Hidden rituals

Revolutionary Worker #1150, May 12, 2002, posted at http://rwor.org

• Archbishop Juliusz Paetz of Poznan, Poland is accused of molesting at least four seminarians but is still in office. Officials of the diocesan seminary tried to prevent him from visiting their school--where he would use an underground tunnel to enter student areas. It is said that Church officials tried to suppress the scandal to protect Pope John Paul II. Paetz spent four years working in John Paul II's personal staff, escorting visitors directly into private meetings in the papal apartment.
  
• In Ireland, a prominent bishop resigned after it was revealed he protected a pedophile priest and personally visited sex tourist hotels in Thailand. In Ireland, it has come out that thousands of children were sexually abused and exploited as slave labor in Catholic schools and orphanages over many decades. Over 50 priests have been convicted of child sexual abuse.
  
• In Australia more than 50 priests and monks have been charged with sexual abuse.
  
• In France, one bishop was removed for protecting a pedophile priest.
  
• In Canada, a scandal erupted in 1988 over allegations of abuse of children at a Catholic orphanage, Mount Cashel, in Newfoundland. There have been allegations of child abuse by priests across Canada.
  
• Scandal erupted in the African Catholic Church after the National Catholic Reporter documented widespread cases of priests raping or coercing sex from nuns--apparently the priests decided to switch from prostitutes to nuns to avoid HIV infections. A detailed report alleges that the Vatican ignored the nuns' complaints for years. In some cases, nuns were thrown out of their orders after becoming pregnant, while the priests involved were sent on brief retreats. In South Africa, there have been widespread allegations of child molestation by priests and other church workers.
  
• Church officials were exposed for molesting children in Tierra del Fuego, Chile. Bishop Tomas Gonzalez told the father of one child, "we all have human weaknesses," and refused to remove accused church officials from their posts. Instead the accused officials were moved to new posts in Argentina and Peru.
  
• In October 2001, an archbishop in Wales resigned after protecting two pedophile priests. Several other bishops there have resigned for sexual and financial corruption.

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