Word: vaticans
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...message thundered out of the Vatican with the force of the Gospel from which it was taken. "How severe are Christ's words," wrote the Pope in a letter released last week to America's bishops; "how great must be that evil." After years in which the Vatican downplayed the sex scandals that have plagued the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S., John Paul II publicly acknowledged the enormity of the problem. Indeed, the bishops, who have long petitioned Rome for special disciplinary powers to deal with the crisis, are deeply aware of its dimensions. In June the hierarchy...
...American Pontifical College in Rome: "A priest would have to be out of his mind now to touch a kid, even if it's just to pat him on the head or tap him on the shoulder." The scandals are forcing the American clergy -- and, ever so reluctantly, the Vatican -- to examine the nature and tradition of the priesthood. But what can be done? And how much reform is the church willing to undertake...
While the Vatican clearly recognizes the damage done by the sex scandals, it believes the problem is a limited, if not distinctly American, one. One bishop who recently visited Rome noted that "the United States is a very sexual society." And one with a special talent for the propagation of scandal. In his letter John Paul bluntly criticized the U.S. media, charging them with making matters worse by their treatment of the problem. "Evil can indeed be sensational, but the sensationalism surrounding it is always dangerous for morality." The licentiousness of the secular world is another scapegoat. Last week Joaquin...
...reinforced church adherence to the rule of celibacy in his Holy Thursday missive to the world's priests, saying "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." As for the sinners among the ranks, many church officials feel they have little choice but to forgive. Says a Vatican official: "We'd all be in a mess if we couldn't be forgiven." However, for the women and children who have suffered, forgiveness is not only not divine, it is certainly not enough...
...serve at Roman Catholic Masses. The shift has nothing to do with complaints from American feminists. The Pope is simply considering a practice that is already established in some parishes. After details are worked out by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Vatican is expected to announce the policy later this year...