Pope Benedict XVI is ‘buck nekkid’

Whenever it has come to my attention that the Pope is, as Nana would have said, "buck nekkid", I've noted all the warts and wrinkles.  Right now, the Church Catholic is more exposed than ever, and curial "clothing" has tried but failed to completely hide its warty nakedness.  Of course I'm not content, and I won't be until the warts are excised and the wrinkles ironed out! I remember Peter Finch as Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network, an unforgettable performance for which Finch posthumously won an Oscar.  In a pivotal moment-one of the all-time great movie moments-Beale metamorphosed from a television news commentator into the "Mad Prophet of the Airwaves".  Wet and dishevelled, he stood before the camera, staring into the lens as a confused viewing audience watched and waited.  Abruptly, he raised his fists, shook them violently, and exhorted his viewers to "Go to the window and shout as loud as you can: ‘I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!’’’ Within minutes, thousands of people tore open their windows and resoundingly announced their revolt to the world.  What made this a landmark moment was that a fictional character had tapped into the repressed angst of not just his fictional audience, but of the film's audience.  Beale's "mad as hell" line became the war cry of the then newly-identified "silent majority". Thus, I've decided to take the cathartic approach of the Mad Prophet.  I want everyone to know, I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

With St. Augustine, I affirm that the papacy can be (and has often been) downright wrong and in need of occasional correction and redirection.  Also, that it has a tendency to overstep its legitimate boundaries. The recent cases of abuse coming to light have put the Pope on the spotlight, no less, as he has been intimately involved and in the know about such cases though his close friends and advisors trumpet his innocence. Hans Kung, a close friend of the German Pontiff, notes, in a National Catholic Reporter article,

‘’Is it not time for Pope Benedict XVI himself to acknowledge his share of responsibility, instead of whining about a campaign against his person? No other person in the Church has had to deal with so many cases of abuse crossing his desk. Here some reminders:

• In his eight years as a professor of theology in Regensburg, in close contact with his brother Georg, the Kapellmeister of the Regensburger Domspatzen, Ratzinger can hardly have been ignorant about what went on in the choir and its boarding--school. This was much more than an occasional slap in the face, there are charges of serious physical violence and even sexual abuse.
• In his five years as Archbishop of Munich, repeated cases of sexual abuse at least by one priest transferred to his Archdiocese have come to light. His loyal Vicar General, my classmate Gerhard Gruber, has taken full responsibility for the handling of this case, but that is hardly an excuse for the Archbishop, who is ultimately responsible for the administration of his diocese.
• In his 24 years as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from around the world, all cases of grave sexual offences by clerics had to be reported, under strictest secrecy ("secretum pontificum"), to his curial office, which was exclusively responsible for dealing with them. Ratzinger himself, in a letter on "grave sexual crimes" addressed to all the bishops under the date of 18 May, 2001, warned the bishops, under threat of ecclesiastical punishment, to observe "papal secrecy" in such cases.
• In his five years as Pope, Benedict XVI has done nothing to change this practice with all its fateful consequences.’’

See, he is not as innocent as his supporters and fans claim him to be. As old as he is and with all the experience with the workings of the Curia and in his life as a priest, for him to be claimed he is not in the know or has not even personally handled or known about even one priest’s sexual misconduct, even one involving children, is, a bucket load of bull crap! The cases of sexual abuse arising is hardly surprising. Richard Sipes is the author of a 25 year longitudinal study of sexual practices of imposed Roman Catholic celibate priests and religious in the US. His studies, as I recall, showed that 10% of committed clergy and religious were celibate who had no problem with that commitment. Another 40% were "practicing" celibacy, meaning, they are sincerely doing their best to be celibate, but sometimes failing, and 50% who had more or less permanent hetero or homo-sexual relationships. According to these figures, roughly 90% of supposed celibates are faithful to their oath or vow imperfectly or not at all.

Sad as it is, the only lesson to be drawn from such examples is that there are a lot of sociopaths out there, some of them find their way into the clergy, and the Church must do a better job of both screening them out and removing them once they surface. Children and teenagers need protection from such. But it behoves us to ask, were criminal priests protected, simply reassigned over and over to different parishes while bishops attempted to "buy off" their victims?  Were all those seemingly wild accusations of rampant Crime and Immorality in the Catholic Church (1962) levelled by ex-Franciscan priest and notorious Rome-baiter Emmett McLaughlin really true?  Were the occasional inevitable flaws and failings of Old Catholics exploited while the numerous lascivious deeds of curial Catholics were being hidden away?

The real question about Ratzinger in Munich should be: “Was it a crime in Germany in 1980 for an adult to force an 11-year old boy to perform oral sex?” If so, the Archbishop of Munich harboured a criminal without reporting him to the police.

The Pope should end the secrecy and should stop having Monsignors generate those sleazy 'He's not guilty now, and never has been guilty' reports. The reports should read: 'He's guilty of the cover-up and has always been!' For all of his wrong doing, and proclamation, "I am not a crook," Richard Nixon knew when it was time for him "to sit down," i.e. resign, for the good of the nation. Oh, that we could have Joseph Ratzinger recognize that the time has come "to sit down," i.e., to throw open the doors to all of the secrets and allow the healing light of Christ in, and, of course, for him to relinquish his position. Catholics are growing increasingly exasperated with the obfuscation of the Magisterium.     They speak words but say nothing.     They have secret meetings of bishops,   then do nothing to investigate and seriously discipline those holding Episcopal office.     They refuse to examine and re-think their sacred cow traditions and disciplines.     They continue to close ranks and parrot the corporate line of carefully crafted refusal of responsibility at the highest levels of governance.     When all else fails,   they create distractions and blame secular media for being "anti-Catholic".     Vowed allegiances designed only for the protection of the institution/Vatican State and its leadership remain the primary rule.

Indeed, we must respectfully and lovingly let the Pope, as we do our civil authorities, know when he is "buck nekkid". 

Denis Nzioka