The entire panel appointed by the Catholic Church to investigate clerical sex abuse cases in Belgium has resigned en masse because they have no more files to work from. Police confiscated their files.
The panel which disbanded had been in place for over a decade, during which time it dealt with a total of 30 complaints, taking no discernible action in those cases. Eight weeks ago, Peter Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist, took over chairing the panel. The panel has received nearly 500 complaints since he took over. The panel was to make a report to the Church in October. Adriaenssens said prosecutors launched the raid after he told them the flood of alleged victims had slowed. (source)
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court just rejected an appeal and cleared the way for the US Catholic Church to be sued for child sex abuse cases.
In another remarkable coincidence, another senior cardinal at the Vatican -- the so-called red Pope -- has come under investigation for fraud.
So that actually overlaps, because the Supreme Court ruling opens the door for lawyers to depose "anyone within the organization who has knowledge about the events." And the red Pope would presumably fall into that category, since the red Pope assists the Pope in appointing bishops around the world.
Such bad timing for the Catholic Church!
Why are the Belgian people so cranky? They go after the church.... they have a problem with anti-semitism...
Well, the Belgian people endured the monster pedophile Marc Dutroux, so the Belgian people perhaps have had quite enough waiting around for people to get their acts together.
The Pedophocracy.
ISGP - Beyond the Dutroux Affair.
The panel, made up of clergymen and chaired by a top Belgian child abuse expert, Peter Adriaenssens, was set up to allow confidential reporting of abuses, even in cases that have fallen outside of the statute of limitations and would no longer be punishable by the law. But late last week, magistrates conducting parallel investigations ordered police to raid the committee's offices, in which computers were seized along with documentation. The panel met Monday and decided to hand in their resignations, effective from Thursday, according to the reports.
"It is a very regrettable affair for the church but most of all for the victims," Eric De Beukelaer, spokesman for the head of Belgium's Catholic Church, Cardinal Andre-Joseph Leonard, told the Belga news agency.Now the privacy of the victims cannot be assured, according to the Church. Because ordinary magistrates will not know how to respect privacy?
Church authorities stressed that the privacy of victims could no longer be guaranteed once abuse cases are investigated by ordinary magistrates. The raid was prompted by complaints to the courts from a renegade priest that allegations of abuse were being hushed down. Investigators conducted the highly publicized search of Leonard's office and the home of his predecessor, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, that took place while all Belgian bishops were meeting with an envoy of Pope Benedict XVI.
The prelates were held in the room for several hours, their mobile phones taken off, and were all questioned. Meanwhile, police drilled through the gravestones of two former Belgian Archbishops in the hunt for hidden dossiers on child abuses, finding none.Video via aangirfan, who also notes -- coincidentally of course -- that a complaint was filed in Belgian court against 14 Israeli leaders for war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Charges against Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, Ehud Barak, Matan Vilnai... Pretty nervy of Belgium.
The panel which disbanded had been in place for over a decade, during which time it dealt with a total of 30 complaints, taking no discernible action in those cases. Eight weeks ago, Peter Adriaenssens, a child psychiatrist, took over chairing the panel. The panel has received nearly 500 complaints since he took over. The panel was to make a report to the Church in October. Adriaenssens said prosecutors launched the raid after he told them the flood of alleged victims had slowed. (source)
The police raid in Belgium last week which broke up a meeting of the country's Catholic Bishops - who were discussing how to deal with the paedophile priest crisis - took the Vatican by complete surprise. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state and Pope Benedict's number two, was furious when he heard how the police prevented the bishops from leaving the building where they had been meeting for nine hours. The police took away their mobile telephones to prevent them communicating with their staff, or with the Vatican.The Pope called the raid "deplorable," and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, described the detention of priests as "serious and unbelievable". (source)
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court just rejected an appeal and cleared the way for the US Catholic Church to be sued for child sex abuse cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for St. Paul lawyer Jeff Anderson to sue Pope Benedict on behalf of sex-abuse victims when it refused Monday to hear the Vatican's appeal of an Oregon lawsuit. Anderson, who specializes in filing abuse suits against the Roman Catholic Church, called the decision "the biggest breakthrough in the movement's history."
...In declining to hear the case, the court upheld an appeals court ruling that the Vatican can be sued for sexual abuse if church officials knowingly reassign priests who have been accused of such acts in their previous parishes....
Anderson predicted that now he can eventually depose Pope Benedict. "I won't start with him; I'm going to work my way up," he said. "But this ruling gives me the ability to depose anybody within the organization who has knowledge about the events."Amazing, no? The nine Supreme Court justices refused to consider the church's claim that it enjoys "sovereign immunity" and is immune from prosecution. It's rather amazing that all nine justices would agree on anything, and yet here they are agreeing on such a huge matter, and six are (nominally) Catholic.
In another remarkable coincidence, another senior cardinal at the Vatican -- the so-called red Pope -- has come under investigation for fraud.
CARDINAL Crescenzio Sepe of Naples has gone on the offensive after being targeted in a wide-ranging corruption investigation into shady public works contracts and property deals involving Italian government officials.
Magistrates in the central Italian town of Perugia officially informed the cardinal over the weekend that he was being investigated for corruption after allegedly receiving kickbacks during the five years he headed the Vatican’s property-rich Congregation for Evangelisation (Propaganda Fide)....Propaganda Fide is considered one of the most powerful departments in the Vatican, especially because it owns and manages hundreds of properties in central Rome. They are worth an estimated €9 billion and bring in some €56m in rent each year. Propaganda’s prefect is commonly called “Il Papa Rosso” (“the red Pope”) because of this vast empire and also because his office – rather than the Congregation for Bishops – assists the Pope in appointing bishops for nearly 40 per cent of the Church’s 2,800-plus dioceses and ecclesiastical jurisdictions around the world.
So that actually overlaps, because the Supreme Court ruling opens the door for lawyers to depose "anyone within the organization who has knowledge about the events." And the red Pope would presumably fall into that category, since the red Pope assists the Pope in appointing bishops around the world.
Such bad timing for the Catholic Church!
Why are the Belgian people so cranky? They go after the church.... they have a problem with anti-semitism...
Well, the Belgian people endured the monster pedophile Marc Dutroux, so the Belgian people perhaps have had quite enough waiting around for people to get their acts together.
Peter Adriaenssens - expert in child abuse investigations and who worked actively on the monster of Marcinelle, Marc Dutroux, the Belgian worst nightmare - had been "shocked" by the searches, foreshadow his imminent resignation. He decided last night and sent via mail to his closest collaborators. "I could only do so only with a conviction that we wanted to hide things, cheat in some way, whereas I have made a point of honor to work in full transparency," he said today Adriaenssens, referring to the police raid.Also see:
Here, the bitter observation: "We simply served as a decoy."
The Pedophocracy.
ISGP - Beyond the Dutroux Affair.
Comments
Peter Adriaenssens' comment, "We simply served as a decoy.", is exactly right.
This ploy of the church in setting up it's own inquiries and window dressing them as independent is now a well used one. The Belgian church authorities simply made the mistake of appointing the wrong man this time.
The first one was set up in Melbourne, Australia, by the then Archbishop George Pell. It seems to have been used as a model. And the Vatican have been well pleased with it, too, it seems because Pell is now a cardinal and is rumoured to take over Ratzinger's old position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faithful (the renames Office of the Holy Inquisition)
My impression is that the RCC has ben behind these various legal move against israeli leaders (Britain, for instance) and against the bankers in Poland for control of their central bank.
the RCC has consolidated its position in OZ lately (with Cardinal Pell's boy, Abbott, set to be the next PM later this year) but is going down the toilet everywhere else it seems.
Let's hope it gets out of control for both parties
Remember their sordid past with that bank that got busted, BCCI?
"Let my ROD and STAFF be a comfort unto thee."
Comfort hell, that sounds painful.
In 1950’s the RCC stood at the height of its powers after successfully navigating the previous world war. Then a certain Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was elected Pope. He chose the name of Pope John XXIII. This is exactly the same name the antipope Baldassarre Cardinal Cossa, the last pope to choose the name John.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_John_XXIII
The second Vatican council was convened and then it’s scope widened by Rocalli’s successor and close friend Paul VI. Suddenly ecumenism was paramount. The gates were opened and the church’s defences dropped. There was no absolute right or wrong – everything was relative and subjective. NB This is the shortened version.
The RCC now stands discredited as a “moral” force in the world. The timing of this is not accidental - it never is. With the coming planned economic collapse and military strikes many who would have looked to Rome for guidance will stand alone and anxious. The herd will mingle around leaderless and hence will be easier to control
I find it interesting that in the video clip that great efforts are made to reassure the victims of these terrible crimes of their anonymity. The Belgian police are far better normally at covering up the crimes of the predators. I would not be surprised if a steady drip, drip of revelations were to occur. Indeed, many victims or their relatives might decide to emulate Drasius Kedys. There is a good chance that hunting season will be declared on the devils in the Catholic Church.
V word = subte (subtle - not likely)
www.conspiracyplanet.com/index.cfm
Oh and btw word verification,are yuh ready for this one?"arsoles"and I do shit you not.
In a comment on the gulf I got sesob!
Never fear Chucky, no leader at all is better than counting on the black robes. It might cause the critical faculty to cut deeper.
I remember in high school I used to drop a good friend of mine off for confession. When he came out I would usually have some smart quip such as well what did you fess up to today? I usually got a big f--- you.
I used to tell him that juju is not working you still can't dive worth a damn. I guess I was naturally immune to sorcery.
dubs... dubs... that AQ thing is very good.
silv, nice to see you around.
What can I say A.P I used to be one but I’m OK now (grin). I have read a lot on the subversion within the church but as usual I can’t find the books in question - buried in plain sight somewhere.
I think in a similar line to Silverfish. Organised religions have been a mechanism for control since recorded history began. I am mostly familiar with the sins of the RCC. I prefer to create a relationship with the creator on a one to one basis. Still in the early dating phase on that one.
V word = forkma (Universe spurning my advances??)
dubs you have a link about the rumored pedo party business?
Unlogged at present browser knocked down again.
As a reporter, Zimmerman also made waves. According to the Tampa Tribune, a report that Zimmerman completed called “Perverts in the Park” provoked controversy when it aired in Texas in 1996. The TV report focused on a public restroom in a park in San Antonio where gay men met for trysts. And when the news item was broadcast, Zimmerman forgot to digitally blur explicit sexual images recorded with a hidden camera.
thanks dubs. so many creepy politicians, so little times...
I'm probably too late to be of any use to the conversation but on the topic of this my first reaction was the Belgian police have busted the Catholics and taken all the computers?! Cos' I gotta tell you that the Belgian police's reputation in these matters is chronically bad.
I'd have it down as even money that the Micks got busted in order to shut down where it was they were going, or to otherwise protect paedophile heavies who were otherwise going to be named. I mean honestly, they were completely fucking useless in the Dutroux scandal. In amongst the entire nation going on strike and hosing down the Belgian Houses of Parliament, they only arrested two people, and one of them, Dutroux they managed to let escape, um... two times was it?
And now they're forthrightly and resolutely moving against the church are they? Hmm...
I'll admit that it's possible the Belgian police force is under the control of white knights and are no longer bullshit. But really, I'd go either way on this one.
Um otherwise, sorry I haven't been in for a while. With the half day lag, you posting so frequently, and me doing a double post at my place it's all been too dizzy.
yes i didn't even go into that whole angle / possibility, but i agree it could be that. my general take is that the decisions are being called at a much higher level than the belgian police because it's time to take the CC down as a power player.
granted this is all like reading tea leaves... who flipping knows what's really going on.