittsburgh ran an extensive child porn ring where children were sexually exploited and groomed for abuse.

In a growing and horrific story out of Pennsylvania, a breathtaking grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court documents rampant and pervasive child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, listing more than 300 accused clergy and over a 1,000 confirmed child victims.

The report demonstrates that hundreds of “predator priests” sexually abused more than 1,000 children in Pennsylvania for decades — all the while being protected and enabled by Roman Catholic Church leaders.

In one particularly heinous episode documented in the report, a group of Catholic priests in Pittsburgh ran an extensive child porn ring where children were sexually exploited and groomed for abuse. Working together, the priests would select, target, and groom young teen boys to exploit.

According to the grand jury report, the Revs. George Zirwas, Francis Pucci, Richard Zula, Francis Luddy, and Robert Wolk, were all part of a “ring of predatory priests” who raped children, shared intelligence on potential victims and manufactured child pornography in parishes and rectories.

The report notes:

This group of priests used whips, violence, and sadism in raping their victims.

Operating out of the Pittsburgh Diocese, the priests would give their targeted victims, often alter boys, big gold crosses to wear to identify the child victim as the property of the child porn ring being run by the priests.

Writing for The Inquirer, David Gambacorta shares some details from one victim’s testimony:

During a conversation about religious statues, the priests told George to get onto a bed and remove his shirt, and strike a pose like Jesus on the cross. Then they instructed him to strip off his pants and underwear, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

In the unnerving moments that followed, George claimed that Zula or Pucci began taking photos of him on a Polaroid camera. All of the priests giggled — and then added the photos of George to a collection of photos of other teen boys. According to the grand jury, these men and another priest, the Rev. Robert Wolk, were part of a “ring of predatory priests” who raped children, shared intelligence on potential victims and manufactured child pornography in parishes and rectories.

The grand jury also reports on the extensive coverup involving church leaders at all levels who enabled, and continue to enable, predatory priests raping and sexually abusing children:

Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted. Until that changes, we think it is too early to close the book on the Catholic Church sex scandal.

Bottom line: Catholic priests in Pittsburgh ran an extensive child porn ring where children were sexually exploited and groomed for abuse.