I have written many commentaries decrying the institutionalized criminality of Catholic priests raping little boys.
I cite in this regard such commentaries as “Pope Accused of Harboring Pedophile Priest,” March 16, 2010, “Justice Begins for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church…,” June 23, 2012, “Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Pope’s Adviser Damns Papacy,” June 29, 2017, and “Confirmation! ‘Pedophile Priests’ Is Redundant,” August 15, 2018.
The point is that I have standing to pose the provocative question that is the title to this commentary.
But I have a confession: I vowed to write no more on this sordid topic. Except that, like so many Catholic priests, I cannot resist this temptation to break my vow.
Because the following has to be the most perverse and cynical attempt at deflection in the history of public scandals:
Nuns have suffered and are still suffering sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic priests and bishops, and have even been held as sexual slaves, Pope Francis confirmed on Tuesday. The abuse was so severe in one case that an entire congregation of nuns was dissolved by former Pope Benedict.
The scope of the abuse of nuns by clergy members first came to light with the publication at the beginning of February of the monthly Vatican magazine ‘Women Church World.’
(CBS News, February 5, 2019)
Think about this: Have you ever heard this (or any) pope decry the systemic sexual abuse of little boys at the hands of Catholic priests as tantamount to the institution of slavery? Not to mention that, unlike real slaves, nuns could be free of their “slavery” by just walking out of their nunnery.
I suppose one cannot blame Francis for this pontifical artifice. But surely the natural lust that motivates priests to prey on nuns is more forgivable than the unnatural treachery that motivates others to prey on boys. Never mind that both sins make a mockery of the priestly vow of celibacy.
And don’t get me started on the less prevalent but equally treacherous sin of nuns preying on little girls. It is a curious thing, though, that the reckoning for pedophile nuns has yet to begin …
In any event, priests preying on nuns compels one to wonder what became of all the children they must have sired. After all, I doubt even an unfaithful priest would or could prevail upon a nun to risk eternal damnation by aborting their child.
Moreover, just imagine the hypocrisy of nuns figuring prominently among the “unmarried mothers” who the Irish Catholic church consigned to what amounted to sanatoriums during much of the 20th century.
Thousands of babies were adopted over the decades from the network of mother-and-baby homes operated by the Catholic religious orders.
(BBC, July 16, 2014)
That said, it is also instructive to note that, in Dante’s Inferno, people who succumb to lust languish in the Second Circle of Hell, whereas those who commit treachery languish in the last Ninth Circle of Hell. Therefore, one can only presume that Francis is praying God will have more mercy on him if the sins of Catholic clergy on his watch consign more of them to the former than the latter.
Whatever the case, like most, if not all, of his predecessors, Francis seems bound for the Sixth Circle of Hell. That’s where leaders who aid and abide heresy languish. And I can think of no greater heresy than lording over a cult for pedophiles masquerading as a church of God. Indeed, it is notable that this is where Pope Anastasius II ended up.
Frankly, I pray that God will have no mercy on the souls of priests who preyed on boys, or on those of popes and bishops who covered up and even enabled that sexual predation. With all due respect to Francis, however, my Adamic nature is such that I cannot wish eternal damnation on priests who could not resist the natural temptation to fornicate with nuns. Dante got this right – the Second Circle of Hell seems punishment enough for them.
Related commentaries:
No more gay priests…