Vatican's UN Ambassador Monsignor Silvano Tomasi (L) speaks with
Former Vatican Chief Prosecutor
of Clerical Sexual Abuse Charles Scicluna
Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Ralph Ovadal of Pilgrims Covenant Church, Monroe, Wisconsin www.pccmonroe.org, has just released this hard hitting, but truthful article from
http://www.pccmonroe.org/2014/01.18.htm, reprinted below in full, unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A Lovers’ Spat
“With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” Revelation 17:2
I suppose there is a little grim satisfaction to be had from this story. What's good for the goose ought to be sauce for the gander. But then again, we are talking here about the papal religious/civil behemoth which usually gets a free pass when it comes to Rome's lying hypocrisy and evil machinations. The Vatican state, like the church, has the pope for its sovereign, as documented by the official Vatican City State web site. For instance, "The Pope is elected by the Cardinals who are under eighty years of age.He becomes Sovereign of Vatican City State the moment he accepts his election as Pope." The ecumenical evangelicals may want to note that their powerful friend in Rome lobbied for, and signed, the tyrannical, statist U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child which, thankfully, the USA has not yet signed on to. From the article below: "The Vatican was being questioned over its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which it ratified in 1990. Since then it has repeatedly failed to submit reports on the progress it has made in protecting minors from predatory priests and other clergy."
The Antichrist papacy and the Roman Catholic Church are the archenemies of the true Christian faith and the most important of liberties beside which all others pale in significance, that liberty which is the fountainhead of all other liberties, that everlasting liberty which is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. John 8:36: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Ecumenical evangelicals conveniently ignore this reality because they foolishly think that Rome is their friend when it comes to protecting civil and religious liberty. But, they are only fools twice over in that Rome is working around the clock to destroy true civil and religious liberty. The Vatican, having never given up its dream of world domination, never met a collectivist, statist policy it did not love, even if a few details must needs be tinkered with. This is a fact, as some of us have labored over the years to document. Ecumenical evangelicals need to wake up to the reality that the supposed savior of civil and religious liberties they have embraced is in fact a vicious enemy not only of the Savior of souls they profess but also of our God-given civil and religious liberties. But why should that be any great surprise?
As for this current difficulty between the UN and the pope, it’s only a lovers’ spat which will be patched up soon enough. I close with this April, 2013 quote from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: “‘It is very important to meet a spiritual leader of the world,’ Ban said at the start of his meeting with the Argentine pope, who last month became the first non-European leader of the world's Catholics in nearly 1,300 years. ‘The Holy See and the UN share common goals and ideas,’ said Ban—one of the first world leaders to be received at an audience by the new pontiff” (Agence France-Presse).
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
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RELATED:
Vatican tells UN hearing 'no excuse' for child abuse
Vatican has acknowledged there can be "no excuse" for child abuse, confronted for the first time at length and in public over the global priest sex abuse scandal
Victims of clerical abuse accused the Vatican of obfuscating and using “disingenous” arguments as representatives on Thursday came in for unprecedented public questioning by the United Nations over the Catholic Church’s cover-up of the rape of thousands of children by sexually abusive priests.
In testimony to a UN committee in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s representative, showed a degree of remorse over church sex abuse scandals, saying that “such crimes can never be justified”.
But he reiterated an argument that the Vatican has long used — that the Holy See cannot be held responsible for the actions of clergy members in countries around the world because its remit extends only to those living and working within the Vatican City State, a tiny sovereign territory where less than 40 children reside.
Priests were “not functionaries of the Vatican but citizens of their countries and fall under the jurisdiction of their own countries”, he said.
The argument was dismissed by campaigners, who said it was clear that the Vatican is the hub of the world-wide Catholic Church and issues orders to dioceses around the globe.
“It is just so disingenuous for Church officials to claim that national governments are responsible for prosecuting clergy when those same Church officials have obstructed justice, helped predator priests move jurisdictions, destroyed evidence and paid off victims and witnesses to remain silent,” said Barbara Blaine, a victim of abuse herself and the president of the US-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
The degree to which the Vatican tackles the issue of sexually abusive clergy is being seen as a key test of the 10-month-old papacy of Pope Francis. He has announced almost weekly initiatives to reform the Holy See’s governance and clean up its finances, but has said little about the shame of predatory priests.
The Vatican has been condemned for moving abusive clergy from one diocese or parish to another, destroying or withholding evidence and failing to report suspected abuse to the police.
“The new Pope seems to be making encouraging gestures in a lot of areas, but he’s doing nothing to even begin to expose — much less reverse —decades of selfish church cover-ups that endanger kids and protect predators. It’s very disappointing. What we heard today felt like more of the same,” Ms Blaine said.
The Vatican was being questioned over its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which it ratified in 1990. Since then it has repeatedly failed to submit reports on the progress it has made in protecting minors from predatory priests and other clergy.
Kirsten Sandberg, the committee’s chairwoman, said: “The view of the committee is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet. It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent.”
Last month Pope Francis announced the setting up of a committee to address the issue, but victims’ groups described the initiative as “meaningless”. As the UN session was underway, the Pope told worshippers in the Vatican that abuse scandals had “cost us a lot of money, but (paying damages) is only right.”
“Do we feel shame? There are so many scandals that I do not want to name them individually but everyone knows about them,” he said.
Some campaigners saw a glimmer of hope in Geneva, arguing that the shame of being publicly questioned might propel change within the Church.
“This is the first time that questions are being asked,” said Pam Spees, a human rights lawyer for the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
“I think we are seeing a shift and monitoring by international bodies can only be a good thing.”
___________________________________________________________________
The degree to which the Vatican tackles the issue of sexually abusive clergy is being seen as a key test of the 10-month-old papacy of Pope Francis. He has announced almost weekly initiatives to reform the Holy See’s governance and clean up its finances, but has said little about the shame of predatory priests.
The Vatican has been condemned for moving abusive clergy from one diocese or parish to another, destroying or withholding evidence and failing to report suspected abuse to the police.
“The new Pope seems to be making encouraging gestures in a lot of areas, but he’s doing nothing to even begin to expose — much less reverse —decades of selfish church cover-ups that endanger kids and protect predators. It’s very disappointing. What we heard today felt like more of the same,” Ms Blaine said.
The Vatican was being questioned over its implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which it ratified in 1990. Since then it has repeatedly failed to submit reports on the progress it has made in protecting minors from predatory priests and other clergy.
Kirsten Sandberg, the committee’s chairwoman, said: “The view of the committee is that the best way to prevent abuses is to reveal old ones - openness instead of sweeping offences under the carpet. It seems to date your procedures are not very transparent.”
Last month Pope Francis announced the setting up of a committee to address the issue, but victims’ groups described the initiative as “meaningless”. As the UN session was underway, the Pope told worshippers in the Vatican that abuse scandals had “cost us a lot of money, but (paying damages) is only right.”
“Do we feel shame? There are so many scandals that I do not want to name them individually but everyone knows about them,” he said.
Some campaigners saw a glimmer of hope in Geneva, arguing that the shame of being publicly questioned might propel change within the Church.
“This is the first time that questions are being asked,” said Pam Spees, a human rights lawyer for the US-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
“I think we are seeing a shift and monitoring by international bodies can only be a good thing.”
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