[güttsfükk]

Pope condemns Belgian police raids on Catholic church

Pontiff describes raids as 'surprising and deplorable' and demands church is allowed role in investigating abusers in ranks

The Pope today criticised raids on the Catholic church by Belgian police investigating sex abuse claims.

Pope Benedict described the raids as "surprising and deplorable" and demanded that the church be allowed a role in investigating abusers in its ranks.

Last week, police raided the home of a retired bishop, opened the grave of at least one archbishop and detained Belgium's nine current serving bishops as they met, seizing their mobile phones and only releasing them after nine hours.

In a message to the head of the Belgian bishops' conference, Monsignor Andre-Joseph Leonard, Benedict condemned the raids and offered his support to the bishops "in this sad moment".

The Vatican has also protested to Belgium's ambassador to the Holy See.Yesterday, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, said: "There are no precedents for this, not even under communist regimes."

As cases of abuse by priests have emerged throughout Europe this year, the Belgian church has apologised for failing to root out abusers in the past and promised to crack down.

On Friday, Benedict appointed Monsignor Jozef De Kesel as the new bishop of Bruges to replace 73-year-old Roger Vangheluwe, 73, who admitted abusing a boy and resigned in April. He was the first European bishop to step down after confessing to abuse.

As part of their investigation into recent claims of abuse, police last week drilled into the tombs of two archbishops at the Cathedral of Mechelen, north of Brussels, using cameras to look for hidden documents, a church official said. Investigators said only one tomb had been opened.

Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard condemned the raid as being inspired by "crime novels and the Da Vinci Code".

Police also took documents and a computer from the home of former archbishop Godfried Danneels, Leonard's predecessor, and seized documents from an independent panel investigating around 500 cases of suspected abuse by priests.

After initially treating the abuse revelations emerging in Europe as a plot to discredit the church, Vatican officials have increasingly admitted the need for it to cooperate more closely with the civil authorities.

But in his reaction to the Belgian raids, Benedict stressed that abuse within the church needed to be handled by both civil and canon law, "respecting their reciprocal specificity and autonomy".

Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference, went further, claiming the police investigation went "beyond the legitimate requirements of justice" and was the sign of a secular government's "desire to attack the church in its entirety" by a secular government.

Source : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...atholic-church

[diamount]

This is awesome - wish other people had the balls to ruffle the feathers of the Catholic Church, shows them that they don't have all the power they think they have.

[candymosh]

maybe if they stayed out of the child molesting spot light, they wouldn't have to worry about police raids.

[hayleylsl]

Seems like the Belgian police needed to do something after Marc Dutroux debarcle. Good for them- may the "priests" rest in Hell.

"Sabine Dardenne (born 1983) is a Belgian woman who, at the age of twelve, on May 28, 1996, was kidnapped by serial killer Marc Dutroux while on her way to school. Dardenne was one of Dutroux's last two victims. She survived, but four other girls and an alleged accomplice named Bernard Weinstein were found dead on Dutroux's properties.

Dardenne and 14-year-old Laetitia Delhez, who had been abducted a couple of days earlier, were rescued on August 15, 1996 by the Belgian police, two days after Dutroux had been arrested. Dutroux admitted to having raped them both and abducting them. He managed to convince Dardenne and Delhez (12 and 14), that he had rescued them from a gang that wanted to ransom and kill them.

Dardenne's ordeal in the basement of Dutroux's house lasted 79 days. Laetitia spent 6 days in the celler. Earlier victims included eight-year-olds Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune, both died of starvation while Dutroux was in prison for car theft. Seventeen-year-old An Marchal and nineteen year old Eefje Lambrecks, both of were murdered from being buried alive.

The slow pace of the trial and disturbing revelations of more of Dutroux's victims created public outrage. Initially, Dutroux tried to mislead investigators by claiming to be a minion of a continent-wide paedophile ring that included prominent political figures in Belgium.

Dardenne and Delhez both testified against Dutroux during his 2004 trial, and their testimony played an important role in his subsequent conviction. They both also asked him why he did what he did to them.

Dardenne's account of her abduction and its aftermath are documented in her memoir J'avais douze ans, j'ai pris mon vélo et je suis partie à l'école ("I was twelve years old, I took my bike and I left for school"). The English version, I Choose to Live, was published following the trial, and became a number one bestseller both in Europe and the UK.

[Pink.]

A raid at the headquarters of the Catholic Church in Belgium by police investigating child abuse was "deplorable," Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

The pope expressed his "closeness and solidarity in this moment of sadness, in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, the searches were carried out" in a letter to the head of the Belgian Bishops Conference, Andre Joseph Leonard.

Police were searching for documents related to allegations of child abuse, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor said Thursday.

The Vatican said Friday it was shocked by the raids, alleging that two cardinals' tombs were violated in the raids in the town of Mechelen.

"We also express our regret at some of the infringement of confidentiality, that those victims on whose name the raid were conducted have the right to," the Vatican said in its statement Friday.

The Vatican also reaffirmed its "strong condemnation of any sinful and criminal abuse of minors by members of the Church" and cited "the need to repair and confront such acts in conformity with the law and teachings of the Gospel."

Police raided the headquarters of the Belgian Catholic Church and searched for important documents in relation to their investigation into the abuse of children by church figures, prosecutor's spokesman Jean Marc Meilleur said on Thursday.

The Catholic Church faces allegations of child abuse by clergy across at least half a dozen countries, including the pope's native Germany, as well as Belgium, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands and the United States.

[Eaton]

Originally Posted by PinkPanties ↗

" ... in which, with certain surprising and deplorable methods, the searches were carried out"

Ooooh, isn't that just too fucking bad....

[dooshman]

Boy, I'm sure glad eek's not around to stir up trouble with this one.

[Pink.]

Originally Posted by Eaton ↗

Ooooh, isn't that just too fucking bad....

Meaning; we were not informed that a search warrant was coming ....we were not given time to hide all of our evidence!!! SHAME ON THOSE MEAN OLD COPS!!!

[dooshman]

Maybe I'm wrong, but if the cops tipped off all suspected criminals on an upcoming search warrant, wouldn't that give the perps a chance to hide all evidence?

[Pink.]

well YEAH....


I suppose they thought that they should have been "given a sporting chance"